embracing of the new

Sunday September 25th, Exodus 17: 1 The whole Israelite community set out from the Desert of Sin, traveling from place to place as the LORD commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. 2 So they quarreled with Moses and said, "Give us water to drink." Moses replied, "Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you put the LORD to the test?" 3 But the people were thirsty for water there, and they grumbled against Moses. They said, "Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?" Either they thought that Moses had a semi loaded with all those plastic drinking bottles of water or that he was their pastor and therefore should do it all for them. They were in a state of despair, things had changed and they did not like it. We humans do not do well with change for the most part. Things were tough and they were nostalgic for the good old days back in Egypt. But then nostalgia is six parts fantasy, three parts regret and one part history, like most of us, what they remembered never was. They want a changed reality to mimic their remembered fantasy and they wanted Moses to bring it all about for them. But change does not come from the top down; it comes from the bottom up. What they needed more than water was a change of heart. In our ritual of baptism we use water to bring about a change, without the congregation continuing to pray for and call upon that young family however, both become thirsty for more than water. More than just the person being baptized is called to experience a death of the old and an embracing of the new.