EXPERIENCING GOD’S CALL TO SERVE
Today’s Scripture Lesson is a great story, isn’t it? I LOVE the story of God appearing to MOSES in the burning bush. It’s a story SO good that it was featured in a very successful MOVIE a few years ago, The Prince of Egypt. But I love it because it’s the kind of story that is strange, miraculous, and MYSTERIOUS. In fact, it’s IMPOSSIBLE to explain it.
One of the things I love MOST about it is that it’s a story that happens to a VERY ordinary person in a VERY ordinary place. And WE can RELATE to it because you and I are ORDINARY people. To this ordinary MAN, Moses, the voice of GOD speaks, and it CALLS him to embrace a DIVINE mission. And it the PROCESS, the story of MOSES offers US several LESSONS that illuminate our OWN stories. In fact, I hear at least FOUR lessons in this story.
First, Moses is ALONE, out in a place called HOREB. And the name HOREB literally means WASTELAND. It’s a lonely, DESOLATE place, just RIGHT for a man on the RUN! Moses has STRUCK and killed an Egyptian TASKMASTER, who was BEATING a helpless Hebrew SLAVE. SO, Moses has had to FLEE to Midian, to the home of his father-in-law, JETHRO. And it’s THERE, as Moses watches over Jethro’s SHEEP, that we FIND him in HOREB, that desolate WASTELAND of a place. Now, NOTICE that Moses is NOT in CHURCH, or in a TEMPLE, where one might EXPECT to be encountered by God. In fact, Moses is not even LOOKING for, or EXPECTING, a meeting with GOD. And Moses is NOT a priest or a prophet. He’s a MURDERER, a MAN on the RUN, and he’s SCARED to death!
SO, the FIRST lesson that I see in this passage is that, sometimes, God COMES to us WHEN and where we LEAST expect it. I’m sure there are people here TODAY who could tell a story of what it FEELS like to be on the RUN, either physically or emotionally, hiding out, CROUCHING in some LONELY place, a place that’s sought out only because it IS lonely. And yet, that LONELY place was the VERY place where God FOUND you, the very place where God CAUGHT you and CALLED you! In my OWN case, it was in the LONELY place of GRIEF and DISILLUSIONMENT. I felt like LIFE, the world, and LOVED ones had ALL let me down. And I was SCARED and HURT. In just 8 years, 10 SIGNIFICANT people in my life had DIED, ALL of them under 40, except one. And I HURT! It was a WILDERNESS place for me.
Secondly: in our Scripture Lesson, a BUSH bursts into flame, yet it is NOT consumed? And FROM the flame comes a VOICE. Now, how would YOU have responded to such an UNEXPECTED sight? Well, MOSES turns TOWARD the flame. He is fascinated and CURIOUS at what he sees. You see: God has made us CURIOUS creatures. WE want to know WHY. Something INTRUDES into our lives, something that we may not have SEEN before, something that has no PLACE within our normal frame of reference, and we turn TOWARD it. We LOOK at it curiously.
And THAT leads us to the SECOND lesson. Sometimes God comes to us, and calls forth from AMONG us, the CURIOUS, those who DARE to turn and look, and those who DARE to enter into DIALOGUE with the divine. SOME of you may BE here TODAY, in CHURCH, because you are CURIOUS. Maybe your FRIENDS may describe you as very SPIRITUAL. Maybe you are FASCINATED by things that OTHER people find a little bit beyond the fringe, OUTSIDE our normal consciousness, things that don’t easily FIT into our USUAL frames of reference. SOME people, seeing something STRANGE, or MYSTERIOUS, would say: That’s WEIRD. I can’t EXPLAIN it, so I really don’t want to BOTHER with it. But YOU, on the other hand, say: Yes, it’s WEIRD, but it’s WONDERFUL! Let me turn TOWARD it! Let me EXPLORE it! Let me ENJOY it! Well, God can WORK with CURIOUSITY, so KEEP your curiosity, EVEN if it sometimes feels like DOUBT. Like MOSES, turn TOWARD the flame, and SEE what you can SEE.
MOST of us live rather FLAT, uneventful lives. Oh, we live BUSY lives alright, but they’re so FLAT and uneventful! But EVERY so often, I think God pulls back the CURTAIN that stands between US and ETERNITY. Every so OFTEN, we get a little flirtatious and fleeting PEEK, a little GLIMPSE of the DIVINE, of GOD and God’s own BEING. And it’s like a BURNING BUSH! Maybe it’s in the first glimmer of LIGHT on an August morning, or a bright pink SUNSET. Maybe it’s in the FACE of a CHILD, or the TOUCH of someone you LOVE. Maybe it’s in a WORD, or a line of music sung by a choir or band. Maybe it comes in the glance of someone who is POOR, or someone carrying a SIGN for a JUST cause. Well, go ahead and turn TOWARD that flame. SEE it! RELISH it! Be CURIOUS about it!
You see: THAT’S the THIRD lesson in today’s Scripture Lesson: just as God chose an ORDINARY bush in the DESERT as a means of REVEALING God’s SELF to Moses, SO God STILL seems to choose everyday OBJECTS and EXPERIENCES to CONFRONT us, to SPEAK to us, to CALL us, and to REVEAL God’s SELF to us.
