Monday of Week 18
Numbers 11:4-15
A few verses earlier God spanks the complaining, whining Israelites with a fire in the camp. The people panic and run to Moses who runs to God. God saves once again. But the complaining and murmuring continue. Cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic; that is what the people remember about Egypt. Being a slave seems to have receded into the unconscious memory.
Moses is tired of leading this people. They can't seem to learn. He has had it and asks God for the most just response...just kill me. Please.
Remembering the story of who I am and how I came to be where I am, remembering all the saving hands that touched and pushed and held me along the way; that is the stuff of real re-membering. Like the Israelites I can forget about the most foundational parts of my story, focusing instead on the easily recalled surface memories.
That is what a community of faith at worship calls each other to...honest re-membering. A professor of mine once described Sunday worship as the repeatable part of Baptism. That makes good sense to me. I come to recall a shared memory with my community. A memory of being set free that, once recalled, identifies me as one who continues to be set free...as one called to participate in the freeing of others.
Grumbling, murmuring, and complaining...BE GONE!
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