Moses and Miriam

 WE GATHER 

PRELUDE 

BRINGING IN THE LIGHT OF CHRIST 

WELCOME & ANNOUNCEMENTS 

*HYMN Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise UMH # 103 

*CALL TO WORSHIP 

L: How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts. 

P: Our souls long for the courts of the Lord; we sing joy to the living God. 

L: Even the sparrow finds a home and the swallow a nest for herself, where she 

may lay her young. 

P: Happy are those who live in your house, singing your praise. 

L: Happy are those whose strength is in you. 

P: One day in God's house is better than a thousand elsewhere. 

*OPENING PRAYER (IN UNISON) 

Liberating God, this morning we gather together, just like the women who were drawn to one place by Miriam. We celebrate our joys and successes, and give thanks that we have survived our worst days. Hear our tambourines jingling and our voices lifted up in these moments when we remember to sing. And when the music ends, we disperse, and Miriam fades into the background, help us to remember her, one another, and you. Amen. 

*HYMN I'm So Glad Jesus Lifted Me FWS # 2151 

WE PROCLAIM GOD'S WORD 

CHILDREN’S CHAT 

OLD TESTAMENT READING 

Exodus 15: 19-21 

19 When the horses of Pharaoh with his chariots and his chariot drivers went into the sea, the Lord brought back the waters of the sea upon them, but the Israelites walked through the sea on dry ground.

The Song of Miriam

20 Then the prophet Miriam, Aaron’s sister, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women went out after her with tambourines and with dancing. 21 And Miriam sang to them:

“Sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously;
horse and rider he has thrown into the sea.”

MUSICAL INTERLUDE AND OFFERING 

NEW TESTAMENT READING 

Ephesians 6: 10-20 

The Whole Armor of God

10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power; 11 put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil, 12 for our[a] struggle is not against blood and flesh but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present[b] darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.[c] 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to withstand on the evil day and, having prevailed against everything, to stand firm. 14 Stand, therefore, and belt your waist with truth and put on the breastplate of righteousness 15 and lace up your sandals in preparation for the gospel of peace. 16 With all of these,[d] take the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18 Pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert and always persevere in supplication for all the saints. 19 Pray also for me, so that when I speak a message may be given to me to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel,[e] 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it boldly, as I must speak.

Reader: The Living Word of God for the people of God. 

People: Thanks be to God. 

MESSAGE "Moses and Miriam"

Friends, we’re now in our fourth week of this six part sermon series I put together about one of the most foundational of our Old Testament patriarchs: Moses.

And this week, we’re focusing on a character who is my favorite to look at in the Moses narrative because of how little we actually know about her, at least at surface level: Miriam. Moses’ older sister.  

It’s astounding, for how absolutely pivotal Moses is to the entire narrative of the Old Testament, how little the authors of the Pentateuch–of what our Jewish friends call the Torah, or the Law, the first 5 books of the OT–tell us about Moses’ blood family. We know nothing about his biological father, except that he was a descendant of Levi, one of the 13 children of Jacob. All we know of his mother is that she was also from the Levite tribe, that she did everything she could to protect Moses as a newborn by hiding him, and that she ultimately got to be Moses’ paid wet nurse. But we don’t hear anything else about her after Pharaoh’s daughter adopts Moses. We know that Moses married twice, first to a woman from Midian named Zipporah, and then later in life to an unnamed woman from the land of Cush. He had two sons, named Gershon and Eliezer. He had a father in law named Jethro. But nearly all of those characters show up for merely a verse or two in the text, and are never mentioned again. 

Something even more mysterious happens in the case of Moses’ sister, Miriam. We meet her in Moses’ infancy story, and we find out she’s very smart, and she loves both Moses and their mom something fierce. When their mom puts Moses in a basket in the Nile, it’s Miriam who hides in the reeds and watches to see who finds him. She eavesdrops on the conversation Pharaoh’s daughter has with her maid, and then pops out of the bulrushes and asks Pharaoh’s daughter if she would like some help finding a nurse for baby Moses. Miriam comes back with her mom, and arranges for her and Moses’ mom to get paid to nurse her own baby. It’s far from a perfect outcome for this family, but Miriam’s quick thinking orchestrates what was probably the best childhood Moses could have had–nursed by his biological mother, who was lifted from poverty by royal money, and then raised in security in the palace.

Then Miriam disappears from the story for 80 years. We hear nothing about her as Moses grows up, kills a man, runs away, gets married, has kids, talks to a plant, and comes back. We even begin hearing about a brother named Aaron, who gets his first appearance in this story at the age of 83, but still no Miriam. There’s plagues, and Pharaoh’s hard heart, and running away with matzah, and a situation involving splitting a river in half that made Charleton Heston famous a few millennia later, but still no Miriam. 

It’s not until the Hebrews have crossed the Red Sea, the waters have closed on the Egyptians and drowned them, and the Hebrews are celebrating their freedom that we finally see Miriam for the second time. She picks up a tambourine and leads the Hebrews, especially the Hebrew women, in song. Then, she becomes the Chuck Cunningham of this story. Y’all remember that show, Happy Days? Remember how Richie had a brother in college in the early episodes, and then the writers quickly ran out of material for him, so he went up the stairs holding his basketball and was never seen again? After this victory song, Miriam goes up the stairs holding her basketball, or tambourine, and leaves the story for a good long while.

