Sermon Exodus 3:1-15

"Do not come any closer," God says. "Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground."

This sense of holiness seems lost on our age; except perhaps in moments that we encounter newness of life, or the fragility of life. At birth; at death. Times when we become aware that our human creativity is silenced by the first cries of an infant. And in the stillness of death, the profound mystery which under-girds human existence there is a holy humility; an indescribable reverence.

I am pleased with Bethan's sense of planning for worship. The candle symbolizing the presence of Christ; our little burning bush. And the Bible too, the sacred story of our spiritual ancestor's encounter with the Living God. When I worship amongst you I get the sense that, along with Bethan, that what we are doing here is important, purposeful, creative … holy. It's not perfect, but its holy.

Holiness is at the core of today's text; God's holiness. God warns Moses that to come close to God is dangerous. You'd better take off your shoes. I like this part of the story, perhaps because I'm an unusual Caucasian, in that when you come to my home I ask that you remove your shoes. No I'm not petty not its not just that I come from Saskatchewan where it's muddy. It is about respecting the grace of the host. You enter someone's house knowing that you are welcome by their grace. Your take off your shoes as an act of thankfulness for the hosts grace of letting you into their home.

And to enter into the presence of God, the place where God dwells is the ultimate grace. But it is more than grace, since Moses is afraid to even look at God lest he die. This is a strange concept for us mainline people who tend to see such stories depicting a wrathful God, not the un-wrathful God shown in the New Testament with Jesus.

Why should Moses fear looking at God? I did some research and found that in the Bible, "to look at someone was to assume a position of equality or superiority". Our text today shows that at the root of God's nature is a God who will not and can not allow another to take over God's creativity and grace. God won't give up God's job to anyone else.

God is God and Moses is not. God is God and we are not. And thank God for that, since humanity has not shown itself very worthy of claiming itself god-like. Oppression, injustice, holocausts, genocide … slavery, often even in the name of God; The cry reaches up to heaven itself and God answers, God comes down. God enters the story of humanity.

As the text says this is a specific God, the God of specific people. Not just goodness that we call God, or principles of justice which we name as God. The text names a God who is in human relationships; the God of Jacob, the God of Isaac; God is being made known through these relationships with specific people. Emmanuel, God is with us. This morning we have an incarnational event; God is present physically in the burning bush. But why has God shown up on this particular mountain to this particular person named Moses.

God tell us why God has shown up and see how God's nature is revealed to us through God's concerns. God has seen what the Egyptians are doing. God has heard the cries of the oppressed. God has come to free God's people. God has come to redeem the curse of humanities cruelty, and make us into people who express lives of creativity and blessing; what was intended by God from the beginning. Here we see a God who restores and reconciles. And later on in our sacred story, we shall see this nature ultimately reflected and enacted through Jesus Christ. "Here is my beloved son, with him I am well pleased. Listen to him." Jesus, God with us, restores our humanity not through violence, but through the self-giving of God on the cross.

Notice something you who are tempted to reject the Old Testament and the violence that God wields there. For we know that as Moses crosses the sea, that God will close the waters over the oppressors army and kill them. Just as days before an Angel of Death visits suffering upon the Egyptian overlord's first born children.

This IS the same God as the New Testament. In the Old Testament discovered the most common descriptor of God is merciful. God acts with mercy. And God acts with purposefulness and in a limited way. The violence that IS God's prerogative is used to bring the people out of bondage and into the promised land; And for us who would find God in the Old Testament wanting should consider humanities record of unlimited and capricious violence done in the name of greed, nationalism, tribalism, and racism; often even done in the very name of God Take off your shoes humanity, you are walking on holy ground; walk gently and mercifully.

And if we do respond to God and take off our shoes, the Good News is that God will give us new ones.

God says to Moses, "So come, I will send you to Pharaoh to bring my people out of Egypt." I will send YOU. Uh-Oh … trouble. No wonder Moses voices a series of doubts. He has been called to a very dangerous deed; return home where he fled after being involved in a political murder. He is called to return, in the name of God, challenge the status quo in the name of a foreign God.. He is to confront the oppressors and lead his people into an uncertain future through the wilderness to a new promised land. He has no army. No plan. No war chest. Just the presence of the Living God!

Yes, God says he will not be alone. How is God present? The text doesn't say, but God has promised. Faith will be required on this seemingly impossible mission.

This is not enough says Moses, "We must know your name." Up to this point, the people know God as the Creator. The One God, ruler of the Universe, but not God's name. God replies, "I am who I am". The name is a formula that speaks of creative power, fidelity, and presence. The God named has the power to create. The God named causes life to be; being itself comes from this God if you want to be philosophical about it. It is an interesting way to look at God, especially for us westerners who are steeped, whether we know it or not, in Greek Philosophy. We want to develop pure principles regarding the nature and origin of God. Profound proofs upon which to stand. Unshakable rules for the nature of the Divine life. Four Pillars and God's your Uncle. We want a philosophical system, either simple or complex, it doesn't matter; we want control.

However, this morning we discover, God is unwilling to provide such a way of being with God. God instead provides God's self in relationship with a particular people, and eventually in a particular person; Jesus of Nazareth. And God provides a relationship with us through community in the church; the body of Christ. God seeks to be known in relationship; in shared mission as we journey with God; as we create with God, as we walk along with the oppressed, with God's presence guiding us.

And as we are tempted to turn back and believe that such a thing is impossible. AGAIN names our spiritual ancestors; Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and of course Sarah, and Rachel and Hagar. God says, "See what I have done in the past; to know me, see what I am up to. See me giving people the power of being, the power of newness. Look at my relationship with the people of Israel and you will know me. Look at the lives of people who have walked with me. Look at what I am doing and know me. Join my story and know me.

Listen, to know what kind of God is calling us is to tell the stories of faith; is to live the story of faith. Ours is a God that can not be reduced to manageable formulas, or boxed in by creeds, or contained even in a multi-volume systematic theology. Knowledge of the living God requires testimony; witnesses who will place all their life into the story of this living God who says, "Moses, Moses; Shane, Shane; Marni, Marni, Shiloh Sixth Avenue, Shiloh Sixth Avenue. People who respond to this wonderous God by saying, "Here I am."; And Parents who respond to this God by saying, "Here are my children."

And to those who respond God says, "You are my sons and daughters, come and share my mission, share by life, share in the story, share in my creativity, share in the Divine compassion; be my mission; add to the testimony of Israel; add to the testimony of the church.

Ours is a God who is known through the testimony of a host of people who having been encountered by holiness of the living God, take off your shoes, take off your old lives through the waters of baptism, and put on a whole new life through Christ you ordinary people like Moses, ordinary people who through the power of God have and shall accomplish mighty works of grace. And tell future generations of what good things God has done. AMEN.