Friday, September 22, 2017

Try it, you'll like it? (First thoughts towards Sunday, Sept 24, 2017)

Reading:  Exodus 16:2-15

The people of Israel are on the way from slavery in Egypt, through the wilderness, to the Promised Land -- along the way, learning to be the people of God.  They have brought food with them from Egypt -- the food they were given, and that they were familiar with, as slaves of the Egyptian empire.  That food runs out, though.  It's not enough for the journey they need to make.  The food that will get them through, God provides.

Just a few question about, and from, this story:

Was it a tragedy and a mistake that the food from Egypt ran out?  How does it feel when what you have relied on all your life, just isn't enough? 

Was it a necessary and good thing that Israel had to learn to recognize something else than what the powers of the day fed them, as what they needed to feed on?  How were the quails and manna different from the meat and bread of Egypt?

Can the powers of the day, or any empire we live in (no matter whether we are masters or slaves, successes or failures, within it) ever give us what we need to live as fully as we want to, as God's people in the world?

What does the cartoon below say to you?



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