I think when observing someone's death, it is nice to look at all that he/she accomplished in life. And so, here's a record of the stories we've studied about Moses. I've also included that major "God verbs" or what God was doing during this time.
- Moses' Birth & rescue from the waters of the Nile: God works ahead and redeems that which was tossed into waters of chaos.
- Moses is called at the burning bush: God equips the called
- The first Passover: God protects the people, God demonstrates faithfulness to the people and God rescues us from the things that enslave us
- Parting of the Red Sea: God invites Moses and the Israelites (and us) to trust in impossible situations
- Sending of Bread from Heaven: God provides daily in the barren wilderness.
- Moses strikes the Rock and brings forth water: When we ask, "is the Lord among us or not?" we learn that the Lord is indeed among us.
- 10 Commandments: God provides us with help in learning to love God and love our neighbors. (Throughout the book of Deuteronomy, Moses urges the people to be faithful to God, as God has been very faithful to them.)
- Golden Calf: God listens to Moses and responds with forgiveness when the people are unfaithful.
- Seeing God's glory -- Moses gets to be a "shining" witness to God's presence in the people's midst: God helps the people have physical signs that God is with them.
And now we are back to the death of Moses, "whom the Lord knew face to face."
Questions for reflection:
If you were giving a eulogy for Moses, what events/details/characteristics would you include?
What events are important to include in a eulogy, what should be left out?
How do you see God working through Moses' life?
How do you see God working through your own life? Would others be able to describe you as one whom the Lord knew face to face?
7 comments:
For forty years, Israel saw Moses as a bossy grumpy old man; with frequent adolescent rebellions and reluctant bowing of stiff necks. Only in the rear-view mirror did he take on the appearance of a saint in their fickle memories.
I see myself less like Moses and more like Adam; hiding nekkid in the shrubery! I am probably the opposite of many people (no surprise there). I find it easy to recognize logically the existence of God as the Father, Son and Spirit, and see His presence in the footprints of the sand of my past. But it is hard for me to intuit His presence beside me and before me. My hind-sight may be 20/20, but otherwise I'm myopic...
God I believe; please help my dis-belief!
Here is one of my favorite quotes and it relates to how we should live.
"This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.
I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community, and as long as I live it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can.
I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no "brief candle" for me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations."
George Bernard Shaw
http://thirdplaceconsulting.blogspot.com/
Pastor Becky, here's the link to the blog I was telling you about. Michael is passionate about connecting people in church. Great stuff.
My thoughts on this weeks topic; it's about Legacy. What do we want people to remember us by? What's our eulogy? ephitaph? graphics of tombstones. "What's on your tombstone?" video of visiting a cemetery. Multigenerational experiences. Our seniors have much to offer in terms of wisdom and life experience. Stats of people dying after retirement; loss of purpose. what better purpose / opportunity that ministering? local "missions". ministers of Christ's righteousness... Our congregation consists mostly of seniors. What are their thoughts as it relates to “legacy”. Perhaps an interview or testimonial experience to make it personal. Are people worried? Feelings of emptiness, failure, hopeless??? How can we as a church address these needs?
"i understand the whole one-foot-in-the-grave thing, but, you're not dead yet!" -Michael Trent
“Bring out your dead!” – Monty Python, Holy Grail. Too bad we can’t show the clip in church, but here’s the link. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grbSQ6O6kbs
Eulogies for Moses:
"But since then there has not arisen in Israel a prophet like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face, in all the signs and wonders which the LORD sent him to do in the land of Egypt, before Pharaoh, before all his servants, and in all his land, and by all that mighty power and all the great terror which Moses performed in the sight of all Israel" by Joshua (Deuteronomy 34:10-12).
"Moses My servant is dead." by God (Joshua 1:2)
God always gets to the heart of the matter...
I appreciated the synopsis during the "memorial" service on Sunday reliving Moses' relationship with God in their salvation partnership. I found the use of Power Point very enlightening, specially the view of the promised land from Mt. Nebo! Mark's quote from G. B. Shaw worked well too.
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