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EXODUS: TEACH YOUR CHILDREN WELL
By Nancy S. Cushman
Deuteronomy 4:9-14
October 15, 2017 8:30 a.m. North Scottsdale UMC
SETTING THE CONTEXT
The setting of the Book of Deuteronomy is Moses’ farewell address to the Hebrew people who, after 40 years in the desert, are about to enter the Promised Land. You could say this was his final sermon or series of sermons to his people. The people he was addressing were the children and grandchildren of the people who fled from Egypt. Moses would not go with them into the Promised Land, in fact when he completes this very long sermon he will climb Mt. Nebo and die. The final sermon summarizes the lessons they have learned over the 40-year training period. It reminds them of their story of deliverance, the Exodus story. It reminds them of God’s provision and salvation. It reminds them about the commandments and the covenant. It reminds them of their responsibilities and he blesses them.[i] In today’s reading, Moses has told the people to live the lessons they have learned, to follow the regulations and laws he has taught them. Let’s see what else he says.
Read Deuteronomy 4:9-14
THE SERMON
Wouldn’t it be nice if everything was like riding a bike? What I mean by that is it was something you never forgot. I don’t know about you, but I forget lessons all the time. I am finishing quilting my third quilt and that means I have made the binding twice before, but I still had to reread the instructions and watch the YouTube lesson several times before I could make it again. There are some lessons though, you just don’t want to forget.
According to the Biblical story, the Hebrew people had been in training with God for 40 years. That is a lot of training. They had learned that God would provide for them, that God cared for them. They learned what God expected of them. They learned to love God again. They also complained, made mistakes, turned away from God, suffered the consequences of that and repented, turning back to God. They had good days and bad days. Moses led them through all of this. As he prepared to leave them and as they prepared to end their journey, Moses’ message seems to be “DON’T FORGET THE LESSONS.” And not only that, but pass them on to your children and descendants.
I think that sharing our faith and teaching our children the Bible is so important. What a gift to give a child, to be raised knowing a loving God and the saving grace of Jesus. What a gift to give a child the stories of faith that tell us about who God is and about who we are meant to be. Every person is going to have struggles and obstacles, pain and suffering in their lives as well as joy and celebration. To be able to reach back for these stories, in times of need especially, can bring comfort and strength.
Rev. Harry Pak told this story from when he was a little boy in Korea just before World War II. His father went to the United States to study and when Pearl Harbor was bombed all contact with his father was severed. His mother worked hard to meet the family's needs. It was a difficult, fearful time with Mom gone alot and Dad so far away. Rev. Pak's grandmother became a Christian in her 40's. She did not learn to read until late in life. In fact, Rev. Pak thought she learned to read so she could read the Bible. During the war and that scary, insecure, painful time, he fondly remembers his grandmother holding him on her lap and singing lullabies that she had made up from stories in the Bible. In her presence, he found peace. I wonder if in her witness, he also found the seeds for his future in ordained ministry. I think about the soldier, Sgt. Russell Lewis who wrote “Psalm 23” on his combat helmet while he was in Iraq. He clearly found strength and comfort in “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want…” or the children in the Columbine massacre who recited the 23rd Psalm in their time of terror. I think about Jesus himself reaching back to the faith taught him from birth to find words for his agony as he hung on the cross; crying out Psalm 22 “My God, my God why have you abandoned me?” That psalm ends with words of hope and trust in God. Teaching our children the stories of faith both in the Bible and our own stories of faith gives them a knowledge of God, it gives them words to express their feelings and courage when they are afraid. Hopefully, we can do even more than that, my prayer is that we help them build a relationship with God.
