Causes worthy of sacrifice

For more commentary on this week's readings, see the Reflections on the Lectionary page, which includes Webster's current Living by the Word column as well as past magazine and blog content. For full-text access to all articles, subscribe to the Century.

God sent Moses on a mission to rescue his people from oppression. He was asked to risk his life in a costly but exciting adventure--a mission of compassion and justice on behalf of a million other people.

Recently, on TV, I saw an attempt to break the world's record for having the most skydivers come together in a midair formation. On their third attempt, some 240-plus skydivers broke the record. They held on to each other in formation for 15 seconds.