October 1 2023 WILDERNESS LIVING 6. "Water From Stone"

Readings: Psalm 78, 1-4,12-16, Philippians 2:1-13, Matthew 21:23-32, Exodus 17:1-7
Preached at Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church, NY, on October 1 2023

Over the past few weeks in our “Wilderness Living” sermon series we have been following the Israelite's journey to their promised land. We began with the birth of Moses, his miraculous deliverance, his coming to terms with who he was and what God was calling him to do. We saw how after a series of plagues, Pharaoh let the people go, only to pursue them to the banks of the Red Sea, and witness again, a mighty act of God that saw the Hebrews safe on the other side.

Then they begin their trek through the desert. They complain to Moses that they are in danger of starving. God again supplies what they need, and they are given bread from heaven to feast upon. But man cannot live by bread alone. You also need a water supply. And one thing that there is a lack of in the desert is... a water supply!

Predictably, the Israelite's begin to complain again. “Give us something to drink, Moses... or else.” Everybody is getting a little edgy. It’s been a long journey and there were as many obstacles ahead of them as there were behind them.

I’m sure we can identify with that picture. It sometimes feels as though we get through one difficult situation only to find that there’s another problem rearing its ugly head. We think we’ve solved the problem and then… another dilemma presents itself that is just as hard to figure out how to deal with. One step forward, two steps back. It can be like that in our personal lives, and it can be like that in our lives together as faith communities.

It wears you down. It doesn’t matter if you are a follower or a leader, this feeling that no matter what you do, you are still going to have to keep fighting through creates a lot of pressure, and when people become stressed, it is often only a little step before that anxiety can turn to anger and even violence.

In our reading the Hebrew people in the wilderness are just about at breaking point. They are in the desert and at their current resting place, a camp in Rephidim, there is nothing to drink.  This time they are not just asking Moses to provide what they need, they are threatening to pelt him with rocks if he doesn’t come up with a solution.

And Moses himself hasn’t got as much patience as he had the last time they started to complain. He doesn’t calm things down any by reprimanding the people, for criticizing him, and in the process testing God.

So, when Moses goes to ask God for help, there is a very personal element involved. He doesn’t ask God for water. He asks Him for protection and safety. His concern is not just for the people, it is for his personal survival. “What shall I do with this people?” he asks God “They’re threatening to throw rocks at me!”

What we witness is one of those beautiful turn around moments that appear quite frequently in the Hebrew narratives. God, being God, has everything under control. What appeared to be a major crisis was about to be turned into a blessing. The Israelite's were about to be given yet another sign that the Lord their God was with them.

As with the manna that fell from heaven, it’s an unusual sign that they are offered. At first glance it seems to involve the sort of ‘trickery’ that would make Harry Potter proud. Moses is to take his stick, strike a rock that was at a place called Horeb and water would come flowing out from it. Lest there be any doubt that this was a genuine miracle, Moses is to take the elders of the people along with him, so the leaders of the peoples get to examine the rock, observe the events and testify to the people. Picture the scene…Moses as the magician… resplendent in Top Hat and cloak.

“I’d like to invite one of the audience here tonight to come and examine this rock.  As you can see, ladies and gentleman, this is just a normal rock, solid granite through and through. You can check around the edges, on the top, underneath, there are no secret catches, latches or hatches, this rock is rock solid, solid rock, 100% rock, with no creases, or cracks or other un-rock like characteristics.  And now, prepared to be in awe. I take this stick, I smash it on the rock, and “Voila- Woosh” water from the Rock!” Hurrah, Hurrah! Then he takes off his hat and wanders into the audience seeking donations :-)

Ridiculous illustrations aside, what happens is that the people are turned from seeing rock as something they could use to hurt with Moses with, to rock as a sign of God’s presence in a thirsty land.

Are there any things we can take from this passage to encourage us as we journey through the contradictory experiences life brings our way? I’d like to share two thoughts about the never ending faithfulness of God.

•    Firstly… God is ahead of us.
•    Secondly… God is a God of transformation.

God is ahead of us.

The words of Exodus17:6 are important in understanding this event. The Lord says to Moses, “I will be standing there in front of you on the rock at Horeb". God was still their God and they were still God’s people. Even though they complained and quarreled and fretted and worried… God was not about to give up on them!

God is here described as not being alongside us, or above us, or behind us, but “in front of you.” The God who goes ahead and prepares the way. The God who knows what is around the next corner and knows the way through. The God who is always ahead of us.

It is hard to look forward when the troubles of the day cause our heads to hang low. It is hard to think of future blessings when present troubles fill our agenda. When the sky turns black, and the thunder rolls and the rains start to fall, we are not thinking about sunny days in the future, we’re just trying to stay dry and stay safe from the storm.  

Scripture tells us that God was not in the rock, but on the rock. God was ahead of them. God viewed the bigger picture There is a whole other sermon in there. When you’re standing on the rock you see possibilities that those who are standing on the sand will never see! We’ll have to save that message for another time, but the important thing right then was that they knew they hadn’t been abandoned. They could move on in faith, as long as they kept their heads held high.

As we face the many trying circumstances that come our way, the way forward is not to look for somebody to throw stones at or somebody to blame! Nor is it to assume that the presence of problems equates to an absence of God’s activity. Rather this is a call to trust that God’s love is here and now, leading us, guiding us, in front of us… always ahead of us! Because… that changes everything. The second thing we see in this story is that…

God is a God of transformation.

