A MESSAGE FROM REV. KAREN KINNEY: SIGNS OF GOD’S LOVE AND CARE
Grace and peace to you,
I don’t know about you, but I have never wanted to be Moses. What a life – set out in a basket as an infant because the Pharaoh wants to kill all the Israelite male babies, only to be rescued by the Pharaoh’s daughter.
As a young man, he kills a fellow Egyptian and 
has to run for his life, landing in Midian where he marries. Then one day he is out tending his sheep and he sees a burning bush where God commands him to go rescue the Israelites and take them out of Egypt (he argues a lot about that request). Off he goes to do so – and then we get a bunch of plagues, the Passover, and the parting of the Red Sea.
Then – when the people have been rescued from slavery and are journeying in the wilderness – the complaining starts! We would have been better off staying in Egypt. There isn’t enough food! We need water! Moses must have been one exhausted and exasperated leader! Yet God guides Moses and the people through it all. God provides food, water, and accompaniment for the journey. Moses isn’t alone as a leader, and neither are the people. God walks this journey with them.
God gives them the Decalogue, more commonly known as the Ten Commandments. But what are these commandments really? And why were they so needed as the people journeyed in the wilderness? What do these verses really do for the people?
That is what we will explore on Sunday – why are rules given by God for a wilderness time, actually signs of God’s love and care for the people? How do these rules help us stay joyful as we honor God, life, and community? The Ten Commandments are meant to be lived, not put up on some wall with no understanding attached.
Come and see, come and explore together in community!
Blessings,
Pastor Karen