Is
God with us or not? Is God with me or not? Is God with you or not? How many of
us have asked, begged, shouted, and even cried some version of that very
question? In our deepest sorrows and our most confused moments this is the question:
God, are you really there? And if we do get an answer, how do we know it’s
really God?
Having
lived in Canada as a small child, and knowing ice hockey has become a sport
people in the states follow as well, I think of this joke when I wonder if God
is with us. You’ve probably heard it as it’s been around for years. A guy goes
ice fishing. He starts to saw a hole in the ice and a voice booms out, “There
are no fish under the ice.” Startled, the guy moves on to another place on the
ice and tries again. Again the voice booms, “There are no fish under the ice.”
So the guy tries it a third time, and the same thing happens. “There are no
fish under the ice.” Shaken, by this time, the guy on the ice yells in a loud
but trembling voice, “Are you God?” You know the reply: “No. I’m the rink
keeper.”
So
how do we tell whether it’s God or the rink keeper in those cold moments when
we stand shivering and wondering? I wish I could give you the USA Today answer:
“Ten ways to tell it’s really God.” That’s what the Israelites wanted to know
in our Exodus reading this morning. Despite their history with God and with
Moses as their leader, they want to know for sure. And who can blame them?
Now remember, though,
that when the story we hear today occurs, the Israelites have been rescued from
slavery and oppression in Egypt. God has turned bitter water to sweet. Thus
proving neither God’s power nor his servant Moses’ power has been weakened by
the location change from Egypt to the wilderness. After that, comes manna in
the wilderness. And then there’s the whining. Better to live in slavery than to
die of starvation in the wilderness. Better to have empty pockets instead of
the Egyptian’s jewels. Better to have waited for the bread to rise before
scrambling out of town. Never mind the complaining about everything else that
surely must have gone on. All these things have happened and yet the question
is still, “Is the LORD among us or not?”
Know this: when the
Israelites experienced the presence of God, it was sometimes pleasant and other
times not so pleasant. Following God into the wilderness is not always life in
the living room after church sipping coffee and laughing with friends.
Following God in the wilderness sometimes means scrambling to hold onto the
rock and scooping up the living water into your thirst dried mouth. Yes,
sometimes it means no cup. It means bending down and putting your mouth right on
the rock.
In our exodus together so far, and in
the months to come until I leave and your new rector arrives, what do you need
to answer the question, “Is the LORD among us or not?”
Think of the past
for a moment. When have you known the presence of the LORD in this place? That
is what you will want to bring with you when you attend one of our All-Parish
Gatherings. Join with me now in thinking of a time when you experienced God
being in this place. A time when you were most aware, most fulfilled, most
excited, about God being in this place.
Keep those
thoughts, those times, those moments of joy and gladness, or sorrow and
sadness, when God was in the midst of this place for you and for others.
Because this is what yields God’s people in this place to go forth from this
place and welcome others into the presence of the Lord.
The Israelites’
wandering in the wilderness brought forth a people who could and can articulate
how God was present for them. The Israelites’ wandering gave them a way to
express how God was and is present for them in both their greatest difficulties
and their greatest joys. Finally, their tribulations fashioned them into a
people who were dependent on God’s providence alone. They knew they must do all
they did with God as companion and guide.
These will be the
gifts of our wilderness. Our wandering in the wilderness will bring forth a people
who can and will articulate how God was and is present for us. Our wandering will
give us new ways to express how God was and is present for us in both our
greatest difficulties and our greatest joys. Finally, our tribulations and our
joys are fashioning us into a people who are dependent on God’s providence
alone; a people who know we must do all
we do with God as companion and guide.[1]
AMEN.
The
Rev Nicolette Papanek
©2017
[1] I am
indebted to an article from politicaltheology.com, The Politics of Water: Exodus 17:1-7 by Timothy Simpson, accessed
online on 09 September 2017. And, to a number of other writers on this
particular story of Exodus none of whom I can now remember. I thank them all
and trust I have properly honored their work in my own words.
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