The Exodus story is one of the defining stories of the Jewish and Christian faiths. It is the story of deliverance. God hears the Hebrew people’s cry of anguish and acts. As one African American preacher said, the Exodus story tells us “God can make a way where there is no way.” Every person will need that hope at some point in their lives. It is the story of being molded as a people of God. Next week and the week after, we’ll reflect on the 10 Commandments, boundaries of behavior that distinguish us as people of God. The deliverance story of Exodus is mirrored in Jesus’ life, death and resurrection. We are enslaved by sin, God heard our cries and acted in Jesus making a way to deliver us from that enslavement. In Jesus, God showed us new boundaries of behavior based on the law of love. As Jesus said, “Love one another as I have loved you.” (John 13:34)
The Bible translation we read said the purpose of all the lessons and laws is to fear the Lord. Hearing that kind of jolted me as I read it for my faith is founded on a loving God, “Abba” or Daddy was what Jesus called God. The Hebrew word translated “fear” is a multilayered one, it means being afraid, but also awe, reverence. One scholar I read said “the fear of God” means “the worship of God”[ii] that sense of awe and wonder mingled with fear of one whose vastness is so beyond us and even beyond our imaginations. Moses’ final sermon tells us the central purpose of the teachings and laws is to teach us reverence, to help us be in awe, respect, honor and worship the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of Moses, the Word made flesh in Jesus. We are called, taught and trained by God to be a people of justice, righteousness, and holiness, to have lives that bring honor to the Lord, that reflect worship of the Lord.
I want to share with you some of the ways we honor Moses’ challenge today to pass the faith on to our children and children’s children. The ways we share the stories of the Bible with our children and help them get them deep inside of them. At 8:30 on Sundays, children experience the Bible stories in varied and creative ways through the Creativity Studio. Sometimes they experience the story through cooking, sometimes through science experiments, sometimes through art. At the 10:00 service, the children go to Godly Play, where they hear and see the story. They have their own piece of the desert in their rooms and they have wooden figures so they hear, see and feel the story as its told. Here is a small piece of the Exodus story told through Godly Play.
Show video clip “The Exodus” Godly Play, Godly Play Foundation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o09dkXo_jYU from 7:31-9:52.[iii]
In Godly Play, the children are invited to reflect on the story through “I wonder” questions, like “I wonder what part of the story is most important? I wonder what part of the story is about you or who you are in the story? I wonder if there is any part of the story we can leave out and still have all the story we need?”[iv] Then they are invited to respond to the story through art, drama, science, or retelling the story. The children in our afterschool ministry, Creative Christians, learn the stories through drama, art, music and reflection. They put their faith in action through service work and servant leadership in the church. They are creating “Moses the Musical” that they will share on November 5th. I asked Janet Flournoy, who teaches Creative Christians, to give us a taste of what they are doing. Let’s watch this video clip.
Watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0s8YoyJQ8I&utm_source=notification&utm_medium=email&utm_content=education&utm_campaign=video_export [v]
Our children also learn through their voice choirs, Vacation Bible School, special events and missions.[vi]
God continues to train and test us through the stories of the Bible, through worship, through music, through life experiences. Sometimes like the Hebrew people we complain, we make mistakes, we turn away from God, suffer the consequences of that and repent turning back to God. We learn that God will give us what we need, that God cares for us. We, like the Hebrew people learn what God expects of us. We grow more deeply in love with God. MAY WE NOT FORGET THE LESSONS! May we continue to teach them to our children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. Amen.
[i] Eugene H. Peterson. The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language (Colorado Springs: Navpress, 2002),” Introduction to Deuteronomy.”
[ii] Patrick D. Miller, Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching: Deuteronomy (Louisville: John Knox Press, 1990), p. 57.
[iii] The video clip is from “The Exodus” Godly Play, Godly Play Foundation found on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o09dkXo_jYU (7:31-9:52).
[iv] Jerome W. Berryman. The Complete Guide to Godly Play, vol. 2. (Denver: Living the Good News, 2002) p. 65-72. Godly Play is based on Maria Montessori’s concepts of children and spirituality. This is an excellent way to form the faith of children.
[v] “CC moses musical video.” Creative Christians published October 11, 2017. Found on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0s8YoyJQ8I&utm_source=notification&utm_medium=email&utm_content=education&utm_campaign=video_export
[vi] See www.nsumckids.info for information on all our Children’s Ministries and resources for helping children grow in faith.