Exodus 14:10-31
Easter Vigil– Years A,B,C
“Weren’t there enough graves in Egypt?”
This question reminds us of the difficulties which have moved from the horizon to smack us square in the face. When we finally have to face up to the on-going messiness of life and feel hemmed in, we shift our memories according to our latest fantasy of utopia and how all things are to work out to our benefit. (Otherwise what is the value of our current utilitarian G*D?)
Not liking to be thought culpable in our own circumstance, our difficulties can easily shift over into our making life difficult for some vulnerable sub-group among us. We love to hate someone not like us.
Whether bemoaning our own situation or trying to make it seem better by seeing to it that someone else moans louder than ourselves, there is a healing word to be heard—“Don’t be afraid. Stand your ground”.
When we shift from unanswerable questions to affirmations beyond previous limits, we find we are on the way to opening a new way. On this way some folks make this shift faster than others. They begin assessing the options and eventually find a foreground/background shift as in an optical illusion and can never again only see a blockage without its resolution. There were many options evaluated before only the sea ahead could fully be addressed.
Seas are chaotic for creatures of the dust of the ground. Seas dissolve us. We go down to the sea again to visit the mystery of other and death.
In a gentle lapping of wave on shore or a typhoon beyond categories, we remember how it felt to have been so bound by a too-large question and the relief when it became clear that avoiding disaster is not an option, only how we will respond to it—not fearing death and dissolution, but claiming our best hope to stand upon.
Resurrection is hope renewed, but only after the fact can we incorporate it into a next time we face our grave again. Fears will have to be faced again and hope is key to seeing a path in the midst of a deep blue sea threatening drowning and obliteration. We may yet drown, but, like the Mary Ellen Carter, rising again is not out of the question.
Even so, we cannot avoid the eventuality that death does come. May it be said that we stood our ground and danced with our best hope.
As found in Wrestling Year A: Connecting Sunday Readings with Lived Experience
"Weren't there enough graves in Egypt?"
This question reminds us of the difficulties which have moved from the horizon to smack us square in the face. When we finally have to face up to the on-going messiness of life and feel hemmed in we shift our memories according to our latest fantasy of utopia and all how all things are to work out to our benefit (otherwise what is the value of our current utilitarian G*D?).
Not liking to be thought culpable in our own circumstance, our difficulties can easily shift over into our making life difficult for some vulnerable sub-group among us. We love to hate someone not like us.
Whether bemoaning our own situation or trying to make it seem better by seeing to it that someone else moans louder than ourselves, there is a healing word to be heard — "Don't be afraid. Stand your ground".
When we shift from unanswerable questions to affirmations beyond previous limits, we find we are on the way to opening a new way. Truth be told, beyond the 30-minute sitcom or a couple of chapters bible story, there are some folks who are making this shift faster than others. They begin assessing the options and eventually find a foreground/background shift in an optical illusion and can never again only see a blockage without its resolution. There were many options evaluated before only the sea ahead could fully addressed.
Seas are chaotic for creatures of the dust of the ground. Seas dissolve us. We go down to the sea again to visit the mystery of other and death.
In a gentle lapping of wave on shore or a typhoon beyond categories, we remember how it felt to have been so bound by a too-large question and the relief when it became more clear that avoiding disaster is not an option, only how we will respond to it — not fearing death and dissolution, but claiming our best hope to stand upon.
Resurrection is hope renewed, but only after the fact can we incorporate it into the next time we face our grave again. Fears will have to be faced again and hope is key to seeing a path in the midst of a deep blue sea threatening drowning and obliteration. We may yet drown, but, like the Mary Ellen Carter, rising again is not out of the question.
Even so, we cannot avoid the eventually that death does come. May it be said of that we stood our ground on our best hope.
Another creation story that moves through the deep of chaos. While the wind and spirit of G*D once moved over the face of the deep, it has now penetrated to the bowels of the deep.
Fear rising from behind us, from all the accumulated yesterday, makes every situation ultimate. Here we are, caught between the devil and the deep blue sea (or marshy reed sea). We can only look back and all our mistakes are hot on our tail. We are about reap the consequences of each past misstep or return to a slavery that at least was known.
Our fear fixates us on our fear. We can only look back over our shoulder and thus walk in circles. Our fear keeps us from looking ahead, even if it is dangerous. We can yet do something about tomorrow by what we do today.
Resurrection comes as we put our past behind us for the moment and look onward. “Look, there, something is happening. Everyone, breathe in and on the count of 3, blow. 3. Did you see? Again, breathe; blow. Again.”
And the dark waters, breath-by-breath, part. The waters part just enough.
When finally across, we look back at our fear. “Look. Again, breathe. 3. And we move. One, two, three, four, we glide across the floor. Onward.”
http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2014/04/exodus-1410-31-1520-21-vigil.html