A Neighborly Perspective: A Sermon Given to Smoke Rise Baptist Church

September 6, 2020

By Rev. Stephanie Little Coyne

https://smokerisebaptist.org/2020-sermon-archive/

A few weeks ago, I posted a very simple sentence on Facebook that stated, “If I have the opportunity to preach again the title of my sermon will be “Perspective.” I am here today because Dr. Chris George called my bluff and graciously offered me a pulpit. I am grateful for this opportunity. 

Smoke Rise has always felt like a second church home to me. I grew up in Athens and my family and I attended First Baptist there. My pastor, Dr. Jon Appleton and Dr. Gannon were close friends. When I was in seminary at McAfee, my parents and I came to Smoke Rise. My Dad sang the lowest notes for the choir while Mom sang the higher ones.

My husband and two children have been attending Smoke Rise on Sunday mornings for just over a year now while I was working the weekend shift as a Chaplain at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. I had just begun my new weekday shift and was starting to attend church with them live and in the flesh when 2020 became the year of virtual everything. Sigh.

There is something wonderful about entering the sanctuary this morning. All the singing parts are echoing beautifully throughout the room. It is a refuge. And this place will do its part to lift our voices high to the heavens when the day comes that we will all be together here again.

I am preaching from the lectionary texts today because I love the opportunity the lectionary gives us to watch scripture tangle with itself thereby exposing us to a richer understanding or perspective of these holy stories. And I’ll admit, it’s never a bad day when I get to tangle a little more with Moses and the Israelites, for I have long been fascinated by their story. What’s not to love?—Murder, burning flora, unhealthy family systems, plagues, a daring escape, late-onset circumcision (oh yes, that’s in there too!), exile and journey through wilderness—it’s an English major’s delight!

A preacher has a lot of fodder here to explore too! Today, we will explore together. We will, however, leave some of the more theologically difficult verses for the senior pastor to unravel.

I will confess that this English major married a professor of New Testament and Greek and thus today, our wandering today will come with a combination of both literary and scholarly approaches to the text.

So, we will celebrate this Passover with the Israelites using the biggest and boldest definition of the word “remember.”

Get ready. 

Thus saith the Lord, “Get ready, Moses and Aaron. It is the beginning. I am marking this day as the beginning of your new year, your new life.”

God tells Moses to call out to these individual tribes of Israel as one congregation. Each family, God directs, is to take their best lamb and set it aside. If one family is made up of just a few people, then another family is to divide their lamb and share it with the smaller household.

While this gathering is, in the very literal interpretation, the gathering by God of God’s people into one nation, there is also the sense of these individual tribes and these individual families coming together in a new way. Gather in this place together, share your lamb, take part in this New Year’s feast as one Israel.

But this gathering of people comes at twilight, at the end of yet another day of work for Pharaoh. This setting does not fit the call to extend a neighborly hand. The setting of this story is days and weeks and years of sweat equity for property with which the Hebrew people have no interest nor will it, for them, bear any return. 

Pharaoh sets the routine. Pharaoh chooses the meal. Pharaoh decides what is good and what is bad; he defines power and he claims it as his birthright.

Set yourself as a slave in Egypt and into the previous chapters in Exodus. You work without rest. You work for the good of the Pharaoh. You have cried out to God and you are not sure if you can cry out anymore. Perhaps you cry now only on behalf of your children and your children’s children.

And then one day, you hear of Moses. You hear his name spoken with… curiosity? Hope? Anger? Yes, anger is rising. Everyone is getting mad, Israelites and Egyptians alike. Moses’ presence in the city and whatever he is saying to Pharaoh is causing Pharaoh to lose his temper. Thus, he is demanding more from his right-hand men, he is demanding more from his gods. And for the Israelites, for you, he is demanding that work be increased for you and your fellow slaves. 

Moses, what do you have to say? 

“Set God’s people free.” 

Moses, what did you say? Free? You spread the rumor of freedom? What is that? This man, this human named Moses is bearing witness to Egyptians and to the Hebrews that the God of the slaves, the powerless, the God to whom you have cried and to whom you have watched your mother cry aloud to—oh Moses, what did you say?

