What's the promise?

    The Biblical story of  the Exodus is full of miracle. There's Moses at the burning bush. How many plagues did Moses call down on Pharaoh?  Then there is the ultimate rescue in the parting of the sea. In the wilderness there is the manna and the flight of quail landing in the camp.  Those are all wonderful  pyrotechnics, a great show of dramatic proportions. But, they are not what give the story its energy.
     Exodus belonged to a small band of Hebrew slaves. Much later Christians claimed it as their story, sometimes while acting much more like Pharaoh than persecuted Hebrews. Think of all the slave owners going to church imagining themselves as the exiles even as they kept their slaves in bondage.  But, what is it about the story that captures the imagination in a way that makes very different groups appropriate it as their own?
      It is the promise that Egypt is not the end of their story, that there is future for them beyond slavery, that led the Hebrews forth. That radical hope propelled them forward. Others reading their story put themselves figuratively in their place and find promise that gives hope and thus energizes them to action.
     Confronted with the extraordinary pandemic we face, with out hope, despair looms. Therefore, the question which confronts us is "what is the promise that can give us hope" in this situation, so we might find energy for the march?  Survival? that's pretty thin fare, isn't it?  What's a light on the horizon that gives meaning to our current predicament?  What has this pandemic taught us that, if we survive, will lead us to deeper, richer living? 
       When we answer that question then will come the resilience needed to thrive in the morass in which we find ourselves. How can we envision a future that gives energy similar to that of slaves marching toward freedom?   Your answer?

Takk for alt,

Al