Lectionary Year A
September 22, 2002
Exodus 16:2-15

Contemporary Address

(JFC) A. DESCRIPTION OF AUDIENCE

I will preach from this text to a small congregation in a small town, a bedroom community for the state capital whom I served as a part time interim for 2 years recently completed. They are calling a full time Designated Pastor to lead them into Redevelopment with the help of Presbytery’s resources. They are as nervous as they are eager to get on with it, that vast unknown known as Redevelopment. They realize it is survival tactics for this little congregation. At the end of the worship service I will moderate a congregational meeting to call the Designated Pastor, whom I know well.

(JFC) B. INTENDED GOALS FOR THE AUDIENCE

I certainly hope to give them some real hope that God is supplying them with what it’ll take to get on with Redevelopment and with another New Pastor’s ministry.

(JFC) C. ADDRESS

“God’s Providence When We Need It”
Introduction
So, here we are, at the end of the vacancy. The time of wondering how the interim period will end has come to pass. It’s over. Now it’s time to get on with the “Rest of the Story”, as Paul Harvey calls it.

Their Wilderness and Ours
Sinai’s desert and the wanderers’ problems there were admittedly undesirable, at least. God even let them bellyache and grouse as they suffered their trials out there. Our trying to cope with this high tech Information Age leaves us a bit bewildered, too, to say nothing of having to face the unknowns of Redevelopment.

Their Perceptions of God and Ours
God’s glory magnetized them to look and to behold divine glory out there in that desert.
We can find God’s glory if we look for it. A friend who helped me get through majoring in philosophy and seminary, too, had a notation in the margin of some of his text books, "N. B.". He had to teach me that it means, “Note Bene”, note well. We need to note well God’s glorious presence.

Their Responses and Ours
They admitted their ignorance, “Never have we seen anything like this before,” They acknowledged. Moses knew. He told them what it was that God was giving them. Evidently, they took advantage of these gifts, and even finally learned to follow God’s directions on how best to utilize them.
We, too, are permitted to own up to our ignorance of what the next few years will bring for this congregation.

Conclusion
God led the early Israelites through the wilderness to the Promised Land and will lead us through Redevelopment, too. They survived their toils and we will, at least, survive our ordeals doing Redevelopment for the sake of the future of a Presbyterian witness in this county. They responded faithfully and obediently to God’s promises and so will we here and now as well as on into the future years.



| Return to gospel listings | Return to epistle listings |
| Return to Old Testament listings | Return to Psalm listings |
| User response form |