South Roanoke United Methodist Church

SEVENTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST            SEPTEMBER 11, 2005 

As Christ cares, we care… We care about all people.
We care about worship… We care about learning.
We care about service… We care about You.
We are a community of Faith, growing in God’s Grace.

ORDER OF SERVICE 9:00 AND 11:00 A.M.
PROMOTION SUNDAY
Christian Education Sunday 

9:00 A.M. PRAISE SERVICE
Led By Graceful Praise 

Gathering Songs
Greeting and Singing
Sharing of Joys and Concerns
Children’s Time
Scripture
Sermon
Prayer and Lord’s Prayer
Commissioning of Sunday School Teachers and Leaders
Offering and Special Music
Singing
Benediction 

ORDER OF SERVICE-11:00 A.M. 

+ Indicates the people standing

ENTRANCE 

Words of Welcome, Registration of Attendance and Announcements            Bill Davidson
     (We encourage all of our worshipers to sign the registration pad as it is passed along the
      pew; visitors are requested to list their address. After it has been passed, please return
       it to the center aisle. If you wish to join this church by letter of transfer or profession
      of faith, please check “wish to join” on the registration pad.)
Gathering Music                                    Adagio and Gigue                                     Corelli
+Processional Hymn 2234              Lead On, O Cloud of Presence                Lancashire 

PROCLAMATION AND RESPONSE

Sharing of Joys and Concerns
  -Victims and caregivers of Hurricane     -Mary Ragland     -Martha Babb     -Bob Garner
Children’s Time            Get Ready for “Kickoff Sunday!” Sept. 25
                              (Children leave for Children’s Church. See * below)
+Canticle of Moses and Miriam (with response) 135-136                                Bob Garner
+Gloria Patri  70
+Hymn 526                          What a Friend We Have in Jesus                          Converse
The Old Testament Lesson (O.T. pg. 61)                                                Exodus 14:19-31
     Pastor:   This is the Word of the Lord.
     People: Thanks be to God.
Anthem                               Oh, Sing to the Lord A New Song                              Leavitt
        Oh, sing to the Lord a new song. Sing to God praises all the earth. Oh, sing to the
      Lord and bless his  name. Bear witness of God’s grace, glad tidings of great love,
          Proclaim our salvation from day to day.
          Come tell of God’s glorious mercies. Show all the peoples his wonderful works; For
       great is our God; he deserves our praise.
          He is feared from on high; other gods are but dust. For the Lord made heav’ns;
       strength and beauty lie in his sway. Let skies to glad, the earth rejoice in the Lord, the
        sea sing out God’s name.
             Let the fields rise up in joy. Let the forests clap their hands. The whole earth give
         thanks to the God  we love.
             Worship the King. Come in love unto the throne. Lift your heads, lift your hearts,
          lift your lives as  an act of praise.
Sermon                           Hidden Treasure for Your Soul                            Bill Davidson
Pastoral Prayer
The Lord's Prayer                                                                                   Hymnal, No. 895
     Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy
      will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And
      forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And
      lead us not into  temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the Kingdom,
     and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.    
Offering of Our Tithes and Gifts to God’s Work
  Offertory Prayer
  Offertory 
Commissioning of Sunday School Teachers and Leaders
     Congregation Response:  We pledge ourselves to pray for you and for the
     educational ministry of this congregation. We pledge ourselves to enable,
     encourage, and love you in this ministry. We pledge ourselves to be learners
     with you, diligently studying with you the Scriptures and traditions of the
     faith.                                                                  
+Doxology                                                                                               Hymnal, No. 94
     Praise God, from whom all blessings flow; praise God, all creatures here below:
     Alleluia! Alleluia! Praise God, the source of all our gifts! Praise Jesus Christ,
     whose power uplifts! Praise the Spirit, Holy Spirit! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! 

                                               SENDING FORTH
+Hymn 334                             Sweet, Sweet Spirit                            Sweet, Sweet Spirit
+Benediction                                            
+Postlude 

THOSE SERVING TODAY:
  September Altar Guild Chair: Kathy Cain
  Cross Bearer: Tiffany Woolwine
  Acolytes: Cali and Stephanie Woolwine
  Ushers:   Captain-Calvin L. Witt, William C. Neal, John W. Steffe, Kenneth L. Witt,
  Kenneth L. Motley, Carl B. Sherertz, Tim Dayton, Everett Holland, Jr. 

