The Exodus: Liberation From Our Bondage

A sermon given to the Western Correctional Center for Women in North Carolina

Today we are going to focus on Exodus. We tend to think of this as an ancient story and indeed it is ancient, but our friend Richard Rohr reminds us that it is not just a story reflecting the Israelites transformation from bondage to freedom but also our story as we move from bondage to freedom. The Israelites bondage was slavery to the Egyptians. We certainly don’t have that, but we too are trapped in bondage in so many other ways. Many of you know what it is like to be in bondage to addiction. Some of you are in bondage to abuse, physical, emotional, or sexual, abuse that either was inflicted upon you or that you inflicted upon others, and now you are shackled by the trauma associated with that abuse. Some of you are in bondage to anger, hatred, and violence. Some of you may be in bondage to regret, guilt, and shame. Even people who seem to have it all, including wealth, power, prestige and possessions, are in bondage, often in bondage to money itself. Remember Jesus telling the wealthy man that he must sell all his possessions. It was his wealth that kept him from becoming the generous man God intended for him to be. His wealth was holding him in bondage. So, we too, like the Israelites, need to be led to the “Promised Land” and we too must travel through the wilderness to get there.

So, the first thing you must do is be honest with yourself and name your bondage and gain the strength and courage to flee that bondage, to take the first step toward freedom. It all begins with introspection, naming the thing that shackles you, prevents you from obtaining an abundant life, the life that Jesus promises when you choose to follow the path taught and modeled by him. “I am an addict.” “I am an alcoholic.” “I am a victim, or perhaps perpetrator, of abuse.” Whatever it may be, you must name it or you have no chance of releasing it.

After naming it, you must then be willing to release it. That is easier said than done and it is all too easy to return to that bondage, because it is familiar. There is something comfortable about returning to what you already know, even though it is destructive. It is your comfort zone. However, trust me.  The closer you connect with God, the more God will push you out of your comfort zone. Remember, you must be willing to get out of the boat if you want to walk on water. You must summon the strength to move away from your comfort zone, even if that means you are entering the wilderness of uncertainty.

Another thing that keeps us from releasing ourselves from bondage is the tendency to romanticize parts of our prior life in bondage. We see this with the Israelites. In the wilderness they were eating manna every morning, day after day. Take Saltine crackers and remove the salt, the only element that gives them taste. Now crumble them into flakes, and you have manna. The Israelites go to Moses and say,” At least when we were slaves, we had fish, and cucumbers, and garlic,” forgetting the whips and demoralizing punishment they endured daily. Don’t fall into the trap of remembering the good while forgetting how destructive life was in bondage.

Now you will have to go on a wilderness journey, just like the Israelites. Everyone does. Even Jesus, who was so infused with the spirit of God that we consider him divine, went on a wilderness journey for 40 days before starting his ministry. Paul spent three years in the wilderness before embarking on his missionary journeys. Perhaps the hardest part of releasing your bondage is the fear, anxiety, and uncertainty that comes with a wilderness journey. If I’m not just an addict, then who am I? If I’m not just the victim of abuse, then who am I?  It is difficult but you may need to deconstruct the parts of your previous life that hold you in bondage before you can reconstruct a new life. This may mean distancing yourself from the environment you came from and even distancing yourself from certain friends and family. You will then need to reconstruct part of your life. This might entail looking for a new living situation, finding new friends and perhaps a new community of faith, one that is less judgmental.

In your wilderness journey, you will need an attitude adjustment. The Israelites had to adjust from thinking of themselves as slaves to thinking of themselves as chosen by God.  They had to renounce and release the mindset they held while in slavery in order to acquire a new consciousness grounded in freedom through God. It can’t be rushed but this new consciousness is required to form the moral muscle required for freedom. Perhaps the biggest adjustment was in their self-esteem. I imagine as slaves, they did not feel important, valuable, or worthy. I bet there are many of you in this room who do not feel you are important, valuable, or worthy. The criminal justice system has a way of making you feel that way. Perhaps there have been people in your life that have made you feel that way. Most of all, our society tends to promote the idea that the most valuable, important and worthy are those with power, prestige and possessions. But let me tell you, those are of no importance to God and God’s plan for the world. God’s plan for the world is for this world to be a concrete manifestation of radical love, compassion, generosity, forgiveness, peace, and inclusivity. That is what Jesus taught and modeled. That was Jesus’ agenda, to transform this world through love and compassion, and you have as much ability, maybe even more ability, to bring love and compassion into this world than anyone else. The box girl at Walmart has the same opportunity to bring love and compassion into this world as the CEO, perhaps more, since the CEO is likely to be in bondage to profits and shareholders. So, in God’s eyes, and in my eyes, you are exceedingly important, valuable and worthy.

Another change that occurs in the wilderness is focusing on who oversees your life. I am going to use a metaphor here so bear with me. The metaphor is that an airplane is your life. And damn it all, your ego determines that you are going to fly that plane. It is OK if God hops on as a copilot, but you are the one that's going to fly that plane. That works until you fly the plane into the side of a mountain and poof, your life blows up. What we need to do is learn how to let God fly the plane. It looks different when God is flying the plane. Let me give you an example. I need somebody to call me a big, fat, potbellied slob. OK, that's good. Now if my ego is responding to that, if I am the one flying the plane, then I am likely to respond, “Oh yeah, well you are just a blankety blank blank blank!” Fill in the blanks with curse words and insults. In this scenario, the person who insulted me is angry. I am angry. There is hatred brought into this world. Now let us see how this interaction might be different if God is flying the plane. Perhaps I respond by asking, “Is there some way that I have hurt you? Because if I have hurt you, then I would like to apologize and find some way of making it up.” The person who insulted me might then tell me how I have hurt them. I might not even think that it was that big of a deal, but obviously it hurt them and now this is an opportunity for me to apologize and repair the relationship. Alternatively, they might respond “No, you didn't do anything.”  I might then offer, “Well it looks like you are hurting. It looks like something is going on. Would you like to tell me about it? I don't know if there's anything I can do to fix what is hurting you, but I want you to know that I am here if you want to talk to somebody and that this isn't something that you need to go through alone.” Now we have a friend talking to a friend with love and compassion being brought into the world. You can see how different it is when we let God fly the plane.

