Today I fancied cornflakes for a change from my usual porridge, which reminded me of these two 'graces'...

Allegedly English Version:
Lord, grant that we may not be like porridge: stiff, stodgy and hard to stir, but like cornflakes: crisp, fresh and ready to serve.

(For anyone carefully counting, this is the fifth reflection, but as the fourth was on the Home Communion not a service, I've renumbered!)

It continues to be a pleasure to listen to the podcasts of services at the Gathering Place, providing a sense of connectedness even if running a week behind!  The service from last Sunday, which I listened to this morning was another I really appreciated.  It was also one that took my thoughts in directions less about the sermon (sorry M!) and more about factors that are worth considering for future worship leading in the light of my experience today.

First, though, some thoughts on the sermon.  I liked the way the sermon made connections between two very different stories from the life of Jesus - the Presentation in the Temple (technically the Candlemas gospel reading) and the Transfiguration (traditionally the one just before Lent). 

The implied question of "who is this Jesus" was explored in the light of the reactions of the witnesses in each case, with time allowed for the congregation to ponder for themselves their own response to the question. 

There was skillful link noting the potential 'Law and Prophets' motif evidenced in each event.  I say 'potential' not because I don't think it is discernible, but because I would make it on a different basis from the preacher.  During the sermon, reference was made to Simeon being a priest, and my immediate reaction was "it doesn't say that!"  I checked.  It doesn't.  It refers to him as a righteous man.  However, a little bit of online research revealed that many people consider it 'implicit' in the narrative that he is the priest to whom Mary and  Joseph came with Jesus.  Certainly plausible but not proven and, forgive me, I'm not yet convinced... if, as I've always been told, Luke was a Gentile writing for Gentiles, then I think he would have named a priest as such rather than as a righteous man.  Even so, and even if Simeon was not a priest, he appears in the story at a point where the demands of the Law are being met - affirming that Jesus is a 'kosher' Jew if you like.  And that is important.  Simeon stands within that tradition and so, if only indirectly, may well represent the Law.  To set alongside each other Simeon & Anna and Moses & Elijah, and then Simeon & Anna and Peter, James & John was novel and clever... and merits some more pondering on my part.

But it wasn't the sermon that struck me this time, it was the difference it makes to be listening to the service via a podcast compared with being present in the Gathering Place.  And I don't mean the obvious things, such as that visual material does not and cannot 'translate', but things such as announcing the hymns.  Increasingly, I don't give out hymn numbers, or at least not all of them, not because I like to project words on-screen but because it sometimes feels clumsy.  Yet, as I've listened to services, I've found it really helpful to known which book and what number, so that I can turn up the words if I don't know them.

The other thing that struck me was the Communion, and how dependent that can be on visual cues, as well as how odd it is to listen to it without actively participating.  Many moons ago there was a Sunday morning television broadcast that included communion-by-any-other-name and for which viewers were invited, if they wished, to join in by lighting a candle, eating some bread and drinking some wine/water/juice.  I think I should have thought of this, and prepared myself better!  Even so, because of slight differences in how Communion was shared (in terms of words) the cues on when to eat and when to drink were less clear than I am used to.  More food for thought!

So, today I learned something about Simeon - maybe! - that forty years of consitent church attendance have never before revealed.  And I learned some useful tips that will mean future services I lead might be more accessible when podcast.  Each of these seems equally valuable in its own way.

If nothing else, maybe this reflection may help to illustrate that there is no one 'right' message to take away from an act of worship!!

I had planned to take a break from my reading today (and I would have had I been working) but I got quite intrigued by my close reading of the plague narrative, and the various details that I have glibly overlooked over the decades.  Perhaps I could set the blame at the feet of my 'O' level RE teacher who was concerned only that we could recite the list in the correct order (one of various things we were expected to know by heart from a HUGE chunk of OT and one an a bit gospels!!).

