Proclaiming the Lord’s Death Until He Comes (1 Corinthians 11:17-34)

“When God’s Son took on flesh, he truly and bodily took on, out of pure grace, our being, our nature, ourselves. This was the eternal counsel of the triune God. Now we are in him. Where he is, there we are too, in the incarnation, on the cross, and in his resurrection. We belong to him because we are in him. That is why the Scriptures call us the Body of Christ.”

— Dietrich Bonhoeffer, God Is in the Manger, December 30

Remember, Listen, and Eat (1 Corinthians 10:1-22)

“How are we supposed to be able to help those who are without joy and courage, if we ourselves are not borne by courage and joy? What is meant here is not something made or forced, but something given and free. With God there is joy, and from him it comes down and seizes spirit, soul, and body. And where this joy has seized a person, it reaches out around itself, it pulls others along, it bursts through closed doors. There is a kind of joy that knows nothing at all of the pain, distress, and anxiety of the heart. But it cannot last; it can only numb for a time. The joy of God has gone through the poverty of the manger and the distress of the cross; therefore it is invincible and irrefutable.”

— Dietrich Bonhoeffer, God Is in the Manger, December 28

The Origin & the Product of Joy (Exodus 19:1-6)

“I will underline the quality common to the three experiences; it is that of an unsatisfied desire, which is itself more desirable than any other satisfaction. I call it Joy, which is here a technical term and must be sharply distinguished both from Happiness and from Pleasure. Joy (in my sense) has indeed one characteristic, and one only, in common with them; the fact that anyone who has experienced it will want it again. Apart from that, and considered only in its quality, it might almost equally well be called a particular kind of unhappiness or grief. But then it is a kind we want. I doubt whether anyone who has tasted it would ever exchange it for all the pleasures in the world. But then, Joy is never in our power, and pleasure often is.”

— C. S. Lewis, Surprised by Joy

What Happens in the Wilderness? (Exodus 15:22-27)

“… [I]t begins with a grumbling mood, and yourself still distinct from it: perhaps criticising it. And yourself, in a dark hour, may will that mood, embrace it. Ye can repent and come out of it again. But there may come a day when you can do that no longer. Then there will be no you left to criticise the mood, nor even to enjoy it, but just the grumble itself going on forever like a machine.”

— C. S. Lewis, The Great Divorce

God Leads, Protects, and Saves His People (Exodus 14:1-4)

“And God said, ‘Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.’ And God made the expanse and separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse. And it was so. And God called the expanse Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day. And God said, ‘Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.’ And it was so. God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good.”

—Genesis 1:6-10

A Story of God's Perseverance (Exodus 13:11-22)

“Wilt thou forgive that sin where I begun,
         Which was my sin, though it were done before?
Wilt thou forgive that sin, through which I run,
         And do run still, though still I do deplore?
                When thou hast done, thou hast not done,
                        For I have more.

Wilt thou forgive that sin which I have won
         Others to sin, and made my sin their door?
Wilt thou forgive that sin which I did shun
         A year or two, but wallow’d in, a score?
                When thou hast done, thou hast not done,
                        For I have more.

I have a sin of fear, that when I have spun
         My last thread, I shall perish on the shore;
But swear by thyself, that at my death thy Son
         Shall shine as he shines now, and heretofore;
                And, having done that, thou hast done;
                        I fear no more.”

—John Donne, “A Hymn to God the Father”

God’s Distinction Between Egypt and Israel Defined (Exodus 12:29-42)

“The importance of the teaching of the faith within believing families is an Old Testament tradition (Deut 4:9–10; 6:4–9, etc.) that needs to be reemphasized in every generation of the Christian church. We, too, are a people of memory and hope, for it is memory that generates hope. When Israel ‘forgot’—as the prophets accused them—they went astray. When Christians ‘forget,’ the same thing happens. We simply lose the plot. We forget who we are, to whom we belong, and what story we are supposed to be in.”

—Christopher Wright, The Story of God Bible Commentary: Exodus