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.”
The Divine Name Revealed
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.” 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, 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.
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This sermon was originally preached for Redeemer Episcopal Church, for a specific people in a specific context in a specific time. We believe in a God that transcends time and space, so I hope these words can speak to you too. You can read the sermon below, listen to the sermon here, or watch the whole worship service here.
Let us pray: Lord of all power and might, you are the author and giver of all good things. You are God. Let us never deny that. And always depend upon it. Through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever. Amen.
Some of you might remember from some of my previous sermons or conversations that we have had, that I did my year-long seminary internship in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Which, in case you aren’t sure where Malaysia is, because I didn’t when I was assigned there, Malaysia is in Southeast Asia, around Thailand and Cambodia and just north of Singapore.
In Malaysia, it was common practice for people to take their shoes off when they entered a person’s home. It was mostly about hygiene — you don’t want to track all the rest of the world into the home — but it was also about respect. I came to understand that a person’s home was holy ground, it mattered that you were invited into that space. The encounters, the conversations, and the transformations that would happen in that space were holy.
In the first reading this morning, we hear about this wild, sort of mystical experience of Moses’ interaction with God through the burning bush. It’s a story many of us know well— it’s the story of Moses’ call from God, the beginning of what will eventually be the incredible story of the exodus of God’s people from enslavement into freedom.
Moses is keeping flock and and angel appeared and set a bush on fire, but the bush was not burning up. Moses was curious and got a little bit closer and God called out to him. Moses Moses!
And if a burning bush started calling to me, I’d run the other way quick. I mean my own personal history tells me that this is how I react to God’s call.
But Moses was faithful and knew that God was up to something, so he responds, “Here I am!” Then God commands that Moses take off his sandals and reveals Godself to Moses.
Then God gives Moses these really lofty commands to go to Egypt, approach Pharaoh, and demand that the Israelites be released into freedom. This is Moses’ call story. This was transformational, incredible, holy ground.
So this got me thinking a little bit about the holy ground that we encounter today. What does it mean to step onto holy ground and encounter God?
When I think about the times when the people of God have encountered God, it is usually when God wants them to go someplace they’d rather not go. I think of Jonah, refusing to go to Nineveh.
I think of Moses, really not wanting to mess with the Pharaoh in Egypt. I think of Jesus’ disciples when Jesus wants to go basically anywhere— and especially in the text we heard this morning when he says they have to go to Jerusalem and it might get them killed. God’s people often hear when God is calling, but that doesn’t mean that they want to go.
Perhaps I identify so much with this because this is often where I encounter God as well. Before my arrival in Malaysia for internship, I interviewed with the national Lutheran church leaders to see where they might place me. There were placements all over the world— the UK, Bratislava, Uruguay… all sorts of places. Malaysia was last on my list. It was too far away from my family, I didn’t think I liked Southeast Asian food… I didn’t want to go. Plain and simple. So when they told me that I’d be spending the year in Malaysia, I cried and cried and cried. I was mad at God and said, “why would you send ME there? Send someone else.” I considered backing out at least a dozen times before I left.
After seminary, my husband Daniel and I spent a lot of time discerning where we might want to go for our first assignments as pastors. Florida was definitely on our “never want to live there” list. So of course, that’s where we were assigned. And we cried and cried and cried.
But what we didn’t know was that God was coming near to us, we were about to be set on a journey that would change us, that would transform us, that would put us onto holy ground.
When God’s people, who we learn about in the Bible, encounter God and step onto holy ground, they do not alway respond helpfully either.
When God comes to Moses in a burning bush and says “go into Egypt and free my people,” it is really no surprise to us that Moses, a lowly shepherd, says “who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” Who am I? Why would you want to send ME?
When Jesus tells his disciples that they have to travel back into the very dangerous city of Jerusalem and it will almost definitely mean suffering and death for Jesus there, Peter says “no! This can’t be so!”
God is really good at calling people into uncomfortable, unimaginable, and sometimes dangerous situations. And God’s people are really good and saying, “but I don’t wanna!”
But notice what God does with that answer. When God hears “I can’t” or “I don’t want to,” or “who am I to do this big incredible thing?” God doesn’t remind us of all the things we’ve done before or try to make us feel good about ourselves. God does something that I think is pretty phenomenal.
God says, “It doesn’t matter who you are. It doesn’t matter what you have or haven’t done. It doesn’t matter if you’re too weak, or not smart enough, or not ready. I AM GOD.” God says that the ONLY thing that matters is that God is God, and that God is equipping us for the road ahead.
It doesn’t matter who we say that we are, what matters is who God is and what God has done, what God is doing, and what God will do.
God is God, who created the heavens and the earth, who made everything out of nothing at all, who led the Israelites out of slavery and into freedom. God who, over and over again, delivers God’s people from oppression and hatred and sin and into life. God who did the impossible by taking on flesh to walk among us in Christ Jesus. And in death on the cross defeated death and all the forces of evil. God who is, right now, in the midst of death and pain is bringing about resurrection. God is God.
That is the hope we have, that is the assurance we have when God calls us to do big, incredible, frightening things. God is God. And we are not. Thanks be to God.
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