Exodus 7:8-13: Cane Snake!

Presented to Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army, 29 June 2014 

By Captain Michael Ramsay

Exodus 7:8-13:

The Lord said to Moses and Aaron,  “When Pharaoh says to you, ‘Perform a miracle,’ then say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh,’ and it will become a snake.”

So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the Lord commanded. Aaron threw his staff down in front of Pharaoh and his officials, and it became a snake. Pharaoh then summoned wise men and sorcerers, and the Egyptian magicians also did the same things by their secret arts: each one threw down his staff and it became a snake. But Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs. Yet Pharaoh’s heart became hard and he would not listen to them, just as the Lord had said.

There are a number of items and ideas that jump out at one as we read through this sign that God performs for Pharaoh through Moses and Aaron.

1)      We notice that not only can God do this sign but so can wise men, sorcerers and even Egyptian magicians. They can all turn their staffs into snakes.

2)      Aaron’s staff snake eats and swallows the others

3)      Pharaoh’s heart became hard and he won’t let them go.

First let us get a bit of an image in our mind of the scene painted before us in Exodus 7:8-13. Aaron and Moses are coming into Pharaoh’s palace.[3]This must be like an old homecoming of sorts for Moses. This past week, the Comp Grade 12 students and their parents just celebrated Grad. Now I think that I may have gone to my 10^th Grade 12 Grad reunion but I know I didn’t go to my 20^th, 25^th, or any others. I do know that many people tell stories about what happens when they do go to reunions. They notice who has lost hair and they notice who has gained weight; they notice who has children and who has even grandchildren; they notice who has become rich or famous; they notice who is divorced or never married. They also notice how much the school has changed or remained the same. Anyone here every gone to a school reunion? Think of your old school and your old friends; when you see them the old stories and feelings come flooding back.

Moses in our story today is returning to a palace that he would have spent some time in and around – at least as a teenager or young adult (Exodus 2:5-10) - and a pharaoh who is probably in some way related to him: a step or foster brother or cousin, someone he may have even known with as a teenager or a young man, or this pharaoh may even be the child or grandchild of someone he may have grown up with. Moses in our story today is eighty years old and his brother Aaron is eighty-three (Exodus 7:7). It has been a long time since he left the Egyptian Composite School (had their been one, of course!). Picture yourself as an 80 year-old returning to your high school for the first time or visiting the old family homestead that you haven’t seen since before you got married. This is what it may have been like for Moses as he stands before Pharaoh - who is probably a relative of his foster mom or a step-relative of some kind who he hasn’t seen since he was a young man. Now Moses is eighty, standing in the halls of this building he once knew so well, talking to types people he used to know so well and challenging these people like maybe he used to do sixty or seventy years ago in this very building. This is the scene before us today: an 80 year-old at a school and/or a family reunion.

Now this 80 year-old Moses and his 83 year-old brother throw his cane –that’s what a staff is – this octogenarian throws his cane to the ground, it turns into a snake and then – I guess – while this snake is moving along the ground, Pharaoh sends messengers out to find wise men, sorcerers, and even some magicians. I doubt they were all in the palace. They probably weren’t even all in the city. Pharaoh’s men would have had to go find them. I don’t know what they did in the interim whether Moses and Aaron picked up the snake staff and waited outside or whether they all just stood there and looked at this snake. At any rate these wise men, sorcerers and even magicians finally arrive and this brings us to our first observation for today:

read more: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2014/06/exodus-78-13-cane-snake.html

Exodus 3:1-4:16: “Go!”

Presented to Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army, 24 June 2012 and 12 June 2014 by Captain Michael Ramsay

Today is Fathers’ Day and I have certainly been blessed with three of the greatest children for whom a father could ask. We are looking forward to helping out at the Soapbox Derby as per The Salvation Army’s tradition here in Swift Current. It should be a good day and I have good daughters.

Sometimes, however, I must admit that my children listen better than they do at other times. I can remember one day: I remember telling them that we would have to walk home when they arrived at the corps. I told them that we would have to walk home because mom couldn’t come pick us up. I told them to make sure to put their coats on because it was raining and we would be walking home. I told them not to bring too many things home from the corps because we would be walking home. We then head outside and immediately one of the children asks, where’s the car?

My girls can do so much and can be at times quite confident in their abilities. Rebecca, I remember, even as a three year-old, sang this amazing impromptu solo at a talent show (or something like that) in front of maybe hundreds of people that was absolutely captivating for all who were present. Sarah-Grace played the villain in the school play one year and she did a spectacular job. Many people commented on her performance. Both Rebecca and Sarah-Grace have won accolades for their performances. Heather too is growing into quite a big girl. She knows she is special. My children, they can be quite confident in their abilities at times.

Moses, in our pericope today, may lack some of this confidence that my girls have at times displayed but Moses appears to listen in very much the same manner as my girls did in the car episode. Moses, in our story today, as he stands before God, sounds a little like a scared child and as the reader nears the end of the pericope, he actually sounds a lot like an obnoxious child who he keeps refusing to just do what he’s told.

read more: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2014/06/exodus-31-416-go.html 

70th Anniversary of D-Day Memorial Service

Swift Current Cenotaph Ceremony

Captain Michael Ramsay Presiding 

08 June 2014

Invocation: We assemble today to solemnly remember an historic event and to pay our respects to the lives of our comrades whose death we mourn but whose spirits still live on.

