EXODUS 3:1-15

3:1 Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.

2 And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed.

3 And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.”

4 When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.”

5 Then he said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.”

6 And he said, “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 surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings,

8 and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of 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 place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.

9 And now, behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them.

10 Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.”

11 But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?”

12 He said, “But I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.”

13 Then Moses said to God, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers 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.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel, ‘I am has sent me to you.’”

15 God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.

Moses, take off your sandals Moses for the place on which you stand is holy ground. That’s what the voice from the burning bush said that day.   In that sacred moment Moses came face to face with the mysterium tremendum.  The tremendous mystery.

Moses was standing on holy ground and it filled him with a sense of awe and wonder. It’s the same feeling that you get when you go to Bethlehem and stand in the grotto where Jesus was born. It’s the feeling that you get when a minister holds an infant in her arms and says, “I baptize you in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.”   It’s the feeling that you get when two people who haven’t spoken to each other in years embrace in a grace filled moment of forgiveness.

Everyone needs to stand on holy ground from time to time. When was the last time you found yourself standing on holy ground?   Unfortunately, holy ground can be hard to find these days. Instead of feeling a sense of awe people are anxious. Instead of feeling wonder people are worried.  Am I going to loose my job? Will I have enough money when it’s time to retire?  Will I be able to handle the aches and pains that you have to deal with as you get older?

Will those aches and pains leave me feeling bitter or will they bring out the best in me, like the three sisters who were still living independently even though they were all in their 90’s. One day the sister who was 96 decided to take a bath.  When she put her foot in the water though she paused and hollered, “Was I getting in or out of the tub?”  The sister who was 94 hollered back, “Wait a minute. I’ll come up and help you.”  She only made it halfway up the stairs though before she paused and hollered, “Was I going up the stairs or down?”  The sister who was 92 chuckled and rapped her knuckles on the kitchen. “Knock on wood,” she said, “I hope I never get to be that forgetful. Wait a minute and I’ll come up to help you both as soon as I see who’s at the door.”

Sometimes holy ground can be hard to find.  It’s especially hard to find when you live in a world where terrorists fly jets into buildings, put bombs in their shoes and run through hotels shooting innocent people.  It’s been ten years now since that fateful day.  Do you remember where you were when you heard the news?  While it’s important to remember the sadness and the shock of that day it’s even more important to remember the courage and the comfort that people gave to each other.

Still the events of that day beg the question. Where can you find holy ground when you live in a world where you have to live with the threat of death and destruction from the hands of evil people?  Well, that brings us back to the story of Moses and the burning bush.   After all, there were evil people back then too.  The Israelites knew that.  They knew it because they were slaves who were suffering under the heavy hand of their Egyptian task masters.   Moses was also suffering out there in the wilderness. Remember. Moses wasn’t out there in the wilderness because he wanted to be a shepherd.  Moses was out there in the wilderness because he was a wanted man.  He went into the wilderness to hide after he killed an Egyptian who was beating one of the Israelite slaves

What you see here are four different ways you can respond to evil.   The first thing you can do is throw in the towel and give up.  That’s what the Israelites did.  The second thing you can do is fight fire with fire and become evil yourself.  That’s what Moses did when he killed that Egyptian.  The third thing you can do is run away and try to hide from it all which is what Moses did when he went out into the wilderness.

The best thing you can do of course is turn to God and stand on the holy ground that Moses found that day.  

“Moses take off your sandals for the ground on which you stand is holy ground.”  In that moment Moses found God.  Or maybe it would be more accurate to say God found Moses.  Let’s take a closer look at the God of the burning bush though because this wasn’t the Santa Claus god that some people like to worship these days.

In his book “Your God Is Too Small” theologian J.B. Phillips talks about the Santa Claus God.   He makes the point that the Santa Claus God puts you in charge and it’s all about giving you what you want.  If you’ve got a problem the Santa Claus God is supposed to solve it for you.  If you’re sad the Santa Claus God is supposed to cheer you up.  If you want to be rich and famous the Santa Claus God is supposed to make it happen for you. 

“Moses take off your sandals for the ground on which you stand is holy ground.”  That doesn’t sound like the voice of a Santa Claus god to me.  What do you think? Does that sound like the voice of a Santa Claus god to you?  Or does that sound like the voice of a God who is high and holy; a God who is large and in charge.  You can see that this is a God that is large and in charge by looking at the next two things God says to Moses.  The first thing God says is, “I have seen the affliction of my people….I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to…a land flowing with milk and honey.”

The second thing God says to Moses is, “I am who I am.  Say this to the people of Israel, ‘I am has sent me to you.’”

Notice that God doesn’t say, “I am the Creator.”  God doesn’t say, “I am the Shepherd of Israel.”  God doesn’t say, “I am Your heavenly Father.”  God just says, “I am who I am.”  In other words, “Moses, don’t try and put a label on me because I am bigger than any name that you could ever give to me.  So, don’t ever forget this one simple truth.  I am bigger than you Moses but that also means  I am bigger than Pharaoh.  I am bigger than the injustices that are all around you.  I am bigger than Muammar Gaddafi, Osama bin Laden and all the other tyrants who bring fear and hatred into the world.  So, tell the people I AM sent you.” 

Randolph Nugent is a Methodist minister.  For twenty years he served as the General Secretary for their Board of Global Ministries. He tells this story. Shortly after the Soviet Union crumbled, the Board sent a team of doctors and nurses to work in a Russian hospital.  As they worked side by side with their Russian counterparts the missionaries shared their faith with them.  They read the Scriptures, sang hymns and even prayed together.   One day the missionaries got on a bus with their hosts and went out into the countryside. They drove through beautiful forests and after a few hours the bus stopped.  The missionaries and their hosts got out of the bus and walked down a path until they came to a barren wasteland.  Not trees.  No flowers.  No birds.  No little animals. Nothing.  At that point one of the Russian doctors turn to the missionaries and said, “This is ground zero.  This is where our government tested its nuclear weapons (a government by the way that ridiculed the existence of God).  Tell me, can you sing your songs of faith, even here?”  There was a moment of silence and then one of the missionaries began to sing, “Jesus loves me this I know for the bible tells me so.” And other others joined in, “Little ones to him belong, they are weak………….but he is STRONG.  Yes, Jesus loves me.  Yes, Jesus loves me.  Yes, Jesus loves me, the Bible tells me so.”

In that moment they went from standing on ground zero to standing on holy ground. 

There is holy ground all around you even in a world of terrorism and terrorists.  All you have to do is make sure that you’re God isn’t too small.  Amen.

Rev. Dr. Richard A. Hughes                                                                                 August 28, 2011