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Stephen Ministry

We continue in our journey through "Life in Exodus," keeping in mind the general lesson of the Exodus: "What the Exodus taught…first, that wherever you live, it’s probably Egypt. Second, that there is a better place, a world more attractive, a promised land. And third, that the way to the land is through the wilderness." Thank you, Michael Walzer, for that quote.

Today, life in Exodus takes us to moments of feeling inadequate, as we read from Exodus 4:1-15. (Read)

Inadequacy. Certainly all of us have had moments of feeling inadequate about something. Either that or you’re the most competent and cocky person in the world…and probably don’t have many friends. More likely, however, is that all of us have had moments of feeling inadequate. "What’s that you say? I’m going to be a father? I’m not ready for that! I don’t know anything about being a father! How do I do that?" Or perhaps it’s a task your boss has asked you to do. "You want me to do what? But, I’m not trained for that! It’s not in my job description. It’s outside my responsibilities. I don’t know how to do that!" Somewhere along the way, life in Exodus brings moments of feeling inadequate.

When I think of my own inadequacy many things come to mind! One that stands out, however, goes back to my high school P.E. class…and the swimming portion of that class. Lots of other moments between then and now, but this was one situation where I felt in over my head…literally.

To begin with, I am not a great swimmer. In fact, I’m not even a good swimmer. I am below average as a swimmer. I can swim, but not very well. Place me in the middle of the deep end of a pool and I’ll not drown. In the middle of a lake…a different matter. A positive outcome would be in some doubt. Especially a large lake. And deep. The biggest problem in my inadequacy as a swimmer is that I don’t like my face being under water. You can’t breathe when your face is under water! So, I don’t like swimming, don’t do it very often and, consequently, am not a good swimmer.

So, I was dreading the day when swimming started in our P.E. class. The format for the class was to conduct a simple test of each person and assign him to one of three groups: Group three was remedial swimming, for totally non-swimmers. I’m not a three. I may not be a good swimmer, but I am not a three. Group two was for those who could swim but needed to get better at it. That would be me. And group one was for good swimmers and part of the "curriculum" for that group was to work toward their water safety certificate. I’m not a one. The "test" from which the teachers would assign us to our groups was simple—swim the width of the pool. Not the length, but the width. Well, I could do that! So when my group of 15 or so was whistled into the pool for our test, I was ready. Didn’t even have to dive in, which I didn’t particularly like doing, they started us in the pool hanging onto the side wall. At the whistle to start swimming, I took a deep breath, forced my face under water, pushed off the wall and swam as hard as I could to the other side. Upon touching the wall, I popped up, looked at Mr. Haggerty—one of our teachers and familiar to some of you as a former referee in the National Football League—and was stunned to see him holding up one finger! "Number one," I thought, "I’m not a number one! No, no, I belong in number two!" But, I was too proud to admit my inadequacy, so into group number one I went. And I was okay for awhile. At first, we worked on our strokes—four basic strokes—and I was pretty okay with three of them. There was the sidestroke. I was quite good at the sidestroke—didn’t have to put your face in the water for that one. The breaststroke, which I was okay at because they didn’t require us to put our face in the water like real breaststrokers do. The crawl, which I was barely adequate at because I don’t like that whole face in the water breathing thing. But the fourth stroke, the backstroke, I was horrible at, mostly because water would splash up over my face and I was convinced I was going down so I’d stop. But, I made it through the stroke refresher part of the course.

Then we started the water safety instruction portion. One of the first drills was the "panicked swimmer" rescue. In that, we were paired up with another swimmer—one of us to play the role of the panicked swimmer (I was really good at that role!) and the other as the rescuer. We were taught, as the rescuer, that when the panicked swimmer starts to resist, take him under water for a moment—which he won’t like—then bring him back up, put a cross chest hold on him and begin side stroking to the wall. As a precautionary piece, those playing the "panicked swimmer" were told that if the rescuer was holding us under water too long, to tap his arm to let him know to bring us up or let us go.

I ended up being paired with the second worst swimmer in the class. Bob Bergin. The me-as-rescuer and Bob-as-panicked swimmer part went okay. Get to him, grab him, cross chest hold and sidestroke. Loved the sidestroke! The me-as-panicked swimmer and Bob-as-rescuer didn’t go so well. I’m splashing in the water—the deep end of the pool(!)—Bob gets to me, I put up the minimally required resistance and he rolls over on top of me and holds me under water. And holds me. And holds me. So, I tap him on the arm. No response. I tap him harder. No response. Pretty soon I’m swinging away at him. Ever try to punch someone under water? It’s not very effective. Finally, I manage to free myself—fortunately I was bigger and stronger than him—and come to the surface sputtering, "What are you doing?" And he’s going, "What?" We didn’t score well on that part of the class.

Another test in the class was to go into the water in our street clothes—we can’t always pick the situation when someone might need rescuing can we—and rescue Mr. Dreith. Some of you will remember Ben Dreith as a former referee in the National Football League. Yes, we had two NFL refs in our high school. And Mr. Dreith was tough and mean. We all knew he was going to make it as hard on us as possible in trying to rescue him. In fact, we knew he would take delight in causing us trouble. So, on the day the test with Mr. Dreith was going to take place…I stayed home "sick." The feelings of inadequacy were pretty strong at that point.

