The Eliot Church of Newton

Exodus 17:1-7
From the wilderness of Sin the whole congregation of the Israelites journeyed by stages, as the Lord commanded.
They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. The people quarreled with Moses, and said,
“Give us water to drink.” Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?” But the people
thirsted there for water; and the people complained against Moses and said, “Why did you bring us out of Egypt, to kill
us and our children and livestock with thirst?” So Moses cried out to the Lord, “What shall I do with this people? They
are almost ready to stone me.” The Lord said to Moses, “Go on ahead of the people, and take some of the elders of
Israel with you; take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. I will be standing there in front of you
on the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it, so that the people may drink.” Moses did so, in the
sight of the elders of Israel. He called the place Massah and Meribah, because the Israelites quarreled and tested
the Lord, saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”

How would you describe the sensation of thirst?
There is the parching thirst one has after working up a great sweat in exercise,
Or being outside in the sun all day…your mouth is dry, your throat is papery
And it is clear that nothing will suffice but a great long drink of cool water—or any kind of water, frankly.

Sometimes, thirst will sneak up you…a mild dehydration that is hard to pinpoint.
There have been occasions when I forgot to keep myself hydrated--.
Especially when I get really busy, running around, ticking through my list of to-dos
rather than listening to my body.
Then, when there is a precious moment to stop,
I notice I feel funny. Not right.
I realize this deep sense of absence, loneliness, weakness, neediness….deep craving…
It’s emotional and physical all at the same time…
I wonder…
Do I need chocolate?
Am I longing for the company of another?
Maybe a nap?
And then the light dawns.
I thirst.

Being thirsty, this craving for liquid, is what triggers our most basic instinct: to drink.
We can go awhile without food, but water is even more immediately essential. 
Drinking fluids keeps our bodies in balance…and when our bodies are thirsty, we are out
of balance, we have a critical need that must be tended to.
Without water, we die.

So, in looking at our text today, can anyone really blame the Israelite’s panic over not
having any water in the wilderness? Can you blame them for questioning Moses’
leadership, when it feels like they have been brought out to the wilderness to die? 

Even slavery in Egypt starts to look not so bad, if only for the security—however terrible
and oppressive—it provided.[1] 

As the people quarrel with him, Moses tries to stand his ground. “Why quarrel with me? 
Why test the Lord?” At this point, I have to wonder about Moses’ leadership myself. 

It’s not the right response, is it, to people who fear they are going to die? I know Moses
is making a debatable theological point—that if one is testing God, then there is no trust
in God.

But I think the people need a little more empathy and understanding from Moses at this
point. He knows God—personally. They have conversations all the time. There is no
doubt in my mind that Moses is indeed a Prayer Warrior. He gets the God connection.
He has known God more intimately than any of them…and he gets trust (well, most of
the time).

But the people don’t have that connection, yet, with God. There will be a time, on Mount
Sinai, when they receive the Torah, but for now they have to trust Moses as much as they
trust God, and, well…
When you are lost in the wilderness,
Afraid, stripped down, in despair, and profoundly thirsty,
There might be just a little justification in questioning Moses, as well as the presence of
the great “I Am”

At this moment, life for the wandering Israelites is precarious. I know when my life feels
precarious, and I tell someone…the last thing I need to hear is “Trust God”.    What I
need, frankly, is the presence of God. Or, at the very least, someone to listen to my fear
about experiencing the absence of God. 

It is understandable that their frustration leads to unrest….and yet, we still should ask…

“So, what is going on with the Israelites grumbling against Moses? What does it say
about them, their faith, and even about God? Walter Brueggeman says ‘that when people
complain they’re hoping to mobilize Yahweh to be Yahweh’s best true self. These
questions arise not in an act of unfaith, but out of deep confidence that …. God…. can
prevent and overcome such intolerable life experiences’ In a sense, then, even
complaining to God in frustration and fear expresses some kind of faith, a kind of hope
grounded in what one trusts to be true about God.”[2]

Perhaps…the fundamental trust was the hope against hope that God wasn’t absent.

So…complaining is good? It worked on Moses. He finally turns to God in frustration,
and fear for help—Moses senses the unrest of the mob, their potential to rise up and stone
him. And indeed, God does help. In providing water from a stone, God saves the people,
as well as Moses. I love that God doesn’t really seem to be impatient with the people —
probably because a request for water is reasonable for people in wandering in a hot,
barren desert.[3]  

God is indeed among them.