 Part of our wilderness journey then is learning to trust God's plan as taught by Jesus. The Greek word for faith is Pistis, which translates as trust. I bet most of you in this room were brought up in a church that defined faith as belief in specific doctrines, but I don’t think Jesus would define it that way. Jesus would define faith as trusting in the path he was teaching of transforming love and compassion. Remember the story when the disciples are on a boat in the Sea of Galilee. The waves are severe and the wind is howling. Peter sees Jesus out on the water and tells Jesus that he will come out to him if called. Jesus calls Peter and Peter starts to walk out to Jesus. He then notices the huge waves and swirling wind and begins to sink. Some may focus on this story as a story of the miracle that Jesus can walk on water, but I think it is a story about keeping your focus on Jesus. As long as his focus was on Jesus, Peter could walk on water, and if we would also like to do so, we must keep our focus on “the way” taught by Jesus. Of course, it all begins with a willingness to get out of the boat. Remember what I said about leaving your comfort zone. We see this concept reinforced by Jesus as he refers to himself as the vine. He tells us that we are the branches and as long as we are attached to the vine, we will bear much fruit. All of this is about learning to let God fly the plane, aspiring to have every part of our life filled with the love, compassion, generosity, forgiveness, peace, and inclusivity taught and modeled by Jesus.

Sometimes the wilderness seems like punishment, but it is not. It is preparation, preparation for another direction, preparation for being reborn, preparation for accepting the path that Jesus taught. Hopefully you won’t have to spend 40 years in the wilderness like the Israelites but be patient. Let yourself gradually surrender the trappings that are holding you back, whether that is addiction, selfishness, the need for control over others, the need for wealth, possessions, or status. You’ve spent a lifetime relying on the things that are holding you in bondage. Releasing those things will take time. As an example, Alcoholics Anonymous works, but only through working through the program with patience. The same principle applies to releasing whatever has control over you. Instead of running away from fear and anxiety, make them your friend. Realize they are a necessary part of the process, a necessary part of your growth, not something to be avoided. Just the fact that you are here tonight and that you are participating in the programs offered by the Ministry of Hope pastors tells me that some of you are embracing your trip through the wilderness, embracing the opportunity for transformation, for leaving this facility as a different person than when you arrived, free from that which held you in bondage. It is incredible to see your eyes light up as you find the freedom available in connecting with God through Jesus. Can I get an Amen!

Just because your wilderness journey is filled with scary moments, anxiety, and uncertainty, does not mean that you need to be afraid. Do you know how many times the words “Do not be afraid” appear in the Bible? They appear over 150 times. An angel appears to Mary and says, “Do not be afraid. Oh, and by the way, you are pregnant with God's son.” I can imagine Mary’s response, “Whaaaat!!”  I didn't even get to have sex.” An angel appears to Joseph and says, “Do not be afraid. Oh, and by the way, your fiancée is pregnant.”  “Whaaaat!! I didn't even get to have sex.” OK, the sex part isn't really in the Bible, but you know that's what they were thinking, lol. We see these words appear over and over again, to Abraham, Moses, Jacob, David, Sarah, Hannah, Hagar, the prophets, the judges, and more. They say “do not be afraid” because what these people are about to embark on is a God thing and when you are doing God's work in the world, you do not need to be afraid. I learned this in my 40s. I was in my 40s and my son was 16. Kathy and I wanted to try to teach him what was really important in life. After all, we all know that teens tend to be just a little bit self-absorbed. So, we went down to a section of Philadelphia called West Kensington. There was a pastor down there and I asked him what he needed. He told me that he needed safe recreation for the kids on weekends because they were just roaming the streets. This area was called “The Badlands”. That pejorative title tells you all you need to know. There was lots of poverty, drugs, and violence. The police would not walk the streets of the Badlands. I chose to walk those streets. We created a program called Values Through Sports and Art. With a program like this, it is not a case of “build it and they will come”. There is not enough trust in a neighborhood like that. So, I would walk the streets to find the children for my program. This timid science geek from the suburbs was walking the streets that the police would not walk. But I was walking with God at my side. I would talk to God and tell God, “God, I absolutely know that this is something that you want me to be doing. Stay with me and give me strength and give me peace,” and God did exactly that. I was not afraid. I walked those streets for 17 years, right up to the time that we moved to Asheville. Nothing bad ever happened to me and I was able to bring love and compassion into that neighborhood. That is what it is like when you allow God to direct your life.  You can trust and you don't have to be afraid.

Believe that every day you will have enough, maybe not what you want but enough. Every day God gave the Israelites manna. They complained bitterly but it was enough, enough to get through another day, enough to trust that God was indeed there with them. They had no control, no stockpiling of food, no guarantees for the next day but they grew to trust that there would indeed be enough. Freedom requires the ability to live without certainty but with trust, trust in the process laid out by Jesus in his teachings. Take small steps every day toward committing to that way and you will emerge from the wilderness with a new unity with God and each other. Transformation is slow and the path erratic at times. You will stumble off the road of progress into a ditch from time to time but pulling yourself back up, or allowing another to pick you up, and getting back on the road, continuing forward, will lead you to liberation. The Israelites did find the “Promised Land”. You can too.

Amen

 

.