by Rev. Dr John Evans
The reading from Exodus today is a pivotal, foundational passage for all of Scripture. It is a basic passage in understanding the story, the history of God. It is essential to our faith.
This reading tells us how God is to be known and named. God is to be known as “I AM” – in Hebrew this is “Yahweh”. God – is a verb and not a noun. God is within the very essence of being, life, existence and creation. God is the creator, God is the sustainer – I AM, says God, is my name.
God, we also learn from Exodus 3, is a God of justice. God heard the cry of the Hebrew people who were in slavery in Egypt – God “noticed them” as Ex 2:25 says. So Yahweh seeks to deliver them from Egypt and bring them up out of that land to a “broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey.” God is righteous and just.
And also very significantly, we learn that God acts in history – calling, in this instance Moses, to fulfil God’s will in this world. God says to Moses:
So come, I will send you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites out of Egypt.
God acts in this world through the lives of men and women.
And it is this third aspect of our story I wish to focus on today. How does God act in the world? We say simply:
God calls people.
God here called Moses; called Moses away from tending the sheep of his father-in-law, Jethro, in the region of the Holy Mountain, Mt Horeb, also known as Mt Sinai. God still today calls men and women from or into their daily routine. There might not always be a burning bush, or such a dramatic task set like leading your people to another place – but God still calls men and women.
So today, what can we learn about being called by God, when we look at this famous account of Moses and his call?
In the story of Moses it begins with a prompt, something out of the ordinary. In this instance, this strange sight of a burning bush that was not consumed by the fire. Moses was not initially addressed by God from the burning bush. If you look closely at the account, what happened was he was minding his father-in-law’s sheep and he saw – perhaps in the distance – flames coming from a bush that was not being consumed. Moses, perhaps muttering to himself, then says, “That’s interesting – I must turn aside and look at this great sight”. It only was when Moses turns aside, does the famous dialogue between God and Moses take place.
All of us experience those moments which are, well, passing strange, out of the ordinary. They are just odd and bring us up short – wondering. People have spoken to me as their minister about such experiences – a strange sense of warmth and light as they crossed the street; or another was a strange formation of clouds that spoke of God’s presence. Others speak of co-incidences that seem too amazing to be true.
I still remember one such co-incidence that was significant for me, and our congregation in Maryborough, Queensland. I was working at my desk late one Friday afternoon and there was a car crash at the busy intersection in front of the church and the manse. I raced outside and there was this old guy, in his now rather bent four wheel drive standing there looking really very flummoxed and bewildered. He was driving around Australia collecting Flying Doctor donation tins from pubs and clubs. He was from Perth. He had made a lot of money for the charity. He didn’t want his car towed away because he actually was living in it – so I offered the church grounds for somewhere he could park his land cruiser while he organised its repair. We obviously then got to know him. In time, a member of the congregation provided a caravan – and as a congregation we adopted Peter for a couple of weeks – and he enthusiastically embraced us.
But this was the amazing thing. He thought he had relations in the Wide Bay area of Queensland. He was not sure. He didn’t know where they lived. On the Friday of the accident I had just visited our church’s little private hospital – again over the road from the Church – and had seen a patient who had recently undergone surgery. I didn’t know them, they were from out of town. They had the same surname as Peter, it was a somewhat unusual name: and yes, this was his missing relation. It was an amazing experience to introduce these two people to each other – literally because one had had a car crash in front of the hospital in which the other just happened to be a patient. Peter in turn ended up caring for his relation when they were discharged from hospital. It was an inspiring story, which gave that congregation a great lift.
But back to Moses and our call. Odd events, incidents, co-incidents do occur. Do we turn aside and reflect on them – look more closely. Stop to ponder; take the hint. Go over and just investigate why that bush is burning away and not being consumed; or why this person we know seems to be at peace in the face of great adversity, while I remain unsatisfied with my rich life. Whatever. Or do we just hurry on with our self-consumed life. Take the prompt – stop, and turn aside.
For Moses, from that stopping to look, three things then happened.
1. God addressed him by name: “Moses, Moses” and then certain other instructions were given about holy ground, and shoes and the like.
2. God gave him a task. There is some background given by God about hearing the cry of the Israelites – and then the task of leading his people from slavery to the promised land is given to Moses.
3. God promised to be with him. In the face of Moses’ hesitancy, God simply says, “I will be with you”.
Moses was called; called by God. This was the pattern of his calling. Indeed the point I really want to make today is that in our lives we really just have two choices – living a life in which we hear and respond to the call of God – a life in which we have a calling, a vocation (and I am obviously not just talking about working within the church); or we have a life which is an uncalled life. Perhaps a clumsy term – but consider how hollow it is in comparison to a called life.
Having a name is a critical aspect to our identity. God addressed Moses – “Moses, Moses!” Moses responds - with the deprecating, downplaying almost denial, “Who am I that I should go to Pharoah? Who am I? You can’t possibly mean me.”
‘Who am I?’ comes from a person who is beginning to question their own confidence; from a person who has no sense of the future, or any sense of meaning. In God’s sight we all have a name, an identity, potential. Moses, Moses – God says. We are not nobodies in God’s sight.
In an uncalled life we don’t really have an identity, we are more likely to drift with the mob, the mass, the latest fad and trend. We just become a generic consumer, or worker, or supporter. And worse, we can become just nobodies.
We accepted who we are – and our gifts are recognised.
Moses also gets a task. He is told to free his people. He of course ends up doing much more – he gives them the law, he leads them, he encourages, inspires and from time to time chastises them. He does things far removed from sheep watching. He becomes a great person of history. Perhaps there is a principle at play here – the more improbable the task, the more likely it is a God-given call on our lives. In a called life there is a job to do. It might be seen in the eyes of society as being a socially very significant task; it might be seen as very ordinary – but significant and important all the same. It does not have to be within the church. It is however, your job, your calling, your vocation – your God-given task.
Of course many today feel called to make lots of money, or to be cool, or powerful or be famous. Jesus in fact addresses this particular issue with his disciples. He speaks of the need to deny oneself; of taking up his cross; of following him. Indeed this task becomes everything – because, as he says in Matthew 16, “what will it profit one if one gains the whole world but forfeit their life?”
The called life has a task; a task in service of others and based on love – like the Christ showed on the cross. In an uncalled life, we might be frightfully busy, indeed many, many people are, but they can still be totally aimless and unfulfilled. The called life is not just about jobs, or busyness – it is about purpose and meaning, fulfilling the purposes of God, of offering love to others. As the story of Moses shows God, uses us to bring about change and offer hope.
All that may seem very daunting. However, there is then this critical assurance we are not alone. At one level, loneliness is the scourge of our contemporary society. It would be the major social issue that we encounter here in our agency during the week – being alone, or missing family who are not able to be with them. God here promises Moses he is not alone. God promises us we are not alone. But God promises this to be a source of inspiration and encouragement for Moses as he undertakes this enormous task. We of course believe, as Christians, Jesus and the Spirit of Christ are offered to us – that we are not alone. We are reminded of God’s presence in our celebration of the Sacrament of Holy Communion. Emanuel – God with us.
There is a choice I believe – a called life – or an uncalled life. A life in which we hear the call of God and respond. A life in which we have our own identity, but are at the same time challenged to be a part of the mission of God: a life in which we are assured of God’s presence. Or we may choose a life that just drifts or is so self-consumed and self-focused that it is aimless and lost. As Jesus says, What does it profit you to have that sort of life?
Moses heard the call of God and responded. I hope we can do the same.