Chapters nine and ten take us through a sequence of five further plagues: death of livestock, boils, hail & thunderstorm, locusts and darkness.  As each successive plague arises, there is, if we have eyes to see it, a steady change in the responses of those in Pharaoh's court and in Pharaoh's verbal responses.  And the notes that come alongside the descriptions of the plagues are interesting in thier own right.

All the Livestock?

The plague affecting the Egyptians livestock apparently wipes it out in its entirety... at least for a few verses!  Such statements arise in varous parts of the Old Testament as a kind of hyperpole, notably perhaps in the book of Job, whose animals seem to die several times over...  Exageration for dramatic effect is a familiar technique - as one of my old bosses used to say to me sometimes, "I've told you a million times, don't exagerate!"

I guess the thing here is not to get hung up over the problems a literal reading would give us, and accept that this was, within the narrative, loss of livestock of catastrophic proportions.  As later plagues will show us, the livestock was restored or replenished only to suffer further catastrophe.

The Magicians

After their inability to conjure up gnats/midges, and their suggestion to Pharaoh that this really was the work of God, they disappear from the story until the plague of boils.  Afflicted by boils, the magicians can no longer stand before Moses.  I'm not entirely sure why we are told this detail, but if these are the wise men of Egypt, the philosophers and thinkers, the ones who perhaps would be expected to understand health matters, it is possible that their seeming inability to defy the plague or to heal themselves has some significance.  I don't know, and I don't have a commentary to check.

What it does mean, presumably, is that Pharaoh loses one 'layer' of support.

The Officials

With the 'promise' of the plague of hail and thunderstorm comes a warning and an opportunity to take action.  Moses advises the court officials to shelter their livestock (see, it's back!) their families and slaves because this severe storm will prove fatal.  They are divided, some believe Moses, some don't.  And when the storm comes, those who have taken precautions are safe whilst those who didn't are lost.

After this plague, the officials implore Pharaoh to let the people go - life is becoming increasingly unbearable and their society faces ruin.

The magicians are out of the picture; the officials, having become first divided and now reunited, no longer support Pharaoh's position... his power is starting to crumble, his authority is being questioned.  The "gentleman may not be for turning" but his days are surely numbered.

Pharaoh

We continue to see Pharaoh asking Moses to pray for him, and whilst Moses continues to do so, he also starts to speak out.  After the plague of hail, Moses tells Pharaoh that he does not believe that he fears God.

What we also see is a wearing down of Pharaoh's resistance.  Having lost the unquestioning support of his officials, Pharaoh offers Moses permission for the men alone to go to worship God.  Perhaps he hopes this will appease at least one side.  Moses is having none of it, and next comes the plague of locusts to polish off such plants as the hail could not (in the account we have an explanation of which crops the hail destroyed and which had yet to grow... ancient rationalisation perhaps?)

Once again Pharaoh asks for prayer, once again the plague abates, once again his heart hardens.

Now comes a three day period of darkness [aside - are there resonances here with (a) the darkness at the time of the crucifixion and (b) the three days Jesus was in the tomb?] at the end of which Pharaoh declares his willingness to allow all the people to go ionto the wilderness to worship, but they must leave behind all their livestock.  Of course, this is not acceptable to Moses.

It is intriguing reading these accounts and pondering the attitude and action of Pharaoh, especially at a time when the daily news is full of accounts of powerful men (and posisbly also women) behaving in ways that express some similar traits.  I suppose what it make me wonder is who are the equivalents of the magicians and the officials?  Who are the advisers and researchers who can point out that this path is doomed to disaster?  Who are the cabinet members, permanent under-secretaries, civil servants, colleagues and so forth who can say, "enough".

Perhaps we do well to remind ourselves of the call to pray for all in authority, and especially to pray for those who feel led to challenge the voices and policies of the powerful.

Cliffhanger

Chapter ten ends with a scary stand-off between Pharaoh and Moses:

Then Pharaoh said to him, ‘Get away from me! Take care that you do not see my face again, for on the day you see my face you shall die.’ Moses said, ‘Just as you say! I will never see your face again.’