In John 4:14 Jesus meets a woman by a well in Samaria. The woman is between a rock and a hard place. She needs a transformation. Jesus tells her;  “Those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life." And we are told elsewhere that the water He was speaking about was the Holy Spirit. Through her encounter with Jesus Christ, she truly is changed, and her life would never be the same again.

The most powerful imagery in this chapter is the contrast between the rock of the desert and the water that flows to bring life. Under the touch of God, stone is transformed into refreshment. It speaks of how the hard and bitter and dry places of our lives can become places where we experience God’s life and love.

Did you notice that Moses had to strike the rock before any water came out? I don’t intend suggesting that we go around hitting each other with sticks in order to release the blessings of God. That we become some weird cult. “So, what church do you belong to?” “Oh, Presbyterian of ‘Hit ‘em with a stick’ in Bridgehampton.”

But… is it not true…that the hard knocks that life throws at us refine our faith in ways the good times fail to do? That it is the storms that we travel through that make us truly appreciate the daily blessings that surround our lives?

Wilderness times will come our way. In the wilderness the Israelite's wanted to know, “Moses, Is God still with us? Or are we going to die of thirst out here?” Moses himself was fearful that God had only bought them so far and now had left them to work it all out for themselves.

Time and time again the experience of faithful people has been that when they thought there was no way forward, the love of God came through for them. God takes situations that outwardly seemed hopeless and somehow everything is turned around as they put their faith in God’s ability to transform situations of desperation into opportunities for new life.

Was there ever a more desolate place than the cross?  The cross of Calvary, upon which Jesus was crucified, has become for the church a symbol of faith. God took the hard place and used it as a means of blessing. God took that bitter hour and bathed it in glorious light as the stone rolled away from the tomb and the church ever since has declared Jesus Christ as the ‘Rock of Ages’ from whom love and grace now flow freely.

"Rock of Ages, cleft for me, Let me hide myself in Thee;
Let the water and the blood, From Thy wounded side which flowed,
Be of sin the double cure, Save from wrath and make me pure."

When we share in communion, we use bread and wine. The elements of bread and wine represent that hard place. That place of crucifixion and death. Bread, a broken body, wine, blood that was shed. But those elements are bathed with resurrection glory. God raised Jesus from the dead and God will intervene when we are lost and broken.

Through this strange action of bringing water from the rock, the people received the assurance that God was still on their case. Through this account we are offered two wonderful pictures of the faithfulness of God.

Firstly… God is ahead of us. Whatever our present circumstances we are called to trust that God is the One who knows exactly where we are and has a way forward that Jesus calls us to follow. For sure we often hope the struggle is over and we can step away and relax. But life does not cooperate. There will always be new challenges to face, whatever stage of life we may have reached.

Secondly… God is a God of transformation. Wherever we are right now, is not where God would have us stay. It is the work of the Holy Spirit to transform and renew, to bring blessings to the hard places and extract from stone the living water of life.

Just as the Hebrews were turned from seeing rocks as something they could use to hurt Moses, to the rock as a sign of God’s presence in a thirsty land, may our hard places be turned to opportunities, and our hearts of stone be transformed to thanksgiving and generosity.  

So, remember this. God is before you, on the rock, seeing the way ahead and promising to guide you through it. As we place our trust in God, we are changed. We see new possibilities. We find strength for the journey. God’s Holy Spirit is sent as a promise that God can work in us, the transformation that our lives so desperately need.

To God be all glory.  AMEN.

The Rev Adrian J. Pratt B.D

September 24, 2023 WILDERNESS LIVING. 5. "Bread of Heaven"

Readings: Psalm 105: 1-6,37-45, Matthew 20:1-16, Philippians 1:21-30, Exodus 16:2-15
Preached at Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church, NY, September 24 2023

I admit it. When I am hungry, I’m a grouch. Blame it on the blood sugar, blame it on the stomach sending negative messages to the brain, blame it on my “I eat, therefore I am” nature, but (and my wife Yvonne will agree with me on this one, and that’s not something a husband can always say about a wife,) when I’m not a regular eater I become a complainer. A Big-Time Grouch.

Exodus16:2 tells us that ‘The whole congregation of the Israelites complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness.’ I read that and I’m thinking, “I don’t blame them. They were hungry!” I can “High Five” and say “AMEN” to folks with that kind of temperament. I suspect that if I’d been there I’d have been in the line to put my complaint to Moses and Aaron.

In a lot of ways they have a very legitimate complaint. Being slaves under the Pharaoh’s repressive regime, was no picnic, yet it was preferable to starving to death in the desert. Some commentators suggest that the people had forgotten how bad it was in Egypt and point to how nostalgia has a habit of glossing over the bad and making too much of the benefits, but, from this stomach’s perspective, I beg to disagree.

There are times when it’s O.K. to complain. You meet somebody and you ask them, “How’s things?”. They sigh and say, “Oh.. well.. I can’t complain .. and even if I did nobody wants to listen.” When people say “Can’t complain” sometimes what they really mean is, “You wouldn’t believe how cruddy life is right now, and I’m at my wits end and I really don’t know how I’m getting through.”

