Year A

Vigil
 The Flood (Genesis 7:1-5, 11-18; 8:6-18; 9:8-13)
 Israel’s Deliverance at the Red Sea (Exodus 14:10-15:1)
 Salvation Offered Freely to All (Isaiah 55:1-11)
 A New Heart and a New Spirit (Ezekiel 36:24-28)
 The Valley of Dry Bones (Ezekiel 37:1-14)
 The Gathering of God’s People (Zephaniah 3:12-20)

At the Eucharist
Romans 6:3-11
Psalm 114
 Matthew 28:1-10

May the words of my mouth, O God, speak your truth…

Some years ago…  here in Grand Rapids…  Joel and I went to an evening lecture at the offices of the West Michigan Conference of the United Methodist Church…  and which was sponsored by the LGBT Christian support group GIFT…  Gays in Faith Together…  Two Churches’ Lauren McIntyre currently serves as the board President…  though the story I want to tell wasn’t under her watch…  but Joel and I went…  because the speakers were two Jewish men…  who were going to talk about the Exodus…  the setting free of the Israelites from slavery…  and after all of the introductions were made…  and an overview of the evening was presented…  one of the speakers asked if anyone was willing to share a few sentences about the basic story line of that historical event…  and there were about eighteen people there…  and except for the two speakers…  and Joel and me…  none of the other fourteen or so people even seemed to know what the story was about…  it didn’t seem as though any of them were just being shy…  because there were blank stares and short-lived awkward silences…  as though at least some of them thought they ought to know something about it…  ]  and maybe none of them had read that part of the Bible…  but apparently none of them had seen Cecile B. DeMille’s The Ten Commandments either…  that in itself would have been enough of a primer…  but no…  no one could muster even that… I felt distressed…

In the Episcopal guidelines for tonight’s Vigil…  there are nine readings from which to choose…  and at least two are to be read…  and one of the two must always be the reading we just heard from Exodus…  about Israel’s Deliverance at the Red Sea…  in Lutheran guidelines…  there are twelve readings from which to choose…  and at least four are to be read…  four which are never omitted…  and one of the four must always be the reading from Exodus about Israel’s Deliverance at the Red Sea…   because the Exodus story has more than one layer of truth…  because what happened there was pivotal…  and it was led by a man who was simply following God’s will… 

According to the Torah…  the name “Moses” comes from a Hebrew verb…  which means…  to pull out of… or…  to draw out of …  but not out of just anything…  but out of water…  and the infant Moses was given this name by Pharaoh’s daughter some years after she rescued him from the Nile…

Listen to Exodus 2:5-10…  The 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…  when 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…  then his sister [ Miriam ]…  said to Pharaoh’s daughter…  Shall I go and get you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you…  Pharaoh’s daughter said to her…  Yes…  so the girl went and called the child’s mother [ Jochebed ]…  Pharaoh’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…  ]  when 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… 

And we know the story…  when Moses had become a man…  he saw an Egyptian taskmaster beating one of his people…  and he slew him…  and Moses fled for his life… ]  fast forward several chapters to Moses tending flocks for his father-in-law Jethro…  and God…  through the Burning Bush sending Moses to Egypt… to Pharaoh…  to draw his people…  not only through the Red Sea…  but when they got to the other side of it…  out of slavery too…

And so those who drew the blueprint for tonight’s Easter Vigil…  were determined to make sure this one reading is always heard by God’s people… they wanted us to know about how God freed the Israelites after hundreds of years of slavery…  but even more so…  they wanted us to remember…  to remind us…  that God is…  in every moment…  ready to free us…

There’s a story told by John Shea…  about a teacher planning a Passion Play for Holy Week…  and having more kids to cast than parts to play…  and so in her creativity…  she casts one little boy named John as the Rock which covers the tomb…  and when the little girl…  just slightly larger than Tinker Bell…  and playing the Angel of the Lord…  nudged the rolled-up-rock…  he somersaulted away from the entrance of the tomb…  while at the same time…  managing to stay rolled up…  and the Angel sat on him…  making the stone of death…  the throne of God…  and the audience went wild…  applauding and chanting Rock…  Rock…  Rock…  and afterwards…  even asking him for autographs…

The teacher wasn’t sure all this attention was good for John…  so she took him aside and suggested that at the remaining performances… he play the tree from which Judas hung himself…  [ I know… right…  ] but he said…   I like being the Rock…  ] and the teacher asked…  as many teachers do…  Why…  he answered…  I like letting Christ out of the tomb…  ]  but John…  she said…  the Rock isn’t rolled back…  so Christ can get out…  he is already gone…  the Rock…  she pointed out…  is rolled back…  so that the women can see in…

John’s face twisted and floundered for the first time in the deep waters of the Spirit…  Well…  he asked…  how did he get out if the Rock was still stuck in the hole…  and now…  while the teacher herself floundered for an answer that John would be able to handle…  and took a breath to offer what she hoped what would make some sense to him…  John himself provided one…  Well…  he said…  I guess huge rocks are no big thing for God…  and the teacher said…  in a quiet…  choking voice…  that he should continue in the role of the Rock…  since he knew the part so well…

There is historical truth to the Exodus story…  but it’s deepest truth…  is that its message of freedom transcends all times…  places…  and circumstances…  Exodus offers us freedom from anything and everything which does…  or can enslave us…  and as we are freed from those things which keep us captive…  as we allow Jesus to pull us out…  draw us out through the waters of baptism…  pull us out of death and into life…  we are increasingly free to receive all that God has waiting for us…  and we will  experience that we are a part of something incomprehensibly greater than ourselves…  you see…  the joy of this day is ours…  whether we have read the story…  or not…  Happy Easter…