Shine, Moses, Shine
Sermon
Sermons on the First Readings
Series II, Cycle C
Object:
Have you ever had a "mountaintop" experience? We use that term to describe various circumstances -- a brilliant sunrise, a special time shared with friends or loved ones, a quiet moment of deep reflection. Such events are meaningful and important, but they are human experiences and have their place in the realm of the ordinary.
There are also glorious worship experiences, when we feel on top of the world. Momentous mountaintop experiences are exhilarating, causing us to want to preserve them indefinitely. We long to sustain spiritual and emotional moments and highs. High places are traditionally believed to be closer to heaven, therefore closer to God. The majesty of a mountain itself is a powerful presence. Mountains are a symbol of eternal endurance and stability, portraying the creator's might and majesty.
Throughout scripture, mountaintops have been places where humanity meets and communes with God. In the pre-scientific world, mountains were thought to be the dwelling places of the gods. It is on Mount Moriah that Abraham takes the giant leap of faith in laying his son, Isaac, on the altar of sacrifice. On Mount Carmel, Elijah sees the magnificent power of God in a triumph over the prophets of Baal.
Moses ascends Mount Sinai to be in the presence of God and to receive the Ten Commandments. After a lengthy stay on Mount Sinai, Moses comes down to his people at the foot of the mountain, unaware that his face is aglow with a godly radiance. His shining face is so full of the glory of God that he is a frightful sight to the Israelites, and must veil his face.
Moses had mountaintop experiences unlike any others, close encounters of the divine kind. On another mountain Moses meets God and Elijah, then Jesus along with James, Peter, and John. The voice of God makes clear the purpose of this extraordinary encounter: "This is my Son, my chosen, listen to him." Listen to Jesus, for in his words and actions you will hear and see God among us.
Both Moses and Elijah are strengthened in faith through their mountaintop encounters with God. When they join Jesus and his disciples on the Mount of Transfiguration, they are representatives of the law and the prophets. Moses knows firsthand the radiance streaming from Jesus because of Moses' own shining face when experiencing God's presence on Mount Sinai.
Moses has led an exciting life, full of drama and intrigue. In his earliest years, he sets sail in a life-saving basket, only to be plucked from the Nile River by Pharaoh's daughter. Moses, this child of slaves, is raised by royalty as the prince of Egypt, but is reminded of his roots in Hebrew slavery. After being raised in the royal palace, he throws away a dazzling career by killing an Egyptian taskmaster. He then becomes a fugitive fleeing for his life from the Egyptian police, and ends up in the desert wilderness.
Sitting by a well in the wilderness, he meets Zipporah, and later they marry. While employed as his father-in-law's shepherd, he grazes the sheep too close to Mount Horeb, also called Sinai, and notices a burning bush. Very curious about this phenomenon, Moses approaches the bush.
Suddenly a voice booms from the burning bush, "Moses, Moses!"
Realizing that this is the voice of God, Moses manages to stammer, "Here I am."
"Take off your sandals, you are standing on holy ground," the voice responds. A barefooted Moses beholds the bush, the voice, and the glory of God. A talking, burning bush is a truly hair-raising experience, but suddenly Moses is enveloped with a sense of peace that passes all understanding.
Moses and God converse, while God explains a plan to free God's people from their subservience in Egypt. Moses, in a worshipful mood, suddenly realizes that he is about to undergo another career change in midlife. He doesn't feel up to the challenge, but God promises to provide Moses with a spokesperson, and anything else he may need for the journey.
We marvel in the vulnerability of God, to be present in a simple earthly vessel -- a plain old bush -- to a sinner who is hiding from the law. God has a dream that God's people will be free from the abusive Egyptian rulers, and has a plan to bring it about. God descends into our world to become one of us as Moses embodies the presence of God for the people of Israel.
Moses seems to spend a great deal of time on the mountain with God, leaving the people in ordinary time below. Communing with God on Mount Sinai is the high point of Moses' life.1 While Moses and God are having a mountaintop experience, the troops waiting below are getting restless, wondering when shiny-faced Moses will come down from that mountain and put on his silly veil.