British people have often got this off to a fine art! The Australians call the British “Wingin’ Poms”, because some of my fellow country-folk have such a reputation for constant moaning and groaning, under the guise of saying  “Hey everything’s O.K, really, don’t worry”.

I think it’s in the movie about the Griswald’s European Vacation, that there’s a scene where one of the ex-Monty Python actors, Eric Idle gets knocked off his bicycle, then he falls over, then something else bad happens and all the time he just keeps saying, “Oh no. No problem. Quite all-right.” Or I think of that scene in Monty Python’s “Holy Grail” movie where the two knights are in combat and after one of them is almost totally dismembered, he says, “Oh no, just a flesh wound, I’ve had worse”.  

Nobody likes a complainer. People of all nationalities try and avoid making it look like they are complaining even when they are. Yet, in spite of all that, I maintain that there are times when complaining is legitimate. I think that if I were out in the desert, with a whole host of people facing starvation, without even catching a glimpse of the Promised Land I would feel I had grounds for filing a grievance.

From a human perspective it seems that getting mad at Moses and antagonizing Aaron would be justifiable. But, and I hate to say this, from a Divine perspective, their complaining was entirely the result of a lack of faith. Their problem isn’t that they had forgotten how bad it was in Egypt, but rather that they had forgotten how good God was in bringing them out from Egypt.

“God is Good.. all the Time
All the Time.. God is Good”

They failed to remember that this God who had led them into the wilderness, had, when they were in Egypt, heard their cries, seen their tears and acted on their behalf. They had lost sight of the fact that God still heard their fears, still saw their plight and was still acting on their behalf.

Being a disciple of Jesus Christ opens up to us options that are not available to people who don’t have faith. Become a disciple of Jesus Christ and you will unlock your life to a whole spectrum of possibilities. A disciple can, in any given situation, make a choice as to how they will view their circumstances. We can look at life from the human side, and find a whole lot to complain about, or we can look at things from a Divine perspective and discover whole areas of life in which we are called to exercise trust in God.

The community calls Moses and Aaron to account for themselves. “What are you doing, bringing us out here to starve?”  Did you pick up on the answer that they give the people? Moses firstly assures them that by the time evening came around they would know that the Lord God had led them out of Egypt. Then, Exodus 16:8 ‘Moses said, "When the LORD gives you meat to eat in the evening and your fill of bread in the morning, because the LORD has heard the complaining that you utter against Him - what are we? Your complaining is not against us but against the LORD."’

To complain about hunger and express legitimate fears was one thing. God had heard that complaint and was doing something about it. To suggest that the whole Exodus from Egypt had somehow been the work, not of any divine agent, but attributed to Moses and Aaron’s hands, that was the big mistake.

It may be flattering that the people considered Moses and Aaron capable of coming up with such a cunning plan, but the dark side of the picture is that it revealed the people had shifted their focus from trusting God, to trusting in each other. One thing is for sure. We can’t always be sure about each other.

Fact is we make compromises, we forget promises, we lose sight of what God calls us to be, and we need each others prayers and encouragement, because at times our service of God feels like a wilderness and we get hungry for something better and the temptation is always for us to look to each other rather than to God to meet our needs.

When we hear of pastors who fall by the wayside or Christian leaders found guilty of some misdemeanor we think, “How can people called by God turn out to be such rotten apples?”

Reformed theology suggests the reason is simply that we are all rotten apples, that aside from the love of God we are all hopeless cases, that for all of us, be we pastors, elders, deacons, youngsters, oldsters, rich or poor, male or female, black or white, whether we put our milk in the coffee before we put the coffee in the cup or whether we prefer to put the coffee in the cup before we put the milk in it, or if we like it with no milk at all... for all of us the natural inclination of our lives is to do anything but serve God and do God’s will.  

Presbyterian doctrine takes Grace seriously because it takes sin seriously. Somebody was once alleged to have said, “I didn’t know what sin was until I met a Presbyterian.” In our bulletin we put our “Prayer for Confession of Sin" and "Word of Assurance” way near the start of our service because we know that it doesn’t take us long, in the presence of God, to realize that we’ve messed up and need God’s renewing and forgiving, before we can get on with anything else in our lives.

Our final hymn this morning, “Guide me Oh thy great Jehovah, pilgrim through this barren land” contains that wonderful stanza, “Bread of Heaven, Bread of Heaven, Feed me till I want no more, Feed me till I want no more.” Over here in America I’m afraid you don’t sing this hymn with the same passion as some of your brothers and sisters over in Wales.

See, when the Welsh sing that hymn, it builds to a roof-raising climax. The first “Feed me till I want no more” is echoed by the tenors and basses, “Want no more”... that phrase is often held as long as whoever may be leading the singing can stand it, before it  crashes back down to earth with a resounding and resolute “Feed me till I want no more."

Quite what the significance is in that the Welsh seem to sing it as much at Rugby games as they do in chapel, I’ve never really analyzed, but I’m of the opinion that it’s got something to do with passion and feeling and the desire to be a winner – be it on a field of play or in the much less glamorous game of life.

The quails came. The Manna came. And the people turned to God in worship and in praise. They stopped complaining and they started rejoicing.  And, (wow!) what a change it can make in a persons life if they can move from being a complainer to being a proclaimer of the Good News that Jesus Christ died for our sins, was raised that we might have abundant life and that the Holy Spirit of God can nurture our lives as though we were feeding on  “Bread from Heaven.”  So what’s it going to be? Complainer or Proclaimer?

