Welcome
We are so glad you’ve chosen to be a part of our worship this morning. Please take a moment to comment, and share this with someone who needs to connect to God this morning.
Tuesday, we begin our Kids Zone under the leadership of Pastor Katie. We are starting with a drive through give away from 4 to 6, come, get some Kids Zone stuff and a snack. It will be a great way to reconnect from the safety of your car.
Solace in the sanctuary – Next Sunday afternoon, a socially distanced, individual or family time to spend in the sanctuary. Sign up at our Website on signupgenius.com or call the church office.
Call to Worship
By the water’s edge, he cried, hungry, alone, barely hanging on to life, yet you were there, Lord, watching over the basket with the power of love for this beloved child.
By the water’s edge, he cried, desperate, hunted, feeling abandoned, yet your spirit stood guard, a presence that protected with power for your beloved children.
By the water’s edge, we cry with all the emotions we bring today. Anxious for the world on fire, winds of destruction, rain that falls torrentially, and a virus that is as near as our next breath. We gather here, by the water’s edge to find your presence sustaining us, knowing that you call all of us your beloved children. Gratefully, we sing your praises, here, by the water’s edge.
Music
“O For A Thousand Tongues to Sing” - Chalice Hymnal #5, v. 1-2
“Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” - Chalice Hymnal #16 v. 1, 3
Pastoral Prayer
Children’s moment
In today’s story, we meet Moses. He’s known as the star of the story, but I want to focus on all the people who help him. So let’s ready his story in the Bible together.
*Read “Moses is Saved” in Children of God Storybook Bible*
In today’s story, we see a lot of women protecting a child. Moses’ mother and sister protected him by putting him in the basket into the water, and the midwives protected him by saving his life, and then the Pharaoh’s daughter protected him by adopting him into the royal family.
But what’s really interesting is that all of these women are going against the Pharaoh’s orders—they are breaking Egyptian law in order to save Moses. For Moses’ mom and his sister, Miriam, it’s because he is their family. They love him. They can’t bear to live without them. For the midwives, it’s because they know the law is wrong, that all children are precious to God. And for Pharaoh’s daughter, she sees a helpless baby in the water, and she can’t bear to carry out the harsh law her father made.
Sometimes family and communities do things to protect their children or give their children a better life that we don’t understand, that may be breaking an unjust law, that may even be considered dangerous. There are many children in our world today whose families have done incredible things to help their kids have a chance to live, to go to school, to sleep in a safe place. Some of these children’s families may have broken some laws to do that—either the laws of their home country, they are who we would we call refugees. Or maybe the broke the laws of ours, who we would call undocumented.
But we learn a couple of things about these children, who have dreams and favorite foods just like you, who live with their mom or dad or auntie or Baba or abuela and love them so much, is that God is on the side of children, especially those in danger. God cares about people who are desperate to protect and care for their children. And we learn from the midwives and Pharaoh’s daughter that you don’t have to be related to these children to care for them and do your part in protecting them and helping them.
For our prayer together, make a wave motion with your arm, like the current of a river where baby Moses floated in the basket.
Dear God, thank you for loving and protecting your children. May we be brave to help care for those who are desperate, befriending those who may have hard stories. May we see each person, no matter their skin color, the language they speak, where they come from, or what their family looks like, as Your beloved children. In Jesus name we pray, amen.
Music
“Here I Am Lord” – Chalice Hymnal #452
Scripture and Sermon
I usually read the scripture straight through. But today’s passage is long, and, in the tradition of the Jewish Rabbis, I will give you some commentary along the way. So, we begin:
Exodus 1:8 – 2:10
The first six verses of the book of Exodus are like a fairytale ending of a story we would read to our children at bedtime. Jacob, Leah, Rachel, Joseph, and his brothers settled in Egypt, and they all lived … say it with me …. happily ever after.
It’s like the first act of “Into the Woods.” All the fairytales are woven neatly into one story and they resolve with love, happiness, beauty. A great place to end. However, it’s only the intermission. There’s a second act.