They had hoped to stay at the Sinai Sheraton with its expansive menu, but found instead that they were enrolled in a forty-year outward bound school. They had to sleep on the ground, making their necks stiff, and eat ambrosia off the ground every single day. The people remaining in the valley are not happy campers, and turn their eyes from God's glory to idol worship. The back-to-Egypt committee convinces Aaron to make a golden calf, and that makes God and Moses mad.
In fact, Moses is so mad that he breaks every one of the Ten Commandments when he comes back down to the people. He breaks the tablets they are written on, that is. Then it's back up the mountain for a consultation with God, and to get the Ten Commandments replaced.
Exodus is sometimes referred to as "the first book of salvation." Exodus is the story of God's rescuing the people of Israel from slavery in Egypt and bringing them, over a period of many years, to the promised land. In Exodus, the Israelites are saved from Egypt and delivered to Sinai, where they receive the law, and the covenant relationship is renewed. The law is given so the people might freely serve both God and their neighbor better. Under the leadership of Moses, the Israelites move from oppressive slavery toward service to humanity.
Anthropologist and novelist, Zora Neale Hurston, relates that her own mama exhorted her children at every opportunity to "jump at de sun."They might not land on the sun, but at least they would get off the ground. Life is a myriad of experiences, Hurston explains. From the valley to the mountaintop, "I have been in sorrow's kitchen and licked out all the pots. Then I have stood on the peaky mountain wrapped in rainbows with a harp and a sword in my hands."2 We can all identify with both the low and the high points in Hurston's life, because they mirror our life's journey.
We live in a society where "feeling good" is a high priority. Countless Christians want to make the church a forum for mountaintop highs in the form of emotional intensity. If they don't "feel"on top of the world during a worship service, then something is missing, and it must be the Holy Spirit. Yet, we know the Spirit of God permeates all of life. I am reminded of a bumper sticker that reads, "If God seems far away, guess who moved."
The Holy Spirit has been referred to as the "shy" member of the Trinity. Throughout the centuries, artists have portrayed all facets of the life of Christ: his birth, his travels and ministry, transfiguration, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. We have numerous paintings and sculptures of Moses and even artists' renditions of God, who is, by the way, created in our own image. But, there is not a museum or library or palace on earth that houses a portrait of the Holy Spirit.
It is in the valleys of life that we are stretched to our greatest potential. Martin Luther warns us about the bondage of emotionalism and the idolatry of feelings in our faith walks. We don't have to feel God's presence to know that God is present. God has given us intelligence and the ability to reason far beyond the effects of an emotional power surge.
As our faith matures, we know that God is faithful to the promises in scripture. There comes a time when we must put away the warm, fuzzy "flannel board Jesus" of our childhood. When the Bible study facilitator asked if the class knew anything about Moses, one woman exclaimed, "Moses! Of course! The one who was found in the bulrushes. I always think of him as a baby in a basket." But, it is not as a baby that Moses climbs Mount Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments. It is not as a baby that he leads his people through the wilderness toward the promised land.
The same woman remarked, "Jesus! I love to think of Jesus lying helpless in a manger. That little child, so sweet." But, time marches on, and we can't keep Moses in a basket or Jesus in a manger. We must come out of the bulrushes and up from the river.
A journey awaits each of us in this life, a journey through the waters, across the wilderness, and up the mountainside. There is a life to be lived, in quiet places, on stormy seas, beyond betrayal and mistrust to Easter morning. Our journey is filled with study, marriage, parenthood, divorce, work, travel, success, and failure. All of this and much more are part of the journey.3
God's glory becomes your own when you are chosen to be sons and daughters of God. And you are chosen. You have been chosen by God and baptized into the glory of the death and resurrection of Jesus. You are marked with the cross of Christ forever, a mark that cannot be destroyed.
Your face will glow, too, as the love of Christ fills your being. This glow works its way into the world as you serve God and your neighbor, as you shine like stars in the world. The world's glory pales when compared with being a son or daughter of the risen Christ.
__________
1. Consider sharing some of the words to the contemporary song, "Shine, Jesus, Shine" with the congregation. If it is not in your hymnal supplement, the words are available at http://www.grahamkendrick.co.uk/insight_story.htm [Accessed September 1, 2005].
