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Prayer / Worship Activity
Option 1
5 mins
Use Psalm 136 as a responsive reading. Have the leader read the verses between the refrain ‘his love endures for ever’, which everyone should then say together. Alternatively, you could have the different verses on slips of paper, numbered in order, and have different people from the congregation stand up and read them, with everyone responding using the refrain after each one. You might like to use the CEV to make it more accessible for children.
Option 2
10 mins
This will work better in a smaller gathering (although it’s not impossible with lots of people). Give everyone a piece of playdough and ask them to model something they are thankful for from the last week. They can explain their model to the person next to them. Pray a general prayer of thanksgiving from the front.
Story
10 mins
You’ll need long strips of blue fabric (satin lining material is usually the cheapest thing to get), two umbrellas, some kind of Egyptian costume or prop (a cardboard collar studded with fake gems?), a horse mask (or whole costume), a staff or walking stick and two flags - one white and one red. This is an interactive story involving the whole congregation and you’ll need to be set up so there is a central aisle.
Lay the blue cloth out in two long strips lengthways down the aisle. It should be covering the floor. Tell the people sitting either side of the aisle that they will have a part to play! Call out some volunteers and give them the appropriate props: Moses (staff), some Israelites, Pharaoh (Egyptian prop), a horse (mask) and a chariot driver (give them two umbrellas, opened, to hold so that the umbrella parts form a wheel on each side of them - the two handles are held parallel together in front of the body). You can have as many chariots and horses as you like. You’ll also need someone to play God: give them the two flags. Make sure you have read the account in Exodus 14 so that you are faithful to the text.
Set the scene: God’s people had been enslaved in Egypt for hundreds of years and God had been working through Moses to cause Pharaoh to let them go free. Moses had asked nicely and been refused so God had sent ten plagues on the Egyptians (it might be fun to see if the congregation can name the ten plagues - or you might want to have a slide show with pictures behind you – try bricktestament.com). Eventually Pharaoh couldn’t take any more and told the Israelites to leave. That’s where today’s story starts.
So God’s people left Egypt and God went with them, leading them as a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. Put your volunteer with the flags at the head of the line, followed by Moses and the Israelites. Have them walk to the start of the blue fabric in the aisle. Soon the people came to the Red Sea and set up camp. However, as Pharaoh saw all his slaves leaving (and there would have been hundreds of thousands of them), he suddenly realised maybe it wasn’t such a great idea to lose his entire workforce and he ordered his best chariots and horses to chase after them. The Israelites realised what was happening and they turned on Moses, demanding to know why he had brought them out into the wilderness to die. (You can get your volunteers to act as much or little as you like.)
Moses told the people to be brave, and that God would make a way. The pillar of cloud moved around to stand between the Israelites and the approaching Egyptian army. The cloud made it dark for the Egyptians but light for God’s people. Moses stretched out his arm over the sea and God sent a wind so that the water divided and stood up like walls leaving a path through the middle. Ask the people sitting in the aisle seats to pull back the blue fabric. Moses led the people through the sea. The Egyptians chased them but they were thrown into confusion and the wheels came off their chariots. When God’s people were through, Moses lifted his arm over the sea once more and the water flowed back, drowning all of the Egyptian army. Get your volunteers to reenact this as the aisle people cover them with blue cloth.
Reflective response to the story
Option 1
10 mins
In Exodus 15, the chapter after the Red Sea crossing, Moses, Miriam and the people sing a song of thanksgiving to God, detailing some of the recent events. Ask the congregation to get into small groups and write a sentence (or rhyming couplet, if they like) detailing something that God has done in the life of the church in recent years, and thanking him for it. They should write their part on a slip of paper and bring it to a central place where the lines can be put together and read out. You might like to pin them on a board so that people can have a good look afterwards. It’s worth typing this up and emailing, posting on a website or Facebook, or simply printing out for people to look at the next time you meet together.
Option 2
10 mins
The people of Israel thought that what was chasing them couldn’t be overcome, yet God miraculously delivered them in a way none of them could have predicted. Many of us feel pursued or overcome by our circumstances. Lay out the fabric you used for the sea, this time in another area of the church. Provide paper and pencils for people to write or draw their concerning circumstances. They can then place the paper underneath the blue fabric as a sign that they trust God to deliver them in whichever way he deems right.
Group discussion questions
10 mins
• Why did the people turn on Moses so readily when the Egyptians came after them, in spite of the fact that he had been their hero until that point? Do we ever behave like that?
• Exodus 14:4 says that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart so that he would pursue the people and God’s glory would be seen. How does this idea sit with you?
• Why do you think God’s people forget his mighty acts so quickly? How can we make a point of remembering?
• What’s the most amazing thing about this story?