SepteSeptember 11, 2005       17^th Sunday after Pentecost       Hidden Treasure
       Exodus 14:19-31; 15:1b-11, 20-21                      for Your Soul
Promotion Sunday  

Treasure—hidden treasure—that’s what they found.  Some time ago Bible scholars were studying the Scripture as they always have diligently in search of the truth of God.  Some time ago Bible scholars made a wonderful discovery—they found a real treasure.  They discovered right in the book of Exodus where it had been all along.  The oldest surviving poem of Israelite literature we have.  You read that poem this morning as we shared the Psalter together.  The poem is the song of Miriam which she sings to the women who dance and play tambourine with her in celebration of their deliverance from the Egyptian army in the Exodus.  It is the song of captives who have just been set free.  It is the song of the Hebrew people whom God had delivered from at least a generation of slavery in the Egyptian empire.  It is a poem that expresses the people’s gratitude to God for that deliverance.  This morning this very old poem expresses your humble thanks to God for God’s continual deliverance from slavery, tyranny, injustice, and death today.  Miriam sang it then and you repeat it today, this brief, ancient poem:
          Sing to the Lord who has triumphed gloriously; horse and rider
         the Lord has thrown into the sea.                 (Exodus 15:21)
When Bible scholars discovered this ancient Hebrew poem some time ago right in the book of Exodus where it has been all along, they found a real treasure.  

Miriam, Moses’ sister, that’s who this poem is ascribed to.  You remember Miriam.  Along with the other Hebrews of her generation she was born a slave.  She was born long after the Pharoah came to power who did not know her ancestor Joseph.  Joseph himself had come as a slave to Egypt long before but when his skill at foreseeing and preparing for famine became widely known his Pharoah appointed him governor of Egypt to lead the empire through he crisis.  Joseph then brought his whole family to Egypt where they lived well and prospered.  But when a Pharoah eventually came to power who didn’t know Joseph, he saw how many Hebrews there were and counted them a threat, and enslaved them all.  That was the Egypt Mirian knew.  It wan an Egypt where her new born baby brother was condemned to death even before he was born, Pharoah having ordered all Hebrew male children killed at birth.  Miraim and her family hid her baby brother for the first here months of his life, all along living in fear that he would be discovered.  When the baby could not be hidden any longer Miriam witnessed the pain of her mother as she put her three-month-old baby brother in a basket of papyrus, placed it among the reeds beside the river and left him there.  Miriam crouched in fear hidden among the reeds and watched as Pharoah’s own daughter, of all people, came with her attendants to bath in the river.  Miriam watched in horror as Pharoah’s daughter find the basket, lifts the lid, and discovers a living Hebrew male child inside.  Miriam shudders as she heard her say for all to hear, “This must be one of the Hebrews’ children!”  Miriam immediately, boldly, went up to her and asked, “Uh, shall I go and get you a nurse from the Hebrew women to raise the child for you?”  Pharoah’s daughter agreed and Miriam went and got a nurse, her own mother, who then raised Moses, her own son, Miriam’s baby brother, in Pharoah’s own house.  

At a very early age Miriam knew the fear and experienced the horrors of life in Egypt but she also knew and experienced the deliverance of God.  She was an instrument of God’s deliverance in the midst of tyranny and death.  I think the first words of this ancient poem began to take form in her mind and heart way back then.  What a treasure, the gift of life of her baby brother was to her.  What a treasure the God who brought his deliverance!  

This is Miriam who danced on the other side of the sea that day when she knew again God’s deliverance in the Exodus.  When the Hebrews left Egypt with the army of chariots close behind them God kept them apart from the danger of the army all day long; then God made a way for them to cross the sea that blocked their path as she watched her baby brother raise his arms and part the waters.  When the army of Egypt pursued after them between the parted seas God returned the water to its place and put an end to the threat.  Yes, Miriam had many reasons to be grateful to God for she had known and experienced God’s deliverance most of her life, from a basket beside the river to the crossing of the sea.  And so she danced and so she sang,
          Sing to the Lord who has triumphed gloriously; horse and rider the   Lord has
          thrown into the sea.                 (Exodus 15:21)  

It is this song that Moses and all the people take up and sing as a joyous victory celebration.  It is this song upon which Moses bases his own song of triumph and gratitude.  When you give thanks to God and are mindful of God’s goodness in your life your song is but a variation of this original poem of praise expressed at the very genesis of the people of Israel in the exodus.  That’s what makes this ancient Hebrew poem such a treasure.  

