September 21, 2008

Scripture:         Exodus 16:1-15

Sermon:           “Grumbling Tummies”

            This has been some week hasn’t it?  Last time we were together we were enjoying a good potluck dinner.  And all of the sudden the winds just started blowing and blowing.  You’ve got your own stories, and I’ve heard some already.  I was driving home across the river last week and almost got hit by a canoe flying through the air.  Can you believe that?  It went right over my car.  And then later in the afternoon I went out to get some books out of Julie’s car and a big tree limb started cracking overheard.  I ran out of the way and that thing landed right where I’d been standing.

            All in all, though, my family was very fortunate.  Unlike a great deal many of you, and most of our neighbors, we never lost power at our house.  Trees were down everywhere over in the Highlands.  A car got crushed four doors down.  A couple of houses had trees fall on their roofs.  But, we fared well.

            I know folks around here have been struggling.  We’ve been trying to keep tabs on people in the congregation that aren’t able to get out.  And we’ve moved some limbs and taken meals.  There’s still work to do.  But, I think we’re all going to be okay.

            The whole experience of the past week puts us all in a very interesting place mentally and emotionally as we study the scripture lesson for the day.  Keep in mind that I chose this about a month ago.  It’s a bit serendipitous how that works out sometimes.  But, as we turn to the 16^th chapter of Exodus, we find that the Israelite people are struggling with very limited resources out in the desert.  Go ahead and turn to that if you will.  We’ll read together verses 1 through 15.  You can find it on page 82 of the Hebrew Bible, or Old Testament, in the pew Bible.

            Now, you know what it’s like to wait in line for gas.  You know what it’s like to have your food spoil and run out.  You might have been trying to find a bag of ice at some point this week.  The roads have been blocked and you’ve been detoured.  And if you couldn’t eat at home, you waited in long lines at restaurants where everybody else without power was trying to get a meal.

            The Israelites were at a breaking point here.  And you might understand.  Of course, they’d been at it for six weeks at this point.  Even though God had liberated them from the brutal bondage of Egyptian slavery just six weeks ago, the people were worn out with hunger and fear.  Listen to the word of the Lord…

            The whole congregation of the Israelites set out from Elim; and Israel came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had departed from the land of Egypt.  The whole congregation of the Israelite complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness.  The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the fleshpots and ate our fill of bread; for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”

            Then the Lord said to Moses, “I am going to rain bread from heaven for you, and each day the people shall go out and gather enough for that day.  In that way I will test them, whether they follow my instruction or not.  On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather on the other days.”  So Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites, “In the evening you shall know that it was the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, and in the morning you shall see the glory of the Lord, because he has heard your complaining against the Lord.  For what are we, that you complain against us?”  And Moses said, “When the Lord gives you meat to eat in the evening and your fill of bread in the morning, because the Lord has heard the complaining that you utter against him—what are we?  Your complaining is not against us but against the Lord.”

            Then Moses said to Aaron, “Say to the whole congregation of the Israelites, ‘Draw near to the Lord, for he has heard your complaining.’”  And as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the Israelites, they looked toward the wilderness, and the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud.  The Lord spoke to Moses and said, “I have heard the complaining of the Israelites; say to them, ‘At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall have your fill of bread; then you shall know that I am the Lord your God.”

            In the evening quails came up and covered the camp; and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp.  When the layer of dew lifted, there on the surface of the wilderness was a fine, flaky substance, as fine as frost on the ground.  When the Israelites saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?”  For they did not know what it was.  Moses said to them, “It is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat.”

            I’ve got with me today a bunch of stuff.  It’s all right here in my backpack.  I enjoy hiking and camping, although I haven’t been able to do much since Maddy came into my life.  But, right here is all I need to survive for about a week out in the wilderness.

            Some people hike and camp to get away from it all and be totally surrounded by nature.  And that’s a big part of it for me when I go.  But, I’ll admit that I’m fascinated with all of the gadgets and stuff.  The challenge of planning ahead and packing for survival is fun to me, also.  I was never a Boy Scout and I never served in the military.  You veterans and scouts know more about this than I do.

            My pack here weighs somewhere around 55 pounds when I’ve got it loaded up for a week.  Lugging around 55 pounds or more on your back is pretty good exercise, especially when it’s hot.  The trick is to keep it all as light as possible.  And as compact as possible.  But, you also have to stay hydrated.  And water weighs quite a bit.  You can drink a gallon or more in a day out on the trail.  And if there isn’t much water around to fill up your canteen, you have to carry it.  A gallon of water weighs eight and a half pounds.

            Oh, and you can’t just drink it out of the stream, you know.  That’ll kill you if you’re not careful.  Some folks just use little iodine tablets to purify the water.  But, I prefer to pump it through a little filter.  The taste of iodine?  I’m not a fan.

            What else is in here?

