Who can sit in judgement on his brother ? - no one. Who ought to exercise right judgement ? - every one.
I've been meditating lately in Exodus. They got out of Egypt. They got across the Red Sea. They had a huge party. Everything was going swimmingly. Moses had obeyed God, conquered his fear of talking and faced up to Pharaoh. He'd done it. Now he was tired but he was out in a familiar and comforting environment for him, he'd lived in the desert. But he'd taken on these people. He didn't remember that they were in what was totally new to them, and he was still in charge. He'd led them out. That was only the end of the beginning. He forgot they needed water. 3 days in and it's desperate. It's an oversight. He should have thought of it.
But instead of asking politely "what should we do about this, Moses ?" it was a perfectly legitimate need after all, instead they lurched straight into grumbling and destructive negativity. In the end it's the sin of grumbling that is remembered rather than Moses' mistake.
I love
the new church movement. From my first experiences in Lincoln in the mid
70s onwards. But there have maybe been oversights along the way. How do
we do mid course flight correction, but without condoning the grumbling
that is asking for it? The needs are legit. The grumbling isn't. Moses
gave them the water, it would have been pretty churlish not to. But the
deeper need of learning how to communicate need in appropriate ways,
providing channels for it to be able to be dealt with took much longer
to set up. It's not just getting folks out of slavery, it's getting the
slavery out of them.
I can't pretend that there hasn't been some pretty dreadful things happen in "churches" and done by some of their leaders. There are some pretty stupid and pointless or petty things too. Maybe there are inherent weaknesses, even sin, built into how we structure "church". The needs/demands are on the whole legitimate. But how can we deal with that in healthy ways? Ways that will build up, not break down ? How can we say that there is hurt and abuse and manipulation and ask for it to be dealt with, but in a way that is not grumbling and focussed on negativity?
I've read a few blogs lately on the subject of "church" and the fact that some people are finding a place that suits them better in what they are calling the wilderness. Some are loving and thoughtful expressions of wanting to walk with God despite not being able to walk with "institutionalised" expressions of "church". But some of them have some pretty negative, judgemental attitudes running along within them too. The need is legit. But the grumbling isn't. How do we honestly face up to the failings and fragility of "church" but without throwing the baby out with the bathwater ? Like, you really think you'd be better off back in Egypt ? Like we founded new churches specially to leave you to die of thirst in a wilderness ? Like we really need to smash each other's efforts with friendly fire - haven't we got enough to deal with with the enemy?
This isn't anything new. But are we capable of finding new ways of dealing with it ?
Moses needed to face his responsibilities.
The People needed to learn how to express their needs in appropriate ways.
40 years earlier Moses had had to learn that you can't just deal with things by lashing out, however legitimate the argument.
The People needed to learn the same lessons. Yes they were damaged goods, they'd been bullied and oppressed. But they too needed to learn how to act like free people. They'd got to grow up too.
Lord help us. Lord help us.
