WEBVTT 00:00:00.400 --> 00:00:01.280 Well, very good. 00:00:01.280 --> 00:00:03.120 Good to be with you this morning. 00:00:03.120 --> 00:00:08.000 We uh start a uh a new season. 00:00:08.000 --> 00:00:17.440 Some of us were able to join us at uh join together on Ash Wednesday and start on the official beginning of Lent. 00:00:17.440 --> 00:00:30.960 Others are maybe starting just today, uh, but it is a season that uh I appreciate a season uh of self-denial with the hopes of getting closer to God. 00:00:30.960 --> 00:00:51.359 So uh maybe potentially you've let something go and uh uh you're looking to uh uh readdress where your focus is, where your priorities are, and uh the hope would be that you might even find something to add to your life to help you uh uh be more spiritually focused and uh again a little closer to God. 00:00:51.359 --> 00:00:55.200 For me, I really appreciate the intentionality of it. 00:00:55.200 --> 00:01:01.439 I really appreciate the idea of taking 40 days, and we're gonna try and get good at this. 00:01:01.439 --> 00:01:07.840 We'll do that with other things in our lives, but how often do we do it with our spirituality? 00:01:07.840 --> 00:01:11.920 Well, maybe it should be once a year, right about now. 00:01:11.920 --> 00:01:14.719 So the Exodus story. 00:01:14.719 --> 00:01:22.640 Uh, it is um uh the beginning in many ways of of the Exodus story, our passage for today. 00:01:22.640 --> 00:01:27.439 Some of you might remember from the ending of Genesis. 00:01:27.439 --> 00:01:30.959 We ended with Joseph and his fancy coat, right? 00:01:30.959 --> 00:01:35.439 The technicolor dream coat, uh, and they ended up in G in Egypt. 00:01:35.439 --> 00:01:36.959 The whole family ended up there. 00:01:36.959 --> 00:01:43.920 Well, over time they become eventually uh economically oppressed and then even enslaved. 00:01:43.920 --> 00:01:53.040 So, Exodus, it starts with Moses, this baby, getting put in a basket and sent down the river. 00:01:53.040 --> 00:02:04.959 The idea was Pharaoh was nervous about all these enslaved people, these folks who would work for a living, getting stronger and stronger, getting more vital, more vibrant. 00:02:04.959 --> 00:02:11.520 And so he started wanting to tamp them down by killing all of the males. 00:02:11.520 --> 00:02:16.159 Another one of the great children's stories in our scriptures. 00:02:16.159 --> 00:02:33.840 So the positive thing is as the baby starts floating down the river, he gets found by of all people Pharaoh's daughter, who takes kindly on this child, even though she's pretty sure it's an Israelite child, a Hebrew child. 00:02:33.840 --> 00:02:37.039 Um, his sister, Moses' sister, has followed. 00:02:37.039 --> 00:02:42.000 And so she is able to say, Oh shoot, you're gonna need somebody to take care of that baby. 00:02:42.000 --> 00:02:45.360 I know somebody, and then brings the mother over. 00:02:45.360 --> 00:02:51.360 So the mother gets to at least nurse this child up to an appropriate age. 00:02:51.360 --> 00:02:58.080 Uh and what it leaves us with this this person, Moses, in a really unique position. 00:02:58.080 --> 00:03:12.080 He is a Hebrew child, but he's gonna grow up in the Egyptian uh, well, under the umbrella of the Egyptian rule, there, being the baby that Pharaoh's daughter has claimed. 00:03:12.080 --> 00:03:18.800 And so we'll see some of that uh in his life get play out between those two things. 00:03:18.800 --> 00:03:29.919 Um it's also not just the beginning of Exodus, but it's also the beginning of our series theme, which is talking about the journey to faith. 00:03:29.919 --> 00:03:39.759 This, in many ways, as it's the beginning of the Exodus tale, it's also the beginning of a faith journey, right? 