Being Saved From Ourselves, pt. 2

Exodus 15.22-26

22 Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea and they went into the Desert of Shur. For three days they traveled in the desert without finding water. 23 When they came to Marah, they could not drink its water because it was bitter. 24 So the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What are we to drink?”

25 Then Moses cried out to the Lord, and the Lordshowed him a piece of wood. He threw it into the water, and the water became fit to drink.

There the Lord issued a ruling and instruction for them and put them to the test. 26 He said, “If you listen carefully to the Lord your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, who healsyou.”

Video for this Service can be viewed @: January 16, 2022

NewDay Friends,

To this day one of my favorite films is The Matrix—my fan fare is limited to the first film only. Years ago I was working for Prodigal Human Services, a nonprofit that had a focus on addiction recovery. The Matrix was a tool for conversation for group sessions where clients checked-in and described how their week actually went. The scene from the film that struck a cord with the groups was, without fail, where Morpheus offers Neo the ‘red pill or the blue pill’. As Neo reaches for the red pill, Morpheus says, ‘Remember, all I offer is the truth, and nothing more.’ If you have seen the film you know this is the point where Neo, played by Keana Reeves, is ripped from the ‘computer-generated dream world’, that is the Matrix, and finds himself finally unplugged in a human farm where machines are harvesting he and millions of others for fuel! If you are not a fan of sci-fi, viewers tend to drop off about here. But in the context of addiction, clients were quick to identify that scene as what the journey of recovery felt like—a falling into what was really true about their world.  

I imagine that the level of exposure and truth about who we are is not far from what many American Christians are feeling in these days. Watching on the news or knowing of friends who charged the U.S. Capitol —some with the cross of Jesus in hand— might be cause to reflect if we too have bought into a version of the gospel story that lacks coherence, truth or love. 

My mentor, teacher and all around hilarious British scholar John Goldingay writes, ‘It is of the essence of Israel to be a people with a story—irreducibly it is a group that has a common story.’ Over and over again in the Bible the people are reminded, told to remember, given rituals of remembering, and as the pages turn, readers of the Bible often notice echoes of previous stories of God’s work with the people. The point of all this repetition, as any parent or teacher knows, is so the people listen! Not just know in their heads, but rather, live in light of the truth concerning God’s world and their role in it. Jesus clarifies the trajectory of God’s hope for humanity—but notice how familiar Matthew 1-4 is set next to Exodus 1-4. God loves retelling stories, like a grandparent telling a little one for the 100th time why Llama Llama’s pajamas are red! The Bible patiently reminds us of key themes if we hang with it. My hope is sermons do a similar thing, they are a retelling. 

peace.

Dave Rinker 

Study Notes

As you reflect or study this week ask yourself: 

What do I believe, understand, know about the story the Bible tells? (Get specific and write something down. Open the Bible, read a bit.)

How does Jesus fit into all of this? (Notice what he embodies and shows you about God’s love)

Where do I fit into all of this? (Ask God to draw certain truths to your attention)

Genesis 1-3, 9
Exodus 12, 15-17
Leviticus 19
Deuteronomy 6
Isaiah 43, 55
Matthew 1-5.1
Luke 10.25-37
John 13
Ephesians 1
James 1