“Is God among us...or not?”

Sermon by the Rev. Caela Simmons Wood

First Congregational UCC of Manhattan, KS

Exodus 17:1-7

Ordinary Time, World Communion Sunday, CROP Walk Sunday, Oct. 1, 2017

Of all human needs, there is none more basic or pressing that then need for water. You may have heard it said that a human can only survive about 100 hours without water. So if we lost access to clean drinking water right now….we’d be in big trouble by Thursday at lunchtime. That’s kind of shocking, isn’t it?

Here’s something more shocking: that 100-hours statistic is only how long we can survive at “average” temperatures with moderate activity. Anathea Portier-Young, professor of the Old Testament at Duke, calculates that for the Israelites, stuck outdoors where temperatures would have been over 90 degrees, the elapsed time before water became a matter of life and death would have been much shorter. Especially when you factor in forced marching, carrying all your worldly belongs along with small children on your hip. Portier-Young says it may have been as short as seven hours in the hot sun before people began to die without access to water. [1]

Now, I don’t know about you, but when I was a child I was always taught this story of the Israelites wandering in the desert and told that they were sinful because they were a bunch of whiners. Snowflakes in the desert. After all, they had been brought out of slavery and given freedom. What more could they want? Why did they feel so ENTITLED to food, water, safe neighborhoods, healthcare, basic education, a real shot at making a life for themselves and their children?

I digress. Actually, all they wanted was food and water. And a roof over their head. It always seemed weird to me that they had this reputation as whiners because if I were wandering in a desert for 40 years and needed access to food and water, you’d better believe I’d be complaining loudly, too. Wouldn’t we all?

They were truly about to die of thirst. And starvation. The people complained to their leaders loudly, forcefully, persistently, and effectively….and it worked.

I couldn’t help but notice the unfortunate parallels to our own world as I read the text this week. It started when I came across a photo of a family in Puerto Rico who was, quite literally, taking water from a rock. They had inserted a long piece of PVC piping into the side of a mountain that had been broken open by landslides after Hurricane Maria. The pipe was tapping a freshwater spring and people were coming from miles away to fill containers with fresh drinking water. Water from a stone.

You’ve likely heard that people in Puerto Rico and other parts of the Caribbean are expected to be without power for many months. I have a dear friend whose extended family lives on the island. Earlier this week they were shipping them protein bars, head lamps, batteries...but also water filters and water purification tablets. Because, as it turns out, when your entire island is without power it also means you are without access to clean water. And since it is anticipated that it may be months before power is restored to those living in Puerto Rico….this is a very serious problem.

Most of us take access to clean drinking water for granted. We turn on a tap in the morning to brush our teeth and clean water simply comes spilling out.

We are, of course, unbelievably spoiled in this regard when compared to other people around the world. Those of us who participate in the CROP Walk this afternoon will have an opportunity to learn more about just how restricted access to clean water is in many parts of our world. Church World Service partners with agencies around the globe to create wells and improve water systems so that fewer women and children have to spend their days hauling water and can spend more time learning, growing, and making the world a better place.

We know, of course, that it’s not just in far away places that access to clean water is a problem. Right here in the Midwest the people of Flint, Michigan are still struggling to access safe drinking water. Earlier this week I read a horrifying report that said that fetal deaths rose 56% after the city of Flint switched to lead-poisoned water. The authors of the report estimate that somewhere around 225 more babies would have been born in the city of Flint between November 2013 and March 2015 if the water would have been safe to drink. [2]

Lack of access to safe, clean drinking water has serious implications. It is okay - in fact, I would say it is a moral imperative - for us to complain to our leaders - loudly, forcefully, persistently, effectively - when people do not have access to the water they need to survive.

As we recommit ourselves to complaining loudly, forcefully, persistently, effectively to our leaders on behalf of others, we also recommit ourselves to praying for our leaders. Gosh, I hope some of those Israelites were praying for Moses. God knows he needed it. Can you imagine being in his shoes? Thanks, but no thanks. He was just trying to mind his own business when God showed up in a burning bush one day and then his life was turned upside-down. I can understand why he was frustrated with the people. I am guessing he probably wanted to help them but couldn’t find a way through the quagmire to do so. “What do you want me to do? Magic? We’re in a desert. There’s no water in sight! I’m just a person, just like you. I can’t work miracles!”

But then….God.

God showed up. God reminded Moses that he was not just a person. He was, in fact, a beloved child of God. As such, it was his responsibility to keep looking pain in the face, keep seeking ways to solve impossible problems, and to remember - above all else - that he was not leading alone.

The passage ends with that haunting question that must have been on the people’s lips AND on Moses’s tongue as well. Stuck in the heat, miles from anywhere, dying of thirst, the people wondered, “Is God among us...or not?”

This story, like so many others in the Bible, answers that question with a resounding, “Yes! God is with us.” God is with us when there are no easy answers. God is with us when survival seems impossible. God is with us when our leaders won’t listen. God is with us when our hearts break to see the pain of those who are near and those who are far away. God is with us...and God is always seeking new life and hope for her beloved children. We are not alone. We live in God’s world, who has created and is still creating. Creating streams in deserts, creating hope in the face of despair, creating a way out of no way.

God is listening to our complaints. God is working with us and through us to bring relief in surprising ways. God is hoping against hope that we will keep our hearts open to the pain of the world around us and seek creative solutions to the problems that ail us.

With our ancient faith ancestors we proclaim: God is among us. Amen.

Notes:

[1] https://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=3432

[2] http://www.businessinsider.com/flint-water-crisis-fertility-rates-2017-9