Toward the end of the swimming section, it was pretty evident I wasn’t going to pass the water safety instruction, but apparently it never occurred to the teachers to transfer me to the group two class. So, I inadequately labored on. The final test for group one was to swim four laps for each of the four strokes—a total of 16 lengths, not widths, of the pool…with all of us swimming together, probably about 15 in total. I think part of the "test" was to deal with other bodies in the water—legs and arms hitting us as we swam. We were to swim the strokes in this order—sidestroke, backstroke(!), breaststroke, and finish with the crawl. Good grief, the backstroke was second! We all lined up at the deep end of the pool, Mr. Hornecker blew the whistle, and off we went. And to begin with, I did okay. Sidestroke. I was good at the sidestroke. But then came the backstroke. I started the backstroke, but did my usual start, sputtering stop, start again, sputtering stop routine. I’d gone maybe half a length when I heard Mr. Hornecker calling out my name. "Holmes! Holmes!" I was at a sputtering stop point, so I stopped looked at him seated on the tiled bench that ran the length of the pool, and saw he was summoning me with his index finger. So, I got out of the pool, went to him and he said, "Why don’t you sit down here next to me?" And I said, "Mr. Hornecker, I think that’s a good idea!" So, I sat next to him while the others finished their laps. The first one to finish was a guy who was on the swim team. He came and sat next to me and said, "Gee, Ron, did you finish already?" To which I said, "Yeah, yeah, a couple of minutes ago." But then I laughed and said, "Nah! Mr. Hornecker pulled me out of the pool before I hurt myself or someone else!"

Totally inadequate for that situation! Never did get that water safety certificate.

Now, I realize my swim class experience is not the perfect illustration for today’s passage. If it was the perfect illustration, it would include some night time visitation by God—a burning bush type experience, if you will—and my sudden and miraculous ability to do the backstroke. And, I can’t really say that it was God’s calling to me to get my water safety certificate. If it was, I missed it. In fact, in the interest of others, it was probably God’s intent that I not get certified! So, it’s not the perfect illustration. But, a reminder we all face moments of inadequacy—even in situations that are God’s calling for us. Life in ministry is definitely an Exodus experience, filled with moments of feeling inadequate to the task at hand. We’re talking about people’s lives here and the most significant events of their lives—births and deaths, and everything in between. No one can feel adequate for that. Charles Spurgeon, considered one of the great preachers of all time said, "Often, in coming down to this pulpit, have I felt my knees knocking together."

Life in Exodus often feels like that—in over your head, figuratively if not literally. And we can empathize with Moses’ hesitation and protests from our Scripture story for today. "Lord, please! I’m inadequate! I don’t talk well! Can’t you get someone else for this?"

But note God’s answer to our protests of inadequacy. First, the power of the Lord will be with you. We are not left to our own resources. God is with us, and He gifts us through His Holy Spirit to accomplish tasks beyond our abilities. To use my swimming story as a metaphor—God doesn’t leave us swimming the backstroke. To accomplish His purposes for us and for His Kingdom, He gifts us through His Holy Spirit beyond our own resources and abilities. For a hesitant Moses, "slow of speech and tongue," God provides miraculous signs to strengthen the impact of his message. And there’s more to come of that. For a new father, overwhelmed with the wonder and responsibility of caring for a new child, God brings a sense of calm to the nervousness, a bit of wisdom to the training, a reminder of lessons learned in the past. For a worker facing a daunting task, God brings some new insight to the task, a boost of confidence seemingly out of nowhere. Where did that come from? It came from God. When faced with our inadequacy, God provides His power to bring to the task. Believe me, I ask for and trust in that every day.

But sometimes, the promise of God’s power, even the evidence of that isn’t enough to calm our feeling of inadequacy. Look at Moses! A staff that turns into a snake. A hand made leprous, now made clean. Water poured out from the river turning into blood. Not enough! "O LORD, please send someone else to do it!" And so, God provides something else. He provides a partner, a colleague, a friend to come alongside you and help. He does so even in the midst of some frustration over our lack of trust in His power alone. Did you catch God’s first response to Moses’ "LORD, please send someone else"? "Then the LORD’s anger burned against Moses…" It’s one of my favorite phrases in the Bible. Literally, it says "the Lord’s nose turned red." A good image of anger, don’t you think? "The Lord’s anger burned against Moses…" but then the Lord is willing to consider additional support. Going with Plan B, if you will. To accomplish His purposes through you, the Lord will go with whatever is possible. My power not enough for you, Moses? Ok. How about if Aaron is alongside you also? And, believe me, I ask for and trust in that every day. A Barbara Royle, a Janet Lyon, a Rosalie Horak, and many others—each of you, as members of the church and followers of Jesus Christ, to come alongside in God’s calling to minister in His name.

That’s the power of community. Maybe you’ve never felt inadequate about anything in your life and, therefore, never needed anything or anyone else. But, I suspect the reality is we all have experienced moments of inadequacy…and will do so again. And the lesson of Exodus is that God is present in those moments also—empowering us beyond our abilities through the gifts of His Holy Spirit…and bringing others alongside us to journey with us. For Moses, Aaron. For a new father, his wife—both maybe new to the experience and feeling mutually inadequate, but somehow with God’s help and through their mutual support and encouragement of each other, they manage. For an overwhelmed worker, a co-worker or colleague, both maybe beyond their area of comfort, but somehow, through their gifts given by God and their collective efforts, they get it done.

Whenever, in your life in Exodus, whenever you feel inadequate, know that God’s power is available to you—and should you need it, someone is on the way to help. Remember past moments of inadequacy…and how you managed. Where was God’s power at work in you? Who was an Aaron for you? And where, in the future, might God’s power be expressed through you—and who might be an Aaron for you, OR for whom might you be an Aaron?

Let’s take a moment for silent reflection.