As a church what a difference it makes when we can shift our focus from what we can do to what God can do.  As a body of God’s people in this place, what a difference it can make when we face our challenges not as ‘Cause for complaints’ but as “Opportunities to experience the Grace of God”. So what’s it going to be? Complainer or Proclaimer?

Of course we have bills to pay. Of course we have physical needs. But where are we finding the resources to meet that challenge? Are we making the same mistakes the Israelite's did in the Wilderness? Trying to find somebody to blame when actually the problem is we’ve lost sight of trusting in God?

It is much easier to ‘murmur and complain’ than take up the challenge of carrying a Cross in Jesus name. There is nothing radical in pretending that everything’s all right when there are some things that are wrong and need putting right. I’m not suggesting to anybody that we should put a brave face on things and carry with us some vague hope that we’ll get by in the end.

What I am suggesting is that we put our focus where it ought to be as Christians, that we look to our Savior Jesus Christ. So again I say; What’s it going to be? Complainer or Proclaimer?

In conclusion I would remind you of some words that are recorded for us in John’s Gospel.

John 6:35, “Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”

Hear the Word of God.
Hear that invitation afresh today,
“Come to me and find satisfaction for your hunger”
Hear God’s call for us to exercise faith
“Believe in me and I will satisfy your thirst”

“God is Good.. all the Time
All the Time.. God is Good”
AMEN.

The Reverend Adrian J. Pratt B.D.

 

September 17, 2023 WILDERNESS LIVING 4. "Turn of the Tide”

Readings: Psalm 114, Romans 14:1-12, Matthew 18:12-35, Exodus 14:19-31
Preached at Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church, NY, on September 17, 2023

Geographically speaking, the area where I was born and raised was known as the Wirral peninsular. On one side of the peninsular lay the River Mersey, where you could, as Gerry and the Pacemakers once sang, catch a ‘Ferry across the Mersey’ to Liverpool. On the other side of the peninsular lay the River Dee, and over the other side of that river, the nation of Wales.

The River Dee side of the peninsular held the best beaches. One of the fun things to do there was walk across the sands, at low tide, to visit a bird sanctuary called Hilbre Island, where you could watch seals playing out in the estuary.

In fact, when the tide went out it looked as though you could walk across the sands all the way to Wales. You couldn’t because there was a deep fierce channel of water that separated the English from Wales (something historically the Welsh were rather glad about) but when you were walking out on the sand, it looked as though there were just miles of sand stretching in every direction. A beautiful place.

Beautiful, but dangerous. Almost every year people lost their lives through not paying attention to the tide. If you did not know at what hour the tide turned, then it was not safe being out on the sands. Whereas when the tide was out the sands stretched for miles, when the tide turned the whole area became sea.

The frightening thing was how quickly the change from sand to sea took place. Little streams in the sand would become rivers. The rivers overflowed. You could be walking on sandbanks, unable to reach the coast, unaware that the waters were closing in. If you were out on the sand when the tide turned, you were lost.

One can only imagine the dread that the Hebrew people felt as they fled from Pharaohs’ chariots.  There lay before them a seemingly impassable body of water. Their only hope was that God would intervene on their behalf. That somehow the tide would turn.

Surely, we can identify with that picture. It sometimes feels like we have come so far, but now, there are ahead of us obstacles that we seem unable to overcome. Great, immovable expanses of uncertainty ahead, and we don’t know how we can get around them, or get through them, or how to survive the enemies that are rapidly advancing upon us.

It can be our health that is letting us down. It can be circumstances in our families. It can be things that have come our way that we never expected. Disasters. Storms. Accidents. Tragedy. Oh, we’ve come so far. But now this. We’d like to make progress, but we can’t see a way through it all. We need a miracle.

It can feel like that as churches. We tried this program. We explored this possibility. We thought we were doing the right thing. But the tide keeps turning. And we just don’t see how we can make it through all the obstacles that lie ahead.

So today, notice this. The passage we read today tells us that Moses was not acting alone. Verse 19: “The angel of God who was going before the Israelite army moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud moved from in front of them and took its place behind them.” Moses was surrounded by forces that defied explanation. Angels. Clouds. These were not things Moses had conjured up, but the very presence of God surrounding their lives.

In a world where the tide keeps turning, it is that perspective that continually gives me hope. We are not alone. We are in the company of unseen angels. We are surrounded by a cloud of God’s protection and care, that goes beyond our understanding.

Our New Testament passage had Jesus asking His disciples, “What do you think? If a shepherd has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray?” The Shepherd went to unexpected lengths to ensure everybody was ok. The Shepherd was responsible for all of the sheep. The 99 were fine and the one that was lost and found, turned out to be absolutely fine.  

That little parable tells us what God is like, how much God cares for us, as a community and as individuals, but the challenge is in the first four words, “What do you think?” The story is offered to them as a question. “What do you think?”

Do you think God cares about us that much? Do you think God has the ability to get us through? Do you think God is still with us, even though we are up against seemingly impassable circumstances? Even when we feel lost and hopeless and like there is no future, do you think God can still come through for us, as God came through for the Israelites? Is the unseen presence of an Almighty God still with us today?  “What do you think?”

