Exodus & Call (part 1)

Sermon Intro

WHERE ARE WE IN THE NARRATIVE?

Creation & Fall Genesis 1-11

Humans are made to live in the presence of God and in relationship with one another and with all of creation.

The Family of Faith Genesis 12-50

Get outside! Look up! (A visual aid of stars in the night sky… a reminder of the generations promised to a childless couple)

Abram & Sarai —> Abraham & Sarah (12-25) (NO KIDS)

Isaac (21-35)

Jacob & Esau (25-36)

Jacob & Leah, Rachel, Bilhah & Zilpah

Leah: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar & Zebulun

Rachel: Joseph & Benjamin

Rachel’s servant Bilhah: Dan & Naphtali

Leah’s servant Zilpah: Gad & Asher

Joseph (37-50)

Goes to Egypt which results in all of Jacob’s sons, Israel’s sons, ending up in Egypt seeking safety from famine, a place to flourish. (KIDS, KIDS, and more KIDS)

Eventually though, all those kids begin to trouble the powers that be in Egypt. Exodus 1:8

Exodus 1:8–11 NIV

8 Then a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt. 9 “Look,” he said to his people, “the Israelites have become far too numerous for us. 10 Come, we must deal shrewdly with them or they will become even more numerous and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the country.” 11 So they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor, and they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh.

400 years of oppression & slavery

Israel’s Exodus & Call Exodus

Enter Moses - birth, raised in Pharoah’s house, burning bush, etc

Plagues - 9 have already happened when we pick up our reading. The 10th (and worst) has been announced in Exodus 11, but has not happened yet.

Plagues have been sent by Yahweh to convince Pharoah to just let the Israelites go. Blood, frogs, gnats, flies, livestock, boils, hail, locusts, darkness… and now the firstborn

We’re told this is happening during a new month… which means a new moon. Which means that the stars are shining the brightest without competition from the moon. Do the people hearing what we’re about to hear remember the covenant made to Abraham? The invitation to get outside and look up and remember the promise God made to make him a NATION? Do they realize that they are part of the fulfilment of the promise God made to Abraham all those years and generations ago?

Would you stand as we hear Jeremy read from Exodus 12 and 13?

Reading

Exodus 12:1–7 NIV

1 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt, 2 “This month is to be for you the first month, the first month of your year. 3 Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household. 4 If any household is too small for a whole lamb, they must share one with their nearest neighbor, having taken into account the number of people there are. You are to determine the amount of lamb needed in accordance with what each person will eat. 5 The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect, and you may take them from the sheep or the goats. 6 Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month, when all the members of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight. 7 Then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs.

Exodus 12:8–11 NIV

8 That same night they are to eat the meat roasted over the fire, along with bitter herbs, and bread made without yeast. 9 Do not eat the meat raw or boiled in water, but roast it over a fire—with the head, legs and internal organs. 10 Do not leave any of it till morning; if some is left till morning, you must burn it. 11 This is how you are to eat it: with your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand. Eat it in haste; it is the Lord’s Passover.

Exodus 12:12–14 NIV

12 “On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn of both people and animals, and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the Lord. 13 The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt. 14 “This is a day you are to commemorate; for the generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord—a lasting ordinance.

Exodus 13:1–2 NIV

1 The Lord said to Moses, 2 “Consecrate to me every firstborn male. The first offspring of every womb among the Israelites belongs to me, whether human or animal.”

Exodus 13:3–8 NIV

3 Then Moses said to the people, “Commemorate this day, the day you came out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery, because the Lord brought you out of it with a mighty hand. Eat nothing containing yeast. 4 Today, in the month of Aviv, you are leaving. 5 When the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Hivites and Jebusites—the land he swore to your ancestors to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey—you are to observe this ceremony in this month: 6 For seven days eat bread made without yeast and on the seventh day hold a festival to the Lord. 7 Eat unleavened bread during those seven days; nothing with yeast in it is to be seen among you, nor shall any yeast be seen anywhere within your borders. 8 On that day tell your son, ‘I do this because of what the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt.’