“YHWH has heard you. YHWH is not inactive and is not absent and is not silent.” 

That’s what you hear. And then, you hear the replies of the gnats, the locusts, and the frogs. You see boils rise up on the arms of the man who holds a whip beside your ear. You go to the river to wash the day’s blood off of your hands and feet only to find that the river seems as though it has washed away the blood from the wounds of all.  

But Pharaoh and his gods do not cower. It is Pharaoh’s turn to offer reply and he says, “No, God of the Hebrews. They are not free. See? They are slaves, they will work even harder.”

Moses! 

…Moses, what is God saying now?

“Set God’s people free.” 

Freedom? You do not work for you freedom from Pharaoh, you are his captive, he owns you. You have been a slave all of your life. Your mother and father have been slaves. For generations, Israel has been enslaved. The labor is dirty, dangerous, wounding work, and it is your normal. To be free would mean visioning yourself as an Egyptian, for they are the only “free” you know. 

You do not work for pardon nor do you see the light of the end of your sentence. When you hear “Set God’s people free,” maybe you think, “Am I God’s people? If I am not Pharaoh’s people and I am God’s people, then am I free?”

What does being God’s people mean?

You look over your flock of sheep. They are not many, but they are in your keep.

You make sure that the widow and child next door know that they are to share this lamb with your family. You move the lamb away from the rest of the flock, perhaps drawing it nearer to where you lay your head for rest. You nurture the lamb for four days, making sure that it is, in fact, the best. You feed it well, you may even brush its hair or clean its feet.

And then, you bring it with you to the gathering. All are there. All have brought their best. 

Perhaps my city senses cause me to bring some aversion to this assembly, but when I sit with my lamb, and as the butchering begins, the backdrop of unrest continues. We are not yet in a peace-filled setting. Can you hear it too? Can you hear these cries? Can you see the doorposts and thresholds painted with blood? It is a messy and brutal scene. Sharp flints and knives are out. The blood on your hands is not your own, and it mixes with the sand and anxious sweat on your arms.

Gathered tinder is placed as cooking fires are kindled. Smoke is lifting into the twilight air and the warm flames are crackling their way through wood and bones and flesh, weakening the structures. Ash and ember fly up, ready to join with the stars in lighting the night sky. One might be tempted to sit and let the hypnotic flames lull you into rest. But rest and relaxation is not meant for this night.

The four days are over. The nurturing period is over. The waiting period is over. The lamb is now brought to the table with bread that has been made quickly, it has not been allowed to rise, and the herbs that do offer some color on your plate, taste bitter on your tongue. You will not forget these smells and this taste.

Passing time is now marked and minutes are valued. “Eat with your loins girded! Have your sandals on your feet! Hold your staff in your hand! Get your bags packed! Grab your pillow. Brush your teeth! Don’t forget to go to the bathroom. GRAB THE COPY OF YOUR SERMON!” I may have added those last demands. It’s a familiar speech pattern to the family who can never leave on time. 

All of this chaotic movement is with intention and purpose. For morning will dawn for these Israelites and they will not report to their Egyptian lord again. They will be led now by YHWH, the God of Abraham and Sarah, of Isaac and Rebekah, of Jacob and Rachel and Leah. But God wants the Israelites to remember this day and the days of toil before. God so marks this day as time for future generations to be drawn into the scene as active participants in their remembering when they eat unleavened bread with bitter herbs.

Captivity was so long for the Hebrew people in Egypt that they forgot what it meant to be free. YHWH wants the people who live freely to remember what it was like to be a slave and what it was like to be provided with restoration.

Listen to the memory, breathe it in, taste it, and let your mind’s eye return you to the day when you were no longer Pharaoh’s. 

To whom are we enslaved today? Whose interest do we serve? Have we cried for our future generations?

Harder still, if we ask these questions with a neighborly perspective: Who do we enslave today? Who do we demand to work for our interest? Have we cried for the future generations of our children or on behalf of all of God’s children? 