We don’t know what was going through Moses’ mind when all this happened. But we do know what God asked Moses to do. To stretch out his hand over the sea. Twice in this passage God asks Moses to stretch out his hand.

Imagine that. All the people were looking to him. He must have been thinking, “There’s got to be a plan B. And maybe a plan C.”  He must have been as terrified as they were. He didn’t have an answer. There is a huge impenetrable sea in front of them and an army that wanted to destroy them behind them. And God says, “Moses, stretch out your hand.”

“Are you sure God? What good will that do? I’m going to look kind of foolish standing here with my hand up when the waves come crashing over me. Do I really want to raise my hand, “Hey, I’m here!”  when there are Egyptian soldiers waiting to shoot an arrow in my back.”  But he trusts God. He trusts that God’s unseen presence was with them. And he raises his hand. And having done that, God takes care of the rest.

Prayer is raising our hands to God. Lifting our hands and our heart and our hopes and our fears to God.  When we lift our hands in the knowledge and the faith and the trust that God is all around us, that God is with us, then there are no limits as to how a situation may change.

There have been a number of times in my life (and my ministry) when I have literally felt completely stuck. Couldn’t go forward and had things going on that seemed to be intent on bringing me down. Like most of us, I have done my best to change the situation, to analyze, to adjust, to work it out for myself. What’s plan A? What’s plan B? But there has come that point when the realization has come that’s what is really needed is prayer. I need to raise my hand, not knowing what the result may be.

Prayer isn’t twisting God’s arm so that we get out of a tricky situation.  Prayer is reminding ourselves that whatever lies ahead of us and whatever lies behind us is a situation that God is aware of. That God is still there, calling for our trust and commitment and calling us to let go. “Quiet resignation” I like to call it. That moment you realize that there’s nothing you can do to change things yet are totally accepting of the idea God has it under control.

So, we have a choice. We can lift our arms in prayer. We can keep on coming together and worshiping and serving and seeking to be a community of God’s people. We can trust in the unseen presence of God,  guiding us and leading us through difficult days. We can choose to build our lives upon faith in Jesus Christ, who challenges us time after time… “What do you think?”

Do you think I’m still with you? Do you think I still care for all my sheep? Do you think I can still lead you and guide you? Do you think I’m still the shepherd of the 23rd Psalm, the shepherd that can be trusted?

We can choose, as did the Hebrews, to invest in nurturing the spiritual lives of both ourselves, and our loved ones in the ways of God’s Kingdom. We choose our priorities. We choose how much of our energy and time and talent we invest in the things of God’s Kingdom.

The Christian gospel, the Good News of Jesus Christ, is that there is a way to live, a better way, and a higher way! But to discover it, we have to trust that God is with us, even when we face obstacles that we can see no way of getting around.

After the Hebrews had passed through the waters, they arrived safe on the other side. Moses was asked to raise his hand once again. This time, when he raised his hand, the army of the Egyptians, that were intent on destroying them, are vanquished and perish under the force of the waves. The tide had turned.

Surprisingly, there was very little rejoicing among the Israelite's as they gazed across the sea at the bodies of their enemies. Verse 31 ‘And when the Israelite's saw the mighty hand of the LORD displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the LORD and put their trust in Him.’ I think they knew this was not the end of the story, but just the beginning of a new chapter. That there was a long way to go before they ever reached their promised land.

They would still need those reassurances that God was with them. They would still need the angels and the cloud and every reminder that God could offer that they were still His people and God was still their God. They would still need to keep lifting their hands in prayer. The tide would keep turning. . Sometimes they would appear to be hopelessly lost! Sometimes they would prove faithful.

I started out talking about the tides that ran on the River Dee between England and Wales. Because of the tidal estuary that lay on the sands between England and Wales, I learned at an early age that you had to be aware of the changing tides. It was not anything you could control. Tides happen!

A bestselling book in my home area was the ‘Tide-Tables’ that cataloged the times when the tides would turn. Now Yvonne used to work for the University department of Oceanography, and she knew the precise work that went into producing those tables and how many peoples livelihoods depended on accurate information. The tables told you how high the tides were likely to be, and all the vital information that would let you know when it was safe to walk out to Hilbre Island and when you needed to stay away from the sands.

God has not left us in the dark.

•    We have “Tide Tables” for life. God’s Word in Scripture. But we must study it.
•    We have the living presence of Jesus Christ to lead and guide us. But we must discover the guidance of His Holy Spirit, which only comes through prayer and commitment and opening our hearts to God in worship.
•    We have a community of faith to which we can belong. But we must make life choices that enable us to be active participants in our faith community.

The tide is going to keep turning. Sometimes it will flow against us. Sometimes it will carry us along. We can't do anything about that. But we can choose who is going to navigate our lives through the shifting currents of the present day.

It was a deputy of Moses, Joshua, who declared “Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve... But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord."  (Joshua 24:15.)  

Amid changing tides, may God's Holy Spirit lead us to make the right choices for ourselves, our families, and our faith community. May we continue to raise our hands in prayer.

Before telling them a story about God’s faithfulness, Jesus challenged His disciples “What do you think?”  May our thoughts today be directed to the God who could lead God’s people through impassable seas, and land them safe on the other side.

To God’s name be the glory. Amen.

