SERMONS

Exodus 16
The Reverend Angela L. Ying
Bethany United Church of Christ
Inspired by the teaching from “Manna and Mercy” and the 2010 WNBA Champs – the women of Seattle Storm

Most every week, I wake up and tell our daughter to Dream big.

Not this week. From the collective wisdom and encouragement from mothers in this faith community — this week, the lesson a mother needed to share with her daughter (or son) was different …

With Atlanta Dream and Seattle Storm in our hearts vying for the WNBA Championship — The words that kept coming loud and clear were now “Bring It!”

In other words, beautiful child of God, “Bring It!”

Bring You, Bring Us, Bring Community and raise your voice … for we are going to be taken by Storm!

You thought it was just a weather report.

You thought it was the usual “cloudy with a chance of showers.”

No! We are being taken by Storm — with Manna and Mercy.

And that is how it happened.
Listening at our Manna and Mercy all church retreat last week, I knew something was taking us by Storm.

The Manna from God — We are learning we can share! Manna which was given by God to God’s wilderness people as recorded in the Book of Exodus.

Manna which the wilderness people first did not know what to do with this gift from God — and so called it “Manna” or “What Is It?”
Manna which is a gift — a gift from God.

Listen to how people from our community described Manna:

Manna:
A shared source of full-fillment bound within the practice of equal distribution, so that all are full but none are hungry or stuffed.

Manna:
Trust in God
Trust in creation
Trust in each other

Manna:
Healthy, Growing, Thriving Life

Manna:
Generosity
Sustenance — that which sustains all of me – body, mind and spirit. Sustenance —- given to us Gratis.

Manna:
Enough. Just enough for today.

Connecting; No Fear; Given hope and purpose

Manna :
God will provided daily, therefore, I/we can work to redistribute – so all have enough. Not too much. Not too little.

This could not happen in our community, in becoming a Manna and Mercy community, as it did not happen with the Seattle Storm —

Not without heartbreaks.
Not without pain and struggle.
Not without some grumbling and complaining.
Not without disappointment.
Not without the very risk of being sold to “Egypt” without local sisters, who believe in you, sticking together to keep you where you belong — in this community. Because no other house will do!

I am speaking in women’s basketball parables so I hope you will get it and bring it – that of community — to another.

F or you and I, as the wilderness people, will need to continually figure out, change our moves and our strategy as God teaches us to:

Lead as a (Sue) Bird
See yourself as valuable as (Lauren) Jackson
Play hard as (Swin) Cash
Do it (Tanisha) Wright
And even if you are (Camille) Little, know that what you do and bring to the team — counts.

And along Manna – which Jesus prayed with his disciples at the center of the Lord’s Prayer “Give us this day our daily bread” comes Mercy … “And forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.

God heard the wilderness people grumbling and complaining and God did not miss a beat.

God told Moses, the point guard and team leader, “I am going to rain bread from heaven for you, and each day the people will go and gather enough for that day.”

In that way, God would see whether the people would follow God’s instruction or not.

You would think after all that God gives — you and I and the wilderness people would have no problem following God’s instructions.

Remember our Stillpoint as we seek to become a Manna and Mercy community.

God is love.
Say it with me : God is love.
And you and I are born
in love
by love
for love
with the freedom not to love.

God rains manna on the people every single day and God loves so much that God still gives the people — gives you and me, a choice whether to follow God or not.

I am not sure I could do that.
Give manna daily and still give people the choice not to follow God.

And yet, that is who God is.

That is who Jesus is.

Jesus was killed because Jesus loved loving more than anything else — and those who chose not to love, were so threatened they had to kill.

As this week, a Native American, John Williams, a woodcarver — killed by a police who was threatened.

How might it have been different if the police knew as the Native American community knew that:

You are born
in love
by love
for love
with the freedom not to love.

Because if love is forced — it is not love and it is not of God.

God gives us Manna and God gives Mercy each day — for everything is God’s. We own nothing.

The wilderness people would gather manna each day — reminding them that “work is the dignified activity of helping God meet the needs of all people,” as beautifully described in Daniel Erlander’s book “Manna and Mercy.”

God gives daily – so hoarding is unnecessary.

And you and I, as the wilderness people in Exodus, have to learn that lesson as well.

God gave the people rest. Sabbath rest.
Rest not just for yourself and others, but for all creation.

Rest so you and I have time for friendship
with God
with others
with creation

And yet, we find that some would not take that gift from God. Would not receive the gift of rest and tried to collect Manna non-stop. There was no Manna to be found.

And those who tried to hoard it for themselves — the manna would rot, stink and smell foul — reminding us that Pharaoh’s Egypt way of accumulating and piling up “brings rot, decay and death.”

The only manna that the wilderness people — the only manna that you and I are to keep is just enough manna — not too much — not to little — to tell the next generations that all comes from God, that God gives daily and that God brings us out of Pharaoh’s Egypt of accumulation, piling up and hoarding — to share and to love as God loves.

In the days, weeks and months ahead, we will be learning and relearning , when we forget, the ways of God’s Manna and Mercy.

And do not be surprised, if God choosing to appear in a cloud — loves us so much — God’s Manna and Mercy takes this community by Storm!