Here we are at the beginning of a new program year in the life of Decatur Presbyterian Church. School has been in session for a few weeks now. For those of us who do not live by the school calendar, things may seem very much the same. But in the rhythm of our community, today is a new day, the beginning of something. Our children and youth kicked off a new year of Sunday school and small groups and service and we, as a church community, are kicking off a new theme for the year. We will explore the idea of Wide Open Doors in the coming months. We will ponder what Wide Open Doors means for us personally as individuals and corporately as a body of believers. We will reflect upon what we do while we gather here inside these doors and how we live out our lives as followers of Jesus beyond these doors. We will open wide the doors of our hearts and our minds. We will wonder and discern about who God is calling us to be and what God is calling us to do. It’s a big task and, for my part, I think a good place to start is with God who has called us into being: the God of our ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. So, listen now to the word of our Lord from Exodus 3:
Exodus 3:1-15
3 Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian; he led his flock beyond the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of a bush; he looked, and the bush was blazing, yet it was not consumed. 3 Then Moses said, “I must turn aside and look at this great sight, and see why the bush is not burned up.” 4 When the Lord saw that he had turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” 5 Then he said, “Come no closer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” 6 He said further, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.
7 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, 8 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. 9 The cry of the Israelites has now come to me; I have also seen how the Egyptians oppress them. 10 So come, I will send you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.” 11 But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” 12 He said, “I will be with you; and this shall be the sign for you that it is I who sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God on this mountain.”13 But Moses said to God, “If I come to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” 14 God said to Moses, “I am who I am.”[a] He said further, “Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘I am has sent me to you.’” 15 God also said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord,[b] the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you’: This is my name forever, and this my title for all generations.
This is a great story. I love this story. It is one of the foundational stories of our faith. And I learn something new from it each time I read it. It’s heartening to know that Moses is out doing his thing, minding his own business, minding the flock and God shows up. What I hadn’t noticed before was that the story tells us that Moses led the flock out beyond the wilderness. Now, when we talk about spiritual matters we sometimes refer to the wilderness. We mean the wilderness of our lives when perhaps things aren’t going well or life isn’t exactly what we thought it might be. The wilderness is where we are tried, where we learn, and is often where we must rely on God because we have no alternative. I think some of the best stories in scripture are the stories that take place in the wilderness.
So, this story tells us that Moses is beyond the wilderness. That may simply mean he has gone past his usual territory. But even that idea works well for me. Looking at our world and our country and the general state of things, how many feel like we’re in new territory? How many feel like we might be beyond the wilderness? Far beyond the boundaries of what is familiar and safe and manageable. It’s been a tough week. It’s been heartbreaking and confusing. It’s been frightening, quite frankly, though I’ve seen hope manifested in those who are standing on the side of love, peace, and inclusion. The events of Charlottesville, the statements that followed, and the aftermath that continues to follow those events. It’s all been a bit unreal though we know deep down that hatred, bigotry, racism, and white supremacy are alive and well in our country. That is reality. The reality we must face, as followers of Jesus Christ, is that hatred, bigotry, racism, and white supremacy are sin. These things go against everything we stand for as disciples of Jesus. And, as followers of Jesus Christ, we must confess that sin, name it as such, and stand against it. It may seem like an obvious thing but the events of this past week have shown us that it may not be quite so obvious. To me, it feels like we’re beyond the wilderness. And most of us, like Moses, are minding our own business and tending whatever flocks we have to tend. But it’s when we’re minding our own business and tending our own flocks that God shows up.
If we are familiar with scripture, we know that God shows up…on mountaintops and in valleys. God shows up as a voice calling in the night. God shows up in the whisper of the wind, in good times and in bad times, in the lush pasture and the wilderness and even beyond. God might just show up in a flame of fire out of a bush. I’ll tell you I’ve often prayed for that, for God to show up in a burning bush. Or maybe in a neon sign. Anything that’s obvious and out of the ordinary and perfectly clear. It doesn’t often happen that way, though, which means that we must pay attention. We must keep our eyes open. We must open the doors of our hearts. We must be aware and curious about the world around us so that we will notice when God shows up. Another thing I noticed for the first time in this story is that Moses made a conscious choice to see what the burning bush was all about. “I must turn aside and look at this great sight, and see why this bush is not burned up.”, he says out loud or to himself or perhaps in his heart. We are told this specifically. Moses could have kept on minding his own business and tending the flock but he chose to look. His curiosity won out that day. And God called him by name. Moses, Moses, take off your sandals for you are standing on holy ground. This is God, by the way, the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.