Let us pray: Almighty God. To paraphrase a now famous D-day prayer: Our soldiers, they were sore tried, by night and by day, without rest— until the victory was won. The darkness was rent by noise and flame. Men’s souls were shaken with the violence of war.

For those who served were drawn from the ways of peace. They fought not for the lust of conquest. They fought to end conquest; hoping to let justice arise, and tolerance and goodwill among all Thy people, yearning but for the end of battle, for their return to the haven of home.

Some, however, did not return to their home here but rather to their eternal home with Thee. Continue to embrace these, Father, and receive them, Thy heroic servants, into Thy kingdom. We are here today Lord to commemorate those who lived and died through the battles of D-day.

We dedicate these proceeding today, in your name, Amen.

Reading from John 12:23-26:

²³And Jesus answered them, saying, the hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified.  ²⁴Verily, verily, I say unto you, except that a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abides alone: but if it die, it brings forth much fruit.

 ²⁵He that loves his life shall lose it; and he that hates his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.  ²⁶If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour.

 ²⁷Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour? No, for it is this very cause that I came unto this very hour. ²⁸Father, glorify thy name.

Meditation by Captain Michael Ramsay: Today we mark the 70^th Anniversary of the invasion of Europe. D-Day: The Royal Canadian Navy alongside our British and American allies brought the largest invasion fleet ever assembled from England to France in total darkness for Operation Overlord.

On June 6^th, 70 years ago, as our soldiers were landing on the beaches, Prime Minister Mackenzie King told Canadians that this is "the opening of what we hope and believe will be the decisive phase of the war against Germany…Let the hearts of all in Canada today be filled with silent prayer for the success of our own and allied forces and for the early liberation of the people of Europe."

Canadian General Crerar: “I have complete confidence in our ability to meet the test that lies ahead; the quality of both the senior and junior leadership are of the highest.” The quality of our men is the highest. The quality of our service people is the highest.

This seaborne invasion was aimed at 80 kilometres of beach along the Normandy coast, west of the Seine River. Canada’s objective was right in the middle.  The military planners assigned Canada a very significant role on D-Day: to take Juno Beach as a beginning to the liberation of Europe .

Involved in the invasion of Europe, in all there were 5000 ships and landing craft, 11 000 planes, 50 000 vehicles and 155_000 soldiers ready for the impending battle. 14 000 Canadian soldiers were to land on the beaches; another 450 were to drop behind enemy lines by parachute or by glider. The Royal Canadian Navy supplied ships and about 10 000 sailors. Lancaster bombers and Spitfire fighters from the Royal Canadian Air Force supported the invasion.

Cliff Chadderton of the Royal Winnipeg Rifles said, “The men of the infantry and tank regiments chosen for the invasion simply had to disregard what lay ahead for them across the channel. We just dug in, trained harder, determined to do what some were saying would be impossible."

King George VI referred to a 'supreme test' and General Montgomery said, “we have a great and righteous cause let us pray that the Lord, mighty in battle, will go forward with our armies and that His special providence will aid us in the struggle with stout hearts and enthusiasm for the contest. Let us go forward to victory.”

Fourteen thousand young Canadians stormed Juno Beach on June 6, 1944: They were from across the country; from the east to the west, from the North Nova Scotia Highlanders, to the Canadian Scottish from Victoria.  The bombardment of the beaches began at 6 a.m. Within an hour the lead landing craft were away from the ships. Two hours later, the German defences at Juno Beach had been shattered and Canada had established the beachhead.

Our service people’s courage, determination and self-sacrifice are the reasons for our success. They endured fierce, ferocious fighting and paid a high price - the battles for the beachhead in that one day alone cost 340 Canadians lives; 547 wounded and 47 taken prisoner.

British historian John Keegan, wrote about the Canadian 3rd Division on D-Day: “At the end of the day, its forward elements stood deeper into France than those of any other division. The opposition the Canadians faced was stronger than that of any other beach save Omaha. That was an accomplishment in which the whole nation could take considerable pride.”

Today we do feel that sense of pride and accomplishment but it is not without a sense of loss as we remember our friends, family, and comrades, who would not return from their service to God, King, and country.

Let us pray: O Lord our God, whose name only is excellent and your praise above heaven and earth: We give you high praise and hearty thanks for all those who counted not their lives dear unto themselves, but laid them down for their friends, praying you give them a part and a lot in those good things which you have prepared for all those whose names are written in the book of life; and grant to us, that having them always in remembrance, we may imitate their faithfulness, and with them inherit the new name which you have promised to them that overcome; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (Prayer by F.E. Brightman)

Benediction:May we, as citizens, and as members of the Royal Canadian Legion be charged anew with the full set of duties and responsibilities to our country and to our organization. May we ever strive to uphold the principles of unselfish service, which led us to serve God and our country in the time of war and in a time of peace, so that we may continue to serve, even unto death.

In Jesus’ name, Amen.