Where did it all begin? God’s covenant promise is where we discover our roots and begin to understand the source of all our being: God is.
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October 30 |
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Enslaved for a couple of centuries, God’s people, the family of Abraham, have nearly lost hope, but then God raises up Moses and through him, God confronts Pharaoh, forcing the release of the Hebrews in a massive exodus across the Red Sea, with YHWH leading them at every step. This is THE salvation event of the Hebrew Scriptures, remembered and reflected upon in the many centuries to come. Their God has rescued them and is bringing them back to Canaan, the land promised Abraham centuries before. This is God’s work, for, indeed, God is in motion!
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After leading his people out of Egypt, God takes them to Mt. Sinai, where God and the Israelites enter into a covenant. God tells them how to align their society and their lives with God’s moral will (the Law) and also tells them how to build a suitable dwelling place for God to be near his people. Sadly, even in the midst of this covenant-making, the people rebel against God, making a golden idol and worshipping it. You might think God would abandon this project, but no, that would not be God, who is relentless and undeterred in his love. God reveals himself to be merciful and gracious, boundless in steadfast love. So God occupies the tabernacle constructed by the people and they press on to the Promised Land.
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