“We wanna go back to Egypt” the people cried
looking ahead into the unknown
into the undefined
“it may have been slavery back there,
but it was our slavery
it was our “known”
and we were happy (or so we remember)
with the scraps of vegetables and the fish that came our
way
easing the hunger
“We wanna go back”
say all people, everywhere, in every time
looking ahead through the haze
into the unknown
true freedom is not all we thought it would be
it is uncertain and frightening
uncomfortable
and God knows we love our certainty
and our comfort
we want what we believe we can control
what is safe
we would rather be enslaved and pretend to be free
than be truly free
we would rather be controlled, and pretend to be in
control
than be truly free
we wanna go back to Egypt
we wanna go back to 1952
we wanna go back to those times
when everything was black and white
and the pews were filled with the unthinking
and we could ignore the harsh realities of racism
and ignore the gender spectrum
and ignore the poor
and ignore injustice
and pretend all was well
and that America was great
it is easier to trust old rules
old systems
old hierarchies
old prejudices
than to trust the One who would set us free
we do not want to be released
cast from our comforts
into the desert of the unfamiliar
and yet only if we trust
in God
in Love
in community
will we find our way through
the wasteland of fear and hate
to a land flowing with milk and honey
a land of equity and justice
only if trust
and let go of the old
can we find our way
to the promise
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