‘the Lord’s fire was in the cloud by night, in the sight of all the Israelites during all their travels.’ - Exodus 40:38
Brothers and sisters, 16th April was the first act of the Paris Olympics when the Olympic flame was lit in Olympia. For the next eleven days the Olympic flame—on top of the Olympic torch—was relayed all across Greece ending in Athens. The flame then boarded a boat to take it to Marseille in Southern France. The flame led the way, then, from the port all round the country finally ending its’ journey in Paris, where it was used to light the Olympic Cauldron on 24th July, and will burn throughout the games. The flame never goes out. The flame is always at the front of the procession. The flame arrives in Paris before the athletes of the 204 nations. The flame burns above the athletes’ for the entirety of the games, you might say, it accompanies them every step of the way. And should you want to find the Olympic Games in Paris you need only to look up, find the flame, and follow it to the Olympic stadium.
Today, we come to the end of the Book of Exodus. We began two years ago with the birth of a baby, a baby whose life was threatened and whose mum had to hide him in a basket of reeds, and sent him down the Nile in order to survive. God protected this baby—this boy named Moses—and gave him all the training he needed, before sending him back to Egypt to bring out God’s people. The journey has been hard. As we’ve followed the path of this people we’ve thought about injustice and slavery, about how small but faithful voices can stand up to big enemies. We’ve be challenged to listen to the Lord, to act on His commands in faith, and to trust that—one way or another—He will have the victory. We’ve seen the way God protects His people as the Egyptian armies descend upon them. We’ve seen God rescue His people from the waters of the Red Sea, bringing them through on dry ground. We’ve seen God lead His people to His mountain, and teach them how to live, how to flourish, in a world that doesn’t believe in Him. There have been dark times—no darker than when God’s people ignore the One who saved them—and we’ve been challenged to see that we’re just like God’s people on the good days, perhaps, but definitely on the bad days. Today, as we focus in on Exodus 40—the last chapter of this amazing true story—we find the Jewish people packing up their tents at the foot of God’s mountain and preparing for the long walk to the Promised Land. The Hebrew people—like the Olympic athletes—have had their basic training. We’ve seen the mistakes which it is so easy to make and we’ve tried to learn from them so we don’t make those mistakes as well!
On Friday, Team GB won Gold in women’s rowing. Great Britain's Emily Craig and Imogen Grant rowed to victory in the lightweight sculling event. They did it together, they did it as a team. Interviewed afterwards Imogen spoke about Emily saying: ‘Emily is the toughest, most incredible, person I’ve ever had the pleasure of rowing with… she took me from a single clueless sculler who did not know how to row a double to an Olympic champion… and she’s been there every single step of the way.when I’ve had my wobbles when I’ve had my ups and downs.’ In response Emily said of Imogen: ‘She is so talented and has so much confidence that on the days when I don’t even know if I can do it, I just look at her and I know we’ll be fine. Thank God she is the person she is.’ They did together what they could not have done apart. This is just as true of those who compete individually as those who compete with another. Standing behind each Olympic athlete is a host of trainers, dieticians, family members and friends. Watching from the stands how often do we see the rest of their squad watching and willing them on? The victories are, in some sense, individual, but they are on our behalf, they are part of Team GB and the final tally is the team tally. Team GB loose together, draw together, and, mostly definitely, win together. The same is true for God’s people.
We’re told at the beginning of our reading of Moses putting together the tabernacle, it seems at first glance like it is all down to him and yet, if we were to read around it would we see that it takes the whole people of God—the whole team, with all their talents and skills—to create the tabernacle, the tent, and the ark, in the first place. Moses is just one man, and it has taken the whole people of God—protected, guided, and led by God—to get where they are at the foot of the mountain ready to head off to the Promised Land. If these people are to get where they are going it will be as a unit, as a team, as a people, pulling together and working as a family; a family with God at its head. Here is a final lesson for us, then, as we close in on the end of this book. We may be individuals, we may have our own skills, our own battles, and our own abilities, but we do not run the race of the the Christian life alone, and we certainly do not gain victory on our own. God brings us together to share our gifts and skills, to encourage one another, and to point one another to the Lord. I might be able to teach, but I cannot sing. You might be able to sing, but you may not be able to teach children in Sunday Club, You may be gifted at sharing the faith with children, but you might find finance a drag. You may manage money well but you may not be able to lead us in prayer. Whatever gifts and skills you have you need the family of God, and the family of God needs you. Only together—like Team GB—will we have victory. Only together—like the Hebrew people—will we get to the Promised Land. We take this journey together, or we perish alone!
Back in our first reading, the People of God are now on their way and leading them—as we learnt in previous chapters—is God, present in the tabernacle, placed in His own tent at night but in the Ark at the front of the procession by day. The final verses of our first reading and the final verses of the Book of Exodus tell us the rest: ‘the cloud of the Lord was over the tabernacle by day, and fire was in the cloud by night, in the sight of all the Israelites during all their travels’. Like the Olympic flame leading the way to the Paris Games, so God’s fire goes before the people leading the way by day and shining as a beacon by night. The journey of the Jewish people is not over… in fact, it has scarcely begun. What lies behind them is the great rescue from Egypt, is the great battle, between evil and death on the one hand, and God and life on the other; a battle which has been won by their God and ours. We too, should look back, to our great rescue from death and sin which God-in-Jesus won at Easter. We too can look back to that great battle between evil and death on the one hand, and God and life on the other; a battle which has been definitely won by their God and ours. The Hebrew story, the Jewish story, was a foretaste, a preamble, a guide book if you like, so that when Jesus came we might better understand what He would do, because before Him someone once had done something similar—smaller yes—but similar none the less. The lessons they learnt have been written down for us and their story shows the way forward for us in following the Lord. The principle lesson—the lesson which has been front and centre all the way through—has had been to follow where God leads. That way may not be the way we would choose to go, it may not follow the path which we would choose, and yet, it is only in following God, in following the fire, in following the flame that we will find our way home. In the words of our final hymn—and the hymn which has been present throughout our studies in the Book of Exodus:
‘Guide [us], O my great Redeemer,
pilgrim through this barren land…
…Let the fire and cloudy pillar
lead us all [our] journey through.’
Bothers and sisters, if we work together, as a team, as a family, and listen to the Lord, we will get to the Promised Land of heaven. We might not be there yet—just as God’s people had not completed their journey by the end of book of Exodus—but with God-in-Jesus lighting our way, like an Olympic torch, we will have the victory and we will arrive home.
‘When we tread the verge of Jordan,
bid our anxious fears subside.
Death of death, and hell's Destruction,
land us safe on Canaan's side.’
Amen (from Fr Mike).