We’ve been on the trail since Easter, travelling with God’s people from the Red Sea onward. They’re in the Sinai Peninsula (see the satellite photo), on their way to a land of their own. (Click here for a map of the journey.)

In these biblical narratives (starting with Exodus 15:22)—the Exodus from Egypt and the various stops in the Sinai peninsula—a total of 49 days pass before the giving of the Law on Mt. Sinai.

[Here’s the count, which you can skip if you’re not a score-keeper. They left Egypt on the 14th of the month, the night of the first Passover celebration (Ex 12:6, 12, 29). They reach Sinai on the first day of the third new moon (19:1). They then devote three more days to preparing for God to come down on Sinai and reveal the Ten Commandments (19:10–11). That’s sixteen days in the first month, thirty in the second, three more getting ready = 49 days = seven weeks.]

This seven-week period corresponds to the time of grain harvest in Israel, a period marked fore and aft by great festivals. Israel observes the beginning of the period with Passover, to which was added the festival of Unleavened Bread (because harvest was beginning); see Ex 12 for the first Passover. At the end of this period, they observe the feast of Harvest (Ex 23:16), which is also called the feast of Weeks (Ex 34:22, Dt 16:10)—because “You shall count seven weeks” from the beginning to the end of harvest (Dt 16:9).

Thus, Passover coincides with the Exodus, while the feast of Harvest/Weeks coincides with Sinai—the giving of the law (Ex 20–23) and the ceremony ratifying the covenant (Ex 24). This is a level of redemptive events on top of the grid of agricultural festivals.

There is still a third level. The resurrection of Christ and the giving of the Holy Spirit are seven weeks apart, the same seven weeks. The resurrection lines up with the Exodus, and the giving of the Spirit lines up with the giving of the Law. A week ago this Thursday was Ascension Day, and Sunday, May 30, is ten days later: a total of fifty days from the Resurrection of Christ to the Gift of the Holy Spirit. The word “pentecost” means “fiftieth.”

Thus, this Sunday is rich in associations,

• clear back to the boons of the wheat harvest;
• through the revelation at Sinai in cloud, thunder, and flame; and
• to the gift of the Holy Spirit in the fires of Pentecost.

The Covenant

A “covenant” is an agreement that defines and stabilizes the relationship between two people or groups of people. In international relationships, a treaty is a covenant; in personal relationships, so is a marriage.

Central to the Bible is the idea that there is a covenant between God and his people. This arrangement came about gradually as God got the ear of Abraham and made promises to him—and to Isaac and to Jacob, his offspring—but especially as God made promises to their descendants and led them out of Egypt, to a land of their own.

It is at Mt. Sinai, in the events narrated in Exodus 19–24, that God proposes the terms of the agreement that defines who we are as his people and what he both promises to us and expects of us. This Sunday’s reading from Exodus 19 summarizes those terms, and the giving of the Law on Sinai is a big part of it.

After the Eagles

The setup for God’s giving the Law is in Ex 19 and especially in his directions to Moses in vs 3–6:

The Lord called to him from the mountain, saying, “Thus shall you say to the house of Jacob and declare to the children of Israel:

⁴‘You have seen
what I did to the Egyptians,
how I bore you on eagles’ wings
and brought you to Myself.
⁵Now then, if you will obey me faithfully
and keep my covenant,
you shall be my treasured possession among all the peoples
     —indeed, all the earth is mine—
⁶you shall be to me a kingdom of priests
and a holy nation.’

These are the words that you shall speak to the children of Israel.”

Here we have

• God’s redemptive acts in history (v 4):
  • the end of the oppression: the rescue at the Red Sea
  • care and safety: providential support in the desert
  • the covenant: entry into a relationship between people and God
• God’s conditions for the people (v 5a):
  • faithful obedience to God’s Teaching
  • keep the covenant
• The new people

1. Our relationship with God (v 5b–6): We are God’s own people, set apart from the rest of human beings.
2. Our relationship with others: We are dedicated to God’s service throughout the world, as priests function within a society.
3. The quality of our existence: We are to live lives that match up with the holiness of God.

Even though Christians know this arrangement as the “old covenant,” its vision of the people of God in relationship with Him remains accurate, and this Sunday’s sermon will be based on Ex 19:1–9. The “new covenant” (Jeremiah 31:31–34) does not so much change the terms of the covenant as provide a new and more effective transforming power for the keeping of our side of the covenant.

Just as God spoke the Ten Commandments to the people together with fire, smoke, lightning, earthquake, and the sound of a trumpet (Ex 20:16–20), so on the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit descends in fire and the sound of a terrific wind (Acts 2:1–11).

Here is a collect for Pentecost Sunday that gathers up some of these themes. Please pray it thoughtfully until its words warm and open your heart.

O God,
who, in smoke and fire upon Mount Sinai,
gave the Law to Moses,
and who this day revealed the new covenant
in the fire of the Holy Spirit:
Grant, we pray, that kindled by that same Spirit
which you wondrously poured forth upon your apostles,
we may receive with joy your commandment of love.
We ask this through Christ, our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and forever. Amen.

Our Pentecost Sunday

We open our service with sentences from Psalm 124:6 and Romans 5:5 and immediately praise the Triune God with hymn #116, “Thou art worthy,” words taken from Revelation 4:11. We follow this with a litany for Pentecost Sunday, inviting God the Holy Spirit to come upon us and among us. The prayer, “Come, Holy Spirit,” is ancient in the church’s worship.

In our acclamations of praise, P&W #133, “Holy Spirit, thou art welcome,” and #139, “We are the people of God,” we continue to invite the Spirit and confess the unity we have as God’s people. The pulpit hymn is #286, “Like the murmur of the dove’s song,” a contemporary hymn by Carl Daw, Jr., with music by Peter Cutts—again, with the prayer, “Come, Holy Spirit, come.” All this comes together in the closing hymn, #299, “O Breath of Life, come sweeping through us.”

Today’s liturgist is Brad Bradford. The choir will sing, and Susan Lower will play the organ and the piano. Her offertory is “Breathe” by Michael W. Smith, a piano solo with CD backup.