00:03:39.759 --> 00:03:41.599 Or at least it's a metaphorical one. 00:03:41.599 --> 00:03:47.120 We start from this place of being influenced, right? 00:03:47.120 --> 00:04:00.960 In many ways, especially as we're young, life can be seen kind of like we're floating in this basket down a river, and there's these influences around us that kind of move us this way, push us that way. 00:04:00.960 --> 00:04:07.599 We're being pushed, we're being tempted, different pressures, different influences. 00:04:07.599 --> 00:04:20.480 The thing is, we as human beings, and I've preached this before, we we really kind of desire context and meaning for our lives. 00:04:20.480 --> 00:04:24.240 We want to know that our life matters in some way. 00:04:24.240 --> 00:04:26.480 That is an inner feeling that we have. 00:04:26.480 --> 00:04:29.439 The Apostle Paul talked about it in Scripture. 00:04:29.439 --> 00:04:31.680 Uh, one of our early theologians, St. 00:04:31.680 --> 00:04:35.360 Augustine, also talks something about something similar. 00:04:35.360 --> 00:04:41.040 Uh, but I'm learning Blaise Pascal often gets credit for the phrase that I like the most about it. 00:04:41.040 --> 00:04:44.639 He called it the God-shaped hole. 00:04:44.639 --> 00:04:47.920 Again, I think I've preached on that before. 00:04:47.920 --> 00:04:59.199 Uh, in other words, we have a spiritual hole inside of us that wants to be filled, that we want filled. 00:04:59.199 --> 00:05:03.040 Meaning we we want to have some idea of why we're doing something. 00:05:03.040 --> 00:05:06.560 We want to have some idea of why it matters. 00:05:06.560 --> 00:05:12.560 So we will move toward things we find kind of meaningful, something important. 00:05:12.560 --> 00:05:19.680 The thing is, not everything we fill that hole with is holy. 00:05:19.680 --> 00:05:22.879 Nobody? 00:05:22.879 --> 00:05:32.879 No, not everything we fill that hole with is holy. 00:05:32.879 --> 00:05:40.480 Okay, I got you think this job's easy. 00:05:40.480 --> 00:05:44.319 I crafted that, I had it going. 00:05:44.319 --> 00:05:54.639 You know, I take credit for groans as much as I do laughs, by the way, just so you know, as we go further in this relationship. 00:05:54.639 --> 00:06:00.800 No, not everything meaningful to us is a good thing. 00:06:00.800 --> 00:06:13.759 Yeah, we'll we'll we'll fill it by maintaining good vibes, good behaviors, we'll do the right thing, we'll be fair, we'll be just, but we'll also look to other things to find meaning. 00:06:13.759 --> 00:06:23.360 There's some obvious ones that we've seen in life, maybe in our own lives or around our lives, like alcohol, like drugs. 00:06:23.360 --> 00:06:26.639 Life is about enjoying myself. 00:06:26.639 --> 00:06:29.600 So uh yeah, let's do this. 00:06:29.600 --> 00:06:38.240 And we know that it often becomes a bit of an escape from life instead of this enrichment. 00:06:38.240 --> 00:06:44.399 Many of us have seen what this allegiance will do to a life. 00:06:44.399 --> 00:06:51.439 Other common temptations in our society, money, power, right? 00:06:51.439 --> 00:06:57.439 If I have money, I'll have comfort and security for me and for mine. 00:06:57.439 --> 00:06:58.639 Right? 00:06:58.639 --> 00:06:59.920 Or power. 00:06:59.920 --> 00:07:04.079 If I have power, I will have influence in my life. 00:07:04.079 --> 00:07:08.480 I will be able to make sure my life has meaning. 00:07:10.399 --> 00:07:25.680 Sometimes sometimes those uh other gods can be more personal, like a hatred for someone else or for another people. 00:07:25.680 --> 00:07:32.240 We can let hate run our life as well. 00:07:33.360 --> 00:07:54.720 In any case, the thinking is, the metaphor is, the image is that we float down this river of life looking for this larger purpose or meaning, but there are a lot of less meaningful things we'll be drawn to or that will push us by or push us as we move down this river. 