DATE: September 7, 2014
SCRIPTURE: Exodus 3:1-15 – Full text included after the sermon
©Rev. Alison J. Buttrick Patton
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Do you remember Moses? Baby Moses put in a basket and floated down the river, to hide him from Pharaoh? See, the Egyptian Pharaoh was afraid that the Hebrew people, his slaves, might multiply and take over his land, so he had ordered the midwives to kill every Hebrew boy. But don’t worry: the midwives refused to do this. And when Moses was born, his mother wrapped him up and floated him down the river, where an Egyptian princess found him, plucked him from the water and decided to raise him as her own son. So Moses grew up in Pharaoh’s palace. As a young man, Moses witnessed an Egyptian soldier beating a Hebrew slave. He got so angry that he lost his temper and killed the Egyptian, trying to defend that Hebrew slave. Well, then he had to flee for his life. So he left Egypt and traveled to the land of Midian, where he married the daughter of the priest, Jethro. That’s where we pick up the story. Moses, child of two cultures, is living in exile, tending the flocks that belong to his father-in-law…
It’s a dramatic story, perfectly suited for the big screen:
One day, Moses leads Jethro’s flocks away from the family tents and out across the desert, “beyond the wilderness,” according to one translation. To the very edge of solitude. No one to talk to but the sheep. No cell coverage. No sound but the munching and shuffling of his flock, the tap-tap-tap of his walking stick and the occasional buzz of insects in the heat.
As Moses walks, something catches his eye, somewhere off the beaten track: a bush on fire in the middle of the wilderness, blazing but not burned up. All flame and no ash. Pause the tape here, because I want to point something out. Moses, who is all by himself in the desert, sees a burning bush and walks TOWARDS it. If this were a movie, this is the moment when we’d be shouting out to the characters on the screen: “Wait! Hold up! Go back! Can’t you hear the scary music?? Fire: bad. Run away!”
But Moses doesn’t run away. His curiosity gets the better of him. This is a good thing, as it turns out, because God, Godself is somewhere in that burning bush – Bright, blazing, one part terrifying and two parts awesome. Imagine how Moses’ heart must have pounded in his chest, as he stood in the very presence of the Creator of the Universe. Imagine how his knees must have knocked together. And while his knees are knocking, God speaks to Moses, and says: Take off your shoes; for you are standing on holy ground. Holy: because it has been kissed by the divine. Holy: because at that very spot Heaven and Earth have somehow temporarily converged; The Divine Self has touched down onto that little patch of wilderness and called Moses by name.
“Moses!” God says. “Moses!” “Here I am,” Moses replies.
“I have seen the suffering of my people. I have felt their pain. So I am sending you as my emissary back to Egypt, to set my people free.”
Moses – standing there barefoot on the electrified earth, his toes tingling and the hairs on his arms all standing on end … What can he say? “Are you crazy, God? What are you thinking? You don’t mean me, do you?” He looks over one shoulder, then over the other, confirms that he is still the only one around – other than the sheep and the burning bush. And so he asks: “Why God? Why me?” resistant maybe, or perhaps it’s just his curiosity stirred up again; Moses’ way of saying, “Tell me more, God.”
To which God answers, “I will be with you.”
Pause the tape again. Did you notice that God doesn’t actually answer the question, “Why me?” God doesn’t list Moses’ credentials, his pedigree, his portfolio. God doesn’t comment on Moses’ suburb sheep-tending skills; his family line; his courage or good looks (or lack thereof). God just says, “I will be with you.” Full stop. “Who you are, is my messenger. What matters is not what you think you can do, Moses, but who goes with you.”
That’s what Moses gets for being curious. A charge and a promise: Go. I will be with you. And it’s what we get, too, when we turn aside long enough to listen for God’s voice, when we encounter burning bushes and allow our curiosity to lead us, rather than our fear.
“But Pastor Alison: Surely there are no burning bushes around here. That’s a tale from another place, once upon a time in a land far, far away. Who’s seen a burning bush, lately? We’ve seen a burning church, some of us. One that DID burn up. One that left us wandering in our own wilderness for a time. But we’re all really clear that God wasn’t in that fire.”
No. No, indeed. God was not in the destruction that took our church home. But God has surely been here, calling us by name. “Saugatuck Church,” says the voice. “I have heard the cries of my people. I have heard the cries of women and men undone by addiction; and those overcome by hunger. I have felt the pain of young people diminished by hurtful words, and young people felled by violent acts; I know the suffering of those imprisoned – by the bars of a jail or the wages of depression; I have heard those cries… So I have come to deliver my people, to set them free and lead them to a wide-open place.”
Sisters and brothers, you may want take off your shoes, because we, too, are standing on holy ground. Here, on this lawn, God meets us. Pause; take notice; inhale and exhale…find the earth…can you feel the tingling in your feet? Here: on this very patch of wilderness, as we stand in between our church and the world, as we stand on this threshold, as it were, ready to go back in AND ready to go out… here on this holy ground God speaks to us. It is the same voice that Moses heard, charged with love and pain. It says: “Remember who and whose you are.”