Pharaoh says, “work long and work hard. You can never have too much.” 

God says, “work hard, but keep the Sabbath, set aside time for rest.”

Pharaoh says, “I do not have neighbors, I have slaves. I do not serve others, others serve me.” Pharaoh says, “You owe me everything. It is my right.” Pharaoh says, “it is okay to hold captive people who challenge your authority without them having a chance for forgiveness.”

God says, “love your neighbor as yourself. Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.” (Romans 13:9-10) 

Pharaoh says, “In times like these, name your enemy, fear your neighbor, fear the darkness.”

God says, “‘Declare what you have known from the beginning, what you have heard, what you have seen with your eyes, what you have looked at and touched with your hands…this life was revealed’: ‘Whoever loves a brother or sister lives in the light.’” (1 John 1, 4)

The urgency we derive from Pharaoh comes from his fear of not having enough. The urgency we feel from God, “eat with the sandals on your feet” (Exodus 12), or “the night is gone, the day is near” (Romans 13) is an invitation for us to swiftly offer what we have to feed the souls of those who live without. 

Pharaoh anticipates disaster. God anticipates joy.

Remember. Listen to the memory. This very morning can be your new beginning. This is what it means to be God’s people.

Let us pray.

Perhaps it is unwise of us, oh Lord, to read the Exodus story and find that any application might exist for us. But there are days, especially of late, where we do not feel free. We feel bound to this earth and her troubles. We feel the heaviness of our actions and our inactions. We feel the pressure of accomplishing financial independence, or more so, financial expansion and promotion. We want more for our children, but we admit that the “more” is as ill-defined as our practices of holy worship and devotion. Oh God, clear the air. Let us hear you say, “Set my people free,” and “Come to me, all you who toil and who are weary and who carry burdens. I will give you rest.” And as we approach your presence, encourage us to bring along with us an extra chair.

Hear us, your children, pray, Amen.

Parting Words

There are many images of Christ in the salvific nature of the language in Exodus, but I believe that if I had addressed it today, we would be here until next Sunday. I hope that you will go back and ponder some of those illustrations in your own study. I did offer a few leanings into the Romans 13 passage, Matthew 18, and 1 John. 

To give us a taste, I will offer the lyrics of Johanna Anderson for our parting words. I came across her poetry while involved in some of Dan Forrests beautiful choral music:

In the shadow where we linger, in this darkness we call home, 

Where the sighs are deep and doubtful, and our aspirations groan, 

All is not in vain, Beloved,

Our travail is not unknown.

Though we have not faith to seek Him

Christ Himself will draw us near,

Deep, abiding rays of mercy, Cast their light on only fear.

Cry no more, ye poor and weary, Our redeeming Lord is here.

Christ within us, Christ among us, Christ the first and Christ the last;

Love Incarnate, hold your children 

Till the storm of life is past.

Exodus 12:1-14

The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt: ²This month shall mark for you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year for you. ³Tell the whole congregation of Israel that on the tenth of this month they are to take a lamb for each family, a lamb for each household. ⁴If a household is too small for a whole lamb, it shall join its closest neighbor in obtaining one; the lamb shall be divided in proportion to the number of people who eat of it. ⁵Your lamb shall be without blemish, a year-old male; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. ⁶You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month; then the whole assembled congregation of Israel shall slaughter it at twilight. ⁷They shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. ⁸They shall eat the lamb that same night; they shall eat it roasted over the fire with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. ⁹Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted over the fire, with its head, legs, and inner organs. ¹⁰You shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn. ¹¹This 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. ¹²For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike down every firstborn in the land of Egypt, both human beings and animals; on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord. ¹³The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live: when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague shall destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. ¹⁴This 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. 

Romans 13:8-14

⁸Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. ⁹The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not covet”; and any other commandment, are summed up in this word, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” ¹⁰Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.

¹¹Besides this, you know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers; ¹²the night is far gone, the day is near. Let us then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armor of light; ¹³let us live honorably as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy. ¹⁴Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.