Ash Wednesday - B

Contents
"Moses: Prepared" by David O. Bales
"Re-call" by David O. Bales
"The Goose Story" by John Fitzgerald

Moses: Prepared
by David O. Bales
Exodus 3:1-15

Contents
"Verbs and Nouns" by C. David McKirachan
"The Hospitality Committee" by C. David McKirachan
"The Bush that Was Burned to Set a Heart Ablaze" by Larry Winebrenner
"Overcome Evil with Good" by Larry Winebrenner
"The Cross" by Keith Hewitt


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Verbs and Nouns
by C. David McKirachan
Exodus 3:1-15

What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?

The Point: Jesus wants us to follow him and not just say we believe.

The Lesson: Welcome boys and girls. Thank you for coming to share this special time together.

In this week’s three scriptures we encounter the holy in different yet related ways, a reminder that the kingdom of heaven is close at hand even if it is not fully visible or realized in history.

Moses retired from leadership, having failed to inspire his people to rise up against their Egyptian masters -- but God speaks from an ordinary bush to someone engaged in the ordinary profession of shepherding. That place is holy!

In the 1980s, Nike challenged athletes (and would-be athletes) with this straightforward motto: Just do it. The phrase -- and the surrounding advertising campaign -- caught fire with the public. Nike put distance between itself and its competitors, and a new generation of can-do attitudes was born.

Weapon: "1) something (as a club, knife, or gun) used to injure, defeat, or destroy; 2) a means of contending against another." Now this seems to be something where Christian people ought to put a lot of distance between themselves and the whole idea of clubs, knives, or guns. Yet Paul reminds us that we are to fight the good fight, "Fight the good fight of the faith; take hold of the eternal life, to which you were called and for which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses" (1 Timothy 6:12).

Tim was never allowed to go anywhere with his big brother, Fred. Fred had no time for little kids, so although he was mostly quite kind to Tim, when he was with his own friends he never wanted Tim around.

Moses, who was raised in the palace of the Pharaoh, has had to flee Egypt, because it has become known that he killed an Egyptian who was beating a Hebrew. He takes flight to Midianite territory in the northwestern section of the Arabian peninsula and takes up residence there with the family of Jethro, a priest of Midian. Content to remain in Jethro's camp, he marries Jethro's daughter, Zipporah, and has a son by her (2:11-22). And he becomes one of the herdsmen of that nomadic tribe, pasturing the flocks near the site of Mount Horeb or Sinai. It is a very ordinary peaceful existence.

Seasonal Theme
The teaching and ministry of Jesus the Christ.

Theme For The Day
Our call from God to take up our cross and be a disciple of Jesus Christ.

Old Testament Lesson
Exodus 3:1-15
The Call And Commission Of Moses

The blizzard was kind enough to have shown up on Friday evening, so that when it had finished rattling our windows and dumping about ten inches of perfectly packable snow, we were not in school and had an entire day to enjoy it.

In contemporary society, where self-fulfillment, accomplishment, personal enrichment, and enjoyment are the goals sought by the majority, it seems inconceivable that people would willingly sacrifice, suffer, and be humiliated so that others would benefit. Yet, in the twentieth century alone there have been many people whose unselfish example and willingness to subjugate self for the needs of the whole have transformed individuals and nations.

Every evening the six o'clock news reminds us of the crime, the corruption, and the catastrophies of the world in which we live. It was in such troubled times and in such hopeless circumstances that a young Hebrew mother placed her baby in a basket and set it afloat among the reeds of the river Nile. Even if the baby were to live, she could only see an intolerable existence for him as he would groan under the burden of hard labor and be driven to the point of daily exhaustion by the sting of the slavemaster's whip.

Introduction

A while ago, a pastor friend was in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, officiating at a wedding of her nephew. Eureka Springs is like Las Vegas. You can get married with no waiting period, no blood tests, and no witnesses. Just about every motel or bed and breakfast has a sign on it that advertises "Weddings, No Waiting, Anytime."

A cell phone commercial asks, "Can you hear me now?" The assumption is that one can hear any place, any time, in any situation through this miraculous technology - the latest cell phone device and service.

A French writer and historian once wrote, "We owe to the Middle Ages the two worst inventions of humanity -- romantic love and gunpowder." While many people might be tempted to agree that gunpowder has been an invention which has caused many problems for humanity, it is the other item which is surprising to find on a list of the worst inventions of humanity, particularly on the very short list.

Hymns
When Israel Was In Egypt's Land (NCH572, UM448, CBH164, PH334)
The God Of Abraham Praise (NCH24, UM116, CBH162, PH488)
Go Down, Moses (NCH572, PH334)
We Shall Overcome (NCH570, UM533)
Nearer, My God, To Thee (NCH606, UM528)
Take Up Thy Cross (UM415, CBH536, PH393)
Here I Am, Lord (CBH395, UM593, PH525)
God Of Many Names (CBH77, UM105)
O Love That Will Not Let Me Go (CBH577, CBH480, NCH485, PH384)
Come Sing, O Church, In Joy (PH430)

Anthems