Once Defined, Always Defining: Fall at First Baptist on Fifth
The Book of Exodus has been called the defining story of the people of Israel, their narrative of life told through the leadership of Moses and his people’s movements of enslavement and liberation, of law and betrayal, of calling and covenant. These events have defined a people once, and define a people still!
In that way, Exodus gives us a glimpse into the stories that give shape, color, contour, and definition to our lives. Stories follow us from the delivery room to the deathbed, ones that define all the big things of life: who we are, how we live, what we value, what we do when things are hard, what matters most in the end. Some inherited stories define us for a season and then are laid aside; others shape us day in and out.
In this pandemic season where so many aspects of our lives have been redefined, we’re going to take a deep dive through Exodus and enter into the stories of liberation, covenant, and presence. We’ll hear some defining stories of folks in our community and how they’ve experienced God through it all. And along the way, we’ll rediscover why these defining stories of our communal life — and the defining stories of your life! — can anchor us amidst such disorientation again and again and again.
August 23
Once Defined, Always Defining: Birth
Exodus 1:8 – 2:10
August 30
Once Defined, Always Defining: Call
Exodus 3:1-15
Guest storyteller: Rev. Paul Robeson Ford,
Pastor, First Baptist Church on Highland
September 6
Once Defined, Always Defining: Ritual
Exodus 12:1-14
Communion Sunday
September 13
Once Defined, Always Defining: Liberation
Exodus 14:19-31
September 20
Once Defined, Always Defining: Provision
Exodus 16:2-15
Guest proclaimer: Mary Beth Beck-Henderson,
Third-year student at Wake Forest Divinity; Summer Pastoral Intern
September 27
Once Defined, Always Defining: Disintegration
Exodus 17:1-7
October 4
Once Defined, Always Defining: Covenant
Exodus 20:1-4 7-9, 12-20
World Communion Sunday
October 11
Once Defined, Always Defining: Betrayal
Exodus 32:1-14
October 18
Once Defined, Always Defining: Presence
Exodus 33:12-23
October 25
Once Defined, Always Defining: Death
Deuteronomy 34:1-12