Sermon — We are all Wilderness People

(I preached this sermon at Christ Lutheran Church, Harrisburg, PA on Sunday October 5, 2025. It is based on Exodus 16:1–18)

I got a phone call recently from a colleague of mine — another pastor.
He said, “I need to tell you something. I’ve been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. I’ve got some more tests, but I’ve been given three months to live if the doctors are correct.” It felt like a gut punch.

When the call ended, I didn’t know what to say.
I was driving and staring at the road, and the only thing I could manage was silence — and then, as the miles went by, questions. Complaints. “Why?” “That’s not fair.” “God, I don’t even know what to say.”

That drive was quiet on the outside, but inside it was noisy — a wilderness of grief, confusion, and complaint.

And I think that’s where the Israelites find themselves in Exodus 16.
They’ve just been set free — liberated from Pharaoh, from forced labor, from oppression. They’ve seen the Red Sea part. They’ve sung songs of victory. You’d think this would be their moment of triumph, of rest, of celebration.

But liberation doesn’t lead to paradise. It leads straight into the wilderness.

The wilderness is that in-between place — after freedom, but before promise.
It’s where the old ways don’t work anymore, but the new ways haven’t yet been revealed.