I Will Be There

If you happen to be lost in the wilderness, Moses is your man.  Set adrift as an infant, he led his people out of slavery in Egypt as a man.  No matter how lost he gets he always seems to find his way.  His quest for freedom echoes in the hearts of every group who has ever suffered oppression, and every empire smacks of pharaoh.  It is a timeless story.

We haven’t read Exodus yet, but in a case of cosmic foreshadowing I attended a lecture last night by Harvey Cox (The Future of Faith) where he discussed Exodus.  That was the first in a lecture series called ‘Coming to Grips with the Bible,’ which Cox advises because the Bible is part of the psyche of every member Western civilization whether we like it or not.  Coming to grips with the Bible is coming to grips with ourselves. 

The talk was supposed to talk about the archaeology of the exodus period.  Well, that portion of the talk was short.  There is no archaeological evidence of Moses.  Nonetheless, the story continues to inspire.  It inspired Martin Luther King in the 60’s, and it inspires Liberation Theologians now.

Dr. Cox shared a new translation of Exodus that adheres more closely to the literal Hebrew.  Y’know how the angel tells Moses to go to the Promised Land and “tell your people that ’I am that I am’ sends me to you?”  The more literal translation is “Tell them 'I will be there' sends me to you.”  

Genesis, which was the reading for this week, seems to have a similar theme. Deceit, disguise, underhanded tricks and manipulation.  Exile and immigration.  Yet  through it all Yahweh—God—watches over everyone, catching them by the shirt collar when they seem about to careen over a cliff and bringing them safely home. 

These tales bring me an odd sort of comfort right now.  I am a stranger in a strange land.  Without my tribe—my children, my close friends, etc—I feel vulnerable.  I’d planned to go to seminary when my youngest son was grown. Negative life circumstances advanced the entry date to this year. So although I'm excited about seminary, I’m living 2000 miles from my twelve and sixteen year old sons and  quite sad to be missing so much of their lives.  Some days it gets me down.

But here’s what I hear when I listen to these stories with my heart: 

You will be deceived by appearances, betrayed by people you love, and exiled to foreign lands.  God will protect you through all of it and lead you home.  And in the end, I will be there.