Deuteronomy 7:6-9 - In the second chapter of the grand story of God's people, God rescues the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob from the slavery of Egypt. God brings them through the Red Sea, meets them on a mountain in the wilderness to give them the Law, and leads them on to the Promised Land.

This is a great story about God's unfailing love and how God's calling gives a holy identity to the chosen People of God. But there are lingering questions--what about all the dead Egyptians and Canaanites left behind in the wake of God's Exodus story? What about the campaign of ethnic cleansing that marks the entrance to the Promised Land? What about the celebrations of violence in our own times--are these truly the work of God? Or does God have a better identity in mind for God's People?