00:07:54.720 --> 00:08:01.120 I think that's why Lent can be such a meaningful season for us. 00:08:01.120 --> 00:08:06.079 It gives us a chance to think about the river that we're floating down. 00:08:06.079 --> 00:08:10.560 We can think more intentionally about the influences that are around us. 00:08:10.560 --> 00:08:19.439 Maybe more specifically, we can look with a more discerning eye on the journey that we are taking. 00:08:19.439 --> 00:08:26.480 I mention some bigger temptations that are available to us. 00:08:26.480 --> 00:08:30.399 We should mention that there's smaller temptations too. 00:08:30.399 --> 00:08:32.960 Sometimes it's food. 00:08:32.960 --> 00:08:35.039 Sweets. 00:08:35.039 --> 00:08:54.000 Now, a problematic commitment here maybe isn't as bad as other things, and yet we probably ought to admit to ourselves we have an overeating, unhealthy problem in our society. 00:08:54.000 --> 00:09:01.200 I should mention in this season that Girl Scout cookies fall outside of this purview. 00:09:01.200 --> 00:09:08.399 I did put in a special prayer with the big guy. 00:09:08.399 --> 00:09:13.120 I asked for release of this confidential info. 00:09:13.120 --> 00:09:17.679 I was informed that Girl Scout cookies are delightfully healthy. 00:09:17.679 --> 00:09:23.519 And then God told me that we're to keep our thin mints in the freezer. 00:09:23.519 --> 00:09:26.559 They are better in the freezer. 00:09:26.559 --> 00:09:30.639 Hey, from on high. 00:09:33.120 --> 00:09:35.120 Anyone want coffee coffee? 00:09:36.320 --> 00:09:37.919 Mmm, coffee. 00:09:37.919 --> 00:09:42.879 I didn't drink coffee till I was in my 40s. 00:09:42.879 --> 00:09:44.320 Can you imagine? 00:09:44.320 --> 00:09:46.960 It's like I got I I was free of it, right? 00:09:46.960 --> 00:09:53.279 I got past the difficult, you know, got through college, all the tough, and then 40, right? 00:09:53.279 --> 00:09:55.200 And then I got tempted. 00:09:55.200 --> 00:10:05.679 I was at a uh conference, and uh, you know, conferences, and uh somebody showed up and said, I got one extra caramel macchiato. 00:10:05.679 --> 00:10:13.360 And I'm like, Well, that's that's barely coffee, that's like suck it down dessert right there. 00:10:13.360 --> 00:10:28.799 And then I drank this caramel macchiato, and I took the best notes I've ever taken in my life, and I said, This coffee, there's something good about this, and ever since then I'm kind of a regular, right? 00:10:28.799 --> 00:10:30.799 A little bit. 00:10:30.799 --> 00:10:32.879 Coffee people? 00:10:32.879 --> 00:10:36.240 Okay, okay, all right, all right. 00:10:36.240 --> 00:10:43.519 You ever get disappointed you've already had your cup? 00:10:43.519 --> 00:10:49.679 Hey, you oh well, maybe some of you are all like just one. 00:10:49.679 --> 00:10:54.080 Maybe you're disappointed you already had your fifth, right? 00:10:54.080 --> 00:10:55.360 And nobody can do six. 00:10:55.360 --> 00:10:55.919 I don't know. 00:10:55.919 --> 00:10:57.279 Maybe it's something like that. 00:10:57.279 --> 00:11:07.039 You ever get disappointed you find yourself looking forward to that first cup of coffee the night before, before you've even gone to bed? 00:11:07.039 --> 00:11:09.600 All right. 00:11:09.600 --> 00:11:13.200 I have to admit, I've been there. 00:11:13.200 --> 00:11:17.519 You ever get that little headache when you haven't had the coffee? 00:11:17.519 --> 00:11:25.039 You know, your your body gets acclimated to coffee, right? 