Embedded Files
Forty Years is a long time. It's a long time to be growing up in a culture that is not your own . . . even if you have reached a significant level of prominence. It's a long time to be in exile, away from the life you had known before, starting over in an entirely new situation with new family. It's a long time to find yourself leading a group of less than cooperative people toward a promised outcome that they resist every step of the way. It may seem even longer when you finally come to rest before the thing that was started, that you had invested your life in, has come to completion.
Being a part of a bigger story that is filled with moments of transition is an amazing thing. Sometimes its difficult not to confuse one segment of the story with the much bigger story that that segment is a part of. But the story goes on. It is different for the part that we contribute, and we are different for having had a part in it.
This week we begin to look at stories of some of these transitional moments. We will be thinking about our stories, along side of some of the stories recorded in the scriptures, and in the process, we hope, catch a glimpse of the bigger story that all our stories (with their transitional moments) are a part of. We begin this week with Moses as the part of his story that we know the best is coming to an end . . . and perhaps discover that the story was actually far from over . . . both for him, and for those who had walked with him for awhile.
If you'd like to hear Pastor Saul's sermon once again, you can listen to it by clicking here.
Pastor Saul reminded us that
Transitions happen, they are normal, natural, and to be expected. They are not always easy, (not always even good) and stir many things within us. Because we are a community, they are never just individual.
Leadership is temporary. God's Bigger Story continues to move forward even as the part that we play begins and ends.
God's presence is not temporary. God remains with His people, continuing to lead them forward, reminding them that their identity is not found in their leaders but in Him.
What part of Moses' story speaks to you the most powerfully?
What part of the story of the Israelites during the time of transition speaks to you the most powerfully?
Where are the growing edges in your life as you reflect on the impact transition has on you . . .
- personally?
- as a family?
- as a church community?
Deuteronomy 34 (TNIV)
1 Then Moses climbed Mount Nebo from the plains of Moab to the top of Pisgah, across from Jericho. There the LORD showed him the whole land—from Gilead to Dan, 2 all of Naphtali, the territory of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah as far as the Mediterranean Sea, 3 the Negev and the whole region from the Valley of Jericho, the City of Palms, as far as Zoar. 4 Then the LORD said to him, "This is the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob when I said, 'I will give it to your descendants.' I have let you see it with your eyes, but you will not cross over into it."
5 And Moses the servant of the LORD died there in Moab, as the LORD had said. 6 He buried him in Moab, in the valley opposite Beth Peor, but to this day no one knows where his grave is. 7 Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died, yet his eyes were not weak nor his strength gone. 8 The Israelites grieved for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days, until the time of weeping and mourning was over.
9 Now Joshua son of Nun was filled with the spirit [b] of wisdom because Moses had laid his hands on him. So the Israelites listened to him and did what the LORD had commanded Moses.
10 Since then, no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face, 11 who did all those signs and wonders the LORD sent him to do in Egypt—to Pharaoh and to all his officials and to his whole land. 12 For no one has ever shown the mighty power or performed the awesome deeds that Moses did in the sight of all Israel.
Getting Ready for the next steps in the Journey . . .
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