Text: Exodus 32:1-26
Prayer Pointers:
For trust in the voice of the Good Shepherd
For those tempted by the world
For those who are charged to keep watch
As we have been talking celebration over these last weeks, the Exodus passage appointed for today is a wonderfully cold, sharp breeze. It tells a story of just how things can go awry. Moses is up on the mountain, hammering out the details on the covenant with God, and the people of Israel are so quick to kick him to the curb it’s almost comical. They press poor Aaron into service who goes about his task like one of those overwhelmed contestants on Nailed It and he winds up with a golden calf. The people go wild with their gratitude.
Which maybe shows us that just because you are in a group of people gathered together to worship God it doesn’t mean that you won’t end up dancing around something silly.
The fact that we are gathered together as God’s People, as the Church, is a good thing. Not foolproof; not a guarantee against idolatry; but a truly good thing. It’s far better to be gathered together than to be off by yourself, perhaps scared, lonely, maybe even feeling desperate. And it’s better to be gathered together, where we provide for each other a reality check, than it is to be lost in your own agenda, isolated and caught within your self-deception and indifferent to others. It is better to be gathered together where we remind each other of our fragility and our needs than to be lost in power and become controlling and ruthless to those around us.
We heard Sunday that Jesus, our Good Shepherd, calls to us and, as a part of his flock, we learn to recognize his voice in our midst—in our celebrations, in our defeats, in every part of life.
Let’s never stop listening for our Lord’s voice.
Easter joy ~ Pr. Dave Brooks