00:11:25.039 --> 00:11:36.000 This is why you get your body gets physically dependent on coffee to the point where it's calling for it. 00:11:36.000 --> 00:11:39.600 Maybe you don't need it, but you're uncomfortable without it. 00:11:39.600 --> 00:11:52.799 I wonder if this is a little bit of what we're talking about with these other gods that we're supposed to be careful about, these other gods we're supposed to move away from during Lent. 00:11:52.799 --> 00:11:56.240 But it's a tough one this time, right? 00:11:56.240 --> 00:11:59.840 When you talk about Lent, oh, I'm gonna give up murder. 00:11:59.840 --> 00:12:03.600 I will not murder anybody this whole season, right? 00:12:03.600 --> 00:12:04.159 Yeah. 00:12:04.159 --> 00:12:05.120 Okay. 00:12:05.120 --> 00:12:07.279 Low bar. 00:12:07.279 --> 00:12:11.360 And then we say coffee, and you're like, oh shoot. 00:12:11.360 --> 00:12:19.679 And yet here is something that has influence on your life, so much so your body is calling for it. 00:12:19.679 --> 00:12:28.480 I I think that's potentially uh why this Lent season can be intimidating, right? 00:12:28.480 --> 00:12:31.200 Even a little bit, uh a little bit scary. 00:12:31.200 --> 00:12:35.919 So I've got some encouraging words from Exodus, right? 00:12:35.919 --> 00:12:39.840 Uh Exodus passage, it gets kind of interesting here. 00:12:39.840 --> 00:12:44.320 We hear the story and we envision a basket, right? 00:12:44.320 --> 00:12:51.200 It's a basket that Moses is put in as he's floating down the river. 00:12:51.200 --> 00:12:56.159 Interesting point, and Stephen would make it if I didn't make it. 00:12:56.159 --> 00:13:09.600 The word that is actually used is the same word that's used for the ark that Noah built and then they hid in for the 40 days and nights of rain. 00:13:09.600 --> 00:13:13.120 Let's think about that for a minute, right? 00:13:13.120 --> 00:13:27.120 Here's the ark designed to preserve not just Noah's family, but the family of faith that will follow along, the body of believers that come behind him. 00:13:27.120 --> 00:13:30.639 The precious, precious cargo. 00:13:30.639 --> 00:13:33.600 That's what went inside the ark. 00:13:33.600 --> 00:13:42.159 Then they use the same word when they talk about the basket that Moses is in. 00:13:42.159 --> 00:13:45.919 Moses is critical to the faith. 00:13:45.919 --> 00:13:55.919 Just like Noah's family is critical, Moses becomes the leader that brings the Israelites to fruition, right? 00:13:55.919 --> 00:14:02.399 He's the one that gets them out of enslavement and into the land that God wants them. 00:14:02.399 --> 00:14:08.399 He is in that basket precious cargo. 00:14:08.399 --> 00:14:10.480 Yet again. 00:14:10.480 --> 00:14:24.879 So if we extend the image, right, if we extend the metaphor, and I believe we're supposed to extend this metaphor, which we're supposed to understand it this way, we've got precious cargo ourselves. 00:14:26.559 --> 00:14:30.080 We are precious cargo. 00:14:30.080 --> 00:14:32.960 At least that's what God would say. 00:14:34.080 --> 00:14:38.000 We are precious cargo and we should treat ourselves as such. 00:14:38.000 --> 00:14:48.000 The hope is that we might find inspiration from this Exodus tale that teaches us that God has these feelings for us. 00:14:48.000 --> 00:14:55.919 God understands us as precious cargo, understands us as holding precious cargo. 00:14:55.919 --> 00:15:03.519 I'm going to point out one more exegetical Bible-y thing. 00:15:03.519 --> 00:15:20.080 The theme that we are going to be talking about as we walk through Exodus here in the Lenten season, or one of these themes is a theme that's actually some would argue present all the way through Scripture. 00:15:20.080 --> 00:15:23.279 With the whole book, the whole Bible. 00:15:23.279 --> 00:15:57.440 He said, Well, I'm going to try this with Adam and Eve. 00:15:57.440 --> 00:15:58.799 Right? 00:15:58.799 --> 00:16:01.840 And then that didn't work out as good as he had hoped. 