Pastor Michelle Brown
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March 2020 - Minister's Message
Happy March, my Sixth Street friends! The scripture I chose for my message on February 23 is one that is probably familiar to you: the Transfiguration of Jesus (Matthew 17:1-9). Biblical scholars believe that this account closely parallels Moses’ two mountaintop experiences in Exodus when Moses climbs Mount Sinai to get instruction from the Lord, including the Ten Commandments. You may be asking yourself, “Wait, there were two times that Moses got that information?” Yes indeed. The first of these two accounts takes place during Exodus 24:12 – 31:18, when God gives Moses instructions to pass on to the Israelites waiting in the valley. The instructions include: proper worship, how to build the ark of the covenant, how to construct a portable place of worship called the Tabernacle, the furnishings of the Tabernacle, the priestly garments, consecration of priests, the sacred objects and materials used for worship, and the importance of keeping the Sabbath. Only after giving all of these teachings does the Lord inscribe them on two tablets of stone and send Moses back to his people. Moses has been gone for “forty days and forty nights.” This is a saying used by biblical writers to mean “a long, long, long, long time” – perhaps literally forty days and nights, but it could mean much longer. During that time, the Israelites were in limbo, waiting for Moses to return … and waiting, and waiting, and waiting… I believe the people in the valley eventually stopped thinking that Moses would ever come back to them; in their despair, they fell back on the habits of belief and behavior they had learned in Egypt. When people are under stress, they fall back on the habits and strategies that worked for them in the past. Those who have abused substances to get relief from pain or anxiety in the past, for example, may start using again after a period of sobriety if he or she is faced with an unstable or scary situation. For the Israelites in the valley, waiting for Moses was a time of increasing darkness. Eventually their fear made them turn from the God they had only followed for a few months and toward the “gods” of their past. Exodus 32:1 reads, “When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, ‘Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.’” Regardless of what Aaron believed, he decided to pacify the people by melting down their jewelry and casting a golden calf. He then stepped even further down the wrong path by presenting this idol for worship and giving this “god” credit for bringing the Israelites out of Egypt. Just as the crowd was bowing and sacrificing to this false god, Moses descended the mountain. “His anger burned and he threw the tablets out of his hands, breaking them to pieces” (Exodus 32:19). Fortunately for the Israelites – and for us, God was willing to call Moses back up the mountain to give him two new tablets that included what we refer to as the Ten Commandments. The first commandment should come as no surprise, “You shall have no other gods before me.” During Lent, the season of repentance and turning to God, let us be ones who uphold the truth especially in times of trouble and insecurity. It can seem easier to overlook or pacify people on paths of destruction than it is to offer them God’s forgiveness and salvation. God calls us to extend the latter gift to the lost people of the world. I pray that each one of us sees opportunities to reach out with the message of grace. May you be strengthened and optimistic, hopeful and joyful, encouraged and encouraging. With my love. Michelle Archived Articles February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 March 13, 2019 February 13, 2019 January 9, 2019 September 19, 2018 August 15, 2018 July 25, 2018 July 11, 2018 June 27, 2018 June 13, 2018 April 25, 2018 April 18, 2018 April 10, 2018 February 21, 2018 February 7, 2018 February 1, 2018 January 17, 2018 January 1, 2018 December 13, 2017 November 29, 2017 November 15, 2017 October 19, 2017 October 4, 2017 September 27, 2017 August 16, 2017 August 2, 2017 July 19, 2017 July 12, 2017 July 5, 2017 June 14, 2017 June 7, 2017 May 24, 2017 May 17, 2017 May 10, 2017 May 3, 2017 April 19, 2017 April 5, 2017 March 22, 2017 March 15, 2017 March 8, 2017 |
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