"So Moses said, 'I must turn aside now, and see this marvelous sight' " -- Exodus 3:3
Look at the graphic above. What is it? Can you describe it? Most certainly it is unusual and a marvel of graphic technology and a designer's imagination. Now, imagine that you, like Moses, saw such a sight off in the distance on the side of a mountain. Would you not, too, say, "I must see this marvelous sight." Still, having seen it, how would you describe it? My step-son said it was a "colorful rainbow donut." Moses called what he saw a "burning bush;" a bush that wasn't being consumed by what he described as "fire." But, was it a really a bush, or something only the word "bush" made sense of? Look, again, at the graphic and try to describe what you see. Even today, our modern minds, used to wonderous new discoveries, find it difficult to describe the indescribable? Astronaut Buzz Aldrin, standing on the surface of the Moon in 1969, described what he saw as "magnificent desolation." But, how does the desolation on the Moon differ from the desolation in the Wilderness of Israel, the Gobi Desert, Death Valley or the vast Sahara? In such moments adequate words escape us. God has been described as speaking in, or from, "a whirlwind" (Hos. 8:7, Job 38:1, Jer. 4:13 and Is. 66:15), but the ancients, like we moderns, spoke only in terms of what they could understand. In our sermons, lectures and theological writings we continue to search for the words that describe an encounter with the Holy? God is often described as a "Mystery," so how do you describe the mysterious? For starters, I suggest that we step outside the box to get beyond quick and literal interpretations of what we see. I believe that is precisely what we are being asked to do when God calls. Step outside of our dogmas and predisposed expectations for the ground we are walking on is Holy. Yes, Moses described his encounter as with a "burning bush," but was that, perhaps, the only way he could describe what he saw? Again, I ask, what do you see in the grapic above? I am not suggesting that this beautiful graphic represents the Holy, but I am suggesting that we be open to how God reaches out to us. Is it in the helping hand of a stranger; the comfort and understanding of a friend; the sudden realization that our lives are not what we had imagined it would be, or can we see it in a mysterious, whirling, twirling graphic? How do you describe that which is mystery? Jesus said that understanding comes to those with "eyes to see and ears to hear" (Matt. 13:15). Such understanding requires us to think beyond what our eyes are telling us. We, too, long to see such a "marvelous sight" and to hear a voice say, "the ground you walk upon is holy." Such an encounter brings us into the Presence of God, just as it did for Moses. But to get there requires us to think outside the box of our predispositions and attitudes. The problem of salvation is in the sanctified thinking that once saved they can continue to live their lives as before with all their prejudices and jealousies, pettiness and sin, just as they did before though, now, sanctified. The truth is, it doesn't work that way. Sanctification means to change one's heart; to become a 'New Creation' open to the Call of God to be a light to the whole world. Like the woman taken in adultery and about to be stoned to death (John 8:1-11) who was saved by the Presence of Jesus who told her to "Go, and sin no more." That is the point of salvation. Of course, the penalty for not following Christ's admonition to "go and sin no more" is death the next time the woman is brought to the stoning ground only to find that, this time, Jesus isn't there. To be confronted by the Presence of God, in whatever form or shape one is presented, requires us to think outside the box of our preconceptions and, thereafter, to walk humbly with the Great Mystery that surrounds us and moves within us and drives us to be vessels of His Glory to the world.
No comments:
Post a Comment