The Reverend Adrian J. Pratt B.D.

September 10, 2023 WILDERNESS LIVING 3. "Fast Food to Go"

Readings: Psalm 149, Matthew 18:15-20, Romans 13:8-14, Exodus 12:1-14
Preached at Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church, NY, September 10, 2023

“Is that for here, or is it to go?” asked the girl at McWendyKing (or some such fast food place). “To Go!” I replied, because I was on the go. A hundred things to do and a lot of folk to see. Got to keep moving. I would have gone around to the drive-thru but some days I just can’t stand talking into that little loudspeaker. I can never understand what the assistants saying on the other end.  They speak with an accent!

And I don’t understand why you need to do that anyway. Couldn’t you just drive up to the window where you pay and give your order to the human being there instead of to the little box? Does it really save time? Usually there’s only about two or three cars distance to the window anyway! Seems less than efficient, particularly when, on some occasions, I come away with exactly what I hadn’t asked for.

But, why worry? It’s not as if the food you are about to throw down yourself has any gastronomic integrity. It’s made as cheaply as possible, put together as quickly as do-able, and often consumed at a speed that deserves a mention in the Guinness Book of Records. FAST FOOD. – LET’S GO!

Meanwhile, back in Egypt, Moses has been having a hard time convincing Pharaoh to “Let my people go.” Although the land has been hit by a series of plagues, Pharaoh keeps changing his mind. First, they can go, then they have to stay, then they can go, then they can stay. It’s becoming kind of repetitive.

But not for much longer. The Israelite's days in Egypt are numbered. The numbers have nearly run out. There is to be one, final, decisive action on the part of God, that will finally convince the Pharaoh that it would be a deadly thing to keep the Israelite's there any longer.

There is headed their way a horrible plague, a final affliction in a series of nasty events... a plague of death. At the time Moses was born, the Pharaoh was murdering every first-born Hebrew Child, ordering them to be killed at birth or thrown into the river to drown. It was a miracle that Moses had escaped with his life, let alone grown up to be an ex-prince of Egypt who now led Israel.

They do say that what goes around, comes around. That certainly seemed to be the case in Egypt. The nature of the final plague is that the angel of death will take down every firstborn in the land, both humans and animals.

The only exception is to be those households whose doorposts are covered by the blood of a sacrificial lamb, a lamb that must be prepared and consumed in exactly the way Moses tells them. This would be a sign for all the faithful that God had set them free. It would mark the beginning of a new era in the nation’s life and a new stage in Israel’s history. For them history would begin again. The month that they left Egypt would be considered forever more as the first month of a New Year.

Knowing that the angel of death was approaching, I’m sure that, if they were able back then, there would have been those among the Hebrews who would have ordered their sacrificial lamb from the Egyptian equivalent of McWendyKings.

 “I’ll’ have seven lambs, (make that 8, better get one for the dog in case he turns out to have been the first born).. and oh.. an extra order of blood on the side, please”. “Is that for here or to go?” To Go! Fast food to go!” (Of course being in Egypt maybe they could also have said, “I’ll have a crocodile sandwich.. oh.. and make it snappy”: ) Hmm.

Like my jokes it really was no laughing matter, in any way. The events that were about to take place were horrific. There really hadn’t been anything to rejoice about for a long, long time in Egypt for the Hebrews. Were they really, after all this time, after all that had been taking place, were they really free to go?

The answer, right at that moment, was an extremely hesitant and cautious “Ermm... yes.” They wouldn’t actually be free from Pharaoh until after they had passed through the Red Sea. They had hard times in front of them and most, including Moses, would not live to enter the Promised Land.

What they are about to do is something that would be, for all time, a symbol of faith. Something that turned that hesitant “Ermm... yes” into a declaration of faith. They are given the Passover Meal. Exodus 12:14 “This day shall be a day of remembrance for you. You shall celebrate it as a festival to the LORD; throughout your generations you shall observe it as a perpetual ordinance.”

Passover was a meal to go. Remember Moses instructions? Exodus12:11 “This is how you shall eat it: your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it hurriedly. It is the Passover of the LORD.”

Passover was something to prepare them for the journey. Something that would etch into their minds God’s saving power. A celebration that would always remind them of their deliverance from slavery and misery.

Deliverance came at a price. They would eat, among other things, bitter herbs, and unleavened bread. I don’t think either of those will feature as a pizza topping at our after-church celebration.

The bitter herbs were a reminder that there would be great mourning all around them, on the part of those who chose not to heed Moses’ instructions. The deep irony of the situation was that their deliverance to life would only come through death, the death of unblemished lambs and innocent firstborns.

There are, of course, parallels between the celebration of Passover and our own Christian celebration of Holy Communion, parallels that both the Gospel authors and the writers of the N/T letters are keen to point out.

The first time as a boy that Jesus goes to Jerusalem it is for the family to celebrate Passover (Luke 2:41). It is at the Passover meal Jesus takes the bread and cup (which represent the broken body and shed blood of God’s only begotten Son) and shares them with His disciples. To a Corinthian Church beset with division and troubles Paul writes “Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be …new …… For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us." (1 Corinthians 5:7).

Passover was a meal that was eaten – ready to go. However, Passover was not fast food. Passover was not something prepared hastily or carelessly or least expensively put together. It took time. It required understanding. It was costly.