If this was East Enders it would be time for the "duff duff", as it has become known.  If it was a thriller, there would be teasers and spoilers for the next episode.  But it's the Bible, we know what comes next, we know that one final plague has yet to come and we even known what it is.

When we look at the world around us, when we are fearful of the seemingly inevitable outcomes of the workings of powerful leaders, at home or overseas, we don't know what comes next.  Our own cliffhangers are not obvious, there are no spoilers or teasers, it is down to us to write the next chapter.

Whether it is Jeremy Hunt and his plans for NHS England (and even with devolved powers there can only be ripples elsewhere, surely)...  Whether it is Donald Trump (and the even more scary, so I understand, alternatives)...  Whether it is Syrian refugee crisis... Whether it is the choices we make in our small spheres of influence and power...

Who are the voices we listen to?  What the prayers we pray?  What small difference can we, will we, make?

OK, it's confession time: this morning I put on my dog-collar and went to visit one of our elderly folk who is very ill.

I know this was bad of me, dangerous in so far as I risked getting overtired, or physically over-stretching and hurting myself.  When I set out it was cold and grey, so I had a scarf and gloves, by the time I arrived drizzle had turned to rain had turned to sleet had turned to snow... When I left an hour later I did so in a taxi, warmed up with a hot drink, had some lunch and settled down to do a lot of nothing.

Sometimes it is so hard doing the 'right' thing and maybe sometimes breaking the rules is the 'right thing' anyway.  Sometimes it seems as if 'crises' choose to occur when I am on holiday or away on business trips or, in this case, on sick leave.  And it's hard - you can take the minister out of the church, but you can't take the ministry out of the girl.

After the scene-setting of the first six chapters, we now move into what is probably the most familiar aspect of the Exodus story - the plagues of Egypt and the repeated mind-changes of Pharaoh.  Such stories, with strong supernatural elements seem to divide opinion, and not always very graciously!  There are those who are adamant that such accounts are purely mythical, having no basis in fact, calling on external sources, such as they are, and their silence, to support the view that this never happened.  There are others who are equally adamant that such accounts are absolute historical truth, and who ignore or refute any external, scientific or alternative interpretation.  And there are some, like me, for whom such arguments are exercises in missing the point - whatever the historicity, and I am sure there is at least some factual basis for the stories, these stories have been retold and recorded because there is something to be deduced from reading them, something to learn about ourselves, about our faith, about God.  We might not like it very much, it might disturb our ease and make us long to exclude these texts from the canon, but we have to accept they were included by people who thought and prayed hard about siuch things.  The least we can do, in my view, is try to do some thinking and praying ourselves.

Overview

First, an overview of these two chapters, noting some of the details that are easily missed...

At the start of this section, Moses acts as the 'mouth of God' and instructs Aaron to perform the first signs.  Clearly, within the ancient worldview such things were not unheard of... When Aaron drops his staff and it turns into a snake, the court magicians are able to do the same thing, providing a tasty snack for the snake from Aaron's staff.  When Aaron stretches his staff over the Nile and turns it and all its tributaries to blood, the court magicians can do this too.  Whatever our view of these seeming conjuring tricks, pharaoh isn't impressed - this Hebrew God and his prophet don't seem to have any special powers over and above those of the Egyptian court magicians/magi.

A week passes - or a short period of time anyway.

Moses and Aaron bring forth a plague of frogs from the Nile... and the magicians too are able to conjure up frogs.  Even so, something changes, and Pharaoh asks Moses and Aaron to pray to God for the frogs to go away.  Humorously, Moses asks when this should be and Pharaoh says 'tomorrow'.  But after the frogs had all died and been cleared, Pharaoh's apparent softening of heart vanishes.

After the frogs, the gnats - or midges - nasty small bitey creatures!  Here is something the court magicians can't do, and they tell Pharaoh that this is surely "the finger of God"... this is now beyond their experience and their skills.  Pharaoh is not interested, his mind is made up, his heart is heard.  Even as he scratches another bite he refuses to budge.