Decades pass. Manna and golden calves happen. The rest of the book of Exodus and the entirety of the book of Leviticus pass us by, and no mention of Miriam. Miriam’s third appearance doesn’t happen until the book of Numbers, when Moses marries the Cushite woman I mentioned before and suddenly Miriam is in the room with Moses and Aaron because if there’s anything that riles up your distant and estranged family it’s marrying someone they don’t like. Aaron and Miriam really don’t like that Moses married a woman of another race. God punishes Miriam for her racism by giving her leprosy. Now HER skin is “the wrong color”, and her community shuns her for it. When she heals, she atones for her social and relational sins, and teaches us a valuable lesson about hatred, prejudice, and the power of love. Then she fades back into the woodwork, and we don’t hear about her again until her death and burial.

Though the text gives us so little overt information about Miriam, based on only these four stories we have to believe that Miriam had a very important role in Moses’ life. So why don’t we hear more about her?

Well, last time I mentioned Miriam in a sermon, I had a conversation about her with two Rabbi friends of mine, Matt and Rafi. And Matt and Rafi explained to me that I only think Miriam appears in this story so sporadically because I’m reading this as a Christian. Our Jewish friends read these four biblical mentions of Miriam alongside a source called the midrash. The midrash is ancient commentary on the Hebrew Bible. According to the midrash, Miriam is a wise prophet from a very young age. It was God’s counsel in her ear that helped her save baby Moses and enlist her own mom as Moses’ nurse. Miriam’s name derives from the Hebrew word for “bitter” and is a constant commentary on the grief of the Hebrew enslavement. In the years that we think we’re not hearing anything about Miriam, the midrash theorizes that she was going by a different name, Puah, and working as one of the brave midwives that saved the Hebrew boys that Pharaoh wanted to kill. The midrash extols Miriam’s song after crossing the Red Sea, and praises her strength—after everything she’s been through, she decides to sing. The midrash further explains that, where it appears that Miriam has faded into the background, she is bravely leading the Hebrew people through the wilderness, encouraging them every time they’re about to give up. When she commits the sin of racism against Moses’ wife, everyone learns from her. And when she dies, the Hebrew people name a well after her. Just like how there are many feet of well below what you can see from a distance, so too with Miriam is there way more there than meets the eye. And like a well Miriam provided the water her people needed to survive.

So, then, where does this leave us? 

I think we need to remember Miriam as setting many important examples, both for her friends and neighbors 5,000 years ago, and for us now. We should think of her as one of the smartest people in the Bible. We should lift up Miriam as a sacred image of Biblical Womanhood, one that teaches girls and women that we can be the prophets and heroes in the story, too. We should remember her as a fallible human who made terrible mistakes, apologized, and did better. But most of all, we should remember her as someone who was brave enough to sing, even when she was exhausted and the road ahead was terrifying. Because if we can sing after running away from a bunch of bad guys and before walking through hot sand for forty years, then we can see the beauty in anything, and thank God and one another for all of our survival stories.

Amen.

*HYMN Standing on the Promises UMH # 374 v 1, 2, 4 

WE RESPOND 

JOYS & CONCERNS 

PASTORAL PRAYER 

God,

like the Israelites in the wilderness,

we too have known Your love,

and experienced Your care and provision.

You call us to extend Your love to the world around us—

to care for others as deeply as we care for ourselves.

And so we bring the needs of our world before You now.

In Your mercy, hear our prayer.

We pray for those who do not have what they need in order to survive;

  those without enough food to eat, or shelter to keep them warm;

  those without employment, or enough money to pay their bills;

  those without access to medical care, or medicine to keep them healthy.

Lord, in Your mercy, hear our prayer.

We pray for those who have more than enough to meet their needs,

  but who continue to feel empty inside;

  who struggle to find meaning and purpose in life,

  who turn to alcohol, drugs, or other destructive behaviours

  to try and hide the pain,

  who entertain thoughts of suicide.

Lord, in Your mercy, hear our prayer.

We pray for those who are struggling physically,

  who are battling life-threatening disease or injury,

  who are living with chronic pain,

  who are coping with Alzheimers,

  or facing death.

Lord, in Your mercy, hear our prayer.

God of the first and the last,

and all those in between,

Your grace reaches out to all of us—

life-long believers or newcomers alike.

You call us to live as citizens of heaven,

to work together with one mind and one purpose,

to reach out in love to those in need.

Strengthen us so that we might live in a manner worthy

of the Good News we have received,

offering our lives to the building up of Your upside-down kingdom,

where the last are first, and the first are last,

and there is grace enough for all.

Lord, in Your mercy, hear our prayer.

In the name of Jesus Christ, our Saviour and Lord, Amen.

THE LORD’S PRAYER 

Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen. 

*HYMN Great Is Thy Faithfulness UMH # 140 

SENDING FORTH WITH BLESSING 

POSTLUDE