"LET MY PEOPLE GO!"

      I ran out of time yesterday and could not get a post in.  This one is a part of a reflection that I gave last evening on WAOB radio, as part of the "lectio divina" on chapter 5 of Exodus from the Office of Readings.

    Our journey through Lent begins.  This journey in the upcoming weeks is a capsule image of the journey that we are on from the bondage of sin to the freedom of grace lived in closeness to God.  We might say that the battle cry of this journey is "Let my people go!", the words of Moses to Pharaoh.

    The people of Israel were bound to a power that enslaved them.  And Pharaoh was the leader.  Chapter 5 has Moses and Aaron bringing the Lord's word to this oppressor: "Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, let my people go, that they may hold a feast for me in the wilderness."  And Pharaoh says NO!

    The word that the Lord spoke to Pharaoh he speaks today to all the forces and powers that hold us in bondage.  He desires that we be "set free" to follow him.

    But like Pharaoh, the forces that hold us bound react in a way that makes it more challenging, more difficult to journey toward our eternal reward.

    This was the case in Egypt, where, as we hear in chapter 5 of Exodus, things got much more difficult.  Pharaoh demanded more and gave them less to work with.  Things got worse before getting better.  Instead of freedom in sight they saw despair.

    All God desired was that his people could go and worship.  All God desires is that we find the freedom to worship him, to come to know him, and to place ourselves at his service.  Desiring freedom we find ourselves still bound by sin.  Ask him for the grace of freedom this Lent.