PROPERS: 3 LENT, YEAR A
TEXT: COLLECT OF THE DAY, EXODUS 17:1-7
PREACHED AT HOLY TRINITY, PENSACOLA, ON SUNDAY, MARCH 15, 2020.
ONE SENTENCE: We are accompanied by the Lord when we go through valleys of life.
As you know, this past week has been unusual. I wrote one sermon early in the week – a sermon I would have been happy to preach – but the events of the week demanded that I write a different sermon.
And it demanded that I focus on an entirely different text. Circumstances require it.
It makes sense. We are in the midst of Lent – based on the 40 days and 40 nights our Lord spent in the wilderness. In a much more real sense than usual, we are in a wilderness, too.
The first lesson resonates so profoundly with our current place. Moses is in the midst of the Exodus with the Hebrews. They have left “the fleshpots of Egypt” to wander for years in the parched, dry wilderness which separates Egypt from the Land of Promise.
The people complain bitterly to Moses. They are thirsty. They need water to sustain them in their meandering. So, Moses appeals to God, and God tells him to strike a rock with his staff. Moses does, and water flows plenteously for the people. Their thirst is quenched.
But that does not answer the larger question. The final verse of the lesson notes: “He called the place Massah and Meribah, because the Israelites quarreled and tested the Lord, saying, ‘Is the Lord among us or not?’”
A pertinent question today. Is the Lord among us or not?
Add to that transcendent question, which has been asked by Jews and Christians throughout the millennia, the collect for today:
Almighty God, you know that we have no power in ourselves to help ourselves: Keep us both outwardly in our bodies and inwardly in our souls, that we may be defended from all adversities which may happen to the body, and from all evil thoughts which may assault and hurt the soul; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
We have no power in ourselves to help ourselves. Whereas the Hebrews felt alone, hungry, thirsty and isolated, our world is closing-in on us as an invisible, easily-transmitted pathogen is creeping in our midst.
Nursing homes are closed. Meetings are cancelled. Communion practice is altered. Letters are issued by church leaders. Sporting events are postponed. We maintain our distance from one another. Fellowship is attenuated. Handshakes are discouraged.
With human anxiety and our innate instincts of self-preservation being what they are, we have a sense of wandering in the wilderness of the unknown. We feel that way, in spite of our relative safety and comfort. The unknown hangs over us.
It is all very understandable.
But… but…
Keep in mind that we have passed this way before – as individuals, and as a human race.
You, as individuals, have been through trials of various types. Some involved deaths of loved ones. There have been serious illnesses. Perhaps you have known disappointments in important relationships. Maybe you have known personal struggles which you have shared with no one else.
Those and others are the price of being human. You are surrounded by sisters and brothers who have known the same or similar.
As a human race, we can look in the historical record and name countless wilderness experiences. The Black Death of the 14th Century. Wars and tumults. The Spanish Flu. The Holocaust.
In each and every one of these circumstances, personal or global, we could rationally ask the question: Is the Lord among us or not? Life itself could be named Massah and Meribah.
In each circumstance, we have indeed had no power in ourselves to help ourselves. But, we have done what we could.
First, we should note that it is in the strength of the Body that we find God’s presence. We are sisters and brothers, walking through this wilderness together. God does not leave us desolate. Remember: The Hebrews were a peoplewandering in the Wilderness.
Second, acting in wisdom is the thing we can do as a people. We can assess the risks, take prudent action, be cautious, and be assured that in hope is our strength.
A manifest truth which we claim as people of faith: We are never alone. We are always accompanied by the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob… the God of Moses… and we stand side-by-side with the one who spent 40 days and nights in the desert.
Our recessional hymn last week was one of my favorites and expresses a sound theology. It is hymn 637. The third verse includes this statement of faith:
"When through the deep waters I call thee to go,
the rivers of woe shall not thee overflow;
for I will be with thee, thy troubles to bless,
and sanctify to thee thy deepest distress.”
the rivers of woe shall not thee overflow;
for I will be with thee, thy troubles to bless,
and sanctify to thee thy deepest distress.”
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