This is the Word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

Sermon

For everyone -

with provisions made so that everyone can participate

Here’s something that applies to everyone. But also, here’s intructions about accommodating those who don’t fit in the “normative pattern”

A meal that tells a story

set in a real moment - a meal without the luxury of time

Exodus 12:11 NIV

11 This is how you are to eat it: with your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand. Eat it in haste; it is the Lord’s Passover.

a commemoration… or something yet to happen!

Exodus 12:14 NIV

14 “This is a day you are to commemorate; for the generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord—a lasting ordinance.

a family story - “tell your son” but also an invitation for next generations to ENTER THE STORY

Exodus 13:3 (NIV)

3 Then Moses said to the people, “Commemorate this day, the day you came out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery, because the Lord brought you out of it with a mighty hand.

Passover isn’t Eucharist - and yet!

Some similarities - and some connections:

Eucharist is for everyone - provision has been made

A meal that tells a story - that is still in process

looks back (memorial)

acknowledges the present

rooted in a future that is yet to come to pass (hope)

Gordon T. Smith p 94, 95, 97

Table

WORDS OF INVITATION

Look, here is the Lord’s Table spread as for a feast. Bread for breaking, wine poured for drinking: signs of his love and hospitality, symbols of his life broken, his blood poured out.

He is not dead! He is risen and present among us, evidence of God’s covenant grace and promise. So we come in faith to the table, you and I, companions on the journey.

Some of us fresh and eager, others weary, in need of nourishment. All of us conscious of our failings. (ways we have not kept covenant)

Come now, don’t hesitate, the feast is ready and the Lord himself invites you.

WE COVENANT

Creating and redeeming God, we give you thanks and praise. Your covenant of grace was made for our salvation in Jesus Christ our Lord. We come this day to covenant with you and with companion disciples: to watch over each other and to walk together before you in ways known and still to be made known. Pour your Spirit upon us. Help us so to walk in your ways that the promises we make this day, and the life that we live together, may become an offering of love, our duty and delight truly glorifying to you – Father Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

This day, we give ourselves again to the Lord and to each other to be bound together in fellowship, and to work together in the unity of the Spirit for the sake of God’s mission.

WE REMEMBER

It was the night of the Passover, and Jesus and his friends were sharing supper together. While they eating he told them that one of them would betray him. They were appalled and protested saying, ‘Not I Lord, I would never betray you.’ Jesus took some bread, gave thanks, broke it and gave it to them saying, ‘Take this and eat. This is my body.’ He took the cup of wine and after giving thanks passed it among them, saying as they drank, ‘This is my blood of the covenant. It is poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. I will not drink again until the day comes when I drink with you in my father’s Kingdom.’ As the story is told (or immediately after) the person presiding breaks the bread and pours the wine.

PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING

Creating and redeeming God, we give you thanks and praise for your covenant of grace: a covenant expressed in sinful people who know forgiveness, the weary who are refreshed, the hungry who are nourished, the captives who are set free and the oppressed who experience liberation. Thank you that you chose to make us a part of your story. Thank you for Jesus Christ who revealed your love in his death and resurrection and who continues to share his life with us through bread and wine. Thank you for sending the Holy Spirit who sustains us in our walk together, helping us to watch over each other, to pray for one another, and to work together for justice and truth.

As we eat this bread and drink from the cup, (signs of hospitality and grace), may we be empowered to serve boldly wherever you may call.

Accept these prayers and our heartfelt thanksgiving in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

WE SHARE

The bread

One people, one loaf, a sign of our common faith and testimony to the generosity of our Lord Jesus Christ. Take this loaf, food for faith, and feed on it with thanksgiving.

The wine

One people, one cup, a sign of the new covenant poured out for you and for many. It is a covenant sealed by his blood. When we drink we must be thankful and agree together never to forget.

WE JOURNEY

Holy God, we have been nourished and had our thirst quenched, through bread broken and wine poured in thanksgiving for your Son Jesus Christ. Send us out to be as generous to those we meet this week, that we might show through word and deed that he is not dead, but risen and present among us. Hallelujah! Amen.

Prayers of the People

refrain:

Help us to trust that

Your goodness will lead us home.