Got Courage?

Exodus 1:15

“Got Courage?”

Last week, I started our summer sermon series with Abraham and Sara as they left the land in which Abraham had grown up followed God’s call to live in a new land.  As Abraham and Sara learned about who God is in their lives, they learned that being blessed by God means sharing that blessing with others.  Got God?  Means – Got Blessings.

Today, we continue forward in the lives of the Hebrew people into a day and age where they still have not arrived to that land that God promised Abraham but rather, have found themselves slaves in the land of Egypt.  Instead of focusing on the well known story of Moses, I have chosen to examine two women, midwives, that participate in God’s work through incredible courage.

I found a whole handful of sayings about courage, here are a few:

·         Courage doesn’t always roar, sometimes courage is that quiet voice at the end of the day saying: “I will try again tomorrow.”

·         Courage is not the absence of fear, but the acquired ability to move beyond fear.

·         It is easy to stand with the crowd, it takes courage to stand alone.

·         Success is not final.  Failure is not fatal.  It is the courage to continue that counts.

·         And here is one from Oprah:  You’ve got to follow your passion.  You’ve got to figure out what you love – who you really are.  And have the courage to do that.  I believe that the only courage anybody ever needs is the courage to follow their own dreams.

Got Courage?  What is it that you are facing today?  Are you living against the odds in one way, shape, or form?  And what is giving you the strength to say, perhaps today, things will get better.  Perhaps today, I will feel better, or I will eat better, or I will keep looking for a job.  Or maybe it is the courage to start something new.  Are you following your dreams, your passion, your God given calling in this life, and if not, why?  What is holding you back? 

As we face the daily stresses of life, the worries, and the concerns, we can feel we have enough to do just to change our own lives, let alone do anything significant in the greater world.  We can be so consumed in our own needs that the only bit of courage that we can muster up is just to hold on tight for our own being.  What if, together, as God’s family, we just might be able to gain something I will call – sacred courage and truly make a difference in the world around us.

In today’s story, these two midwives perhaps had no clue that their actions would have a long term impact on their people.  They were given orders that were just too horrible to follow through on.  They were trained to bring life into this world, how could they participate in killing new born babies?  In their act of defiance, of civil disobedience, perhaps they thought they were too small to be noticed.  Surely there were hundreds of other midwives out there, would a few babies be noticed?  Or maybe they made a pact, that they would rather die than participate in such a horrid action as to take a new born life. 

What must have been going through their minds?  What was their anchor?  Their strength?  The source of their courage to protect the children of their people in such a trying time?  Was it merely the hope of survival, or was it more.  Did they believe, did they believe in God and that God desired them to keep those babies alive?

Very few women are named in the scriptures, but Shiphrah and Puah  are identified as their unwillingness to follow orders of destruction contribute to the survival of baby Moses.  My guess is, Shiphrah and Puah did not live long enough to understand the outcomes of their actions.  And even if they did, they probably never would have known that one of the babies they saved was Moses.  Through faith, through commitment, through moral goodness, through courage, through whatever it was that they had within themselves to keep those babies alive, one child grew to become the liberator of the entire nation.

As much as we can get caught into our own world of stress and concern and worry, we are all connected to each other in a much larger way.  Shiphrah and Puah contributed to the future of God’s people with courage to stand up against the demands of the ruler.  Their courage became the catalyst for the people of the future.  Their courage may not have had any impact on their own life or their own well being, but it meant all the difference to a people so hurt by the oppression of slavery that they felt they could not take another day of Pharaoh’s dreadful actions against them.

Shiphrah and Puah did not have scriptures to live by, they did not have an understanding of a God that liberates people from oppression and sin.  The people of their day and age had a knowledge of God, they had an understanding of being created and worshipping their creator.  They understood the divine and that their lives had meaning and purpose even if the Egyptians claimed they did not.  And in their faith, they had courage.  Two women, two women that were just a blip on the screen of billions of people that have come and gone.  Two, women engaged their faith in God and through their actions a multitude of other lives were impacted and changed and enriched.

I stop and think about all the people in the world that have acted with such courage just in our recent history.  Those that stood up tall during the Civil Rights movement.  Those that stood up tall for the women’s rights movement.  Those that are standing up tall for marriage equality.  Those that are standing up tall for just immigration reform.

As a people of faith, here in this place, do Shiphrah and Puah have a story to share with us?  A few of you have shared your concerns and passions with me.  A handful of people here in this congregation and in the Rockaway congregation feel we need to do something sooner rather than later for creating a shelter for the homeless population.  It takes courage to be a voice for the voiceless because not everyone is going to agree.  Some are going to give a list of reasons why this is not a good idea.  Some feel called to being more involved with the immigration issues that so many people right here in Dover are facing.  It takes courage to be a voice for the voiceless because not everyone is going to agree.  Some feel we should do nothing at all to help people that are here without documents.  I have heard both sides to many heartfelt issues.  Some feel we should do more to be good stewards of our environment, not just to help reduce costs to maintain our building, but to use less environmentally damaging resources that are impacting our world

A colleague of mine, David Lose, writes this:  The things we do this week -- our actions, decision, choices -- will, in fact, ripple out with consequences foreseen and unforeseen, for good or for ill, for the health or damage of the world. That question isn't whether, but what...what will we do this week to make a difference in the world. Some of these actions may be big, bold, and courageous. Others may be small, hardly noticeable. And yet they all have the potential to ripple out, affecting countless lives.

Got Courage?  Got courage to have a meeting with the Rockaway Presbyterian Church for creating a shelter in our area?  Got courage to meet with Wind of the Spirit and learn more about immigration reform and what it would mean for our neighbors here in Dover?  Got courage to take simple steps to use less resources, recycle more, and reduce our carbon footprint both at the church and at home?  Small steps, small actions just might make an impact and bring God’s love into the world.