Preparation for the meal began four days prior to cooking, when a lamb (from either a sheep or a goat) was chosen. The lamb was to be shared with those who were not able to afford a lamb of their own. Neighbors were to come together. Nobody was to be excluded.

The lamb had to be a yearling without blemish. In other words, it was prime stock. Not the left over or the weakling. In economic terms it was the costliest. It had to be kept until at twilight there was a community act of slaughter. It was then that the blood had to be smeared on the doors of the houses where the lamb was to be eaten.

That same night it was to be eaten in equal portions by all those who came to supper. It was to be slow cooked over the fire… not boiled or eaten raw. The whole lamb was involved… the inward parts, the head, the legs…all had to be roasted. Anything that became left over had to be burnt up. Only then… after all of that… were they ready to go.

We live in a fast-food world. People want answers, even to their religious questions, in quick, digestible bytes. Instant Spirituality. Sign up here today and tomorrow it will be yours!  The problem is that ‘Fast-Food’ is sometimes called ‘Junk Food.’ In other words, it doesn’t sustain, it doesn’t really nourish, it doesn’t meet the dietary needs, it just makes the hunger go away for a while.
 
Today is our “Back to Sunday School Sunday.” By offering an education program we are saying that Christianity isn't something you can just pick up at a drive through window. You have to sit down and study and learn. You need folk to teach you and people to mentor you. It's a lifelong journey and there is always... always... always...  something new to learn.

Just like the Passover was something you had to prepare for, so we must daily be working on having hearts and lives and minds that are ready to hear God, that are ready so that when God says “Go” we “Go.”

So, I encourage us all to make the most of the educational opportunities that come our way to deepen our relationship with Jesus Christ. A great way to learn something is to teach it! Sunday School are always looking for volunteers... even if it's only short-term volunteers. There's nothing like preparing a lesson for somebody else to imprint it on your own mind.

And, through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, give thanks to God! God alone can nurture our hunger for what is right, what is good and what is true. God alone satisfies the deepest needs of our hearts and lives. Not with 'Fast Food” but with the wisdom of His Word and strengthening of God's Holy Spirit.

To God be all glory. Amen!

The Reverend  Adrian J. Pratt B.D.

September 3, 2023. WILDERNESS LIVING 2. "Holy Ground"

Readings: Psalm 105:1-6, Romans 12:9-21, Matthew 16:21-28,  Exodus 3:1-15
Preached at Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church, NY, September 3, 2023

I received my training for ministry at the Welsh Presbyterian Theological College in Aberystwyth, on the coast of mid-Wales. Historically, Welsh Presbyterians were passionate about their theology. Whilst their church was born amid Methodist Revivalism, their founding fathers looked to the work of an earlier reformer, John Calvin of Geneva, for a theological identity. They sifted and studied and sought to be faithful to God in defining what they believed. They argued. They separated. They forgave. They came together again.

That process eventually gave rise to the writing of a document, in 1823, a defining charter, that eventually became the theological statement of Welsh Presbyterian orthodoxy. It was called  “The Confession of Faith of the Calvinistic Methodists.” It was the bedrock of a church that for the next 75 years of its life would experience wave after wave of religious revival, adding thousands to its membership.

At this years General Assembly of the Welsh Presbyterian Church, a special historical lecture by the Rev. Philip H. Eveson, titled “The Forgotten Classic” was delivered, to note it had been 200 years since the document had been produced.

(The lecture can be viewed on https://youtu.be/WT3HcQBOgUo)

As a seminary student I was intrigued by the fact that the very building, even the actual room where that document came into being, still existed in the town of Aberystwyth, where I was attending seminary. I figured that those who put that document together must have experienced a powerful movement of God’s Holy Spirit in their meetings.

So, one day I decided to check the place out, hoping that maybe something of the fire that inspired those early pioneers of the Welsh Presbyterian faith still lingered on the premises and that, just by going in there, it may ignite my own heart and spiritual passion. Then somebody pointed the building out to me.  

I never did go inside. It had become part of the warehouse of a local supermarket. No plaque on the building. Nothing to even indicate that an event of tremendous significance, a moment of divine grace, had been felt in that place.

It was just a rundown old building. The only atmosphere I may have experienced if I had gone into the place was that of the workaday world of a busy little town. There would be nothing to indicate that this, had for a brief period in history, been holy ground.

Moses had an encounter with a bush. I would imagine that if by some process we could go and stand at the actual spot where Moses stood, even view the very bush that Moses saw burning without being consumed, we would wonder what all the fuss was about. It would just be a bush.

Even more so would that be the case if we happened to be somebody who had never even heard about Moses or the encounter with God that Moses had. If that was our situation, then we wouldn’t even be looking for a sign or expecting a presence. The last thing on our mind as we walked through the desert would be that we might be standing on holy ground.

Moses didn’t expect to be confronted by God either. Moses was just getting his life back together. He’d made his escape from Egypt and had finally come to terms with the fact that he wasn’t an Egyptian prince but a Hebrew son of a Hebrew slave. He had a wife and was out working for his father-in-law tending sheep. He was fully immersed in the culture and traditions shared by a long line of his ancestors.

And then what? God upsets the whole apple cart! The line between the sacred and the secular is obliterated. He thought he was treading common ground, living in the way his forefathers lived. It turned out to be holy ground and his life was never quite the same again.

