10-01-2023 Mission and Naming (Exodus 1:8-2:10; 3:1-15)

Mission and Naming  Exodus 1:8-2:10; 3:1-15 Exodus 1:8 A new king, who did not know about Joseph, came to power in Egypt. Exodus 1:9-22 Exodus 2:10 When the child grew older, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses, “Because,” she said, “I drew him out of the water.” Exodus 3:1-15 Exodus 3:14 God replied to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: I AM has sent me to you.” To know the name of God is to be an intimate friend; it is to have a place in God's being.  "A pet name or nickname is allowed to be spoken only by those who share intimately in the other’s being. They share in that other person’s being by sharing in events. There is a shared history that allows us to use that single name. And using it becomes a way—with just that single word—of saying a whole narrative of love and encounter...Often these names are secrets, not just because the depth of intimacy makes them embarrassing but more so because they are sacred. Only the one who truly shares in the other’s being by being present in the most important of events can say the name." Root, Andrew. The Pastor in a Secular Age (Ministry in a Secular Age Book #2) (p. 243). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. "To say the name is to have God’s being...Those who do not know the intimate acts of God’s saving love—not respecting the events of God’s arriving—haphazardly call him by name...For Moses to speak God’s name, then, is to say a whole narrative. The whole narrative of events of God’s past and coming arrivals is revealed in the speaking of the single name." Root, Andrew. The Pastor in a Secular Age (Ministry in a Secular Age Book #2) (pp. 243-244). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. Exodus 3:7-10 7 Then the Lord said, “I have observed the misery of my people in Egypt, and have heard them crying out because of their oppressors. I know about their sufferings, 8 and I have come down to rescue them from the power of the Egyptians and to bring them from that land to a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the territory of the Canaanites, Hethites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. 9 So because the Israelites’ cry for help has come to me, and I have also seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them, 10 therefore, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh so that you may lead my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.” I have observed the misery of my people...have heard them crying out...I know about their sufferings...I have come down to rescue them from the power of the ...therefore, go. I am sending you...