Reflections on "Sing a Song: Miriam" Exodus 2: 1-4; Exodus 15: 19-21

I enjoy preaching narrative texts, and Miriam's story gives some wonderful opportunities to explore.

In the Chapel service (but not the Sanctuary), I noted that Miriam is not mentioned by name in the Exodus 2 story (she is jyst Moses sister) and in Exodus 15 she is introduced as Aaron's sister.  Those two examples signify how minor a character Miriam is to the ones who told the story.

The link between the wind (ruah) that blows the water away and the breath (ruah) that God blows into the mud to create humanity is a really powerful connection and descriptive of the God who works to give us new life.

The conclusion was rather weak.

(Exodus 15:19-21) When the horses of Pharaoh with his chariots and his chariot drivers went into the sea, the LORD brought back the waters of the sea upon them; but the Israelites walked through the sea on dry ground. Then the prophet Miriam, Aaron's sister, took a tambourine in her hand; and all the women went out after her with tambourines and with dancing. And Miriam sang to them: "Sing to the LORD, for he has triumphed gloriously; horse and rider he has thrown into the sea." (NRSV)

 “Sing a Song” May 29, 2016; FPC, Troy; Exodus 15: 19-21

Introduction: Bible Quiz time!

Before hearing the Scripture readings this morning, how many of knew that Miriam was the sister of Moses? (i won't ask you to raise your hands. In the Chapel service, several of the kids said they knew Miriam because they had watched Veggie Tales)

If you had been given the hint that someone literally watched over baby Moses as he floated among the reeds on the bank of ther river, how many of you would have known that was his sister Miriam?

Or could you have named Miriam as the person who burst into song when the Israelites had come through the Red Sea and then its waters swallowed up the Egyptians soldiers who had been chasing them on their chariots?

How many of you knew that Miriam later had a conflict with Moses and ended up with leprosy?

Or that her brother Moses cured her leprosy?

If you knew all those answers, then you do not have to listen to the sermon.

If not, you better listen as we discover a bit about Miriam this morning. She is one of the myriad of “minor” characters that we will meet in the sermons I preach this summer.

In fact, I have left a few weeks open in my planning, so if you have any minor characters in the Bible that you want to hear more about, let me know.

Move 1: Miriam reminds us that God calls all kinds of people to different tasks.

a. Do not miss the significance that in the patriarchal world of the Israelies, God call Miriam.

1. Power, prestige, status in life in that time were tied to the male, the head of the household.

2. Yet here is Miraim, the first woman called a prophet in the biblical texts.

3. At this critical juncture in the life of the Israelites, Miriam is the one who articulates the emotions of the Israelite people as they respond to how God has acted to save them.

4. Not just Miriam, but ”all the women” dance and sing and play the tambourines to sing to the Lord in celebration.

b. This is not the first time Miriam has played a pivotal role in God's story.

1. Go back to Moses' birth.

2. If I say Moses, you, of course, probably know who I am talking about.

3. Moses, one of the great leaders of the Israelites.

4. do you remember that when moses was born, the midwives had to kill all the Israelits babies who were male?

5. this was part of the way Pharoah oppressed the Israelites and kept them in submission.

6. moses mother, however, did not allow Moses to be killed.

7. she hid him for three months, and then when she could hide him no longer, she took him down to the bank of the river, put him in a little mak-shift boat, and left him to be discov ered by someone else.
8. A precarious spot for a young baby.

9. Imagine putting your three-month old adrift in a makeshift boat. But he was not alone.

10. His sister Miriam was hiding nearby watching over him.

11. We do not know what Miriam would have done if someone or something had threatened her brother, but we do know what Miriam did when Pahraoh's daughter finds baby Moses and wants to keep him.
    12. Big sister Miriam takes the initiative and asks the Pharoah's daughter if she needs a Hebrew woman to be the baby's nurse.

12. She then brings her mother, Moses mother, back to Pharoah's daughter, and Moses' mother gets to nurse him and help raise him.

13. Miriam, playing a critical role in Moses early development that will set the stage for his leadership role with God's people later in life.

c. the prophet Joel tells us that God's spirit will be poured out on all flesh, male and female (Joel 2: 28).

1.  Miriam is one fo the examples of how God's spirit was poured on on females.

2. She serves God by protecting her brother Moses, by leading God's people in celebration, by acting as a prophet among God's people.