00:16:01.840 --> 00:16:10.240 So he said, We'll start working with Noah, and we'll try it this way with this family, and that didn't work out as he had hoped. 00:16:10.240 --> 00:16:18.559 Then he starts working with Abraham and this story of patriarchs of people and carrying out the faith. 00:16:18.559 --> 00:16:26.720 If we go further into scripture, he starts working with prophets, he starts working with kings, judges, even before that. 00:16:26.720 --> 00:16:39.919 Finally, he ends up sending Jesus different ways of trying to help us understand how we might get ourselves back to Eden. 00:16:39.919 --> 00:16:46.720 God even tries working with Jesus in allowing Jesus to be killed, resurrection. 00:16:46.720 --> 00:16:58.639 All of these ways that God has worked with us through Scripture to try to get us back to that place of Eden, of right relationship with God. 00:16:58.639 --> 00:17:04.559 That's a cycle that'll play out through Exodus, and it's a cycle that plays out through Scripture. 00:17:04.559 --> 00:17:06.480 But here is my confession. 00:17:06.480 --> 00:17:07.519 Are you ready? 00:17:07.519 --> 00:17:09.680 Full confession. 00:17:09.680 --> 00:17:14.559 I've never been too keen on getting back to Eden. 00:17:14.559 --> 00:17:17.759 Have you read that story? 00:17:17.759 --> 00:17:21.039 Oh, running around naked? 00:17:21.039 --> 00:17:24.960 No problems, no cares. 00:17:24.960 --> 00:17:30.160 I mean, sure, maybe some of you want to run around naked, but I don't know. 00:17:30.160 --> 00:17:35.920 I'm not really into it at this point, as he makes this joke. 00:17:35.920 --> 00:17:44.799 I'm just not a hundred percent sure this is God's ultimate vision for our lives here in this world. 00:17:44.799 --> 00:17:48.000 I'm not sure that's what God intended. 00:17:48.000 --> 00:18:00.880 I wonder if some of the work we want to be doing is in how we understand Eden, this place of right relationship, this place that we are seeking. 00:18:00.880 --> 00:18:06.480 I wonder if that should be our special focus on Lent. 00:18:06.480 --> 00:18:19.599 Richard Rohr, who is uh the driver of the devotion that I've invited you all to join me on for this year, and I get invitations in the Sunday emails. 00:18:19.599 --> 00:18:23.440 Richard Rohr, he doesn't see Eden as another place. 00:18:23.440 --> 00:18:28.880 He sees it as a mental space, a spiritual space. 00:18:28.880 --> 00:18:29.759 Right? 00:18:29.759 --> 00:18:31.839 And he writes this first quote. 00:18:31.839 --> 00:18:34.000 I think we have it up here. 00:18:34.000 --> 00:18:37.680 Eden is a symbol of unitive consciousness. 00:18:37.680 --> 00:18:39.359 All right, big words. 00:18:39.359 --> 00:18:43.279 Some of us are reeling it in, some of us are all come on, Pastor. 00:18:43.279 --> 00:18:49.920 Eden is a symbol of, it's a mindset, it's a spiritual mindset. 00:18:49.920 --> 00:18:53.680 We cannot objectively be separate from God. 00:18:53.680 --> 00:18:56.720 We all walk in the garden, whether we know it or not. 00:18:56.720 --> 00:19:00.000 We come from God and we will return to God. 00:19:00.000 --> 00:19:04.559 Everything in between is a school of conscious loving. 00:19:04.559 --> 00:19:13.519 He's trying to tell us Eden isn't this place we're trying to get to either here or beyond here. 00:19:13.519 --> 00:19:21.599 He's trying to tell us it is a mindset, a spiritual mindset of being in right relationship with God. 00:19:21.599 --> 00:19:30.960 And we have that capacity to do that, to move towards the spiritual center, that place of right relationship with God. 00:19:30.960 --> 00:19:40.640 We have that capacity, but so many of our life journeys lead away from that center, that Eden, that right place. 00:19:40.640 --> 00:19:46.799 So many of our stories in Scripture mark that temptation away from the center. 