E X O D U S: Midwives

First of all, Shifra and Pua practice civil disobedience. Right? They do not follow these government mandated orders. And then when they are confronted, they technically lie, or at least they tell a really good story. Right? They're just they're just too fast. Resisting and subverting the dominant powers of the day requires courage and creativity. [00:19:16] (42 seconds)  #CreativeResistance

The courage to disobey. Right? The courage to do the right thing. The courage to put yourself on the line, to put yourself in harm's way, and then the creativity to see a different possibility. Right? To live an alternative story, to envision a different kind of future. These ladies are awesome. Shifra and Pua. [00:19:58] (34 seconds)  #BraveVision

God does not want people to suffer in bitter and harsh conditions. But at the same time, God's endgame is not just to do away with the injustice and the oppression. God's endgame is to restore shalom. And here's maybe the the controversial statement of the morning. God does actually want us to serve a master, But that master is God. [00:15:20] (33 seconds)  #RestoringShalom

They are multiplying, but they are not flourishing. This brings us to a very important, really key concept to not only the book of Exodus, but really, again, to the whole story of scripture. I think this is a concept that is deeply misunderstood in our current moment. We are really good at identifying and naming and calling out injustice. [00:13:16] (36 seconds)  #GrowthNotFlourishing

And not different just for the sake of being different. There's definitely some times where it's, like, different to be cute or different to be cheeky or whatever. No. We are different for the sake of the mission, for the sake of God's story continuing to move forward, for the sake of of being a little picture of shalom in this place for people here. [00:30:42] (31 seconds)  #DifferentForMission

Now I I do still believe that a massive change is coming, that the church is going to change, but I I think it's probably a generation or two away still. And so maybe our job, maybe our role is not to be Moses. Maybe we are midwives. Maybe we're being called to help help, give birth to something new. [00:29:11] (36 seconds)  #MidwivesNotMoses

People are fleeing the church right now. Who has the courage to be different for them? Who has the creativity to be different for them? The midwives, however, feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them to do. And so my kind of reworking of that, my paraphrase of that for us is discovery feared God and did not do what twenty first century evangelical church culture told them to do. [00:31:35] (41 seconds)  #DifferentForThem

The fulfillment of what God had said to Abraham is happening. It's happening right here in Exodus chapter one. So this is not, hey, do something good, stand up for a good cause, and you'll win a prize. This is look at how God is fulfilling His promise, how the story of scripture is being fulfilled through the people of Israel growing in this way. [00:21:32] (25 seconds)  #PromisesFulfilled