(Ex 14:19-31; Rom 14:1-12) J G White

Today is to be the annual Terry Fox Run, in thousands of communities across Canada. Here in Amherst it was cancelled. I have become a bit of a runner, this year, but I have yet to participate in the Terry Fox Run.

I do have two T-shirts from an annual, local run called ‘Not Since Moses.’ Once a year, on a low, low tide, hundreds run along the beaches of Five Islands, five or ten kilometres, before the unstoppable Fundy tide comes flooding in.

I love the Minas Basin landscape. For decades I have been exploring the Parrsborough shore, Five Islands, Economy Point, and the red, muddy beaches of Hants and Kings Counties. This summer, again, I walked over to Moose Island at Five Islands and camped overnight. I have been known to take friends with me out there, and on an extreme low tide walk (and wade water) ever so quickly to go around Diamond Island, Long Island, Egg Island, Pinnacle Island and the Pinnacle itself! Again this summer, I walked three kms out on the sandbars of Economy Point to get as close as I could to that little red island called the Brick Kiln.

And I can watch the tide come in for hours. It is very dramatic in many of these places. At Thomas’ Cove there is a veritable tidal bore that flows over the beach, and there is real danger if one found oneself on a rocky outcrop or sandbar.

So, the story of the Children of Israel crossing the Red/Reed Sea captures my imagination: I can easily picture it all. It is a story of rescue and freedom, as well as of death and destruction.

After years of enjoying our immense tides ebb and flow, I know, and you know, how dangerous water can be. This year in Nova Scotia and beyond, waters have flooded and destroyed and killed. Far too much, we’d say. After our dry, burning spring, the waters started flooding down, and in some ways have never stopped. Not to mention the recent, deadly flooding in Libya.

In the book of Exodus, we just peek in, today, at the dramatic moment when the ancient Israelites escape across the empty bottom of the sea, and then the pursuing Egyptian army gets flooded and drowned. We read, “Thus the LORD saved Israel that day from the Egyptians; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore.”

Not since Moses has such a thing happened upon earth? Not since Moses and the days of the Bible has the Creator intervened with such miracles? Stopping and starting rivers and oceans. Pausing the sun and moon crossing the sky. Instigating earthquakes to swallow up evildoers. Turning the sky to darkness when there is a crucifixion. ?

But how do we expect help, in the face of flooding rains? In the face of furious fires? In the face of the latest earthquakes and droughts? How do we pray? How do we expect God to respond?

People differ in their opinions on this. Christian opinions vary! This is quite important to us. When the largest forest fires strike Nova Scotia, and many more scar the Canadian landscape. Pray. When chains of thunderstorms cross the province, and then hurricane season begins. Pray. When nearly three thousand people die in the recent Morocco earthquake, and at least eleven thousand in the Libyan flooding. Where are You, O God?!

It is not as simple as say the right prayer, get the blessing. My own, real short answer to this, is: I don’t know how prayer works, what God will and won’t do, but it is well worth having conversation with the Spirit of truth and power. And I am grateful when good things come our way. I say ‘thanks.’

So, our text today from Romans 14 is helpful. What Paul was writing about was not our situation, but the principles apply. Don’t despise those who differ from you. The diet of the ancient Jews and early Christians was clearly important to them; eating meat, or not, has religious and spiritual implications for them. This is not likely one of our issues.

For believers now, the role of women in church and society is an important issue. Yes, it is still an issue in Church. In August, we Baptists just elected our first woman as our Executive Minister: Rev. Renee MacVicar. Our President for this year also happens to be a woman, Dr. Lois Mitchell. Other Baptist denominations with churches around us would do no such thing. We are still siblings in Christ with the Baptist believers who differ with us in their teaching.

Why do you pass judgement on your brother or sister? We may pass judgement on someone’s ideas and teaching and practices, using some wisdom, but not upon the people themselves.

Another example: last weekend there was a wedding, in Annapolis County. Sharon and I were invited - the groom was a member of Digby Baptist Church with us - but we did not get to the ceremony. I would have liked to be there, even though I am disappointed and concerned. Concerned, because the wedding was held at a local Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Have our friends who got married quit the Baptists and become Mormons? Apparently. My own judgement is that’s a dumb move. Yet, in Christ, I think I need to keep loving and respecting these folks we knew.

One more example. I noticed my mother is reading a recent book by Philip Yancey, his memoirs, I think, called Where The Light Fell. I remember reading in one of his many other books, about his father. When Philip was young, his father was ill with polio, living in an iron lung, in fact. The family was very Christian, very devoted, very conservative. The Church and the family believed that with faith and prayer, Mr. Yancey would be healed by the Lord! So they turned off the iron lung. He died, two weeks later.

You might say that ‘not since Moses’ have such healing miracles truly happened, if ever. Or, you may not be a sceptic like me, and you can testify about unexplainable healings and great prayers answered. (Sharon White counts hundreds of miracles that kept our granddaughter alive, after Amelia was born three months early, in 2017.) Miracle of miracles, Jesus has us all together in the family of God, despite our wondrous differences.

There is a role to guide and help others, yes. But the ‘spirit of correction’ can be harmful! A flood of opinions may spill from our mouths and from our eyes. In our discipleship to Christ, we get trained to be gracious and patient with others, not judgy.

Perhaps that last line in our reading from Romans means a great deal: we are accountable, to God, far more than to one another. When it’s all said and done, every day, we are not the judges of those around us. If we are in a school of spirituality, here we learn not to pass judgement. Our training with Jesus has been from the little things, up to greater things. We let go of judging others for how they want to rearrange the chairs on the Titanic // I mean, the ‘Ladies’ Parlour.’ Then we move on to being free from judging how others want to pray or to sing or to serve God. Then we graduate up to stop judging people for making different conclusions about how their life is to be lived, what is moral and ethical.

The great balance between not judging others, and helping others find a better path, is a balance we can only walk by the grace of God, shown to us in Jesus the Christ.

Welcome those who are weak in faith, says Romans chapter 14. And may I be ready to face the fact that my great faith is also weak. The God who died and lived again is the true Giver of strength.