Lent - 25

Our Lenten pilgrimage has brought us to John o'Groats. John o' Groats is a village in the Highland council area of Scotland. Once a part of the county of Caithness, John o' Groats is popular with tourists because it is usually regarded as the most northerly settlement of mainland Great Britain, although this is not the claim made by the people of John o'Groats. The village's claim to fame is that it is one end of the longest distance between two points on the British mainland, Land's End being the other. The actual most northerly point is nearby Dunnet Head.



Then the angel of God, who had been traveling in front of Israel's army, withdrew and went behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved from in front and stood behind them, coming between the armies of Egypt and Israel. Throughout the night the cloud brought darkness to the one side and light to the other side; so neither went near the other all night long.

Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the LORD drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were divided, and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left.

The Egyptians pursued them, and all Pharaoh's horses and chariots and horsemen followed them into the sea. During the last watch of the night the LORD looked down from the pillar of fire and cloud at the Egyptian army and threw it into confusion. He made the wheels of their chariots come off so that they had difficulty driving. And the Egyptians said, "Let's get away from the Israelites! The LORD is fighting for them against Egypt."

Then the LORD said to Moses, "Stretch out your hand over the sea so that the waters may flow back over the Egyptians and their chariots and horsemen." Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at daybreak the sea went back to its place. The Egyptians were fleeing toward it, and the LORD swept them into the sea. The water flowed back and covered the chariots and horsemen—the entire army of Pharaoh that had followed the Israelites into the sea. Not one of them survived.

But the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left. That day the LORD saved Israel from the hands of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the shore. And when the Israelites saw the great power the LORD displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the LORD and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant. (Exodus 14.19-31)

Through the night of doubt and sorrow,
onward goes the pilgrim band,
singing songs of expectation,
marching to the promised land.

Clear before us through the darkness
gleams and burns the guiding light:
brother clasps the hand of brother,
stepping fearless through the night.

One the light of God's own presence,
o'er his ransomed people shed,
chasing far the gloom and terror,
brightening all the path we tread.

One the object of our journey,
one the faith which never tires,
one the earnest looking forward,
one the hope our God inspires.

One the strain that lips of thousands
lift as from the heart of one;
one the conflict, one the peril,
one the march in God begun.

One the gladness of rejoicing
on the far eternal shore,
where the one almighty Father
reigns in love for evermore.

Words: B S Ingemann, 1825;
trans. Sabine Baring-Gould, 1867