Morning Prayer: Tom Lyda Choral Amen Hymn of Faith *Go Down, Moses* Witness of Scripture: Exodus 3: 1-12 & Deuteronomy 34: 1-8 Anthem *Father Almighty, grant us peace* Auber. Chancel Choir Sermon *Essentials: Perseverance* David Spain
Recorded on September 29, 2024
There are several generations of people who have an image of Moses—a well-coifed, well-
oiled, muscled up Charlton Heston type—thanks to Cecil B. DeMille’s classic movie The Ten
Commandments. However, what plays well at the box office may not square with the stories
told in Exodus, and later in Deuteronomy as we just read—epochal stories of the odyssey that is
Moses. Whether one’s impression comes from DeMille or Torah (and that does make a difference), no one looms larger in the Hebrew scriptures than Moses—whose beginning was perilous
and whose ending was less than movie perfect. Odd as this may sound, it is good that Moses is
not a movie; instead, Moses reminds us that sometimes faith is a four-course meal, and sometimes faith is no picnic. Moses lived the full spectrum of faith.
In our world of sound bite communication and instant gratification, we are inclined toward impatience. If the text or the email gets sent and 15 minutes goes by without a response; if the test results haven’t hit the cell phone before we get home; if the team doesn’t right the ship in the first 5 games; if the answer takes time; if we don’t get what we want as we want and when we want, then we tend to grow restless, disgruntled, disenchanted. Ours is a microwave mindset, not a slow-cook process—it is a consequence of life’s pace. Religion has at times been tempted to offer similar fare. There are some very popular expressions of religion that orient toward a theology of success and prosperity—do this or that, believe this or that and God will reward you richly. Somehow, Moses missed that church, for he did not know faith as prosperity; instead, Moses lived faith as perseverance. This is a much different picture of faith.
Charlton Heston commanding the waters to separate notwithstanding, Moses led something of a troubled if not a traumatic journey through life—all of which led Frederick Buechner to quip, “contrary to popular opinion, when God puts the finger on you, your troubles are just beginning.” It might be good trouble but it is trouble nonetheless, especially when you take on Pharaoh’s established power, or tend a fickle bunch as Moses’ charges often were. For Moses, faith was not an enticement for enrichment but the practice of perseverance, and his story reminds us that perseverance is an essential of faith. The way the book of Hebrews describes it is, “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Paul wrote, “Forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.” Jesus said it simply, “Follow me.” No doubt faith as prosperity has loads of glam and glitter; whereas faith as perseverance is tenacious and transforming.
Perseverance by definition is a long story, and it expresses itself in a variety of ways. In fact, Moses’ story of perseverance begins before he is born. We remember that Joseph had landed a successful job as minister of agriculture in Pharaoh’s cabinet, preparing and providing resources for the upcoming famine. Egypt’s prosperity became sanctuary for Joseph’s family, and subsequently for all Israel who sought refuge within Egypt’s boundaries. It was all well and good until it wasn’t, when Pharaoh’s powerful paranoia drove his powerful polity that feared the Israelites and enslaved them into work camps of endless brick making. That wasn’t enough, and since paranoid power only becomes more destructive, Pharaoh ordered a pogrom against all male Hebrew babies. Not everyone cow-towed to Pharaoh. The text says, “The midwives feared God and did not do as the King of Egypt commanded.” Stephen Shoemaker observes, “There’s an arresting thought—the obedience to God in the heart of a nurse-midwife is greater than all the pharaohs of the world. God’s pyramid of power is different from ours. As the apostle Paul would later say, “God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things that are mighty.” (GodStories, 79) Paranoid power, however, does not go quietly into the night, and so another edict is issued that all the Hebrew baby boys would be tossed into the Nile—what cruel irony, the river of life used to end life. We may recall this part of the story from song or Sunday School. Moses is born, kept at home until he no longer can be; so a basket is fashioned into a makeshift ark placed in the bulrushes at the river’s edge and watched over by Moses’ sister Miriam. When Pharaoh’s daughter discovers the baby basket, Miriam volunteers to get a nursemaid, who just happens to be Moses’ mother. Long before he led a people to a land of milk and honey, Moses was nourished by the milk and honey of these faithful, persevering, clever women. It is a clue for the future—that women and men are called to faithful proclamation of God’s voice.