After the gnats, the flies, and here for the first time an apparent distinction, an area where the flies are not found - Goshen, where the Hebrews reside.  And here, too, a change in Pharaoh's response... he makes an offer to the Hebrews that they can make their sacrifice, but only within the confines of Egypt.  Perhaps something is stirring in Pharaoh's heart/mind, perhaps a chink in armour of stubborness.  But this offer is rejected - the sacrifices the Hebrews would offer would be offensive to the Egyptians and could lead to reprisal, even stoning of those involved.  Pharaoh seems to relent a little further - they can go to the wilderness so long as they don't go too far - and again asks Moses to pray for him.  And in a now familiar pattern, as the prayer is answered, Pharaoh again hardens his heart.

Signs, Wonders and Rationalisation

For all I've said that I am not too fussed whether or not this account is historically accurate, I do recall very vividly a documentary that set out to explore whether there could be a factual basis for the plague stories.  And it deduced, quite convincingly, that there could.  Not that God smote anyone, but that the sequence of events was plausible, if improbable.  The Nile can appear to turn to blood, becoming undrinkable and poisonous due to sudden influxes of impurities.  With the water uninhabitable and the fish dying, the frogs will escape to dry land, potentially in huge numbers.  As the frogs, possibly poisoned, and certainly at risk of dehydration die off and start to rot, the arrival of gnats/midges and flies is pretty much inevitable.  If, by some quirk, the area of Goshen has managed to avoid becoming a frog graveyard, then the flies won't be very interested...

If you are curious to explore this further, then maybe look here or here .  These are not proofs, but they are interesting in their own right.  And they also prompt us to ponder how natural, albeit extremely rare, events, came to take on such religious significance for the Hebrews and not the Egyptians.

Miracles, Magicians and Mysteries...

Moses and Aaron are attributed with invoking signs by supernatural means.  The court magicians are able to emulate at least some of these by their own 'arts'.  If nothing else, this part of the account forces us to question our use of language of 'miracle' which, all too often is equated with 'something for which we have no scientific explanation', a so-called 'God of the gaps' approach.   But we must do say carefully, not dismissing as infantile or erroneous the firmly held beliefs of others.

Maybe it is a cop-out, but I continue to find the langauge of mystery helpful, holding a tension between extremes that risk dividing and/or polarising opinion.

Pharaoh's Attitude

It is easy either to dismiss Pharaoh as a terrible tyrant or to see him as a puppet in the hands of a cruel, manipulative deity.  But actually, I can't help wondering if there isn't a bit of pharaoh in a lot of us, certainly in me...

Pharaoh is a man of strong opinions, powerful and holding authority, what he says goes.  But he is also a man, capable of fear, possibly with his own insecurities and uncertainities.  There is something hugely poignant in his requests that Moses prays for him, and equally sad that, once the prayers have been answered, he again hardens his heart.  How easily we can fall into a similar trap - crying out to God when we want or need help, anything from a genuine personal tragedy to a bus/taxi/parking space, and then forgetting all about God once the crisis has passed... or I certainly can, anyway.  How easy it can be to try to bargain with God, if this, then that... when actually we really don't want to be held to 'that'...

Reading the start of the plague narrative slowly, and closely, I have discovered new insights into the actions of pharaoh, of how at times he seems to have wanted to find a middle course, for whatever reason - to save face, to lull the Hebrews into a false sense of security - and yet in the end he cannot follow through.  He has become some kind of monster, incapable of change.  This makes me wonder about the 'monsters' that we create or allow to be created in positions of authority, and how difficult it must be for them to extricate themsleves from seemingly intractable situations.  That doesn't mean it doesn't matter, that we simply let come to pass whatever it is they will, but it does remind me to remember that, behind it all, these are people for whom Christ died, and that it is God's will that none be lost. 

If God plays with pharaoh like a puppet, then God also draws all of that malice and cruelty into God's very self on the cross... I'm not saying that makes the former OK, because I don't think it does, but it does say something about redemption even with the heart of Godself... and that blows my mind!