When We Are Egypt

The Reverend Christopher Hogin

When We Are Egypt

Exodus 14:19-31

The Episcopal Church of the Ascension

September 17, 2017

            Last week I sat on my porch and enjoyed a steaming cup of hot tea while reading the latest edition of The Knoxville News Sentinel. It was a magnificent day. The air was cool, and no humidity. The sky was a deep azure blue. All was well. The grass was mowed and the chores were completed. I was blessed.

            I then opened up the paper. On the front page a picture of Hurricane Harvey showed the devastation loss ravaging through Texas, while the state of Florida prepared for Irma, a category 5 hurricane. I looked around at my environment: the sunshine, blue skies, and gentle breezes. It was all so different here. While Texas and Florida were swallowed up by flooding, raging winds, and terrifying storm surges, East Tennessee basked in glorious weather. Were the people of East Tennessee blessed, while those in Texas and Florida not?

This also got me thinking: whenever something good happens we think we are blessed. Whenever something bad happens, we think we are cursed. It doesn’t help when our reading in Exodus clearly communicates God is on the side of the Israelites and against the Egyptians. It says, “Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea, so that the water may come back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots and chariot drivers.”

Does God play favorites? A straight-forward reading of this Exodus suggests so. If that’s the case, what’s to stop God from playing favorites among us? Those who appear so much better off than ourselves—especially all those shinny happy people we see on Facebook are they blessed? It’s easy to fall into that trap. When you are going through a painful period it’s tempting to say, “maybe that person is blessed and maybe I’m not.” 

There are two problems with that line of thinking: first when we take it upon ourselves to interpret God’s divine blessing or judgment, we put ourselves in the judgment seat of God. In other words, we claim to know the mind of God. I can’t help but reflect on Job 38:4 when God says, “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me if you know so much.”  

The second problem is that we never see the whole picture, nor do we realize that good and bad events are fluid. I can’ help but reflect on Matthew 5:45: “For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous.” In other words, no one is immune from suffering, no matter what Facebook reveals.

            Brothers and sisters, deep mysteries exist here on earth. No, I don’t know why so-called, good things happen to bad people, or why so-called bad things happen to good people. What we can do is try and see a wider picture. Yes, we experienced glorious weather here in East Tennessee, and many viewed it as a blessing. But let’s not forget how last year those blue skies were a yellowish gray coming from the burning wildfires of the Smokies, while Florida and Texas experienced milder conditions. Who was blessed then?

            There is a wider picture, even in Scripture. Did God abandon Egypt? No. Four months from now during the Christmas season, we will read about Jesus, Mary, and Joseph fleeing Israel from the tyrant King Herod. Where does God lead them to for safety? God leads them to Egypt. It’s a reverse Exodus story.

Did you know some of the earliest Christian communities came out Egypt, as well as some of the oldest monastic orders are located in Egypt, including St. Catherine’s and St. Anthony’s? Profound Christian thinkers such as St. Athanasius, the early patriarch who help craft our Nicene Creed came out of Egypt. Even with all the turmoil in Egypt, God is still there.

            God does not abandon us, even when our life may appear in shambles. We never see the fuller picture as God sees it. What appears as a curse may actually be blessing, especially if that hardship enables us to grow in ways we never thought possible. Our job is to accept the reality that random acts of joy and tragedy happen, but respond to those incidents with humility. Good things don’t necessarily mean we have God’s favor, and bad things don’t necessarily mean we experience God’s wrath and judgment. They just are. Our job is to find meaning in every incident---both good and bad. We do this within our faith community. We do it through our worship, and we do it through our relationships.

Incidentally, did you know here at our church we have a group of men and women who undergo 50 hours of training simply for the purpose of learning how to listen and walk with people? They are called Stephen Ministers. Stephen Ministers are not counselors they are soul friends committed to helping you reflect on your life by connecting with the Holy Spirit. with the hope that every decision we make will be a healthy one connected to God. It’s one of the many ways to see God’s grace in the face of another.

Whatever joys you are experience give thanks, but know that this too shall pass. Whatever tragedies you experience, also know, this too shall pass. Although we may not realize it, our lives here are but a tick in the larger clock of God’s time.

In this brief period of time may we continue to learn, continue to grow, continue to forgive, continue to reconcile, continue to look ahead at God’s grace and God’s light trusting that God will one day give us the complete meaning and purpose of all that has happened to us in our lives, and a promise for healing and wholeness in the life yet to come.

                                                                                                            Amen