We are “A Community of Christ, Welcoming All People, Learning to Love and Serve God and Neighbor.” That’s what it says in our vision statement. We are a congregation with a rich history of partnership in Westport; we are people who care deeply about the connections between faith and action; we are folks full of questions – and that’s a good thing! We value both service and study; we know how to laugh, and how to play. We celebrate the creative gifts of all ages. We are nourished by prayer and determined to make a difference in the world… We are an amazing mix of creative, inquisitive, determined, thoughtful, devoted, skilled and talented, tender, tenacious, passionate, faith-full folks…
And all that is remarkable, but it’s not the most important thing. The most important thing, as we journey together, is who goes with us.
You see, we are part of that cosmic drama that stretches way back toward the beginning of time; and arcs far into the future, toward the renewal of God’s whole creation. This is the plot: Act I: God makes the first move. In an act of extravagant love and grace, God says, “I will set my people free.” In the book of Exodus, Moses gets headline status. Later on, another voice chimes in, a man named Jesus, who picks up a Torah scroll in the temple and reads: “I have come to proclaim release to the captives…” Again and again, God leads us from bondage to freedom; from hurt to healing; from death to new life. Again and again, God says, “I will be with you.” This is God’s gift to us, freely given.
Act II: We respond. Like Moses, we may squirm, or ponder, question or query. And God waits, but not forever. Eventually, God says, ‘No more questions. We’ve got work to do; heart-mending; community-restoring, life-transforming work to do!”
THAT’S the story of which we are a part; and this is the God to whom we belong: A God who acts first – before we do anything at all; a God one part terrifying and two parts awesome, who touches down in our very midst in order to unleash love in the world.
And we, Saugatuck Church, we are called to live our lives as God’s emissaries: conveying that love, dismantling injustice and building beloved community. That’s our purpose, our call.
Is it a daunting task? Just getting our own stuff in order and moving back into the church, all the unpacking and planting, preparing and planning, can feel like a drain on all our resources. Some days we may even ask, “Why us, God? this task, it is too big, and we are too few…” But here’s the thing, sisters and brothers: We journey with a purpose; this church we build, we build it not for our own sakes, but for God’s sake, because God has a ministry in store – for us, for all those God sends our way. Whether we think we can do it, on any given day, is not the point. Because God who sets this path before us, God remains with us to empower us all the way. If ever you doubt that, if ever you lose sight of that greater purpose – that loving, healing, life-renewing purpose – look to Moses. Take a deep breath; steady your stance; pray to be more curious than fearful. Lean into whatever comes next; watch for burning bushes. See whether you can’t discern God’s holy, awesome, abiding presence through the very soles of your feet. Sisters and brothers: The air is charged; the call has gone out; we are not alone. Thanks be to God!
Scripture Texts
Exodus 3:1-12 — Common English Bible Translation, adapted
1 Moses was taking care of the flock for his father-in-law Jethro, Midian’s priest. He led his flock to the edge of the desert*, and he came to God’s mountain called Horeb. 2 The LORD’s messenger appeared to him in a flame of fire in the middle of a bush. Moses saw that the bush was in flames, but it didn’t burn up. 3 Then Moses said to himself, Let me check out this amazing sight and find out why the bush isn’t burning up.
4 When the LORD saw that he was coming to look, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” Moses said, “I’m here.” 5 Then the LORD said, “Don’t come any closer! Take off your sandals, because you are standing on holy ground.” 6 God continued, “I am the God of your father, Abraham’s God, Isaac’s God, and Jacob’s God.” Moses hid his face because he was afraid to look at God. 7 Then the LORD said, “I’ve clearly seen my people oppressed in Egypt. I’ve heard their cry of injustice because of their slave masters. I know about their pain. 8 I’ve come down to rescue them from the Egyptians in order to take them out of that land and bring them to a good and broad land, a land that’s full of milk and honey, a place where the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites all live. 9 Now the Israelites’ cries of injustice have reached me. I’ve seen just how much the Egyptians have oppressed them. 10 So get going. I’m sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.”
11 But Moses said to God, “Who am I to go to Pharaoh and to bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” 12 God said, “I’ll be with you. And this will show you that I’m the one who sent you. After you bring the people out of Egypt, you will come back here and worship God on this mountain.”
13 But Moses said to God, “If I now come to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ they are going to ask me, ‘What’s this God’s name?’ What am I supposed to say to them?” 14 God said to Moses, “I Am Who I Am. So say to the Israelites, ‘I Am has sent me to you.'” 15 God continued, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The LORD, the God of your ancestors, Abraham’s God, Isaac’s God, and Jacob’s God, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever; this is how all generations will remember me.