Greetings!

We all like to succeed, don’t we? When we go for a job, a leadership role, or even when we’re trying out a hobby or leisure activity, we like to do a good job. We don’t like feeling insecure about ourselves, and we certainly don’t like looking foolish in front of others.

But sometimes we find ourselves being asked to go beyond our own limits. Sometimes we get assigned a task that is entirely outside of our experience, and where failure seems likely (or even a certainty). What do we do then?

Could it be that stepping up in that situation is an act of faithfulness? Even when we doubt ourselves, we can sometimes have the sense that something bigger than us is at work in our lives and through our choices and actions. This Sunday we’re going to look at a story about just such a situation… and we’ll think about what it might mean for our lives.

In hope,

Hardy

Please join us immediately following the Sunday service for our Coffee Hour

(in-person in Trinity Court or online via Zoom).

bit.ly/SVPCCoffeeHour

Theme for Sunday

“We should not be waiting for singular charismatic leaders to tell us what direction to go, but instead be like midwives, supporting the birth of movements that are already emerging.”

Grace Lee Boggs

• Do you know the feeling of “imposter syndrome” – when you’re in a situation where you feel like you’re inadequate or you’re a fraud, and you just know that people are going to find you out? Has there ever been a time when you felt that way?

• How did you deal with it? What ended up happening in that situation? 

Exodus 5:22-6:13 (CEB)

Then Moses turned to the Lord and said, “My Lord, why have you abused this people? Why did you send me for this? Ever since I first came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has abused this people. And you’ve done absolutely nothing to rescue your people.”

The Lord replied to Moses, “Now you will see what I’ll do to Pharaoh. In fact, he’ll be so eager to let them go that he’ll drive them out of his land by force.”

God also said to Moses: “I am the Lord. I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as God Almighty, but I didn’t reveal myself to them by my name ‘The Lord.’ I also set up my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan where they lived as immigrants. I’ve also heard the cry of grief of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians have turned into slaves, and I’ve remembered my covenant. Therefore, say to the Israelites, ‘I am the Lord. I’ll bring you out from Egyptian forced labor. I’ll rescue you from your slavery to them. I’ll set you free with great power and with momentous events of justice. I’ll take you as my people, and I’ll be your God. You will know that I, the Lord, am your God, who has freed you from Egyptian forced labor. I’ll bring you into the land that I promised to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I’ll give it to you as your possession. I am the Lord.’” Moses told this to the Israelites. But they didn’t listen to Moses, because of their complete exhaustion and their hard labor.

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go and tell Pharaoh, Egypt’s king, to let the Israelites out of his land.”

But Moses said to the Lord, “The Israelites haven’t even listened to me. How can I expect Pharaoh to listen to me, especially since I’m not a very good speaker?” Nevertheless, the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron about the Israelites and Pharaoh, Egypt’s king, giving them orders to let the Israelites go from the land of Egypt.