Back in the 1980’s, my wife was part of The Great PEACE March, just for the last DAY, as they FINISHED the march in New York City. Well, AFTER they had crossed the Brooklyn Bridge and were gathering outside a CHURCH, where they would soon hear a CONCERT by Odetta; Peter, Paul & Mary; Pete Seeger; and others; Diane was sitting there with a much older woman, a woman she’d met while walking. And Diane was complaining about how TIRED she was feeling, and how her FEET hurt. And not only was she TIRED, but she was also SCARED! THIS was NOT in a very NICE section of New York, and she knew VERY few people there. PLUS, she had not DONE a lot of DEMONSTRATING before, so this was really STRETCHING her COMFORT zone. And AS I said, THAT leaves a person RIPE for an encounter with the DIVINE. Well suddenly, this much older woman said to Diane, Take off your SHOES. And when Diane DID, the woman knelt down in FRONT of Diane without a WORD and began WASHING and MASSAGING her FEET. Well, if you KNOW Diane at all, you KNOW that she is the most CURIOUS of beings, and the most SPIRITUAL of souls. She is EASILY awed, and VERY easily moved to TEARS. And ON that day, as she looked at that much older woman washing her feet, Diane SWORE that she saw JESUS. In fact, to THIS very DAY, she STILL swears that it was JESUS who washed her feet that day in New York City. And the tears STILL well up in her eyes whenever she SPEAKS about it. And it was only LATER that she learned that that MUCH older WOMAN had walked ALL the way across this ENTIRE country in that Great Peace March.
SO, what I’m SAYING is this: perhaps ALL of us should better pay closer ATTENTION to the seemingly ORDINARY people and places, things and events, in our lives, because MAYBE, just maybe, there’s a BUSH there, bursting into FLAME! And IN it, MAYBE, just maybe, the VOICE of GOD is calling out YOUR name and MINE. Yes, keep cultivating your CURIOSITY about such lowly things because, in the hands of a LOVING God, even the most LOWLY things have the capacity to become SACRAMENTAL, SPIRIT FILLED!
Well Moses, ONCE he had SEEN and HEARD, was FILLED with fear. He was AFRAID to look at GOD! And YET, he STAYED there, and he SPOKE! He had a DIALOGUE with the DIVINE! And THAT brings us to our FOURTH lesson. SO far, ALL of it has happened because GOD took the INITIATIVE to MAKE it happen. The whole ENCOUNTER was GOD’S idea! It WASN’T something that Moses sought out, or PREPARED for. Moses was not LOOKING for a closer relationship with God, and Moses CERTAINLY didn’t want to be given some risky MISSION to perform on God’s behalf. No, the CALL of Moses, the CHOICE of Moses, to be God’s MESSENGER to Pharaoh, was GOD’S idea. GOD had heard the cries of an OPPRESSED people, and GOD went about the task of OVERTURNING the current POWER structure. God had BEGUN doing it with a BABY in a BASKET, floating among the REEDS on the River Nile, as we talked about LAST week. But NOW, God was CONTINUING to prepare for a BIG move against PHARAOH and his EMPIRE! ALL the gifts and abilities that Moses had accumulated through the years, both by nature and by God’s GRACE, and in fact, even the WEAKNESSES of Moses, would NOW be USED by God for GOOD, for JUSTICE and for LOVE. And LATER, when Pharaoh would ask, Moses, who SENT somebody like YOU to come and harass and command ME, Moses would reply VERY honestly: THIS is all GOD’S doing. The LORD is DIRECTING me!
So, Moses took off his SHOES, because he UNDERSTOOD that the ground upon which he was standing was HOLY ground, HOLY because THERE, an EXCHANGE had taken PLACE between GOD and humanity, an INCARNATION. THERE, in that WASTELAND called HOREB, God called a HUMAN being to SERVE the DIVINE. THERE, on that now HOLY ground, GOD Almighty had reached down and grabbed an ordinary HUMAN life for EXTRAORDINARY purposes. NOW, the story of MOSES was about to be commandeered and made a part of GOD’S story! And THAT’S why it is HOLY ground!
Now, I’m TELLING you all this because I can’t help but wonder if the story of MOSES isn’t YOUR story as well. Sometimes we don’t do a very good job connecting our OWN lives with the lives of people in Scripture. But I’ll bet that SOME of you have had God COME to you at some HOREB, some PLACE you thought to be LONELY, DESOLATE and SCAREY, some WASTELAND in your life. And God TOUCHED your CURIOSITY and MADE you LOOK. And MAYBE, you even dared to enter in DIALOGUE with the divine. You weren’t out there LOOKING for God, but GOD was out there looking for YOU! GOD chose some ordinary, everyday experience or person to speak YOUR name, and CALL you FORTH, and ENLIST you for God’s SERVICE. And YOU, like Moses, HAD to respond: Well, I may not be the BEST person for the JOB, O God, but I guess I’M the person You’re CALLING. And ALL of it was GOD’S idea, NOT yours. And if someone ASKS you, as they have ME many times: What is a person like YOU doing in a place like THIS? ALL you can SAY is: I heard GOD calling my NAME. And that’s ALL I can tell you. Yes, MAYBE the story of Moses is YOUR story.
But IF, by chance, Moses’ story DOESN’T fit your story; IF, by chance, Moses’ story DOESN’T relate to some experience that YOU have had; IF, by chance, you have NOT heard God calling YOUR name: well, ALL I say is this: WAIT! Just WAIT! And MAYBE, try stepping OUT of your COMFORT zone. And THEN, when you DO see a burning bush, turn TOWARD it and LOOK at it. And KNOW that it CAN, and probably WILL, CHANGE your life. Amen.
(My thanks to William H. Willimon for contributing to this sermon, Pulpit Resource, July-September 2002.)