As we continue our journey through the wilderness things are beginning to unravel.  But there’s still hope as a group of spies explore the promised land.  Will the people keep moving forward into their new future or will their fear of the unknown pull them backwards?

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You're watching TV and in a suprising moment a commerical comes on and, for some reason, it's 50 decibels louder.  You're startled and because you've been startled you get angry and because you feel angry you want someone to blame.  "Who has the remote control and isn't paying attention?!  Oh, I've got the remote control.  Well... why are commercials so loud anyway!"  The journey through the wilderness has been going well.  But then as we turn the page from chapter 10 to 11, a startling interruption!

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The people are being guided by a liberating God, but in many ways, they’re still following a God they didn’t know that well.  After 400 years of slavery in Egypt, the people assume that God must also be violent just like the gods of Egypt.  But if they’re going to discover God’s true character, it will be critical that we learn to welcome the outsider.  

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We are invited once again to gather around the table for communion or the Lord’s Supper.  It’s a place to be fed and refreshed.  A place where we’re reminded that we’re not alone.  It’s a place where we remember our stories and find them connected to Jesus’s way of love and grace.  In a similar way, our journey in the book of Numbers this week will include a shared meal of remembrance.  A meal of God's inclusive welcome. 

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After 400 years of slavery in Egypt, the people didn’t really know God all that well.  So, like any of us, they carried their past experiences and ideas about the gods from their culture into their new relationship with God. This is perhaps why we will see God portrayed at times as dangerous, violent and oppressive.  And yet, as God remains faithful and present, there are hints and glimpses that will have us saying, “Oh, maybe this God is different."

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It was a bit like a whirlwind romance.  All that excitement and adrenaline followed by, "Wait, who are you again?"  After 400 years of slavery, God's rescue was all kinds of exciting, followed by a Vegas-like elopment in the desert.  But then they had to figure out how to live together and truth be told, the people didn't really know God all that well.  This is one of the best and most challenging things about the Bible: The picture we get of God comes from people, like us, who are still trying to figure it all out.  So they get it wrong and they get it right, but is this what we really want from our most sacred Scriptures?

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