It is a treasure because it is not a poem bound by time or historical events.  It is a treasure because it is not a poem that loses meaning or power beyond its origin.  When we share it today we are not simply remembering together an event that is passed and gone.  No, when you share it today you are giving thanks to God who is alive and active in your life right now bringing forth the same triumph in your world today.   These are not just old words of a dead poet.  These are
          the heart cries of a grateful people who actually talk to God
          the treasured expressions of a community that knows who really is in                    
          charge of life.
When you share these words you acknowledge deep in your heart that no matter what happens God is the one who is in control.  When you sing the song of Miriam there is nothing else you can do but admit that God knows how life should be lived and you ought to give your whole life to live just that way.  You see, I told you they really found a treasure when they discovered this.  

This ancient poem was first shared by Miriam.  This joyous announcement of the deliverance of God first expressed by her was quoted and taken up in so many ways by so many others in her own community and throughout the years right to today.  To that extent it is not unlike the New Testament announcement made by Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to the disciples upon their return from the empty tomb.  The resurrection, the ultimate fulfillment of the power and utter determination of God to let nothing, no thing, not even death derail the deliverance God is bringing to the world.  The resurrection, too, was first revealed by those whose joyous announcement would later be quoted and taken up by others.  In the Bible, you see, so often it is the women, those held in lowest esteem and of the least power, who first find human expression for the miraculous deliverance of God.  When God freed the Hebrews from slavery in Egypt , when God raised Jesus Christ from the dead, it is those who benefit the most who are the first to declare it and the first to believe it.  When God freed the Hebrews from slavery in Egypt , when God raised Jesus Christ from the dead, those who are set free and those who are given life again dance and play tambourine, and sing Miriam’s song as only their own grateful hearts can express it.  

Yes, the words may change and the tune may vary but when you give thanks to God so deeply and you are mindful of God’s goodness in your life so much that your heart sings, you are singing the song of Miriam.  

The lingering question that remains this morning is this:  where in the world did Miriam find the courage to stand up for her brother in the face of the threat of all the authority and power of the empire in the person of Phaorah’s daughter right there in front of her.  How was she ever able to come out of her safe hiding place and risk revealing hers and her brother’s identity?  How could she stand her ground against that prevailing oppressive culture and demand justice in her own clever way?  And, later, where did she find the words, from what wisdom did she draw to so appropriately express the people’s joy in her song?  If we understand this we will truly find the hidden treasure there.  

Miriam’s mother made sure that her daughter was raised in the culture and tradition of her Hebrew heritage.  You see, Miriam learned about the glorious triumph of God in her family and her own faith community long before she composed this song.  As she knelt among the reeds watching over her brother she called upon all strength of character developed in her from a very young age that kept her centered on the truth.  When her song spoke forth of the deliverance of God it was the truth instilled in her heart nurtured there through the years that found expression.  

Brothers and sisters, I want every one of our children to develop this kind of strength of character that only the church can provide.  We may not be slaves in Egypt but our children are surely raised in a consumer culture of greed and instant gratification that teaches them early and teaches them well.  Children need to be exposed to the culture of the Bible if they are to ever find truth.   Children need to learn the culture of the church if they are ever to develop real treasure in their hearts.  They need to learn the stories and practice the ways and sing the songs of the faith if faith is ever to grow in them at all.  They need to sing the song of Miriam.  On this Promotion Sunday we celebrate a milestone in spiritual growth.  We congratulate our children for their progress in faith.  Fall Kickoff Sunday two weeks from today marks the week we begin so any activities of our Children’s Ministries here at South Roanoke Church.  Our children need to be in Sunday School.  Our children need to be in our choirs and our other opportunities for learning and fellowship.  That’s where they develop their own Christian strength of character.  That’s where they can develop the courage to face the threat and authority of the prevailing culture.  That’s where they learn to say NO! to wrong and YES! to truth.  

Treasure—hidden treasure—that’s what they found.  Some time ago Bible scholars were studying the Scripture as they always have diligently in search of the truth of God.  Some time ago Bible scholars made a wonderful discovery—they found a real treasure.  Young Miriam found it.  May our own children find it too.  

                                                                             William G. Davidson