SERMON 10 September 2023  

God called Moses to liberate the Hebrews, a minority people living in Egypt. We looked at Exodus 3 in last Sunday’s sermon, and then from chapter 4, Moses and his brother Aaron go to Pharaoh to carry out God’s command. This was a “mission impossible” against the superpower of the day, Egypt. Pharaoh not surprisingly rejected Moses’ proposal. Using the plagues that God said he would bring down upon Egypt as a warning, Moses tried to persuade Pharaoh to let the people go, but Pharaoh wouldn’t back down. This back-and-forth went on for a long time. In the meantime, there were nine plagues. The Nile turned to blood; invasions of frogs, lice and flying insects; disease; boils, fire and hail, locusts and darkness. After each of the nine plagues, Pharaoh promised to let the people go, but his heart hardened and he broke his promise. After the ninth plague of darkness, God gave Israel and the Egyptians some breathing room. They had a few days to rest and recharge – but God wasn’t done.

Finally, the tenth plague came. Finally, God’s plan for liberation in store for the Hebrews comes to a close: this is the evening when the Israelites leave their life of slavery behind and prepare for a new beginning in the land of Canaan that God has promised them.

God instructed them to prepare a year-old male lamb and take its blood to mark their doorposts and lintels to protect their households from the final and most devastating plaque sent by God: the death of the firstborn in every Egyptian home, including that of Pharaoh. But each Hebrew family gathers to eat roasted lamb, medium well-done and a healthy salad with bitter herbs. This is excellent nutrition. And any leftovers should be burned before the morning departure.

The instructions also mention how they are to dress when eating the meal, “Your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand, and you shall eat it hurriedly.” Then God says, “It is the Passover of the Lord.” The Passover of the angel of death is a profound symbol of liberation, redemption, and God’s faithfulness to His covenant with the Israelites. It is a powerful reminder of how God saved His people from oppression and guided them toward a new beginning as a free nation. In the celebration of that meal everything has significant meaning. The bitter herbs, the roasted lamb, and even wearing travelling clothes and sandals on their feet were all of symbolic importance. The Hebrews were to eat the meal prepared to go on the journey at a moment’s notice. The Passover was a hastily eaten meal. It was a meal intended to quickly give the Hebrew people fuel. It was food to provide them with strength for the long, challenging journey ahead.

Also, God commands the Israelites to celebrate and remember THIS day. So, we do the Holy Communion, the Lord’s Supper, or Eucharist on the first Sunday of every month. As the Lord commands his disciples to “Do this in remembrance of me” when he breaks bread and pours wine. The context of the Eucharist, our central ritual modelled in part on the Exodus, reminds us that it is a matter of life, death and rebirth. Just as the Passover united and energized our Hebrew sisters and brothers, the Eucharist can inspire us with integrity and courage to face the climate crisis and take action.

We are not just individuals, but a community with a common purpose and a common life – one body, because we all partake of the one bread. “We are one body” is a reminder of our brothers and sisters affected by climate change. However, this understanding of communion has been limited to humans, but in reality, in the Eucharist, people, angels, archangels, and all of creation enter into communion. This is the unity expressed in every Eucharist. So, we must also listen to the cries of the Earth and all of God’s creation.

In the liturgy, we are shown that the sacramental ingredients of bread and wine are products of the earth and that human beings who receive them must cease all forms of cruelty to the planet and take care of and preserve it.

In Romans, the apostle Paul says, “You know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from your sleep.” In this time of the Climate Crisis, we should reflect on ourselves, on the effect of civilization on God’s creatures and as we are stewards and carers of the earth, reflect on climate change. We must look at the situation with our eyes open to the scientific evidence. God is calling us, awakening us to this issue, and we must step out in hope and trust in God. God gives us the strength to overcome this situation.

Most of all, we, as people of faith, should stand out in the love of God. That is what Paul is emphasizing in the text today. Paul once told the Romans that they should stand out in love above all else: that attitude of enabling the good for another and that attitude by which we can fulfil all that God seeks for us. “Love your neighbour as yourself…Love is the fulfilling of the law”.

Let’s think about it. In the modern world, we have to ask ourselves. Who are my neighbours? Our neighbours are the people who live downstream of our waste. Our neighbours are those affected by climate change due to the choices of human civilization. Our neighbours are the generations who will inherit a world despoiled and made barren by our consumerist society. Our neighbours are the many living creatures that make up the web of life we depend on and that God has called us to safeguard.

Therefore, Christians and everyone else should respond to God’s plan for us in this beautiful world that God has brought into being. Just as urgency was urged on the Israelites, now is the time to awaken and the time to act. “Eat with your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand, and you shall eat hurriedly”.