2. Zora Neale Hurston, Dust Tracks on a Road (New York: Harper Perennial, 1991), p. 209.
3. Helen R. Ferguson, "The Journey,"Listen with Love (Cincinnati: Forward Movement Publications, 1992), p. 5.
There are also glorious worship experiences, when we feel on top of the world. Momentous mountaintop experiences are exhilarating, causing us to want to preserve them indefinitely. We long to sustain spiritual and emotional moments and highs. High places are traditionally believed to be closer to heaven, therefore closer to God. The majesty of a mountain itself is a powerful presence. Mountains are a symbol of eternal endurance and stability, portraying the creator's might and majesty.
Throughout scripture, mountaintops have been places where humanity meets and communes with God. In the pre-scientific world, mountains were thought to be the dwelling places of the gods. It is on Mount Moriah that Abraham takes the giant leap of faith in laying his son, Isaac, on the altar of sacrifice. On Mount Carmel, Elijah sees the magnificent power of God in a triumph over the prophets of Baal.
Moses ascends Mount Sinai to be in the presence of God and to receive the Ten Commandments. After a lengthy stay on Mount Sinai, Moses comes down to his people at the foot of the mountain, unaware that his face is aglow with a godly radiance. His shining face is so full of the glory of God that he is a frightful sight to the Israelites, and must veil his face.
Moses had mountaintop experiences unlike any others, close encounters of the divine kind. On another mountain Moses meets God and Elijah, then Jesus along with James, Peter, and John. The voice of God makes clear the purpose of this extraordinary encounter: "This is my Son, my chosen, listen to him." Listen to Jesus, for in his words and actions you will hear and see God among us.
Both Moses and Elijah are strengthened in faith through their mountaintop encounters with God. When they join Jesus and his disciples on the Mount of Transfiguration, they are representatives of the law and the prophets. Moses knows firsthand the radiance streaming from Jesus because of Moses' own shining face when experiencing God's presence on Mount Sinai.
Moses has led an exciting life, full of drama and intrigue. In his earliest years, he sets sail in a life-saving basket, only to be plucked from the Nile River by Pharaoh's daughter. Moses, this child of slaves, is raised by royalty as the prince of Egypt, but is reminded of his roots in Hebrew slavery. After being raised in the royal palace, he throws away a dazzling career by killing an Egyptian taskmaster. He then becomes a fugitive fleeing for his life from the Egyptian police, and ends up in the desert wilderness.
Sitting by a well in the wilderness, he meets Zipporah, and later they marry. While employed as his father-in-law's shepherd, he grazes the sheep too close to Mount Horeb, also called Sinai, and notices a burning bush. Very curious about this phenomenon, Moses approaches the bush.
Suddenly a voice booms from the burning bush, "Moses, Moses!"
Realizing that this is the voice of God, Moses manages to stammer, "Here I am."
"Take off your sandals, you are standing on holy ground," the voice responds. A barefooted Moses beholds the bush, the voice, and the glory of God. A talking, burning bush is a truly hair-raising experience, but suddenly Moses is enveloped with a sense of peace that passes all understanding.
Moses and God converse, while God explains a plan to free God's people from their subservience in Egypt. Moses, in a worshipful mood, suddenly realizes that he is about to undergo another career change in midlife. He doesn't feel up to the challenge, but God promises to provide Moses with a spokesperson, and anything else he may need for the journey.
We marvel in the vulnerability of God, to be present in a simple earthly vessel -- a plain old bush -- to a sinner who is hiding from the law. God has a dream that God's people will be free from the abusive Egyptian rulers, and has a plan to bring it about. God descends into our world to become one of us as Moses embodies the presence of God for the people of Israel.
Moses seems to spend a great deal of time on the mountain with God, leaving the people in ordinary time below. Communing with God on Mount Sinai is the high point of Moses' life.1 While Moses and God are having a mountaintop experience, the troops waiting below are getting restless, wondering when shiny-faced Moses will come down from that mountain and put on his silly veil.
They had hoped to stay at the Sinai Sheraton with its expansive menu, but found instead that they were enrolled in a forty-year outward bound school. They had to sleep on the ground, making their necks stiff, and eat ambrosia off the ground every single day. The people remaining in the valley are not happy campers, and turn their eyes from God's glory to idol worship. The back-to-Egypt committee convinces Aaron to make a golden calf, and that makes God and Moses mad.
