Out of Egypt
The Old Testament (Hebrew Bible) reading for this Sunday in the Episcopal lectionary, Sept. 3, is the story of Moses being called by God to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. God said to Moses, "I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters. Indeed, I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them from the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the country of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites. The cry of the Israelites has now come to me: I have also seen how the Egyptians oppress them. So come, I will send you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt" (Exodus 3: 7-10).
On this Labor Day weekend, as we pay national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity and well-being of our country, I ponder this story of the job given to Moses to free the oppressed workers in Egypt. Moses's reaction to God was, "Who am I, and why would the Pharaoh listen to me?" God tells Moses he will be with him; he asks Moses to act in faith. This scriptural reading raises three questions for me: Who are today's "Israelites"? What is today's "land flowing with milk and honey"? What is God calling us to do?
Today's Israelites
It's not hard to think about the many people in the world today who experience a misery similar to the Israelites: the refugees of Syria and Sudan, those who are affected by human trafficking and those impacted by severe climate crises -- such as those experienced this week in Texas and India. Personally, I get overwhelmed and paralyzed when I think about the amount of suffering and oppression, and it is difficult to think of what I can do to help.
Besides these humanitarian crises, there are countless other daily injustices that lead to human suffering. These range from the small indignities that happen in so many workplaces, to the racial bias in hiring and housing, to the underfunding of programs that help the needy while giving tax breaks to the rich.
Land of Milk and Honey
The Israelites were motivated to trek for 40 years across the desert to find a land that would be peaceful and abundant. They were refugees leaving a land that mistreated them in the hopes of finding a better life. They left work that was oppressive and abusive to be masters of their own fate. Today, many refugees and immigrants see America as the promised land -- a place where they can be safe and can hopefully use their talents and gifts to support their families, their communities and their newly adopted country. This is an appropriate time to remember the Emma Lazarus poem on the Statue of Liberty:
Give me your tired, your poor
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me:
I lift my lamp beside the golden door.
Immigrants made America great, and they bring a great entrepreneurial energy. Igor Sikorsky emigrated to the United States in 1919 as his family escaped the Bolshevik revolution. They came with nothing, and he ended up forming the Sikorsky Aircraft Manufacturing Corp. in 1925. I taught a management class to engineers at Sikorsky Aircraft about 10 years ago, and the students were proud to show me a large board that kept track of how many lives have been saved by Sikorsky helicopters. Those saved lives are just one example of the contribution one immigrant made 100 years ago. There are hundreds of thousands of examples like this.
The "land of milk and honey" does not have to be just a geographic location. I've been studying workplace spirituality for more than 25 years, and I have learned about an amazing number of organizations that strive to be a sort of corporate "promised land." These are organizations that honor the basic dignity of each worker and who aim to bring out the best in each person through investment in personal, professional and spiritual development. They do this in a way that honors the unique faith path of each person. I'm afraid there are still far more organizations similar to the Egyptian oppressors of old, but I am inspired to see there are a growing number of "promised land" types of organizations.
What is God calling us to do?
On this Labor Day weekend, I invite you to think about what God might be calling you to do as we take time to honor the workers who have made and are still making contributions to the well-being of our country. Is there some way God is saying to you, "So come, I will send you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt?" We have an organization called Canopy that helps refugees settle in our area. Is there some way you can help? There is unimaginable devastation in Houston. Is there some way you can help? In your workplace, can you take a stand for someone who is not being treated with the dignity every person deserves? In your neighborhood, is there someone who could use a cooked meal or a short visit because they suffer from loneliness?
Each of us have unique gifts, unique life situations and unique callings. There might be things we can do on a large scale or a small scale. It doesn't matter. As Mother Teresa said, "We can do no great things, only small things with great love." And when His Holiness the Dalai Lama was asked about his religion, he replied, "My religion is kindness." What small acts of kindness might God be calling you to do?
NAN Religion on 09/02/2017