Moses grew up in the palace—the best education and privilege of the ruling class.But something else persevered—his sense of who he was and whose he was, even if he could not have named it at the time.When he saw his Hebrew siblings being mistreated, he rose up against it. Impulsively, he struck with his sword and had to flee for his own life, eventually landing in Midian where he met Jethro’s 7 daughters, married one of them, and was hired by his father-in-law to shepherd his flocks. It was no palace, but it was in a sense sanctuary.
Here is where we learn of the perseverance of God as well. Safely beyond the reach of Pharaoh, Moses is still within reach of God.This is the story we heard from Exodus this morning. God calls Moses, of all things, to go back to Pharaoh—who still has out the most wanted posters with Moses’ picture on them—and tell him that God says, “let my people go.”Right! Moses objects, but God perseveres by basically promising, “I will be with you.” Something else is revealed in this exchange. When it comes to Pharaoh or captive, oppressor or oppressed, dominator or dominated, Moses learns for whom God advocates. That has never really been a question; the question has always been for whom do God’s people advocate.
God’s perseverance outlasts Moses’ objections, and after a long series of problems and
plagues, Pharaoh finally relents and the Hebrew people—led by Moses—flee captivity and head toward freedom. Their gratitude for liberation did not last long, and it isn’t long before Moses’ charges are bellyaching to be back in Egypt. Later when Moses had gone up the mountain to bring down God’s commands for life, he discovers the people dancing around a golden calf of their own making, thanks in large part to his brother Aaron’s suggestion. Tales of this desert sojourn reveal fascinating conversations between God and Moses. One time, God was ready to be done with the whole enterprise; another time, Moses wanted to be anywhere but with this entourage—but in each case, they convinced each other to persevere. That is instructive—life can be wondrous and joyful and beautiful when the clouds part if not the seas; and life can also be frustrating, situations can be hard, hurt is real and we can’t help but wonder about God or about each other. The story says keep on even through the worst of it, because there is much to learn along the way. Remember what Madeliene L’Engle once said when asked if she believed in God without any doubts, to which she replied, “I believe in God with all my doubts.”That’s real, that’s perseverance.
Finally, after several generations of wandering in the wilderness, the Promised Land comes into view. Reprising an earlier scene, Moses gets to go up another mountain in God’s good company.We have every reason to expect the best of news, as Moses gets a preview of what the people will soon see. But the trailer does not go as expected.Here is the land flowing with milk and honey that you tasted long ago as an infant Moses; it is now a reality for a people once enslaved. Congratulations, you did it; and you don’t get to go in with them. There has been wild speculation of why the story did not end with Moses marching the band into the Promised Land. Was Moses paying the price for a few impetuous youthful moments; was he bearing the punishment for this people’s not infrequent murmurings? We don’t know, except to say that it feels unfair.Maybe it is unfair, or maybe it is life marked less by fairness and more by grace, life lived less by accomplishment and more by accompanying, life given less to satiating and more to empowering, life dedicated less to prosperity and more to persevering.Peter Gomes observes that the view from ‘Pisgah reminds us that what you see is not necessarily what you get, but that what you get is the opportunity to see…the ultimate hero and supreme prophet is not one who makes a place for himself [or herself], who has the supreme pleasure of saying “I told you so,” but rather one whose satisfaction rests in the hope, if not the knowledge that he [or she] has helped to make a way for others…With very few exceptions the names of the architects and builders of the great cathedrals of Europe are unknown. No one builder saw the masterpiece completed, for the work of a cathedral is the work of many lives and many lifetimes…The justice of God is not that we are allowed to complete what we have begun, but the grace of God is that we are allowed to participate in what God has begun…We may not be able to make an end but by God’s grace we are enabled to make a beginning, and that is no small thing.” (Sermons, pp. 157 – 158)
We get to show people the Promised Land—the next generations, these children who sang for us today. What’s more, even if we don’t get to the Promised Land, we are still people embraced in the Promise of God who pledges, “I will be with you.” Some days that’s a feast, other days it’s no picnic, which is why perseverance is not the most glamorous or exciting trait of faith. Instead, it is essential.