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Last week we learned about the UTMB 100-mile trail race through the Alps (and no one signed up for next year’s race to my knowledge).
More locally, many of us here in Staunton are familiar with the Appalachian Trail, otherwise known as the AT. We can access it just about 15 miles east of here at Rockfish Gap.
We each have unique perspectives and experiences of this grand trail.
The AT captured my imagination when I first heard about it as a young adult.
Growing up in Cleveland, Ohio, my family never really did the hiking and backpacking activities that other families tend to do around these mountains of Virginia.
I remember hiking along the white-blazed trail (you know, those white painted markings on the trees along the path?) somewhere in New Jersey,
and maybe a year or so later on a separate occasion I remember hiking along the same white-blazed trail somewhere up in New Hampshire,
…and then later in Maine,
and thinking to myself,
“Wait a minute. This is all the same trail?”
I was amazed when a friend said yes, and this same trail, in fact, extends nearly 2,200 miles, through 14 states, and welcomes about 3 million visitors each year.
I was intrigued! I came upon a book by an author named Bill Bryson entitled, A Walk in the Woods. What a funny book! …and informative, and inspiring!
Bryson, at the time of his account, was a middle-aged author living in New Hampshire. He had a similar epiphany when walking along his own local section of the white-blazed trail near his home. He was likewise captivated when learning that this trail extended all the way from Georgia to Maine, and that all he had to do was to head out of his door and start walking.
Well, long story short, it’s not that easy.
As only Bryson can, he recounts his experience of hiking the AT with his companion Katz, both newbies to the world of backpacking.
But little by little, Bryson and Katz begin to get the hang of it. What starts out as a near disaster and failure from day one, eventually transitions into a rhythm of hiking, eating, setting up camp, and doing the same thing over again, day after day, step after step, mile after mile. Bryson writes that they become backpackers.
To tell you the truth, I’m amazed we’ve come this far,” [his hiking partner Katz] said, and I agreed. We had hiked 500 miles, a million and a quarter steps, since setting off from Amicalola (Georgia). We had grounds to be proud. We were real hikers now. We had shit (defecated) in the woods and slept with bears. We had become, we would forever be, mountain men.
Bill Bryson, A Walk inthe Woods
Where are those moments for us today of shaping, molding, equipping, and empowering like Bryson experienced during his adventure on the AT while hiking the Appalachians?
As the world continues to evolve and change, creating unknown territory with untold challenges ahead, how are we as Christians adapting, growing, and surviving in the new wilderness experiences of contemporary society and our lives?
I’d like for us to reflect on the theme of formation as we recount this wonderfully miraculous story of manna from heaven, as we continue in our wilderness wanderings, as we learn to rely on God as our liberator, our encourager, and today as our provider.
We are reading from Exodus chapter 16. The Israelites are in the wilderness. Just previously, there is a wonderful story where God provides fresh water for the Israelites in the midst of their thirst. But life in the wilderness is challenging! Yes, God continues to show up time and time again, but that doesn’t mean that our wilderness journeys are any less daunting. And so we pick up with a common refrain from the Israelites:
2 The whole congregation of the Israelites complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. 3 The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat and ate our fill of bread, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”
(Exodus 16:2-3)
We all have been here before, right? Yes, it can be a bit comical to hear such complaints from the Israelites time and time again. We can make our jokes about them being hangry. We can easily dismiss them as the complaints of a child voicing one’s displeasure from the back seat of a minivan during a family road trip…maybe because we know how the story ends for the Israelites.
But for these men, women, and children who are journeying through the unknown, these refugees, fleeing persecution, risking their lives and the lives of their children in hopes of finding a new place to call home, something about this recurring lament strikes a chord with me today as deeply and authentically sincere and heartfelt as well.
4 Then the Lord said to Moses, “I am going to rain bread from heaven for you, and each day the people shall go out and gather enough for that day. (Exodus 16:4)
6 So Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites, “In the evening you shall know that it was the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, 7 and in the morning you shall see the glory of the Lord… (Exodus 16:6-7)
Moses tells the Israelites that God hears their pleas once again, and that in the evening there will be meat provided, and in the morning bread.
9 Then Moses said to Aaron, “Say to the whole congregation of the Israelites: ‘Draw near to the Lord, for he has heard your complaining.’” (Exodus 16:9)
13 In the evening quails came up and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp. 14 When the layer of dew lifted, there on the surface of the wilderness was a fine flaky substance, as fine as frost on the ground. 15 When the Israelites saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was. Moses said to them, “It is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat.
(Exodus 16:13-15)
31 The Israelites called it manna; it was like white coriander seed, and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey. (Exodus 16:31)
35 The Israelites ate manna forty years, until they came to a habitable land; they ate manna, until they came to the border of the land of Canaan. (Exodus 16:35)
The first piece of good news this morning, friends: God does provide in our times of need. It may not always look like what we might expect.
We may ask ourselves, “What is it?” when encountering what God places before us.
We may never imagine that what surprises us one day becomes a staple of our sustenance for the next forty years.
But deep within our heartfelt longings and desires in this world,
God provides for the journey ahead.
The other interesting part about this story which we did not yet touch upon is how God instructs Moses and the Israelites about the nature of such provisions in our wilderness journey. The food that is provided is to be shared, and to be consumed according to God’s instructions and timing.
Some of the Israelites have the idea of hoarding some of the food. After all, it’s understandable for humans to want to “save for a rainy day” within an environment of limited resources, in the unknowns of the wilderness when one is not quite sure when the next meal might come.
But God says, “No. You need to learn to trust me. I am with you, and I will get you through this. And tomorrow? I’ll be there for you then as well.”
In the words of Moses, it’s in these experiences where we are invited to “Draw near to the Lord.”
Yes, this wilderness experience is no longer about survival, of fleeing to safety, or about taking those first uncertain steps into the unknown.
It’s in these current moments of the journey where the Israelites enter a new phase within their relationship with God. The Israelites are learning to rely on God’s provision,
to trust in God’s timing,
and to walk together in faith,
as they take on a new identity as individuals and as a community.
They are being formed in God’s image.
And today, First Presbyterian, the second piece of good news:
God is likewise forming and molding us as a community of faith.
Each and every day, God reminds us that we have gotten this far for a reason,
as we are being shaped for the future yet to be determined.
We, like the Israelites, are new creations.
We are no longer aimlessly wandering into the wilderness.
We are now within the wilderness, encountering God in our daily walks, relying upon God’s provisions with each and every step, ourselves equipped and empowered for whatever may come our way.
We are becoming wild men and women.
We are now pilgrims, embarking upon a holy journey to realize a new age ahead, so that we may experience in the words of Moses, “the glory of the Lord.”
Thanks be to God, who calls us by name,
who leads us into the unknown so that we may experience liberation,
who continues to provide for us along life’s journeys in faith,
continually forming us into new creations within the wilderness landscape,
so that we may not only survive, but we may thrive and flourish as a community of faith ever moving forward.
Rev. Dr. Jeff Binder 