Sermons

Sermon for July 19^th 2026 - Exodus 32

Pray

Do you ever struggle with … waiting? Ever feel angst, anger, or…frustration at a delay? There are plenty of healthy ways to cope with anxiety like exercise, talking with a friend, therapy, prescribed medications, prayer, meditation, mindfulness, breaking a problem down into small steps, or journaling, just to name a few. Yet, even when we know the healthy ways…how many times do we succumb to unhealthy practices… Alcohol, drugs, overworking, avoidance or extreme procrastination, seeking distractions, escapism most often in screen time…

I know I struggle with waiting and often resort to less than healthy practices. Anyone else?

I wonder then if we can relate to the Israelites this morning who chose some problematic ways to deal with waiting.

A quick refresher on the first 30 chapters of Exodus. Moses a Hebrew by birth raised under Pharoh, but flees after he kills a guy. While in the wilderness he encounters God as burning bush. God says you will set my people free. Moses says, “but I am an awful public speaker.” God says fine your brother Aaron can do the talking you do the liberating. With the help of ten plagues, the parting of the red sea, and the leading of a pillar of fire. The People are free. Now in the desert God sends manna from heaven, water from a rock. God enters into a covenant or agreement with the now freed Israelites. As a guide for faithful living God gives the people the Ten Commandments. The next morning Moses heads back up the mountain to receive more instructions from God.

Moses is gone for 40 days. Now 40 days is a long time but keep in mind the people had just, just received the Ten Commandments. The first commandment being, you shall have no other god’s. The people get worried as the days pass buy so they go to Moses’ brother Aaron and say, “we don’t know where Moses is.” Aaron being a calm rational leader does not give in to procrastination, nor does he give into doomscrolling, he finds a different form of escapism, “I have got a great idea. How about everyone gives me your gold jewelry and we will melt it down.” Beware the leader who thinks they have all the best, the biggest and the brightest ideas. Aaron makes a giant golden calf to worship and throws a huge party to celebrate. Scripture says the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to revel. Scholars say ancient listeners would have read between the lines to know that this was a wild party that probably violated more than a few of the other commandments as well. Not some small slight against God but a full dismissal and disregard for their covenantal relationship.

God sends Moses down to intervene, for God is angered, saying “I have seen this people, how stiff-necked they are.” But first in the story Moses intervenes with God, appealing to God’s faithfulness. Which could be its own whole sermon for another day on the power of our prayers and pleas to God while we wait. But next in the story, Moses goes down breaks the first set of tablets, gets things straightened out at camp and heads back up the mountain to be in God’s presence, to receive the second set of tablets, and to renew the Covenant. Again, another story of humanity messing up and God remaining faithful. Another story that feels all so relatable because while we might not build golden calves, we make idols out of our screens, out of our leaders, out of our unhealthy coping with waiting, our addiction to be in control. Our avoidance of discomfort.

We too are stiff necked often looking anywhere and everywhere but toward the love, grace, and mercy of God. I for one am miserable when it comes to waiting. Perhaps my impatience is most on display at the happiest place on Earth.

Many years ago, when Katie and I lived in Southern California we had annual passes to Disney Land. A place of great rides, great shows, and great waits. Heaven forbid a line stop moving or move slower than I think it should and I would complain. I would ponder about what the hold up was. I would worry my phone wouldn’t have enough battery to allow me to scroll all evening. I was focused on me, myself, and I. Not when will Moses come down from the Mountain, but when will I get to ride Big Thunder Mountain.

I remember one evening coming face to face with my own stiffed neck. I was stretching my neck to see what the holdup was. Why aren’t we moving!? When I noticed the group in front of me was laughing, having fun. They were playing a game called heads up. Your phone displays a movie characters name and your group shouts clues without saying the name. For example if I said; Carrys a whip, has a hat, played by Harrison ford, you’d shout, Indiana Jones. Here I was at Disney, miserable about a slight delay. In front of me a group had found opportunity to take joy in the presence of one another.

To be a person of faith is to live a life of waiting. We wait for the bus, in drive through or theme park lines, for test results, to hear about job opportunities, and so much more. But what I really mean is in the words of John… Mayer, we are waiting, waiting on the world to change. We wait for Christ return. Yet as Lutheran Christians we say this return is already and not yet. For while the Day of the Lord is still to come, we experience Jesus here and now. Jesus in Bread, Wine, and Water. Jesus in words of forgiveness and good news. Jesus in community. This body of Christ.

Each and every day is an opportunity to turn our focus towards seeking God who has not and will never abandon. In God’s mercy we are extended opportunities to renewed faithfulness not just to the commandments but to practices and actions that give life and extend love. Together we wait not by building idols but by building up this living body of Christ. We wait strengthened by the one that encourages us to keep our heads up in hope of God’s unending faithfulness. Amen.