Thursday 23 March 2023

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Today is Thursday, the 23rd of March, in the fourth week of Lent.

Leslie Jordan and Jon Guerra, with the Porter’s Gate sing, ‘You Hold It All’.

God, we bring you the work of our hands now

Lay it down, lay it at your feet

What we've done, what we've built, what we've broken

Lay it down, lay it at your feet

You hold it all, Jesus

You hold it all

Worried hearts, wearied hands, weakened bodies

Lay it down, lay it at your feet

What we've used, what we've lost, what we've wasted

Lay it down, lay it at your feet

You hold it all, Jesus

You hold it all

You hold it all, Jesus

You hold it all

All our plans, all our dreams, our ambitions

Lay them down, lay them at your feet

And even if nothing comes to fruition

Lay it down, lay it at your feet

Lay it down, lay it at your feet

Today’s reading is from the Book of Exodus.

Exod 32:7-14

The Lord said to Moses, ‘Go down at once! Your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have acted perversely; they have been quick to turn aside from the way that I commanded them; they have cast for themselves an image of a calf, and have worshipped it and sacrificed to it, and said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!”’ The Lord said to Moses, ‘I have seen this people, how stiff-necked they are. Now let me alone, so that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them; and of you I will make a great nation.’

But Moses implored the Lord his God, and said, ‘O Lord, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians say, “It was with evil intent that he brought them out to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth”? Turn from your fierce wrath; change your mind and do not bring disaster on your people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, how you swore to them by your own self, saying to them, “I will multiply your descendants like the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it for ever.” ’ And the Lord changed his mind about the disaster that he planned to bring on his people.

Perhaps you don’t often pray with the image of an angry God. But it’s certainly where this passage starts. God’s people, the people he loves and has cared for, are turning against him. Only Moses has remained faithful. Notice what stirs in you as you hear God’s condemnation of the people.

It is Moses who then steps in and reminds God of the promises that he has made. And it works! God changes his mind, and the people are spared. Notice now what stirs in you as you hear Moses speaking with God in this way.

As the passage is read again, see if there is anything in your own experience that resonates with the idea of a justly angry God, or a God who, though he has anger, instead shows merciful forgiveness.

You might like, finally, to speak with God about the promises that he has made to you, or all the loving care he has shown you on your journey through life to this point.

You have given all to me

To you, Lord, I return it

Everything is Yours

Do with it what you will

Give me only your love and your grace

That is enough for me.

Amen.