A Word from Pastor Lisa: Wandering the Wilderness

"The Lord went in front of them during the day in a column of cloud to guide them and at night in a column of lightning to give them light. This way they could travel during the day and at night. The column of cloud during the day and the column of lightning at night never left its place in front of the people.”

—Exodus 13:21-22 (CEB)

I’m a daytime hiker. I like to know where I’m going and see what’s ahead of me. Even better, I like markers on the trail. When Colin and I hiked Acadia National Park, we appreciated the cairns that kept us on the path.

This pandemic presents many challenges, especially because there is no clear path ahead.  As students return to IU, we worry how that will affect COVID-19 cases in Bloomington. We struggle with supporting families with children in online schooling. We still know people without work who can’t make ends meet. We wonder what will happen to protests over racial injustice. We are anxious about the upcoming election. We are in a wilderness time where we don’t know what the next steps will be for us as individuals or as a church.

That’s why the Exodus stories we’re about to explore in worship are more relevant than ever. (This brief retelling of the Exodus story is based loosely on Daniel Erlander’s book, Manna and Mercy.) We’ll remember how God gave birth to a people. The people were slaves under a nation called Egypt. They cried out to God, who heard their cry and appointed a reluctant leader named Moses to guide them to freedom. Moses took along his brother, Aaron, and sister, Miriam, as they led the people out of Egypt. When they got to the Red Sea, God parted the waters, and they walked across on dry ground. But the Egyptian army got swallowed by sea and mud. Moses, Miriam, and Aaron sang a victory song to God.

Now that the people were free, it was time for God to teach them how to live as partners with God. God’s first step was to guide them into the wilderness, where God led them by a cloud by day and pillar of fire at night. This precarious place would be God’s classroom, where the people would learn how to live.

The first lesson came when the people grumbled about food. God responded by providing and showing them with manna. The second lesson came when they hoarded the manna, and it began to stink. God reminded them that it was important to take only what they needed and share the rest. The third lesson came when no manna fell on the seventh day. On the sixth day, twice as much would fall to cover the seventh day. God gave them rest, telling them that humans do not have to work every day to receive God’s manna.

Finally, God brought these wilderness people to another promise called covenant, through a gift of land and commandments that would enable the people to stay in love with one another and with God.

God’s wilderness school stretches far beyond what we can learn from a chalkboard or tablet, especially during this liminal time of pandemic.