Part of the Whole

 

I spent a long time trying to find my center until I looked closely one night and found it had wheels and moved easily in the slightest breeze, so now I spend less time sitting and more time sailing.

 

The people of God are on the move, marching and dancing in the light of God.  They get to the other side of the Red Sea…they can almost taste the sweet honey on the tip of their tongues and the refreshing milk soothing their throats.  Then…spoiler alert…the people of God wander in the wilderness for forty years.  “Um, God, is this really the most direct route?  Why did You send us a leader who is directionally challenged?  Maybe we should download a different GPS ap on our phones.” 

 

Forty years of walking and waiting and wondering, “Is this really what God’s liberating love looks like, feels like?”  We know the people of God mumbled and grumbled in the wilderness – got hangry – angry and hungry – so God gives them manna/bread.  Bible Nerd Fun Fact ~ the word “manna” ~ as in the bread God gives them ~ can be translated, “What is this?!”  Feel free to put lots of emphasis on that question.  Feel free to ask it with some attitude – some sass.  Because I believe that ancient question is still our question.  We wonder, is this really the best God can do with these leaders and these headlines and this way of life? 

 

The Israelites…and so too you and me…forget that it is all relationship…it is all about finding the “we” inside the “me” (throwback reference to the summer sermon series).  We separate ourselves from the systems, rather than realizing we are all caught up in that web of mutuality.  But wait, you think, this isn’t the system I want or what I am working for.  This is the human struggle ~ that we don’t realize our connection/participation/contribution to the greater whole.  We push against the breeze trying to control the weather. 

 

I am not suggesting that everything is great and grand, but for us to also realize that we can’t just shrug our shoulders, stand on the sidelines waiting for someone to do something.  There are countless ways you and I can be conduits of God’s liberating love, especially when we realize that Exodus moments don’t easily or quickly get resolved.  Consider that some of the people who started the journey from Egypt never made it to Canaan.  Consider that Moses never put his pinkie toe in the Promised Land.  They could have given up.  They could have plopped down on a rock and thought, “What’s the point of all this.”  But the point was the journey together, step-by-step; day-by-day; moment-by-moment.  The point was the relationships formed and forged in the wilderness way.  So today, who might you pour your love upon by reading to a child or standing with those who are losing rights or brothers and sisters who are afraid?  The wilderness beckons us to be courageous and faithful and realize that God’s love is here and now even as the world gnashes its terrible teeth with evidence to the contrary.

 

May the Presence of God infuse and inspire you and me and we today to work toward a world where all are caught up, lifted up, and celebrated as children of God.  May you and I be conduits of God’s liberating love in ways that may never get notices or trend on social media ~ but makes a difference in the lives of those we encounter.  Amen.