Preparing for Worship September 4
We continue a series of readings that tells the story of the Hebrew exodus from Egypt. Moses and Pharaoh’s magicians have been in a competition. Moses tells them god will send a plague, the magicians replicate what happens the first two ties: water turned to blood and frogs. The third plague, gnats, they cannot replicate and the magicians tell Pharaoh “This is the finger of God.” Pharaoh is not convinced and will not set the Hebrews free. There is back and forth between Moses and Pharaoh until the tenth plague: the death of the first born. Our reading is the establishing of the ritual of the Passover meal to remember this final and most horrible plague and the escape from Egypt.
Exodus 12:1-14
The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt: This month shall mark for you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year for you. Tell the whole congregation of Israel that on the tenth of this month they are to take a lamb for each family, a lamb for each household. If a household is too small for a whole lamb, it shall join its closest neighbor in obtaining one; the lamb shall be divided in proportion to the number of people who eat of it. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a year-old male; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month; then the whole assembled congregation of Israel shall slaughter it at twilight. They shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. They shall eat the lamb that same night; they shall eat it roasted over the fire with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted over the fire, with its head, legs, and inner organs. You shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn. This is how you shall eat it: your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it hurriedly. It is the passover of the Lord. For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike down every firstborn in the land of Egypt, both human beings and animals; on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgements: I am the Lord. The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live: when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague shall destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.
This day shall be a day of remembrance for you. You shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord; throughout your generations you shall observe it as a perpetual ordinance.
Remember
Consider the importance of what you choose to remember and what not. Do you remember the happy times and the good words from your childhood – or do you remember most sharply the “bad” stuff?
As we move toward the 10th year anniversary of 9/11, how has our country chosen to remember that event. What have we learned? How has this event been used to foster behavior and attitudes?
What memories do you use to teach yourself and your family important truths and behaviors?
Confucius, 6th century b.c.e.
I hear, I know. I see, I remember. I do, I understand.
Frederick Buechner, 21st century
You can’t be too careful what you tell a child because you never know what he’ll take hold of and spend the rest of his life remembering you by.
Morris Joseph, 20th century
Passover affirms the great truth that liberty is the inalienable right of every human being.
Hebrew Proverb
These three are the marks of a Jew–a tender heart, self-respect, and charity.
Elie Wiesel, 20th century
I marvel at the resilience of the Jewish people. Their best characteristic is their desire to remember. No other people has such an obsession with memory
(quotes from weekly seeds ucc.org)
Prayer
“O God, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown. Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go, but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”