Psalm 13, Exodus 6:1-13
June 28th, 2015
FBC|WJ
Will you pray with me?
Risen Lord! shall yet the city be the city of despair? Come today, our
Judge, our Glory; be its name, “The Lord is there!” God may the words of my
mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be pleasing in your sight O Lord
our strength, and our redeemer. Amen.
In the mountains of
North Carolina sits a cross, a cross that lights up at night much like the one
behind me. In the mountains of North Carolina sits an auditorium below that
cross, where I first heard God’s call on my life. Lake Junaluska is a piece of
Heaven for me. There I feel refreshed and renewed with grace. Back in my
Methodist days we’d gather there for Annual Conference, a business session on
steroids if you will, we’d worship, we’d vote, and we’d reconnect.
You see it’s tradition
at these gatherings to sing certain hymns. One of them is one we’ll sing today,
And Are We Yet Alive, a sturdy
Charles Wesley tune that begs the question of if we are alive to be in
fellowship and friendship with one another. It’s a good question to ask, but
we’ll see more of that in a minute.
Today we hear words from
Exodus, God’s promise to free the Israelites from slavery in Egypt through
God’s servant Moses. These are timely words, words that we need to hear today.
Because frankly now is a good time to begin freeing each other and ourselves
from what binds us. And I think I caught a glimpse of that in Washington D.C.
with our youth on their mission trip
You see I feel like I
saw Amanda, Caroline, Chelsie and Kennedy confront the Pharaoh of government,
and speak truth to power. I saw Stephanie and Jane our fearless chaperones
confront oppression and injustice. And yes, even I felt the transformative
power of watching our youth shine with the light of Christ.
You see it’s not an easy
undertaking to go to Washington or to Egypt, Moses knew it and I realized it
this past week. It begs the question, and are we yet alive? Or maybe better
than that, and are we in our right minds? Are we in our right minds to go to a
place that is portrayed in the news media as a den of vipers? Are we alive
enough to confront the most powerful government this world has seen since the
glory days of Britain or Rome?
And are we yet alive?
The answer is no, some of us aren’t. While we were on our trip 9 people were
shot and killed and sacrificed in a church on the altar of white supremacy. And
are we yet alive? The answer is no because we are blinded by our own sins of
systemic racism and hatred.
And are we yet alive?
The answer is yes for some of us, physically, and no for some of us spiritually
or emotionally. We’re dead to this world because we’ve just stopped caring. We’ve
run from Egypt like Moses did, either by our own fault or because of sheer
apathy. But you see that’s where God comes in and reminds us what it’s like to
be alive.
God says, “Go and tell
Pharaoh, the king of Egypt to let my people go.” You see we like the Israelites
need a good word. We need the freeing words of grace. People of good faith in
Charleston need the promise of the Jordan now. People of sound mind in Baltimore
need the hope of the resurrection now. People down on their luck in Washington
D.C. who we encountered need the promise of the Good Shepherd now.
As I was in D.C. I wondered what would happen if Christians became fully
alive and went to Egypt? I wonder if it would be similar to the great battles
of history. I wonder if it would be like the Visigoths marching over the Seven
Hills to finally conquer the Roman Empire, or the Battles between Washington
and Cornwallis where not a wave of bloodshed but grace overtook our land and
this country like those battles did in violence, we could do in freedom. I
caught a glimpse of that outpouring of tears and hard work and hope with these
youth speaking truth to power and honestly I felt alive.
I felt inspired. I felt inspired by these young people to continue my
mission and ministry in this world, and you should too. Because speaking truth
to power is what the church does. It was T.S. Eliot who wrote: "Why should men
love the Church? Why should they love her laws? She tells them of Life and
Death, and of all that they would forget. She is tender where they would be
hard, and hard where they like to be soft. She tells them of Evil and Sin, and
other unpleasant facts." You see
church it’s our job to remind the powers at be, the Pharaohs of this land that
God is not done with God’s people yet. God is working in Charleston, God is
working in Washington D.C. and yes God is working right here in West Jefferson.
The
church’s purpose, its entire existence hinges on freeing people from the
bondage of sin and despair. We are beacons of the resurrection, and we are
people who were once slaves in Egypt, but now are free. Because in the end, as
we have seen this past week in so many ways, love prevails. Love prevailed in
D.C. in Charleston, South Carolina, and yes love won.
In this free world in which we live and have our being it’s easy to lose
track and get complacent with our freedom. And we Baptists of all people should
celebrate our freedom. For when we celebrate our freedom and redemption from
the bonds of slavery in Egypt we simultaneously give others permission to be
freed as well.
I
can remember the first time I met Lizzie the poodle. Lizzie was down on her
luck. She was born to show poodles, and her owner wanted a perfect poodle
specimen to be able to show. But Lizzie has a brown nose and poodles are
supposed to have black noses if their going to be show animals. When I met
Lizzie she was chained up outside while the other poodles were inside. When I
met Lizzie the owner told me there were other poodles that might be more
desirable inside. But I could tell Lizzie was for me.
I
am confident that one of the manifestations of the glory of God is a poodle
being fully alive. (To borrow from Saint Irenaeus) Lizzie is now living and loving and kind. But most of all,
she is desired. We all yearn to be desired, to have basic human dignity and
rights. The youth saw this in D.C. this past week as they met with persons who
hadn’t always had human dignity, or persons who are fighting for equality even
to this day.
You
see in a world where we argue over healthcare and marriage rights we forget the
people in those issues who simply need to be loved. I know from watching
Facebook this past week that we all don’t agree on these issues. But First
Baptist I know it to be true about you that we may not be uniform in thought, but we are
united in love. We are called regardless of our disagreements to be alive; to show
respect for human dignity and show a love that can warm even the hardest of
hearts. We are called to remember that these issues are more than political or
religious talking points; they are about people who yearn to be alive like we
are. So in your actions, in your words, in your posts on social media, may we
all remember that God is bigger and greater and more mysterious than us, and
God calls us to live and be free. Free from hatred and prejudice, free from
bonds of whatever binds us, and free from our own self-pity and doubt.
Dear
people of God, may you experience what it means to be truly alive. May you
experience your freedom and identity as a follower of the risen Christ in new
and awesome ways this week. But most importantly may you go to Egypt, wherever
that is for you. May you free people who are bound by the slavery of sin and
death, may you free people to live and love and feel the warmth of God’s grace.
So that when someone asks, and are we yet alive, we may give a resounding yes.
We may give a resounding yes and be free. All glory, honor, and power be to the
one who was, who is, and who is to come. Amen.