            I’ve got a tent.  It’s all rolled up here.  And smashed down in this bag as tight as it will go is my sleeping bag.  See that?  This will keep you warm when it’s as cold as 20 degrees.  Now, I also have a sleeping pad.  You just blow into the end here and it inflates nicely to sleep on.  It keeps the rough ground from poking you in the side.  Totally unnecessary.  But, I’m soft.  And this is my pillow!  See how small it rolls up?  All of this, along with my camp lantern here, allows me to create a little bedroom wherever I go.  And I usually bring a book to read before going to sleep.

            The real trick, however, is food.  You can’t very well carry a cooler around with ice in it to keep things cool.  So, everything has to be non-perishable for the time you’re out.  And you’d be surprised at what you can pack.  You can even get these delicious, just-add-water-and-heat meals.  The military calls them MREs—meals ready to eat.  Pretty lightweight.  But, something like macaroni and cheese works well.  You can even use powdered milk if you prefer.  Coffee.  Instant coffee.  Or, you can percolate it.  Peanut butter.  Pita bread.  Grits.  Summer sausage.  Trail mix.  And they’ve got these little packets of tuna, now, that are just ideal.  You might not believe this, but extra sharp cheddar cheese will last for several days without refrigeration.

            It helps to plan out every meal and snack before you pack.

            Oh, look at this.  Beef stroganoff.

            Anyhow, there’s the issue of cooking the meals.  So, I’ve got this little stove.  It’s smaller than my fist.  And it sits right here on top of the gas cylinder.  Mine lights with the push of a button.  How cool is that?  And in this bag are all of the pots and pans you need.  Look at these utensils, too.

            That’s about it, really.  Life on the go.

            Now, this is what it takes for one person to live out in the wilderness for one week.  Shelter.  Food.  Water.

            The Bible says that 600,000 Israelite men made the exodus from Egypt.  That’s 600,000 men.  Probably about 600,000 women.  And then who knows how many children.  1.5, 2 million people?  All trying to survive out in the middle of nowhere?  They need shelter.  They need food.  They need water.

            And let me tell you something.  When your tummy is grumbling, that’s about the only thing you can think about.  Where’s the next meal going to come from?  Where are we going to get water for all these folks out here in the dessert?  They were worried.  And they were cranky.  You ever get cranky when you haven’t had enough to eat?

            So, yeah.  They were complaining.

            Did you hear what they said?  “Hey, Moses.  Why didn’t the Lord just kill us off in Egypt?  At least there we had some food.”

            I have heard not a few preachers use this text to highlight how folks can complain incessantly.  But, I’ll tell you, these folks weren’t just complaining at the preacher.  They had grumbling tummies.  And hunger’s no small matter.  Hunger’s no small matter, anyway.  But, out in the wilderness where you can’t just stop by Kroger to stock up, hunger’s a threat to your life.

            This isn’t the kind of idle chatter and bickering folks get into when they’ve got nothing better to do.  These folks were downright scared.  They said, “Moses, we’d prefer to be back in Egypt where they beat us with whips under the scorching heat of the sun.  We’d rather be living as slaves than dying as hungry wanderers.”

            And isn’t that the truth?  When the future is uncertain, you’d sometimes prefer the misery that you once knew to the fear of the present and the distant promise of the unknown.  I mean when you’re getting out of a past that was full of suffering, sometimes you look back on it and think it might have been a whole lot more comfortable to stay put.  You were suffering, but you knew what each day was going to bring.  You were miserable, but you’d learned how to survive.  Your life wasn’t all that it could be or should be, but there wasn’t much risk involved, either.  People were taking advantage of you, but they kept you alive, didn’t they?

            It’s hard to leave a job that you hate because at least you have a job.  It’s hard to get out of a relationship that is just abusing you because at least you’ve got somebody to help pay the bills.  It’s hard to stay sober when things get hard and drinking used to make it feel so much better.  It’s hard to leave slavery behind when there’s no food on the table.

            I’ll be honest, here.  I don’t think Moses dealt with this very well.  These people were rightly afraid.  Grumbling tummies is serious business.  A little bit of leadership would have at least acknowledged that there was a problem.  Instead he kind of passed the buck, didn’t he?  I hate it when folks do that.  “It’s not my fault.”  I don’t think the people cared much if it was his fault.  They wanted to eat.  And they wanted to know that there was going to be enough food to get them from Egypt to that Promised Land.  He said, “You folks aren’t complaining against me and my brother Aaron.  What are we that you should complain against us?  Take it to the Lord.”

            But, then, listen to what the Lord said.  There was no anger for the justified fear of the people.  God wasn’t upset that they were up in arms.  The Lord said, “Tell them I’ve heard what they’ve got to say.  And I’m going to take care of them.  At supper time they’re going to eat quail.  And there’ll be plenty of bread for breakfast.  I’m going to rain bread from heaven.  Enough to keep them going day to day.”

Rev. David James Brown

Park Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)