08 April 2023
19:30 | 
Posted by
Dr Platts |
Genesis 1:26-31
A reading from the book of Genesis.
Then God said,
‘Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness;
and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea,
and over the birds of the air,
and over the cattle,
and over all the wild animals of the earth,
and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.’
So God created humankind in his image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.
God blessed them, and God said to them,
‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it;
and have dominion over the fish of the sea
and over the birds of the air
and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.’
God said,
‘See, I have given you every plant yielding seed
that is upon the face of all the earth,
and every tree with seed in its fruit;
you shall have them for food.
And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air,
and to everything that creeps on the earth,
everything that has the breath of life,
I have given every green plant for food.’
And it was so.
God saw everything that he had made,
and indeed, it was very good.
And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
Exodus 14, 15:1
A reading from the book of Exodus.
Then the Lord said to Moses:
‘Tell the Israelites to turn back and camp in front of Pi-hahiroth,
between Migdol and the sea,
in front of Baal-zephon;
you shall camp opposite it, by the sea.
Pharaoh will say of the Israelites,
“They are wandering aimlessly in the land;
the wilderness has closed in on them.”
I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will pursue them,
so that I will gain glory for myself over Pharaoh and all his army;
and the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord.’
And they did so.
When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled,
the minds of Pharaoh and his officials were changed towards the people,
and they said,
‘What have we done, letting Israel leave our service?’
So he had his chariot made ready, and took his army with him;
he took six hundred picked chariots
and all the other chariots of Egypt with officers over all of them.
The Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt
and he pursued the Israelites,
who were going out boldly.
The Egyptians pursued them,
all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots,
his chariot drivers and his army;
they overtook them camped by the sea,
by Pi-hahiroth, in front of Baal-zephon.
As Pharaoh drew near, the Israelites looked back,
and there were the Egyptians advancing on them.
In great fear the Israelites cried out to the Lord.
They said to Moses,
‘Was it because there were no graves in Egypt
that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness?
What have you done to us, bringing us out of Egypt?
Is this not the very thing we told you in Egypt,
“Let us alone and let us serve the Egyptians”?
For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians
than to die in the wilderness.’
But Moses said to the people,
‘Do not be afraid, stand firm,
and see the deliverance that the Lord will accomplish for you today;
for the Egyptians whom you see today you shall never see again.
The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to keep still.’
Then the Lord said to Moses,
‘Why do you cry out to me?
Tell the Israelites to go forward.
But you lift up your staff,
and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it,
that the Israelites may go into the sea on dry ground.
Then I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them;
and so I will gain glory for myself over Pharaoh and all his army,
his chariots, and his chariot drivers.
And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord,
when I have gained glory for myself over Pharaoh,
his chariots, and his chariot drivers.’
The angel of God who was going before the Israelite army
moved and went behind them;
and the pillar of cloud moved from in front of them
and took its place behind them.
It came between the army of Egypt and the army of Israel.
And so the cloud was there with the darkness,
and it lit up the night;
one did not come near the other all night.
Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea.
The Lord drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night,
and turned the sea into dry land; and the waters were divided.
The Israelites went into the sea on dry ground,
the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their left.
The Egyptians pursued, and went into the sea after them,
all of Pharaoh’s horses, chariots, and chariot drivers.
At the morning watch the Lord in the pillar of fire
and cloud looked down upon the Egyptian army,
and threw the Egyptian army into panic.
He clogged their chariot wheels so that they turned with difficulty.
The Egyptians said, ‘Let us flee from the Israelites,
for the Lord is fighting for them against Egypt.’
Then the Lord said to Moses,
‘Stretch out your hand over the sea,
so that the water may come back upon the Egyptians,
upon their chariots and chariot drivers.’
So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea,
and at dawn the sea returned to its normal depth.
As the Egyptians fled before it,
the Lord tossed the Egyptians into the sea.
The waters returned and covered the chariots and the chariot drivers,
the entire army of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea;
not one of them remained.
But the Israelites walked on dry ground through the sea,
the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their left.
Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the Egyptians;
and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore.
Israel saw the great work that the Lord did against the Egyptians.
So the people feared the Lord and believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses.
Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the Lord:
‘I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously;
horse and rider he has thrown into the sea.
Ezekiel 36:16-17a, 18-28
A reading from the book of Ezekiel.
The word of the Lord came to me:
Mortal, when the house of Israel lived on their own soil,
they defiled it with their ways and their deeds.
So I poured out my wrath upon them
for the blood that they had shed upon the land,
and for the idols with which they had defiled it.
I scattered them among the nations,
and they were dispersed through the countries;
in accordance with their conduct and their deeds I judged them.
But when they came to the nations,
wherever they came, they profaned my holy name,
in that it was said of them,
‘These are the people of the Lord,
and yet they had to go out of his land.’
But I had concern for my holy name,
which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations to which they came.
Therefore say to the house of Israel,
Thus says the Lord God:
It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act,
but for the sake of my holy name,
which you have profaned among the nations to which you came.
I will sanctify my great name,
which has been profaned among the nations,
and which you have profaned among them;
and the nations shall know that I am the Lord,
says the Lord God,
when through you I display my holiness before their eyes.
I will take you from the nations,
and gather you from all the countries,
and bring you into your own land.
I will sprinkle clean water upon you,
and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses,
and from all your idols I will cleanse you.
A new heart I will give you,
and a new spirit I will put within you;
and I will remove from your body the heart of stone
and give you a heart of flesh.
I will put my spirit within you,
and make you follow my statutes
and be careful to observe my ordinances.
Then you shall live in the land that I gave to your ancestors;
and you shall be my people,
and I will be your God.
Romans 6:3-11
A reading from the book of Romans.
Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus
were baptized into his death?
Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death,
so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father,
so we too might walk in newness of life.
For if we have been united with him in a death like his,
we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.
We know that our old self was crucified with him
so that the body of sin might be destroyed,
and we might no longer be enslaved to sin.
For whoever has died is freed from sin.
But if we have died with Christ,
we believe that we will also live with him.
We know that Christ, being raised from the dead,
will never die again;
death no longer has dominion over him.
The death he died, he died to sin, once for all;
but the life he lives, he lives to God.
So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin
and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
