Within this larger story of the relationship between God and God’s people in the Exodus that we have been tracing over these many weeks, is the story of the smaller, more intimate relationship between God and Moses. In fact, the relationship between God and Moses and the intimacy they share is really unparalleled in scripture, save for perhaps Mary in the Gospel of Luke. Ellen Davis, a wonderful Biblical scholar, has said that “if God has a best friend (and why not?) then surely it is Moses.”^[1]

If we follow that the Exodus, which we’ve been tracing over these last several weeks, is the creation story for God’s people, then it’s only a matter of time before we get to the fall; the point in the story when the ideal of God and humanity dwelling in covenant community with each other comes crashing down, or at least is severely complicated.

Most weeks in the sermon—for better or worse and surely some weeks better than others—I try to tell it to you “slant,” as Emily Dickinson puts it.^[1] Offer a different angle, a fresh thought, a weird poem that I force you to read with me…

Lesley Ratcliff, as she prepares to become the senior pastor at UBC Hattiesburg, presents her Top Ten Northminster Moments

Richie Burnette—a Mississippi raconteur and storyteller, and Brooks Elfert’s father—presents “No Jesus, No Elvis.” This event explored often-overlooked Christian roots of American music, tracing the influence of the church on artists such as Elvis Presley, B. B. King, Faith Hill, and many others. Richie Burnette also shared share a few musical performances along the way.

We continue this morning through these weeks in the book of Exodus, tracing this journey that in so many ways is the creation story of God’s people and the prototype for the journey of faith, with each event or encounter in the physical world of the people illuminating some spiritual challenge or crisis that will feel familiar to all of us at some point. This is true even when we consider the length and direction of the journey itself.