How To Renew A Covenant

Exodus 34:1-10

34 The Lord said to Moses, “Chisel out two stone tablets like the first ones, and I will write on them the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke. 2 Be ready in the morning, and then come up on Mount Sinai. Present yourself to me there on top of the mountain. 3 No one is to come with you or be seen anywhere on the mountain; not even the flocks and herds may graze in front of the mountain.”

4 So Moses chiseled out two stone tablets like the first ones and went up Mount Sinai early in the morning, as the Lord had commanded him; and he carried the two stone tablets in his hands. 5 Then the Lord came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed his name, the Lord. 6 And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, 7 maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.”

8 Moses bowed to the ground at once and worshiped. 9 “Lord,” he said, “if I have found favor in your eyes, then let the Lord go with us. Although this is a stiff-necked people, forgive our wickedness and our sin, and take us as your inheritance.”

10 Then the Lord said: “I am making a covenant with you. Before all your people I will do wonders never before done in any nation in all the world. The people you live among will see how awesome is the work that I, the Lord, will do for you.

Video for this Service can be viewed @ February 27, 2022

“An interpreter is a decipherer and communicator of meanings. She is a translator between languages, between cultures and between preformative conventions. She is, in essence’, an executant, one who ‘acts out’ the material before her so as to give it intelligible life.” (George Steiner, Real Presences)

NewDay Friends,

It has been a real joy to work through Exodus over Zoom on Wednesday nights with friends. Last night we ‘finished’ as Moses ‘finished’ the building of God’s mobile home in Exodus 40. The scene shifts to the book of Leviticus where God ‘calls’ from the tent—this is the Hebrew title of Leviticus, “Calling”. The people are called over and over again to be holy as God is holy, to love their neighbors because God loved them while they were slaves in Egypt. Friends, God is calling. God is inviting NewDay into deep connection with self, neighbor and the community. I’m convinced.

After ending the meeting I had about two minutes before the bedtime ritual began with our boys. I felt overwhelmed with gratitude for the time with others, their voices and the way God shined through them.

As you listen and learn this week take some time to look as well. Notice the face of God in others, reminding yourself that we are all image bearers. Humans are the cracked iconography of God, needing some restoration, needing Jesus. This is why the Bible is so upset with idols and images of God—that’s the human job description: to reflect God’s image into the world.

peace.
Dave Rinker
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For further study on this week's message:

Genesis 1.26-3, 9, 15
Exodus 32-34, 40
Leviticus 1, 19
Deuter 29-30
Joshua 5
1 Kings 11-12, 19
Isaiah 54
Jeremiah 31
Ezekiel 1, 36-37
Hosea 1
Matthew 6, 25
Mark 6, 9
John 1 (correction on the sermon: Dave said ‘tabernacle’ was a Greek word, it’s actually a Latin word translators of the Bible like to use and the word John uses for Jesus in verse 14 is a Hebrew loan word that ends up looking like this, SKENE. The root s-k-n is what makes up the Hebrew term for God’s dwelling and presence Sh-Ko-N. For all the nerds)
Colossians 1
Revelation 21