Verse seven reads, “But the Israelites were fruitful and prolific; they multiplied and grew exceedingly strong, so that the land was filled with them.”
Do you hear the change, the tone of voice? “Fruitful and Prolific” are great when you are planting cantaloupes. But not when it is happening with your enemies. “The land was filled with them.” Again, great, if you are counting sunflowers, not so great if you are counting weeds.
Then comes one of my favorite verses in the Bible, Exodus 1, verse 8: “Now a new king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph.”
Five Hebrew words that change everything. I get chills when I read that to you. In that one sentence, the fate of the Israelites turns. And it becomes such a metaphor for our lives. Everything was going smoothly, then this happened, and everything changed. A new teacher, a new neighbor, a new boss. Or worse, life was pleasant, then this tragedy occurred. I think it happens so often in life. Things couldn’t be better, then they can’t get any worse.
In that one sentence, you take 100’s of years, generations of prosperity, and you dump them into the Nile.
Listen then to verse 9 and following to hear how things turn from terrific to terrifying, from fantastic to frightening.
9The King said to his people, “Look, the Israelite people are more numerous and more powerful than we. 10Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, or they will increase and, in the event of war, join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.” 11Therefore they set taskmasters over them to oppress them with forced labor. They built supply cities, Pithom and Rameses, for Pharaoh. 12But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread, so that the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites. 13The Egyptians became ruthless in imposing tasks on the Israelites, 14and made their lives bitter with hard service in mortar and brick and in every kind of field labor. They were ruthless in all the tasks that they imposed on them. From complimentary to contempt, from neighborly to suspicious
All because, “Now a new king arose, who did not know Joseph.” It gets worse.
15The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah, 16“When you act as midwives to the Hebrew women, and see them on the birthstool, if it is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, she shall live.” 17But the midwives feared God; they did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but they let the boys live. 18So the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this, and allowed the boys to live?” 19The midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women; for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife comes to them.” 20So God dealt well with the midwives; and the people multiplied and became very strong. 21And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families.
This sounds good, promising, right? But there’s more:
22Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, “Every boy that is born to the Hebrews you shall throw into the Nile, but you shall let every girl live.”
That sets the stage for the birth of Moses. Listen:
2Now a man from the house of Levi went and married a Levite woman. 2The woman conceived and bore a son; and when she saw that he was a fine baby, she hid him three months. 3When she could hide him no longer she got a papyrus basket for him, and plastered it with bitumen (beh TWO men) and pitch; she put the child in it and placed it among the reeds on the bank of the river. 4His sister stood at a distance, to see what would happen to him.
5The daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, while her attendants walked beside the river. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her maid to bring it. 6When she opened it, she saw the child. He was crying, and she took pity on him, “This must be one of the Hebrews’ children,” she said. 7Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and get you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?” 8Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Yes.” So the girl went and called the child’s mother. 9Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child and nurse it for me, and I will give you your wages.” So the woman took the child and nursed it. 10When the child grew up, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and she took him as her son. She named him Moses, “because,” she said, “I drew him out of the water.”
This is the word of God, for all the people of God, Thanks be to God.
In the year we honor the 100th anniversary of the 19th amendment, we honor women from that time who resisted the status quo: The midwives: “Sorry, … Pharoah, … sir, the Hebrew women give birth too quickly, we can’t get there in time.” The mother, risking her own life, nursing this child till she can’t keep him safe any longer: “Son, our God will watch over you, even as we watch you from a distance.” Even Pharaoh’s daughter, knowing that Hebrew male babies were to be drowned in the river, … resisted. She brought the baby, along with his mother to nurse him, into the Palace, the very center of power: “I will call you Moses, for I found you by the water’s edge.” Karla Suomala points out that women do the heavy lifting in this story.
