13th Sunday after Pentecost-Proper 16A

13th Sunday after Pentecost-Proper 16A August 27, 2023 I’ve been listening to and thinking about a song all week. Now before I tell you the name of the song and why it’s been inspiring me, I need to offer you a disclaimer. There are some issues, some controversy around this artist, and the song itself also has some profanity in it, so it is NSFW (y’all know what that means?—"not suitable for work”) and it’s definitely NSFC (“not suitable for church”) or NSFDAWYK (that’s “not suitable for driving around with your kids”). Ok, so you’ve been warned. The song is titled Esther, Ruth, and Rahab, and it’s all about how the singer attended a church as a child where only the men could speak in church. The singer found inspiration in the stories they found of the women of the Bible—Esther, Ruth, and Rahab-and others. It’s actually the chorus that’s been stuck in my head all week: “Castaways who outwitted and outplayed An immigrant ancestor to the incarnate divine Everyone has a star that lights their way We see our paths by someone else's shine Esther, Ruth, and Rahab, they were mine.” i It’s definitely a “girl-power” song, and y’all know I love me some girl-power! What has captivated me about this chorus this week is thinking about these people who have been the stars that have lit my own way, how I have seen my own spiritual path as a result of the shine of someone else. We see this effect playing out in our Old Testament reading from Exodus today. But first, here’s some context. We’ve just fast forwarded in time from last week. You’ll remember last week that we were witnessing a happy reunion between Joseph and his brothers in Egypt. Jospeh had been sold into slavery in Egypt; he’d been falsely imprisoned and then discovered by Pharoah because he had a God-given gift of interpreting dreams. Joseph successfully interpreted Pharoah’s dream that there would be 7 years of plenty followed by 7 years of famine in the land, so Pharoah promoted Joseph to his right hand man, and Jospeh saw Egypt through the famine. His dad, his brothers, and all their families joined him in Egypt, and time passed. Exodus starts with the recognition that this family has now grown into an entire people, and rulers of Egypt have forgotten the significant role that Jospeh played in their history. This new king (who isn’t even named and is even scarcely referred to as Pharoah) starts getting anxious, paranoid, and afraid, and so he starts making decrees which further deepen his adversarial relationship with the Hebrew people. Eventually, he decrees that all Hebrew males who are born must be thrown into the Nile River. (While we’re having our “girl-power” moment together, can we just notice the significance that only the two Hebrew midwives--Shiphrah and Puah—are named in this beginning chapter of Exodus, which in Hebrew literally means the book of names. And these women quietly work to defy Pharoah’s order to kill all the male Hebrew children.) Then our story reveals that a male Hebrew baby has been born, and his mother hides him for three months. But then she makes him a basket (literally an ark—like the same word as in Noah and the ark), and she sends him with his sister in his little baby ark to the Nile River. The sister, who we later learn is named Miriam, waits and watches and then strategically places her baby brother into the water where he will be found and adopted by Pharoah’s daughter (who also decides to defy her dad’s decree about killing all the male Hebrew children). The baby’s sister does some wheeling and dealing and makes it so her mom can serve as nurse for her brother, and eventually, the baby is named Moses which refers to his being drawn out of the water. (Miriam’s name, by the way, means “rebellion”.) I’ve really appreciated Miriam’s big-sister energy in our reading for this week. For the first time, I’ve realized that without Miriam, there wouldn’t have been a Moses. Miriam’s courage and ingenuity are part of what helped set Moses on his path as the leader of the Hebrew people out of their slavery in Egypt and into the promised land. And it’s also important to note that Miriam is right there beside Moses and their brother Aaron as they lead the people out of Egypt, and Miriam is a prophet in her own right. One of the oldest pieces of scripture in our whole bible is Miriam’s song that she sings right after the parting of the Red Sea. So Miriam has her own gifts, her own relationship with God, and she also uses her gifts to shine the light on the path of Moses so he can become who God is calling him to be. Can you think of someone in your life who has done this for you? Who has shared their gifts to help light your path for you, who has thrown some fabulous big-sister energy your way when you have needed it? I think it’s important for us to name them right now, so when I count to three, I want you to say the name (or names) of someone who has helped shine a light on your path in the faith. Ready? 1, 2, 3:____________. It’s really the essential call of discipleship, isn’t it? We aren’t in this faith business, doing this faith thing just for our own spiritual well-being, right? We do this together, and we are called to do this for each other—this shining of our own light on someone else’s path to help them find their way and who God has created them to be. We are also called as a church to try to shine the light on the paths of as many others outside our doors as we can. I’ve really appreciated getting to hear more about the work that the women of the St. Martha’s Guild have done in creating a Zen Den, a mindfulness room, at the Chatham Juvenile Court. This is a healing and nurturing space for the people who work at the court and who come face to face with horrible things and trauma every day. Our ladies offered their gift of making things beautiful as a way to shine the light on the path of those who work in the Juvenile Court system to give them strength and courage to keep doing this important work in our community. What other unusual ways might the Holy Spirit be calling us as a community of faith to shine our light on the paths of others in Savannah, Chatham County or beyond? Your invitation is to be on the lookout for ways that you can shine your light for someone else to help light their path in the faith. How are you being called to share some big-sister energy with someone else this week? “Castaways who outwitted and outplayed An immigrant ancestor to the incarnate divine Everyone has a star that lights their way We see our paths by someone else's shine Esther, Ruth, and Rahab, they were mine.” i. https://lyrnow.com/1600515