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God’s Promises: This autumn, we’re learning alongside the youngest among us in Church School. We look at the early characters of the Hebrew scriptures and how God’s promises bring hope for the future, with guidelines on how to love God and love others in ways that bring life and hope to all.
This Sunday we’re looking at a troubling story, one that is foundational in our long faith story: the parting of the Red Sea (Exodus 14). You probably know the contours well: God parts the waters for the Israelites to get across as they’re fleeing Pharaoh and slavery and then, once they’re safely across, God drowns all the Egyptian army. It’s a story of victory for God’s people.
About a decade ago, I was called up to consult in a Church School room about a thorny theological question from one of our second graders: if God is so loving, why did they drown all the Egyptians?
It’s a good question, a hard question. A question worth wrestling with. Who is God in this story? And is it a God we want to worship and emulate?
On Sunday, we’ll talk about why the writers of Exodus told this story that way. What were they saying about God? And what are the consequences of telling that story?
We’ll also ask: where is God in the story we are living? How would we write the history of where God is in current events? Where is God intervening or holding back?
I invite your prayers for inspiration and honesty as we come together on Sunday. As always, it will be a joyful occasion to be together, to lay down what we need to let go of and pick up what we need to carry with us.
In faith,
Kent