3. A reminder that God calls all of us to engage in ministry.

Move 2: Miriam celebrates the God of resurrection.

a. I know, resurrection is a Jesus thing in the New Testament.

1. But the God who acts to resurrect Christ has been acting and continues to act to bring new life.

2. Miriam, who has already acted to give new life to her brother Moses in the face of the death decree of Pharaoh, now sings to tell the story of the God who has acted to give new life to the Israelites who saw death closing in on them as the Egyptian soldiers pursued them in their chariots.

b. Biblical scholars often speak of the crossing of the Red Sea as a resurrection moment for the Israelites (See this article for more further exploration of that idea http://www.patheos.com/Progressive-Christian/Resurrection-Another-Name-John-Holbert-04-11-2014)

1. On the near bank they see death behind them death before them – caught between the Egyptian soldiers and the water that will drown them.

2. Then God blows a strong east wind – note that the word ruah, wind, is also the word for breath used in Genesis to describe how God blew the breath of life into humanity – and a dry path emerges for the Israelites to walk across the Red Sea.

3. The God of new life acting to save the Israelites.

4. Miriam commemorates this God of new life, this God of resurrection, as she leads the Israelite women in celebratory song and dance.

c. I have often pondered how best to respond to Christ’s resurrection.

               1. In fact, that question has driven many preaching sermons from this pulpit in the Sundays after Easter.

                2. Miriam’s response is unconstrained joy

3. “With tambourines and with dancing” Miriam expresses the joy the Israelites felt that God had given them new life.(there is an interesting article on this at http://www.theafricanamericanlectionary.org/PopupLectionaryReading.asp?LRID=62)

We remember Miriam's story and are reminded of the joy we feel at the how the God of resurrection brings us new life.

move 3: Tell and retell the story.

a. Biblical scholars will tell us that the song of Miriam is likely the oldest poem in Israelite history.

1. It is sung again and again through the generations as the Israelites tell the story of the Exodus.

2. It becomes part of the fabric of the who they are.

3. That spontaneous joy and celebration become part of the ongoing legacy of the Israelites and the God they worship.

4. That reminds us of the power of story to shape us – as we tell the stories of how God has been at work in the lives of God's people, we grow in our faith and our ability to see God at work in our lives.

5. I am reminded of a rabbinic story – A famous rabbi told his best student: you must keep the tradition alive, my son, by going to a certain place in the forest, lighting a special candle, singing the correct psalm, and telling the story. The old rabbi died, and his student became himself a famous rabbi. Unfortunately, he could no longer remember the exact forest spot he was to go to, so he told his student to light the candle, sing the psalm, and tell the story wherever he thought right. After that rabbi's death, his student had forgotten about the candle when he told his student about keeping the tradition alive, but urged him to sing the psalm and then tell the story. That rabbi died, and his student knew nothing of the forest spot, or the candle, and forgot about the psalm. He trained his student to tell the story. And it was enough (this story is often told. I found it this time at http://www.patheos.com/Progressive-Christian/Resurrection-Another-Name-John-Holbert-04-11-2014)

b. We also need to expand the story

1. Mitch Albom, Have a Little Faith: a true story (76) a 1974 sermon preached by Rabbi Albert Lewis: Talmudic interpretation (the rabbinic study of the Hebrew Scripture) of the crossing of the Red Sea: After seeing Pharaoh's soldiers drowned in the Red Sea, the angels in heaven wanted to celebrate the enemy's demise. God grew angry with this and said, '"Those are my children too.'"

2. that was an added interpretation to the story of God's life-saving, life-giving actions.

2. In the moment, Miriam can only see the victory of the Israelites safe on the banks of the Red Sea with the Egyptian and their chariots swallowed up by the waters of the Red Sea.
3. But as the story get told through the years and the story tellers reconcile the story with the God who seeks to give new life, the story is told in a new way that expands the understanding of how God is at work.

2. We not only tell the stories, but reflect on them to see how they can better reveal the God of resurrection.

2. The God who desires to save all of creation.

As we tell and retell our stories, we reflect on them and try to share how the God of resurrection is at work in our lives.

Conclusion: Miriam only appears five or six times in the biblical texts, and a couple of them are in a negative light.

But in that one moment when she bursts into song, she reveals God to the world.

May you have moments when you reveal God to the world.