Readings: Psalm 138,
Exodus 3:1-15, 2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1, Mark
4:35-41
Preached at First
Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY on June 10th, 2012
God said to Moses,
"Don't come any closer. Take off your sandals
because you are standing on Holy Ground." (Exodus
3:5)
A man went from the USA on a pilgrimage
to Europe to visit some of the Holy places associated with the
Reformed faith. He went to Aldersgate in England, where John Wesley
had an experience of the Spirit that left his heart 'strangely
warmed'. He went to Wittenberg in Germany and to Rome in Italy, to
where Martin Luther's incisive turnings took place. He went to
Geneva to walk where John Calvin walked.
All he found were plain buildings and
ordinary towns. It took a lot of money and time to bring him to the
conclusion that places weren't that important. What ever had happened
there was long gone and could not be distilled or captured.
If we were to go to the area of Horeb
that our Old Testament lesson spoke of, and by some chance discover
the very bush where God spoke to Moses, I'm sure it would look just
like any other desert bush. The bush only had significance because
God spoke and a person responded.
Often we look for a special place or
dramatic circumstance in which we can be confronted by God. But in
reality any place can be our special place. The problem is that
because we so easily dismiss the common place and the ordinary, we
often miss out on what God is trying to say to us or do for us. To
counteract this:-
- We need an awareness of God
- We need an openness to God
- We need obedience to God
1. Confronting God requires
awareness of God.
We can glibly say, "God is always
with me". Our actions often betray our words. We don't act like
God is always with us. We don't expect to meet God everywhere and
anytime.
Back in Horeb, had it been someone
other than Moses, they might not have taken much notice of the
burning bush, nor heard God speak. "Oh.. look.. there is a bush
on fire. That's strange, it isn't burning up. Oh well. Whatever. I'll
be on my way."
The theologian J.S. Whale observes that
if most of us saw a bush on fire not burning up, we wouldn't take off
our shoes in reverence, we'd pull out a camera and take a snapshot to
show the folks back home.
Sometimes things happen in our lives
that other people call coincidences or accidents. The eye of faith
interprets them differently and sees the working of God's Holy
Spirit. As one lady said, "I've noticed that when I pray
coincidences start to happen!"
Carrying with us an awareness, that God
can confront us through the ordinary and the every day, transforms
our every day lives. When faith is active in our hearts, any place
becomes a Christian shrine, a place of meeting with God. A school
canteen, a kitchen sink, a chance encounter with a stranger, behind
the desk at work... God can and will meet with us, if only we can
keep alive an awareness of His presence.
2. Confronting God requires
openness to God.
You can come to church and sit down in
the pew and be aware that someone is sitting next to you. They may
have sat next to you last week and may even be there next week. You
are aware of their presence. That doesn't mean any communication
takes place between you.
In order to establish a relationship
you have to talk, communicate, open up. That's why we often have
times for fellowship after services. We don't want to be just a
bunch of observers at worship services. God calls us to be a
fellowship. Openness takes communication. It has at least two
benefits.
a) Openness to God allows us to
recognize Him when He does confront us.
I used to have a friend in Wales who
used to call me up, put on a deep voice and say things like, "I
know where you are!" Tried to scare me. I always figured out
it was him, because I knew His voice and knew he was the sort of
person who played such pranks .
By the time he encountered the burning
bush in the desert, Moses had learned enough of God to recognize when
something significant was taking place. He identified God's voice.
He realized he was standing on holy ground. He took off his sandals
as a sign of devotion. It was more than an awareness of God's
presence. He opened up to hear what God had to say.
In a service of worship, we need to be
aware that God is present. But more than just awareness, there needs
to be in us a reaching out, an opening up, a heartfelt desire to hear
what God wishes us to hear. A divine initiative has taken place. In
Christ God calls to us. It is for us to respond.
b) Openness to God allows us to
truly be ourselves.
Moses was a man with an identity
crisis. His questioning of God at the burning bush was also a
questioning of himself. "Who am I? A child of Israel or a child
of Egypt? A fugitive? An outlaw? An adopted son of Pharaoh? A priests
son-in law? A shepherd of Midian?" Who was he?
In his book "The Cost of
Discipleship", Dietrich Bonhoeffer writes from his prison cell
in Nazi Germany;
"Who
am I?
Am
I one person today and tomorrow another?
Am
I both at once?
A
hypocrite before others and before myself a contemptible, woebegone
weakling?
Or
is something within me still like a beaten army ,
Fleeing
in disorder from victory already achieved?
Who
am I? They mock me, these lonely questions of mine.
Whoever
I am, Thou knowest O God
I
am thine!"
Who am I?
We know we are products of our
background, our families, our environment.... so many complex
factors. We know our lives are a strange mixture of darkness and
light, of victories and defeats, that like Bonhoeffer there is
something in us "like a beaten army fleeing in disorder from a
victory already achieved".
An encounter with God cuts through all
of that self questioning and brings freedom. To God we are someone
special. Someone God wants to confront, wants to talk with. To God we
matter enough for God to send God's son Jesus Christ to die on a
cross for. To God we are a child of potential with a capacity for
grace and who will find fulfillment in the seeking and doing of God's
will.
Be aware of God. Be open to God. And be
mindful...
3. Confronting God requires
obedience to God.
Imagine how the whole thing would have
turned out if Moses had said, "God, I hear you, but I'm not
doing what you suggest. Me? Become the spokesperson to lead the
Israelites out of Eygpt? You know me God... I can hardly put a
sentence together... let alone lead a nation!"
Jamie McDougal was a forester in
Scotland. He was the size of a house. Legs like tree trunks,
shoulders more like a grizzly bear than a human being. He was once
asked if there was anything he was afraid of."Och, I'm not
afraid of any man that walks on this earth". Then he paused and
through his beard there traced a slow grin, "But I am afraid of
one wee lassie"
"And who might that be" he
was asked.
"Why, the wife!" he replied.
Jamie McDougal was over 250 pounds, a
punch like a sledgehammer, his wife less than half his size and
didn't look like she could punch a hole through a wet paper bag. An
explanation was required.
"Oh, I'm nae afraid that she can
hurt me. I'm afraid of doo-een something she would na like. I'm
afraid of her feelings - that I might do something stoopid - and hurt
them".
If you know somebody loves you, you
don't trample on their feelings. On the contrary, love is the
greatest possible incentive towards obedience.
The love of God can confront us anytime
and anywhere. Let us be aware of God's presence. Let us be open to
God. Above all, by the grace of God, may we respond with an obedient
heart of faith, not because we are fearful , but because we know of
God's great love for us in Jesus Christ, because we know that to love
God is to keep God's commandments.
(Exodus
3:5) God said to Moses, "Don't come any closer.
Take off your sandals
because you are standing on Holy Ground."
It is the presence of God
that turns the commonplace into the holy.
May God teach us how to
honor and worship Him with our whole lives.
To God's name be all
honor, power and glory.
AMEN.
Rev
Adrian J Pratt B.D.
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