[Propertalk] Proper 17 a 2017 part 1

[Robert P Morrison]

Here's the first part of this Sunday's draft.
Bob

	THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH OF ST. ALBAN, ALBANY THE THIRTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER
PENTECOST 

	EXODUS 3:1-15  PROPER 17 a  

	ROMANS 12:9-21  3rd SEPTEMBER, 2017 

	MATTHEW 16l21-28  PSALM 105:1-6, 23-26, 45c 

	 “I’d like you to do something for Me. 

	 “I don’t want you to do this without thinking. I don’t want
you to be surprised or anything. But I’m not sure how much I can
tell you, so you may not know all that’s going to be involved. You
know Me. At least a little, anyway. So that may help you make your
decision. For the rest, though, you’ll have to trust Me. And I’m
NOT from the government! 

	 “Seriously, I’d like you to do something for Me. 

	 “It doesn’t seem to matter what all you’ve done, where all
you’ve been, what your state of mind. But I DO want this to be a
conscious decision on your part.” 

	 Take Moses, for instance. Right from the get-go, he was facing
trouble. Probably conceived when the authorities had a
one-child-per-family policy, and when, unlike some societies, males
were feared. Moses was born and had to be hidden right away.
Miraculously, he was saved and grew up, an impetuous, fiery-tempered,
strong-willed teenager who was used to getting his own way. He got
into more than the usual scrapes and, when pushed and taunted, he
lashed out and had to flee the country. 

	 It was when he was settled in to a completely different style of
life, and had lost the little status he had, that the question, the
request, came to him. In the middle of nowhere, out of the blue, came
this strange sign. 

	 Now, Moses lived in a time and culture that was obviously very
different from ours. It might take a whole house catching fire for us
to do something other than, at best, calling 911. 

	 Thirty-two hundred years ago, though, signs were noticed as much for
their quietness and their unobtrusiveness as much as anything else.
Signs were important and the desert was the place where one might
become most aware of God’s interaction with humans, so Moses had to
stop, to draw closer, to try to make sense of what was going on. The
blazing bush, though, could hardly have been for him. He was, and
wanted to remain, under everyone’s radar. He was a fugitive from
justice, hated as much by his own family as by the authorities. He had
a terrible speech impediment. He was awkward. He was still trying to
get himself under control. Not the sort of person for whom the Divine
One might have fired up the bush. 

	 Yet God DID fire up the bush. This had been planned. All that was
necessary was for the unsuspecting Moses to walk by. 

	 “I’d like you to do something for Me.” That’s what the sign
said to Moses. “Yes! You!” 

	 This DID happen at the edge, the boundary, between the wilderness
and Mt. Horeb. It was a doubly sacred place, and Moses knew it. He’d
have known it well. But perhaps he was hoping to get through with the
sheep before anything untoward happened.  

	You know, there is remarkably little known about huge chunks of
Moses’ life, and because of his past indiscretions, he would have
been hoping to blend in with the scenery and get out of the sacred
places of spirituality before he could be stopped and recognised. 

	None of that carried any weight with God, though. That bush had been
marked out for a long time. It may even have had on it a sign, “Do
not clip or trim. Reserved for Moses.”  

	No matter, God needed him not because of all the trouble he’d been
in, but because God knew that Moses could be brought to overcome
whatever might seem, to others, or even himself, as hindrances. It’s
as simple, yet as difficult, as that. God speaks so often, asking,
cajoling, never threatening, reaching into the lives of so many
people, trying to persuade them to be agents of change and healing in
the world. And God can and DOES use everyone. It’s just a matter of
awakening our consciousness to the possibilities. 

	Not always, but at least some of the time, we hold back. We may feel
that we’re too tired, we’re too old or young, we’re too –
well, often we find any excuse not to get involved. It wasn’t
Moses’ problem anymore that the situation in Egypt was intolerable
for the Hebrews. Besides, even with his connection with the Pharaoic
family, he felt that he’d carry no weight. Just like us, so often,
it seemed at first glance that it simply wasn’t Moses’ job,
Moses’ place, Moses’ ability to do anything. 

	God, however, is nothing, if not persistent. God kept the flames set
on white-hot. God made sure that the bush didn’t burn up so that,
eventually, the only thing that WAS burned was the image of that bush
on Moses’ heart and brain. So much so that I’d imagine he saw that
sign of the power, the hope, the love, the seriousness of God’s
response to people in pain and anguish; it would remain with him for
the rest of his life, the image of a bush blazing passionately with
the love of God for humanity. 

	Just so, to this day, the emblem standing for the reason of the
existence of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland is that burning bush.
It symbolises for people in Scotland, Presbyterian or not; of one
faith tradition or none; it speaks out that we care; we have stood
with Moses; we have listened to God talk about how too many in
creation are being abused, and ridiculed, and deprived of the very
basic necessities for human life. And, the Church of Scotland emblem
adds, We have heard God say, “I’d like you to do something for
me,” and we’re ready to take on our responsibilities. THAT’S
what the emblem, the sign of the Church of Scotland, says to this day.


	You and I know that, “I’d like you to do something for me” can
sound OK when it’s said to us by our spouse, our child, or our
parent – someone we trust. If we know the person, and have a pretty
fair idea how that person thinks, the request may not involve too much
risk. But for Moses and his spiritual descendants, there was, and
there IS, SO much that’s unknown, that’s a mystery. 


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