Preach Exodus! Week Five

This session creates opportunities for people of all ages to:

• affirm and celebrate God’s presence with us and in us
• be challenged to see all our possessions and abilities as belonging to God
• consider the resources and abilities we have to offer
• serve one another and share resources in appropriate ways.

This final week’s material looks at the building of the tabernacle, a portable structure that was the focus for God’s presence with his people in the desert. Following God’s detailed instructions, the Israelites were invited to provide the materials, skills and labour required – and they all chose to give lavishly, far more than was needed.

For us the focus of God’s presence is not a tent but his people, the body of Christ. It is important to avoid the immediate application of this narrative to giving money for our church buildings and the activities that go on there. Our giving to God is so much richer and wider than this. We need to take a New Testament perspective. God is present in us by his Holy Spirit. So the application moves from a most holy place to a most holy people.

• See the Exodus Introduction for an overview of the theme of wealth within the Exodus story..
• Read theWeek Five Introductionfor an overview of the theme and activities for this final week of the Exodus story.
• TheWarming Up, Warming Downmaterial includes suggestions for looking back over the previous four weeks of ‘Giving in Grace’, with a choice of activities to help the congregation consider their own responses to all they have done, seen and heard.