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07.03.2010_Lent 3
| 07.03.2010, 18:04 | |
| Rev. Tatiana Cantarella Psalm 63:1-8; 1 Corinthians 10:1-13; Luke 13:1-9; Exodus 3:1-15 3rd Sunday of Lent/March 7, 2010 Slowing down to encounter the "I am who I am” As I begin this sermon I must confess a drop of hypocrisy. As a pastor I call people to slow down the pace of their lives, to stop and gaze upon God, although I myself am one of those people who never stops running around on some errand, never stops trying to solve the problems of the whole world, never stops taking care of her flock. In the midst of all that busyness the voice calling me to stop and meet with the Lord, even if just for a minute, has gone unheard more than once. I spend a lot of time preparing every sermon and, periodically, when a week turns out to be particularly busy and I have to get a lot done I go to the cache of sermons I’ve created over the last 11 years of serving as a pastor, pull out an old one, and adapt it for the present situation. That is just what I wanted to do this week in order to free up about 10-15 hours of time so I could get other things done like preparing my report for District Assembly, hospitably greet our director Clive, make it to the doctor, go get some books at the Christian book store and so on and so forth. But I just couldn’t get past the story of Moses and the burning bush that we heard today. This story is meant, first of all for me, but also for you and for everyone who suffers from the "busyness of the big city.” It is a story about a person who stopped and set aside what they were doing in order to meet with the living God. That encounter renewed in Moses’ life both God’s call and Moses’ fulfillment of it. Moses, about whom we read in Exodus, is a wanted person, sought by the whole court police of Egypt. He is a refugee because as he tried to defend his fellow Hebrew slave he killed an Egyptian slave master. His flight leads him to the other end of the Sinai Peninsula, to the city of Midian, where he marries a local woman and, most likely, plans to live out the rest of his life. His "exile” was very comfortable. He had everything he needed: a wife, a son, his father-in-law is a well-to-do priest, they have a lot of land and a large flock. The terrible memories of the past gradually dissolve in time: both God’s call on Moses’ life to lead the Israelites out of slavery and his failure to carry out God’s plan, a failure caused by the murder he committed. All of that gradually gets forgotten in Moses’ peaceful, cozy life, where he has everything he wants. But once, as he is pasturing his father-in-law’s flock in the desert, he ends up at mount Horeb and notices a burning bush in the middle of the desert. He starts explaining the phenomenon: probably lighting struck, or maybe spontaneous combustion, or perhaps a ram hit its hoof on a rock and the spark grew into a flame? Or maybe it isn’t even burning at all and it is just a mirage in the desert... but no, you can smell the smoke and see the waves of hot air, rising above the bush. The strangest thing of all, though, is that it continues to burn and no matter how long Moses stands and looks, not a single branch turns to ash and falls. The bush glows in the flame like a burning coal, but it isn’t consumed and Moses decides that he needs to take a closer look (Exodus 3:3). The Lord waited to speak until He saw that Moses had left his flock, allowing them to wander off in order to pay attention to the miracle taking place right before his eyes. Then and only then did he speak from the bush, calling Moses by name: "Moses! Moses! Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground” (Exodus 3:4-5). That isn’t really the safest idea -- to take of your shoes near a fire, but Moses submits and God reveals Himself to him. He is not one of the local Midianite gods, but the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God who hears the cry of His people in Egypt and despite Moses’ first failure, still plans to deliver Israel from slavery and lead them to freedom, to a land that flows with milk and honey. And God is still planning to do all of it through Moses, which seems like a bad idea. First of all, Moses is wanted by the authorities for murder. If he returns to Egypt, it would be best to plead guilty. Secondly, Moses is skeptical about his own leadership skills: "Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” (Exodus 3:11). Moses is just like those of us who have long ago decided that all of these beautiful transformations and divine plans might be real for some, but surely not for us. The old American cartoon about the sailor Popeye reflects well this ancient, universally human sentiment of hopelessness. This puny little sailor gets strong when he eats a can of spinach, but in his weak moments he usually says: "I yam what I yam.” In Popeye’s famous words there is always a note of sadness, and he uses the phrase to try and justify his misfortune. He believes that no growth or change in his life can happen and that he will never be any different. It is as if he says to us, "Don’t indulge in a lot of vain hopes on my account and don’t expect that much out of me. I yam what I yam.” And in his darkest moments he adds, "and tha’s all what I yam.” This is the plaintive cry of all of humanity, including Moses. "Who am I, that I should go to Egypt?” The Lord doesn’t console Moses like we might expect. He promises neither safety in Egypt nor a concrete plan; he simply says "I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain” (3:12). "I will be with you” -- that is enough, and the sign will be that what I say will come to pass. The important thing is not who you are, but who I am, and that I chose you. "But Who are You? It’s not that I doubt you, but if my people ask me, ‘Who sent you?’ what should I tell them?” God’s answer is mystifying, and literally means, "I Am Who I Am.” It is as if God is trying gently to say to Moses, "That is none of your business,” putting him in his place and saying once more, "Don’t worry that you are who you are, because I Am Who I Am.” Moses decides to trust, to accept the call, and even though he never sees God face to face these meetings with the God of the burning bush become for him "incendiary.” After future talks with God the face of Moses will shine with a light that makes the people around him so afraid that he has to veil his head. But the story ends with Moses, just like God said, leading the people of Israel into the Promised Land and becoming the first hero of the faith. That’s all fine, you