Post-Irma Sermon from Sept 17, 2017; Exodus 12:1-14

Rev. George Miller
Sept 17, 2017
Exodus 12:1-14

The Holy Spirit moves in unexpected ways. Months ago this scripture was selected with no idea how relevant it would be.

Here we are with the People of God about to experience an extraordinary circumstance, a life-changing event that would forever shape who they are.

An event involving land, wind, and water.

The people, who have been living as slaves for centuries are on the cusp of experiencing freedom. Here, the Lord gives a message to their leader, Moses, about how they are to prepare.

It involves a last meal, a meal in which they have 4 days to plan out. On the 10th of the month they are to have a lamb, and on the 14th they are to slaughter it, place some of its blood over their door, and eat it in a hurry.

For the next day they will be set free, an act of liberation that includes the winds parting the Red Sea, them wandering through the wilderness, and experiencing the ways in which God will provide, even when it seems beyond hope.

Vs. 2 makes mention that this will mark the beginning of a new time-line for them; that this moment will create a before and after sense of reality.

4 days to prepare for their final meal before land, wind and water would come together to create an unbelievable experience…

…When I think about it, that’s what I unconsciously did in preparing for Irma.

Wanting to use up what was in the fridge, I cooked up frozen ravioli on Thursday. Friday took all the chesses to make a mac-n-cheese dish. Saturday was baked tofu.

I planned to have a frozen Totino’s pizza for my last meal on Sunday, the reasons because that is my comfort food, harkening back to my 20’s when a 99 cent frozen pizza fit my budget and could be doctored up with olives, garlic, and hot sauce.

But on Sunday night, right before everything really happened, I got a text from a dear friend, Gingerlee who said “Now is the times to prepare your last hot meal before the hurricane hits.”

That immediate sense of reality changed everything. I had no appetite, but I knew I had to eat, so the left-over ravioli was put into the micro-wave, and I ate it in the kitchen, standing up.

It was tasteless and emotionless, but it was a meal.

Then Irma hit. The darkness; the rain; the noise. The powerful wind blowing against the door, so powerful that for 2 hours I sat in a chair against the door to keep the wind from blowing it open.

As scary as it was, I felt some calm.

Though I brought everything from the yard inside, one thing I left outside was a blue wooden anchor ornament with seashells hanging on my front door.

It represented my connection with the ocean; it also looked a lot like a cross. It also made me feel like it was my own way to mark the doorpost.

For as vs. 13 states, the people are to mark their doorposts as a sign to them that God will not allow them to be destroyed.

That anchor clanged and banged against the door, but it survived the storm.

The day after- what a sense of relief. That cool breeze. That thankfulness of being alive. Seeing the stars in the sky.

But as we all know, the days following Irma have not been easy, for anyone. 100% of our beloved county lost electricity. The breeze stopped; the heat stifling; and it was clear that a whole new reality had settled in.

A new era had begun.

I do not want to go on into detail because we have all experienced a great trauma, and the emotional affects of the storm will last for months, if not years.

For me, living through Irma has given a whole new understanding of today’s scripture and the entire Exodus narrative.

It’s one thing to talk about how God sent a wind to part the Red Sea waters. But now there’s the realization that a wind like that would have been scary as heck for the people to experience.

By the 4th night of no electricity I was at my breaking point. How did they make it through 40 years?

If we all got stinky, sweaty, and funky with the inability to take hot showers, imagine how stinky, sweaty, and funky the Israelites must have been.

If we here are restless due to what we are experiencing, imagine how restless they would have been for those 2,080 weeks they wandered the wilderness.

Just last week, it seemed so easy to judge the Israelites for their grumbling in the dessert.

It was so easy to ask “Why were they always complaining about being hungry or thirsty when they saw God part the Red Sea, give them water from a rock and send them manna and quail? Where was their faith?”

Now I understand. The people’s grumbling was not about a lack of faith- it was about the reality of survival.

Here we are, all feeling a myriad of emotions, not because we lack faith or don’t believe in God, but because we just experienced a major event involving land, wind, and water, and we are just in the beginning stages of what our new reality is about.

The Passover marked a new era for the Israelites; just as Irma marks a new reality for us.

Here is what I think the miracle is- that even though the people experienced an event of land, wind, and water, and endured years of wandering the wilderness, being stinky, sweaty, funky, and no doubt shell-shocked, they somehow, someway found a way to be a community and to continue their relationship with God.

The event of the Passover meal and the winds parting the Red Sea would forever define them.

I think that for those who are here, Irma will define us.

I also wonder what it will be like for those who come back in October, November, December, January who will never, ever know what these last 14 days have been like, both pre- and post-Irma.

I believe that our experience of Irma will further define who we are as a people of God, who we are as a church, and who we are to the community.

Knowing what we know now about an entire annihilation of our electric system, about the waters that literally ran down our sidewalks, about our total dependence on air conditioning, cell phones, cars, gas, and generators, how do we minister to the community, and to each other…and minister to ourselves?

How do we, as a church, better prepare and respond the next time an event happens like this, because we all know there will always be a next time.

There are those here today who have their electricity back and homes are relatively intact.

I ask that if you are in this group, please be humble in what you say and do around those who still do not have electricity, air, or access to clean and hot water.

I can personally tell you that as someone who went 5 days without, it is hard not to be hurt, angered, feeling helpless, neglected and forgotten when your home is stifling, your pets are suffering, and your residence smells of mildew, rotten food and animal.

If you have electricity, or access to hot water, or a spare space to sleep, or means of serving a meal, or providing someone with ice, gas, or a generator, please find a way to share with someone who does not have these things.

To those here who are without electricity, or have extensive damage to your home, or can’t get to your home, or are feeling post-traumatic stress, please know that you have permission to feel somber, scared, stressed out and shell-shocked, and angry-as-heck.

It is not a reflection of your faith or a sign of weakness, or that you do not have trust in the Lord.

You are surviving; and you will survive.

Be honest with yourself, be honest with others. Let it be known what you need and how you really feel.

Jesus had no problem crying out to God. The psalms and prophets had no problem crying out and expressing their pain.

A few weeks ago we talked about the disciples being in the boat during mighty winds, being terribly afraid, and how Jesus got in the boat and took them to the other side.

Despite all we have been through and still have yet to go through, I truly do believe that Jesus is in the boat with us, and we will get to the other side.

We who lived through Hurricane Irma and this week are survivors, and survivors have the right to feel scared, and to be scarred by what they went through.

I think that we who are here are experiencing our own sort of resurrection, if you will.

Just as the Passover meal plays a part in giving the Israelites a new identity, what we have experienced with Irma will also give all of us a new identity, a new understanding, and a new way to be God’s people.

Amen and amen.