The Wednesday evening Bible Study has been making its way through the Book of Exodus. We seek to enter into the sacred stories with curiosity, desiring to learn more about the context of our faith, and how these stories shape our worldview, our understanding, our purpose, and the ways in which we live out our faith in the day to day.
This week, we read about what happens after the Israelites are freed from their enslavement in Egypt and find safety after escaping Pharaoh’s army through the Red Sea. As pharaoh’s army storms toward them, threatening enslavement or death, they are back up against an impassible body of water. All hope is lost, or so it seems. And then the impossible happens. God makes a path where none existed. God parts the water, and the Israelites pass safely through to the other side.
Once they’ve made it through, they stop and sing. They offer praise, extolling God’s glory.
They dance, they play their tambourines, and sing their joy and gratitude.
Their lives were so oriented to God, they couldn’t help but let their gratitude spill forth.
In many ways, the Book of Exodus is about trust. It’s about the developing relationship between God and God’s people – about the particular people with whom God chose to reveal Godself, and therefore all people, who are invited into the blessing.
May we follow the example of our faith’s ancestors – offering gratitude and singing praise, as we catch glimpses of God’s work in our own lives and in the life of St. John’s.