God Revealed
Central Verse: “Then the LORD said, “I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt: I have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters. Indeed, I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them from the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the country of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.” Exodus 3:7-8 NRSV
Central Truth: This story in Exodus can be talked about in many ways. It could be used to talk about the original ‘call’ story and how every prophet after Moses, including Jesus, story tries to measure up to this. We could talk about how God decides to interact with the Israelite people, more to the point of why did he wait to interact and why did he choose Moses. We could even take my favorite topic, removing your shoes because you’re on holy ground. Or my second favorite topic, questions (like Moses has) and how we are to ask questions and whether questioning is a valid activity with God. The myriad of options that this text can be taken in present quite a challenge for preaching and teaching, on the flip side it does provide for wonderful discussion and experience of the text. A key part of this text is finding out who this God is and what the God wants of the Israelite people, Moses, and ourselves. The text is written with the intent to draw us in. We can easily see ourselves in the position of Moses seeing something we don’t understand and saying, “I’m going to go check this out!” We see ourselves in learning more about God and realizing we really don’t know God all that well. We are called here to creative understanding of this text. Ultimately this text is about a relationship that God desires with a specific person (Moses), a specific people (Israelites), and a specific place (the world). We are in the third category being invited into a relationship with a God who desires something from us, who tolerates our questions, and who still hides himself by names that are hard to fathom.
Food For Thought: (questions about the text) Verse 7 – the Exodus story has spoken volumes to the African American community over the centuries. This scripture speaks of a God who wishes none to be in slavery and to be called out of that slavery. In today’s context, this scripture has been breathing new life in relation to the disproportionate number of African Americans in the prison system. “I am that I am” could be translated “I will be who I will be” while for many years I have heard this passage used as a way of saying God made his/herself known when you read this out loud it certainly doesn’t sound this way. The name for God here does nothing for clearing up who this God is. If anything, it clouds it more. This text invites us to see God off the beaten path. God reveals his/herself to Moses in the distance, he had to go out of his way to meet God. Removing Shoes – there are two places that God request people to remove their shoes. First is here in this text, the second is in the story of Joshua. Some of the underlining idea here is that shoes are something that separate you from the ground. It’s a guard against possible damage, it’s also a sensitivity barrier. By breaking that barrier down God is inviting us to enter into a different level of relationship. A relationship that may not be safe but requires barriers to be removed so that we might experience the Holy.
Connections: (time with our society) Just a few short weeks ago I saw the Grand Canyon for the first time. There have been many first-time events since I have moved out here to Arizona and this one is certainly up there near the top but it not as memorable as the second time I went. The first week of school was over and we had decided as a celebration of the end of the first week we would jump into the car and drive the two and a half hours to see the sunset over the Grand Canyon. Not only would we see the sunset we would also stay late into the evening and see the stars and hopefully the meteor shower that was supposed to happen that night. The kids got home, we jumped in the car and took off. Stopping for a fast food meal of only thirty minutes and back in to complete the journey. When we pulled up it was over cast. The forecast was for partly cloudy but no concerns there because that should give us the best sunset! We walked up to the edge of the canyon looked toward the sunset, and couldn’t see it. It was crowded with people jockeying for the best place for a picture. We stopped though and you could see coming over the canyon a cloud creeping over and starting to rain. My wife snapped of a gorgeous picture of the sunlight coming through the rain in shades of fire. After the picture was snapped, we stood there for two minutes before the rain started to pelt us. Everyone took off running trying to avoid the rain. I knew there was no point in that and we made our way back to the car, drove to the store and bought ourselves dry cloths. It stopped raining shortly after and we sat in the dark waiting to see if the stars came out. They didn’t that night. I could have been very frustrated with the events of that evening. Instead I have a fun story that resulted in one beautiful picture and a new t-shirt. When we seek out God we expect things to happen a certain way, to look a certain way. This story in Exodus, if we allow ourselves into the story, does the exact opposite. God interacts and doesn’t tell Moses much. God appears in a bush a way away from Moses so he must go there. Moses also questions God, and instead of being rebuked, God agrees with some of his questions and sends Aaron with him instead. I will remember that night as I enjoyed laughter with my kids and wife, as we warmed ourselves up in the car eating the deserts I had packed for us to eat out by the canyon as a special time. A time when I could be with them, and I could remember how much they mean to me. But also, I experienced God in all of Gods mystery. God calls to us and teaches us in unexpected ways if we only open our eyes, remove our shoes, become vulnerable to what God is doing.
Application: Discussion Put yourself in the story. How would you feel if you saw a burning bush and heard a voice from that bush? How do you make yourself vulnerable to God? Close in prayer:
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