"Our Daily Bread"

Exodus 16:2-7 (NRSV): The whole congregation of the Israelites complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. 3 The Israelites said to them, "If only we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the fleshpots and ate our fill of bread; for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger." 4 Then the Lord said to Moses, "I am going to rain bread from heaven for you, and each day the people shall go out and gather enough for that day. In that way I will test them, whether they will follow my instruction or not. 5 On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather on other days." 6 So Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites, "In the evening you shall know that it was the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, 7 and in the morning you shall see the glory of the Lord, because he has heard your complaining against the Lord. For what are we, that you complain against us?" "Our Daily Bread" It strikes me as I hear the words from this passage in Exodus, recorded so long ago regarding a far-away people in a far off land, just how much they continue to speak to us today. Much of Scripture has a timeless essence to it, if we delve into it, but texts like this one are in a bit of a category by themselves in terms of their (dare I say) relevance. The Exodus, after which this book is named, was a time of huge disruption in the lives of the Hebrews. For a long time now, they had been settled, both literally and figuratively in a foreign land. It was not their home, but, over time, they had made it "homey" enough so that they were, shall we say, content. Now I'll admit that it is hard for me to imagine how anyone could find contentment in slavery, but then again, I don't have a frame of reference for beginning to understand. The lives of the Hebrews residing in Egypt, had become increasingly difficult under successive Pharaohs and their burdensome decrees. Yet, still, there seemed to be a sense of "settledness", of acceptance that this is the way things were and would remain, at least for the foreseeable future. And then along comes this Moses character who, at the direction of the God of the Israelites, really upsets the applecart. The Egyptians probably thought they had seen the last of him when he fled from the region after killing an overseer on account of the way he was treating Hebrew slaves. But, like a bad penny, and probably against his own better judgment, on account of God's prodding, here he comes again. He's a man on a mission and that mission is to convince the leader of the Egyptians to release all the Israelites. The emancipation which he lobbied for and which was granted by Pharaoh, again at the prodding of this same God, was, as one might expect, met with jubilation, initially. But it didn't take very long before some of the recently freed folks began to less-than-thrilled with their new circumstances. So, how does that equate to what's happening around these parts in our time? The way I see it, the pandemic has been for us - our region, our nation, and the world, really, a watershed event. It has been a defining moment in human history that has created a new era. Everything before was pre-Corona and everything since is post-Corona. Perhaps not everything, but nearly everything, it seems, has changed in some way or another in 2020. So, we are living through as tumultuous time as the Israelites did during the Exodus. And like the Israelites, we are getting a bit stir crazy. We have been dumped out of whatever comfort zone we had been in prior to the start of this year, whether it was a comfortable or a not-so-comfortable comfort zone. Now we find ourselves in a new landscape. Many things may look similar to the way they did, but with only slight differences. As Moses led his people across the Red Sea, they were seeing the same water, but from the other bank. It looked familiar, but somehow, slightly different. And that's the way I find myself feeling as we slog through 2020. This disorienting movement occurred with little warning, so the people didn't have much time to prepare themselves. It was a case of adaptation without anticipation. Suddenly they found themselves in very different circumstances, and the same is true of us. And like the ancient Hebrews, in the process of adaptation, we find ourselves given over to complaining. "We don't like the food here", Moses heard the people of God say. "It's dry and dusty and we've got sand in our hair, our eyes, our ears, our noses, our mouths, and our whatever else". "We've been walking and walking and walking, and we don't seem like we're making much progress..." "You want some cheese with that whine?", Moses must have been ready to ask. God's response was to send some manna to go with that whine. As bothersome as the murmuring was to him, Moses realized that the people's ingratitude was probably beginning to become irksome to the ears of the LORD, and that, he rightly reasoned, could lead to some really big, big problems. And so again, I would submit to you, my dear brothers and sisters in Christ, we may see parallels with our own circumstances. Yes, things are, generally, much lousier this year than last. Yes, we can hardly wait to bid 2020 adieu, for it's been a real dud. Life is all kinds of disrupted. And we don't appreciate it. I get that. In fact I can give all that a big ole "Amen." But...just because things are not going our way, we ought not to be failing to find (to quote a song from Christian radio), "10,000 reasons for my heart to say, bless the Lord, O My Soul, worship His holy name." An amen, of sorts, to the Psalmist who urged himself and his people to "Bless the Lord... and forget not all his benefits" Even when they didn't deserve it, God provided bread from the heavens for His people to sustain them on their journey. Even though we don't deserve it, God continues to supply us our daily bread and see to all our other needs as well, to sustain us on our journey. In the midst of their time and accompanying complaining in the wilderness of Sinai, God was faithful to His people. In the midst of our time and accompanying complaining in our wilderness of Corona, God continues to be faithful to His people. As it was for the Hebrews who were displaced from Egypt, I would argue that it is sometimes a challenge for we who have been displaced from the lives we knew just over a half year ago to be a grateful people. For we are on a journey to a place we haven't been before, faced with obstacles we've never had to confront until now. It is not hard to see all the hurdles that have been freshly placed and to notice the threats and the inconveniences of these days. But, just as with the folks Moses was shepherding in our Old Testament reading, the question begs to be asked, "What's a faithful response from a people of faith?" We can't change the course of the pandemic. We can't snap our fingers and create a vaccine or a cure - all those things are beyond our ability to control. But what is certainly not outside our ability to control are the ways in which we respond to the situation. We can choose to be the grumpy, curmudgeons often depicted in the accounts from the Exodus period, seeing only the negative and wallowing in self-pity and lashing out in anger - or we can do what I believe Moses was advocating - and that is to remember who we are and whose we are. In times like those and in times like these, I think we face an existential identity crisis. I am convinced that the current global virus has been impacting more than just the bodies of its victims, but also the minds and hearts of those it has touched - both directly and indirectly. I refer to this as Covid craziness. Its when otherwise good, well-intentioned people get all kina out of sorts for no apparent nor particular reason. And I don't know about you, but I see it happening all around me and just about all the time anymore. The good news in all of this is that, though there may be no antidote for the virus, there is an antidote for the unfaithful response. Just as Moses called the people to repent, I believe we are all in need of the very same turning - turning from being wrapped up in our own disappointment, impatience, and self-pity and turning back to appreciating God for His enduring love and continuing providence. When our gaze is averted from self and placed back on God, we are living more faithfully into our calling to be in the world but not of the world, as Paul would write long after Moses slept with his ancestors. And, it seems to me, we could all use some more of that. Sure, its pretty easy to see that the world is going to perdition in a handbasket. But, we, church, we have to control that which we can control. As many better educated and spoken people have observed in the past, the change that we want to see begins with us. Just as the people of God who found themselves in a place where there was little food were provided for by God, we, too, receive our daily bread from a Heavenly Father who continues to see to all our needs because he loves us. Of course it goes way beyond the basic staples, food, clothing, shelter. Why He's even won for us a victory over sin and death! And still, we obsess over living in the past and complain about the present. It doesn't have to be that way, and I would argue that Moses didn't think it should be that way, but he was fighting an uphill battle. Even with the miraculous life saving and life sustaining gift of daily bread from the heavens, the people weren't content - they weren't grateful. So my challenge, to myself and to you, my brothers and sisters in Christ - especially in these days - is to be a bit less critical and a bit more thankful. After all, God has not changed throughout all of history. He still cares for us; he still provides for us in ways that outnumber the sand on the beach or the stars in the skies. And for that I hope we may continue to say, thanks be to God. 2