It took something a bit special to get his attention. There he is, going about his daily business, when he notices a bush on fire. On further examination it turns out to be all fired up but not burning up. Then God speaks. This was not normal. God was not in the habit of encountering people in such a direct way.

Moses is awestruck. It was one thing to see the bush, but to then hear God’s call! “Here I am, Lord,” he says. “Come no closer” he is told, “Remove the sandals from your feet, for the land on which you are standing is holy ground.” Moses removes his sandals and starts to be afraid and hides his face.  

After identifying Himself as being the same God who had been followed by ancestors whom Moses had become familiar with, in verse 7, God explains how He had seen and heard and knew about the terrible circumstances under which His people suffered.  

For sure many of them kept faith, but as their plight grew worse, their faith could not always rise to meet the challenge. Therefore, to know that God had seen, heard and knew about their circumstances was a positive thing.  The sort of thing that shone a bit of light into the darkness.

There’s a lot of times in our own lives when we need that assurance. Some of the things that life brings our way can cause us to question what we believe about God. We are easily shaken. It can be something personal like an illness or a family tragedy. It can be something that touches us all, like a natural disaster or a terrorist attack.

At times we just need to be reminded that God sees and hears and knows. Sees the things we go through. Hears the prayers, sometimes spoken, sometimes too difficult for words. That God knows not only what we are going through but also how best we can get through such times.

In verse 8 God says, “I have come down to deliver them from the Egyptians.”The Hebrew word that is used for ‘come down’ is ‘yarad.’ ‘Yarad’ is rich in meaning, particularly when used of God.  It pictures God as one who stoops down to lift us up, who wants to enter, in a powerful way into the circumstances that hold us back from being the people God would like us to be.  

It’s a word that has particular significance for Christians, for we believe that it is precisely this God who is revealed to us in Jesus Christ. A God who is not content to let us keep going on and on in our own way but comes where we are to open us up to possibilities never dreamed of. The Word becomes flesh and dwells among us.  God Incarnate enters our world and redeems our times.

The Hebrew word used for ‘deliver’ is also worth considering... “nawtsal.”  It carries with it the ideas of rescuing, saving, plucking out, plundering or even ‘stripping away from.’  God in Christ comes to us, as He came to the Hebrews, to deliver us from sin and guilt, to strip away from us all that robs us of the dignity of being children of God, to plunder the dark places of our lives by flooding them with His light and life and setting us free.

As always there is a sting in the tale. Moses must have been very happy to hear that God had not only seen, heard and knew about the peoples plight and that now He was going to rescue them. But when he learned that he personally had an important and difficult role to play in the process, well, he is the first to suggest that God may be looking to the wrong person.

“Who am I?” he cries out, “To do such things as these?” He complains he is not fitted for the task, not suited for such a position, that he didn’t speak right, walk right, talk right, act right… you name it... every excuse in the book goes through his mind. He is scared that nobody will believe him. He even asks God what he’s supposed to say if the people started to question him about how he was so sure that God had given him the job to do. “Who should I say sent me?”

God answers that request for a name in a wonderfully ambiguous way. “I am who I am” comes the reply. “If you have to tell them something, tell them “I am” sent you.” In some bible versions the footnote is included that “I am who I am” can also be translated as “I will be what I will be” or “I am that I am”

One of the hardest things about being a preacher is that you must explain to people that God can’t be explained!  When all is said and done, at the end of the day, God defies all our theories and dogma and creeds and concerns. God remains enigmatic, mysterious, and unpredictable.

Some things we can be sure about though. One of them is this. God’s purposes in the world are not going to be accomplished unless God’s people take the work of God’s kingdom upon their shoulders.

We rejoice that Christ died on the cross for us. Unless our rejoicing causes us to be willing to ‘Take up our cross and follow Him,’ then all that saving and setting free and liberating and healing and forgiving will never happen.

We may say, “Now if God came and spoke to me through a bush then I’d believe.”  It’s not going to happen. Do you know why? God has spoken His ultimate word. God’s final word came not through a bush, but through a tree. Through a wooden cross that was outlined on Calvary’s hill, the cross upon which Jesus Christ was crucified. Moses is told in (Exodus 3:8). “I have come down to deliver them.”

In Jesus Christ God has come to deliver us. And then God said to Moses, as God says to us today…(Exodus 3:10) “So come, I will send you…”

We may think that the place we are right now is common ground. Not so. Right now, wherever you are, can be holy ground. It is the presence of God that turns the common place into the holy. I challenge you to listen for God’s call wherever it is you are reading this sermon. I challenge you to respond to God’s call. Remember, the church is not a holy place but a holy people. Unless you and I respond to the call God places upon our lives, then God’s work is frustrated.

As I discovered in my seminary days, when I went searching for a building where a confession of faith was composed that defined a churches belief, holy ground cannot be captured in buildings. And Moses discovered that holy ground cannot be confined to deserts.

Go with God this week, and wherever you go, will be holy ground. Carry Christ in our heart and walk in the presence of the Holy Spirit and the common places of our daily lives can become touching places, places where God’s love can be known and communicated to others.

Tread gently,
Walk in peace
And go with God.
For we stand on Holy ground!
AMEN.

The Reverend Adrian J. Pratt B.D.