might say, but that was earlier, in the good ol’ days when there were bushes burning, angels appearing to people, pillars of fire being sent to people in the night, the sea parting, and all sorts of other signs of God’s presence. We would give anything for even just one burning bush in our life to call us by name and tell us what to do! Maybe we just don’t want it bad enough? Maybe we are always so busy in this big city that we wouldn’t even notice a burning bush in all the bustle? It seems to me that we are so consumed by everything that we need to get done that we wouldn’t even notice a burning bush until we got burnt. And anyway the problem lies elsewhere. If we saw Him, it is possible that we would be afraid -- afraid because He knows about me and my past, about the times I’ve fallen, the times I’ve failed. Afraid because of what He might call me to do. Perhaps it is better for me if I’m so busy with my own stuff that God doesn’t even notice me, or that He sees how much I have to do and calls someone else to be part of His plan. I’m not sure that we want to hear what plans God has for us and therefore shrug our shoulders, drop our head a little lower, and do our own thing. Burning bush? I haven’t seen any bush. Burning bush? I don’t have time for such fantasies. Burning bush? There’s some scientific explanation. Burning bush? We need to put it out right away so that there won’t be a fire! We envy people like Moses who get to see burning bushes, but at the same time we do everything to avoid such "situations” in our own life, filling it with all sorts of different activities. But the Scripture today is meant to remind me and you that God’s presence is everywhere in His creation, but only those who stop to notice Him, to really bow before Him in worship and readiness to answer the call. Elizabeth Barrett Browning, the famous Victorian poetess wrote the following lines: "Earth is crammed with heaven, and every common bush is on fire with God; but only he who sees takes off his shoes; the rest sit around it and pluck blackberries.” She is trying to say that our problem is not that God doesn’t give people burning bushes any more. She believes that every bush in our life burns with the holy flame of God’s presence. God is constantly trying to get our attention, but we are so busy "gathering berries,” "pasturing our sheep,” worrying about our own needs and getting what we want that we neither see nor hear how God is trying to get our attention. But God is able to and desires to change us and our life through every situation we find ourselves in. Just like Popeye the sailor man we repeat "I yam what I yam and tha’s all what I yam.” But God reminds us to raise our head, look into the sky and see the incalculable quantity of stars in it. "I hung them all,” He says to us, "and give each of them a name. The most important thing is not that you are who you are, but that I Am Who I Am. Just stop, turn aside in order to see Me reaching out my hand to you; I’m the One Who promised never to leave you or forsake you. See Me in the sun, peeking out from behind a cloud to remind you that I will change your sorrow into joy. Stop and you will hear in the rough roaring rapids how I say to you that I know how hard it is for you in this rough time of your life, but soon there will be a quiet, still time so you can rest.” Stop, look at the majestic maple, whose branches are raised upwards; try, like the maple, to raise your hands and eyes to the sky and you’ll suddenly understand that this is a gesture of gratitude and you yourself will be filled with gratitude towards God. This week I ran across Mick Jagger’s song, "God gave me everything,” that says: You can see it in a clear blue sky I saw it in the midnight sun You can see it in a woman’s eye & I felt it in the race I won You can hear it in your baby’s cries & I hear it in a wind storm You can hear it in your lover’s sighs & I feel it in the icy dawn You can touch it in a grain of sand & I smell it in the wine I taste Yeah, you can hold it right there in & I see it in my father’s face the palm of your hand & I hear it in a symphony Feel it around ya everyday & I feel it in the love ya show for me, Yeah! And Hear what I’ve got to say, Yeah! God Gave Me Everything I Want, now come God gave me everything I want, on... I’ll give it all to YOU, but now come on... I’ll give it all to YOU, but Crazy......you said It’s all in.......your head I don’t know what exactly Mick Jagger believed it was possible to see, hear, and sense in everything, but Moses, Elizabeth Browning and a lot of others saw it all and in everything saw God because they were ready to stop and turn away from their bustle, to slow down and pay attention to what God wanted to do in their lives. If the words of Popeye, "I yam what I yam and tha’s all what I yam,” are your words today, then ask yourself, "when is the last time I slowed down and stopped long enough to pay attention to the presence of God all around and heard His voice calling me by name?” The Lenten fast is a wonderful opportunity to begin slowing down. Will you be ready to stop, take off your sandals, and proclaim that wherever you are is holy ground because God is there, so close that every neighboring bush, every colleague at work, every person waiting in line, the clear blue sky, the traffic jam, and the grain of sand in your palm burns with the fire of God’s presence, just waiting to say something to you. But just as with Moses, God will only do that when you stop and pay attention, turn aside from what you are doing and move closer to have a look at that simple tree, at that familiar or unfamiliar face, at every moment in our day, big or small, desired or coincidental, good or bad, and you will be able to see in them God’s presence and hear His call. Believe that whatever happens God is there and you can trust Him because He Is Who He Is. And finally, if you dare, take one more step. When you start to see burning bushes all around you, be ready to burn with that fire yourself, so that others might discover God’s presence and calling in you. Remember how Moses’ face shined with a bright light after his encounter with God? Let your face shine with that unusual light that at times burns, but never devours. With Him we will never be alone because the One, Whose name is "I Am Who I Am” is always with us, has always been with us, and will always be with us. Will we slow down the pace of life to notice Him and His miracles, of which there is an incalculable quantity right in front of our eyes? | |
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