00:19:46.799 --> 00:20:06.799 How many times have we read stories about a fall and recovery, hiddenness and discovery, loss, and then renewal, failure, and then forgiveness, exile, and then return. 00:20:06.799 --> 00:20:14.640 It's because that is the state, that is the cycle of our life journey of faith with God. 00:20:14.640 --> 00:20:24.319 It's moving as much as we can towards that middle, but then having the influences around us pull us off of that center. 00:20:24.319 --> 00:20:29.839 But Richard Rohr, he's got some words of encouragement for that journey as well. 00:20:29.839 --> 00:20:32.720 He writes, I think that's up there too. 00:20:32.720 --> 00:20:44.559 Fortunately, we are always being led back to the real center to find who we really are, to find ourselves in God. 00:20:44.559 --> 00:20:50.240 God seems both very patient and very productive with the journeys back and forth. 00:20:50.240 --> 00:21:02.160 Such is the pattern of the soul, of history, and of the Bible, the progress of sorts, two steps backward and three forward. 00:21:02.160 --> 00:21:20.079 God comes to us with grace and with patience, with all the grace and patience we need to walk this journey, this journey of seeking that centeredness, but then being pulled out of it. 00:21:20.079 --> 00:21:28.720 And that's why, to me, this work that we are committing to or you're invited to here at Lent is so important. 00:21:28.720 --> 00:21:37.920 It's important for us to start working through some of these big questions about how we understand Eden. 00:21:37.920 --> 00:21:39.920 What are we striving for? 00:21:39.920 --> 00:21:42.480 What is that center for us? 00:21:42.480 --> 00:21:51.279 Maybe it's a where question, where is it spiritually, but certainly it's a what question. 00:21:52.400 --> 00:21:58.559 What is it that we, what is it that you are seeking? 00:21:58.559 --> 00:22:01.920 You seek God in God's presence. 00:22:01.920 --> 00:22:03.920 Is it some kind of meaning? 00:22:03.920 --> 00:22:07.200 Is it some kind of purpose? 00:22:07.200 --> 00:22:09.680 Is it some sort of calling? 00:22:09.680 --> 00:22:15.759 What's the part of this Eden that you can find? 00:22:15.920 --> 00:22:21.119 To me, this is a much more focused way of looking at our job over land. 00:22:21.119 --> 00:22:25.200 We need to reflect on these important questions. 00:22:25.200 --> 00:22:27.200 And I'll give you one pro tip. 00:22:27.200 --> 00:22:29.920 Are you ready for the pro tip for today? 00:22:30.480 --> 00:22:36.319 It's probably not something you have no control over. 00:22:36.319 --> 00:22:42.960 Not something you have no control over. 00:22:44.160 --> 00:22:45.839 Lent is about us. 00:22:45.839 --> 00:22:56.319 It's about our capacity to live the life that's in front of us with love for God, for others, and for ourselves. 00:22:57.519 --> 00:23:02.799 It's not going to be about controlling what we can't control. 00:23:04.559 --> 00:23:11.200 It's about being committed to justice and fairness, respect for all God's children. 00:23:11.200 --> 00:23:20.160 It's about being able to find that peace for ourselves and with ourselves to be in right relationship with God. 00:23:20.160 --> 00:23:26.319 For many of us, that journey of Lent will start today. 00:23:27.039 --> 00:23:30.880 I pray that it is a space with God. 00:23:30.880 --> 00:23:41.920 So in that mindset, in this spiritual place, I want to take you back to the story. 00:23:43.119 --> 00:23:47.599 The story of Moses being sent down this river. 00:23:47.599 --> 00:23:56.799 And I'm going to take you back to the feelings of that mom in particular, of acknowledging that she's sending her son off to. 00:23:56.799 --> 00:24:23.039 Blessed beyond ways that we can understand.