And lest you think this is just the origin story of the Prince of Egypt. It is actually the origin story for all of us. This story tells us who we are and to whom we belong. Knowing these stories helps us fully understand who God is and that we belong to God. (Cameron B.R. Howard)
The bright promise God made to Sarah and Abraham, that their descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the night sky is getting a little cloudy. Or if you prefer, the brilliant shining light that was Joseph and his dreams, is fading. A new day is dawning in Egypt, and with it, suspicions also rise.
Like so many other stories in the Bible, before and after this one, we see the cycle: 1) Blessing, (remember “fruitful and prolific?); 2) Then a season of normalcy, (remember “the land was filled with them?”); 3) Which is followed by hardship (my favorite phrase because it applies in so many situations in life, “There arose a king who did not know Joseph.”); 4) And oppression (count the number of times the word “ruthless” is used); 5) Then finally, God responds. We will see this throughout our series this fall. A seemingly, never ending story for our ancestors. Trusting God, becoming complacent, falling into trouble, crying out to God, and then, Promise, Hope, … Redemption.
Father Rick Morley reminds us that this story isn’t so much about Moses, but about God’s faithfulness, and the people’s response. He notes the second turn in this passage. Fear and faithfulness are woven throughout: Pharaoh acted out of fear of the growth of the Hebrew population. The midwives acted out of fear and faithfulness to God. The mother feared the discovery of her child, and hoped for something better. At every moment, tragedy is unfolding for the Hebrew people.
But then, the princess, the daughter of the Pharaoh, knowing his decree, acted not out of fear, but out of compassion. Just when the promise could be literally dashed at the banks of the river, her heart melted. This may be a Hebrew child, but more important than that, this is a child, deserving of a chance.
We can debate years and decades about how the poor became poor, but that’s not who we are. Together, we are the people who love God’s children, every one of them. Together we are the body of Christ, broken open for the world. In Theresa of Avila’s words, you’ve heard me say them before … we are the hands and feet of Christ, constantly giving ourselves to the most vulnerable, the least able, the hardest hit, in our community, and in our world.
It surprises me that we don’t know much about the daughter of Pharaoh. She plays such a pivitol role in this story, our story. But she is never called by name. Jews and Muslims alike, revere her. They’ve called her one of four women of great faith.
And that’s true
A faithful woman conspired with her husband to will Moses into existence.
Faithful women conspired to protect him from the moment he was born.
Faithful women conspired to defy the standing orders, and encourage his life.
Let us follow their example.
Let us resolve, let us conspire to do what we can:
to protect life, to cherish life, to affirm life.
Let us resist the forces of genocide, and gendercide.
Let us feed the children
Let us clothe the children
Let us nurture the children
Let us never stop in this quest to value each child.
Because … THAT’S WHO WE ARE. …. Because … THAT’S WHO GOD IS.
Communion
Sharing our Resources
As we’ve mentioned, there are fires in California, and Colorado, Storms in Iowa and Illinois, hurricanes and tropical storms, yes I meant it in the plural, in the Gulf of Mexico, threatening coastlines. Blasts in Beirut. All of these things have one thing in common, The presence of your help through the Week of Compassion. Our denomination’s disaster relief ministry is in each of these places and hundreds more you haven’t even heard about, meeting the needs of people affected by these tragedies. We are placing a link in the comments section where you can give to the week of compassion. Closer to home, we handed out 110 free sacks of groceries due to the generosity of Texas Health Resources and you. You are invited to continue all of these ministries with your gifts to this church. May God guide us as we continue to work to help everyone know the love of God.
Music
“Go Out As People of God” - Chalice Praise #188
Benediction
Fold your arms like you are holding a small child. Some of you may be doing that right now, but for some of us, it’s been a while. Imagine a particular child, name them, and then say, “I found you, helpless, drifting, at great peril, … now you are mine. I will call you “My Beloved.” I will guide you every moment of your journey.”
One more thing. Imagine yourself, held in God’s arms, and these same words are spoken to you: “I found you, helpless, drifting, at great peril, … you are mine. I will call you ‘My Beloved.’ I will guide you every moment of your journey.”
Amen.