[Sent by email. Names withheld]

The story of the exodus that we have been following in the lectionary over the past few weeks has reminded me again of the inherent drama of this great story of our faith. No wonder Cecil B De Mille thought it worthy of one of his great screen epics!

Some things to ponder about this story

1. Going back

Moses is a reluctant leader who finds he is leading a group of people who just want to go back! “You’ve brought us out here to die” they say at the Red Sea – “it would have been better had we stayed as slaves in Egypt.” Having crossed the Red Sea they then complain again that they want to go back – to the fleshpots of Egypt where everything was wonderful and they were never hungry! How easy it is to see the past through rose coloured glasses!

“If only we could go back to a time when there were large youth groups. I wish we could go back to the time when our churches were full and everyone was Christian. If only we could recapture the past when the community respected us….”

or a more seductive going back – “If we just do this, then..” “If we just get a good youth worker or the right minister then we will be big again and successful; if we just have this social program or this evangelical outreach, or if people were more moral and had our values, then everything would be all right.”

2. A Gift of God

The Bible tells us that in every age and every time there were issues and challenges and problems for the people of God, and that every age and every time is a gift of God. In Exodus Ch 13 God decided to lead the people the long way round (for 40 years!) rather than directly to Canaan in order to toughen them up and for them to learn again about being faithful. Would they have seen it as such a positive thing?

If we see this time in our church’s life as a gift from God, a promise of a new future, rather than as punishment or lack of faith, then we will respond differently. Instead of complaining about what is not happening or how things have deteriorated, we will see the new opportunities and challenges before us.

Instead of being negative and forecasting doom, we will rejoice at the new things God is doing and enthusiastically embrace our own challenges and encourage others in their striving to be faithful.

The story of Exodus reminds us again that to be faithful is not to look back but to go forward to the new future God calls us to, and it reminds us again that in this faithful following, God will provide all that we need and is always with us.