Moses hides his face, as one does in the presence of the Almighty, and God continues talking. I have seen my people suffering, God says. I have seen them oppressed and enslaved. I have observed their misery and heard their cries. And I want you, Moses, to go and set them free. Moses has his buts all ready. But I can’t. But I’m not worthy. But I’m not able. But I can’t possibly be the one you want. But I’ve got these sheep and my flock to tend. God says, I’ll be with you. And Moses has one more but. But who will I say has sent me because you know they’re going to ask and the God of your ancestors isn’t going to cut it. It’s either a genuine question or one more excuse or a power play. To possess the divine name would be quite the party trick. We’d all like the Almighty on our side, I think. God’s response is perfect. God said to Moses, “I am who I am” or more elusively “I will be who I will be.” Thus you will say to the Israelites, “I AM has sent me.”
You see, there’s a future cast to this divine name. God cannot and will not be boxed in. God cannot and will not be defined in terms that we mere mortals can understand. Far from a party trick or something to be possessed, the divine name tell us something about God. This answer tells us that it may be that in order to know who God is, we have to sign on to God’s mission in the world. There’s really no other way around it. Moses doesn’t ask for God’s name again. He doesn’t have to. Moses does what God asks. He leaves behind his comfortable life and heads off into danger knowing full well that God is with him. Moses learns who God is by doing God’s work in the world…by liberating the oppressed, by following God’s commands. This is true for all of our ancestors in the faith. Abraham went into an unknown land that God would show him. Jacob tried to run from God but God never stopped calling him. God shows up, you see. God opens the door to us and we must choose what we will do. Turn away or behold, stay or go, fear or trust.
I wonder how often we miss the burning bush or choose not to turn aside and look. It’s certainly easier to turn away, to go about business as usual, tending your flock. There’s a risk in turning aside to look. The risk is that we might be called to action. God might call us by name and ask us to go into an unknown land or speak truth to power or stand with the oppressed. As Presbyterians we believe that God is at work in this world, actively, creatively. There are burning bushes all around us, I think. Places where God needs us to go. Things that God needs us to do. For God hears the cries of the oppressed. God stands with and for the marginalized. And we are called to do likewise. It’s easier to pretend we didn’t hear God calling our names. It’s easier to come up with excuses like Moses did. It’s certainly safer and more dignified. But when we stake our lives on the gospel of Jesus Christ, we don’t get to opt out of God’s work in the world. We don’t get to pretend like we don’t hear when God calls us by name. We don’t get to turn away when oppression and poverty and marginalization and deep need are staring us in the face. God hears the cries of the oppressed and asks us to do something about it.
That’s why we’re here. We walk through the doors on Sunday morning and we take our seats and we wait for God’s voice. We don’t take our shoes off but we know that this is holy ground. We come here because I AM has called us by name and brought us to this place. This is where we are honest before God, where we confess and receive forgiveness. This is where we affirm our faith and where we are reminded of the call on our lives. This is where we receive instruction and marching orders, where our souls are stirred and our hearts are opened. This is where we are nudged by the Holy Spirit and equipped to go out and do all that God has called us to do. Because we walk out of the doors at the end of our time together and we know that God is present out there in the world. We know that this sanctuary is not the only place we will find the God of our ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. God is with us wherever we go and wherever we are. I’m sure that Moses was afraid when he realized who it was that was calling his name and when he heard what he was being asked to do but once he turned aside to behold the fire and heard God’s call he had to go. He couldn’t go back to tending the flock and to his comfortable life.
I don’t want us to be afraid to turn aside and look. I don’t want us to feel as though the risk to our own lives and our own way of doing things is too great. The call of God is a risky thing. God may call you to do something you’re afraid to do. God may call you to go to places you’ve never gone before and God may not even give you a map. God may call you to stand with and for the oppressed, put your own reputation on the line, give voice to the voiceless, speak truth to power, and love your enemies. I know it’s scary. I know it is. But God is with us. God is with us here in this place. God is with us out there in the world. God is with us at home and at work, on the square, riding MARTA, at the protest, the food bank, the shelter, across the world anywhere God calls you to be. We want to focus on Wide Open Doors this year…the doors of our hearts, minds, and souls, as well as the physical doors of this building. It’s risky to keep the doors open. We feel safer when they’re closed. Open doors mean anyone can come in and open doors beckon us to go out. But God is with us here and there.
Who shall I say sent me? “I am who I am, I will be who I will be.”
Amen.
Rev. Alex Rodgers
Decatur Presbyterian Church
Decatur, GA
August 20, 2017
