We are reading Exodus at a time of elevated crisis in the Middle East; and in a conflict driven by religious ideologies of different kinds - Zionism and Islamism clashing - all these themes of Exodus are right there on the surface: Can the scared and suffering ones make it over the border? Which of the warring factions will win control of the land? And where is God to be found in this struggle? 

It is all taking place a long way from here; but in another sense it couldn’t be closer; for the Christian Church is the ‘Israel of God’; we identify with Her closely; on some meaningful level the actions and the fate of the people of Israel are inseparable from our own. Though troubled and concerned, we may feel powerless to do anything about what’s happening in the Middle East. But how we respond to it, and how we choose to live towards our neighbours in our place, in our time, we trust is part of the kingdom of God which embraces us all.

A talk for the Twentieth Sunday after Trinity, 22 October 2023.

Referencing ⁠Exodus 33.12-23, Matthew 22.15-22

Find the text to this and all my talks at ⁠⁠bit.ly/johndavies-talks⁠.