In fact, Moses is so mad that he breaks every one of the Ten Commandments when he comes back down to the people. He breaks the tablets they are written on, that is. Then it's back up the mountain for a consultation with God, and to get the Ten Commandments replaced.
Exodus is sometimes referred to as "the first book of salvation." Exodus is the story of God's rescuing the people of Israel from slavery in Egypt and bringing them, over a period of many years, to the promised land. In Exodus, the Israelites are saved from Egypt and delivered to Sinai, where they receive the law, and the covenant relationship is renewed. The law is given so the people might freely serve both God and their neighbor better. Under the leadership of Moses, the Israelites move from oppressive slavery toward service to humanity.
Anthropologist and novelist, Zora Neale Hurston, relates that her own mama exhorted her children at every opportunity to "jump at de sun."They might not land on the sun, but at least they would get off the ground. Life is a myriad of experiences, Hurston explains. From the valley to the mountaintop, "I have been in sorrow's kitchen and licked out all the pots. Then I have stood on the peaky mountain wrapped in rainbows with a harp and a sword in my hands."2 We can all identify with both the low and the high points in Hurston's life, because they mirror our life's journey.
We live in a society where "feeling good" is a high priority. Countless Christians want to make the church a forum for mountaintop highs in the form of emotional intensity. If they don't "feel"on top of the world during a worship service, then something is missing, and it must be the Holy Spirit. Yet, we know the Spirit of God permeates all of life. I am reminded of a bumper sticker that reads, "If God seems far away, guess who moved."
The Holy Spirit has been referred to as the "shy" member of the Trinity. Throughout the centuries, artists have portrayed all facets of the life of Christ: his birth, his travels and ministry, transfiguration, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. We have numerous paintings and sculptures of Moses and even artists' renditions of God, who is, by the way, created in our own image. But, there is not a museum or library or palace on earth that houses a portrait of the Holy Spirit.
It is in the valleys of life that we are stretched to our greatest potential. Martin Luther warns us about the bondage of emotionalism and the idolatry of feelings in our faith walks. We don't have to feel God's presence to know that God is present. God has given us intelligence and the ability to reason far beyond the effects of an emotional power surge.
As our faith matures, we know that God is faithful to the promises in scripture. There comes a time when we must put away the warm, fuzzy "flannel board Jesus" of our childhood. When the Bible study facilitator asked if the class knew anything about Moses, one woman exclaimed, "Moses! Of course! The one who was found in the bulrushes. I always think of him as a baby in a basket." But, it is not as a baby that Moses climbs Mount Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments. It is not as a baby that he leads his people through the wilderness toward the promised land.
The same woman remarked, "Jesus! I love to think of Jesus lying helpless in a manger. That little child, so sweet." But, time marches on, and we can't keep Moses in a basket or Jesus in a manger. We must come out of the bulrushes and up from the river.
A journey awaits each of us in this life, a journey through the waters, across the wilderness, and up the mountainside. There is a life to be lived, in quiet places, on stormy seas, beyond betrayal and mistrust to Easter morning. Our journey is filled with study, marriage, parenthood, divorce, work, travel, success, and failure. All of this and much more are part of the journey.3
God's glory becomes your own when you are chosen to be sons and daughters of God. And you are chosen. You have been chosen by God and baptized into the glory of the death and resurrection of Jesus. You are marked with the cross of Christ forever, a mark that cannot be destroyed.
Your face will glow, too, as the love of Christ fills your being. This glow works its way into the world as you serve God and your neighbor, as you shine like stars in the world. The world's glory pales when compared with being a son or daughter of the risen Christ.
__________
1. Consider sharing some of the words to the contemporary song, "Shine, Jesus, Shine" with the congregation. If it is not in your hymnal supplement, the words are available at http://www.grahamkendrick.co.uk/insight_story.htm [Accessed September 1, 2005].
2. Zora Neale Hurston, Dust Tracks on a Road (New York: Harper Perennial, 1991), p. 209.
3. Helen R. Ferguson, "The Journey,"Listen with Love (Cincinnati: Forward Movement Publications, 1992), p. 5.