Isn’t it interesting that water in the wilderness is remembered not as God’s response to
human need, but it is recalled in terms of the grumbling of the people, as evidenced in the
names Moses gives the place, Massah and Meribah—Test and Quarrel.

I want to press and push a little more the theme of “being in the wilderness.”
In the bible, even today, the wilderness can be a place of unpredictability, despair,
abandonment—or it can be a place of refuge, of peace, of holy connection close to God.

For the ancient Israelites, the wilderness is remembered as a place of grumbling,
complaining, unfaithfulness, doubt and fear, and yet it is remembered as a place of
deliverance, liberty, of God’s provision, and the a place where they met God, and the
place where a new way of living and being would emerge as they received the Torah
from God on Mount Sinai, where covenant was made.

Test and quarrel. Thirst. In the wilderness and want, in grumbling and in doubt, Walter
Brueggeman discovers a compelling illustration of the way humans and God relate. Out
of deep human need. Out of longing thirst. The water question-the concrete support for
life is turned into a God question—Is God among us or not? [4]

It’s very practical, isn’t it? We are thirsty. We are dying. Where is God? Don’t tell us
to trust God…show us God.

And God is there. Miraculously—“like blood from turnip, like a purse from the ear of
sow, water from a rock, life from death, God is there.”[5] 

Sisters and brothers,
I think it would be fair to say that many of us are feeling like there is much unpredictable,
despairing wilderness around us.
We stand in a tangle of collapsing financial institutions, and Wall Street Markets.
We can find an abundance of 700 billion dollars to help prevent those collapses (which I
don’t think is a bad idea, but I don’t completely understand it—that’s why I am not an
economist) but we are empty and barren when it comes to helping the least of these in
our land. We see the rocky road of our neighbors losing their homes and escalating cost
of living for all of us—including our church home. Our anxieties are heightened by the
poison ivy of fear mongering related to terrorism and violence, and war. 

We live inevitable climate change and global warming that even if reversed, will still
radically change all of our lifestyles. 
In this desert, we are parched and threatened.
And scared.
In this wild mesh of nothingness,
We feel Thirst.

That hard to pinpoint longing, sadness, craving, empty, aching tangible dryness of heart
and hope…
In this wilderness, our questions beg to be asked, “about the reality of God, the reliability
of God, and our capacity to trust God in the thin places where there are no other resources
for life”[6]

The answers to these questions are as illusive or realistic as gushing water from a stone.
Is God among us, or not?

Now, you know me well enough that I won’t answer that question by saying, “just trust”. 
And you know me well enough that I won’t expect that God will answer with a magic
trick that will transform our economy, our government, our climate crisis, or will
automatically infuse Eliot’s bank account with a hundred thousand dollars (although
that would be convenient.)

Sigh.
I thirst.
We thirst.

So, where can we find God? Is God among us or not?

---

Kate Braestrup is a chaplain to the Maine State Game Wardens. She is the one they call
to accompany game wardens to searches for lost children in forests, and to accompany
wardens when they have bad news to share with families of victims. She is there in the
winter when wardens try to save men who have slipped under broken ice and fail.  She is
there in calamity and in celebrations of birthdays, weddings, and christenings.  Her
husband, a game warden, was killed instantly by a truck that crashed into his car while on
duty. She writes: 

My children asked, “Why did Dad die?” 
I told them, “It was an accident. There are small accidents, like knocking over your mild
at the dinner table. And there are large accidents, like the one your dad was in. No one
meant it to happen. It just happened. And his body was too badly damaged in the
accident for his soul to stay in it any more, and so he died.
            “God does not spill milk. God did not bash the truck into your father’s car. 
Nowhere in scripture does it say, ‘God is car accident’ or ‘God is death’ [or I might add,
God is Magic] God is justice and kindness, mercy, and always, ---always—love. So if
you want to know where God is in this or in anything, look for love.”[7]

Sisters and brothers.
I know you are thirsty this morning.
I know that many of you wonder, what is next? 
What is this world that we are living in?
What can I do? 

I know some of you are in personal crises, or know someone close that is suffering.
Some of you feel the anxiety of the world on your shoulders. 

Where is God? 
Where is God in anything? 

God is in the love.

Look for love. 

Be touched by love in the random embrace of a child…
or the beauty of a leaf turned gold.
Look for love from each other…
Be open to love…
Be gentle with yourself…
And others. 

Express love and understanding,
And give those around you, stranger and friend and family,
The benefit of the doubt. 

We are in a wilderness.
We thirst.
But through love,
We can be water from a stone for each other.

Amen.