Readings were Exodus 3:13-17 and John 8:39-59

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Can any of you remember what we’ve been talking about over the last couple of weeks? Our theme has been ‘On holy ground’. We’ve been reflecting on the story in Exodus, in particular the burning bush and the dialogue between Moses and God.

The first week we reflected on what might look like if we took time to investigate situations in life that God might use to speak, call, or affirm us. Last week I talked about what was meant by ‘taking off our shoes’  – that it is about showing respect to our Holy God, but also respect to others and ourselves, recognising that we are made in the image of our Holy God. Today, I want us to refocus on God’s name ‘I am who I am’ a name that Jesus also uses in our Gospel reading.

Moses desired to know God’s name so he could make God into one of his own making. I’ve talked about this in the past – culturally knowing someone’s name meant you had power over them. Moses wanted to at least control the situation and possibly what this divine figure could do for him. In response God says:

I AM WHO I AM

What does this mean? It means that God can’t be confined by any one definition or placed in a box that makes sense to any one individual. It also means that like Moses, we will only find out who God really is by moving with God.

The translation of I AM WHO I AM can also mean I SHALL BE WHO I SHALL BE.

Which signifies that God is both active in the present but also in the future. God has heard the heart cry of His people and has come down to do something about it. He, in all His Holiness and Power comes to deliver His people from slavery. God doesn’t just hang around the mountain top with an 80-year old man who has just taken off his sandals.

No. God, (and God didn’t have to do this by the way), God on His way to set His people free, invites a human to be intimately involved in His activity of salvation. But the only way Moses will discover who this God is, is by putting his sandals back on and moving in the direction God is going.

As Moses followed God he found out that I AM WHO I AM is:

• holy
• faithful
• loving
• jealous
• powerful
• forgiving
• and is with Moses and willing to do all to save His people.

(Try putting all of that is one word to express properly who God is!).

In the New Testament, we hear Jesus respond to the teachers of the law and the Pharisees – who are disputing his authority,

before Abraham was born, I am!

I AM

The Gospel of John witnesses seven ‘I AM’ statements of Jesus.

I AM the bread of life

I AM the light of the world

I AM the door

I AM the good shepherd

I AM the resurrection and the life

I AM the way, truth and life

I AM I am the true vine

I AM – I Am in the Father as the Father is in me

Jesus is saying

I have all authority because I AM WHO I AM

And we know that only by following Jesus did the disciples find out who Jesus really was, as they witnessed:

• His holiness
• faithfulness
• love
• jealousy
• power
• forgiveness
• and salvation, in a way that didn’t fit their assumption of how people needed to be saved.

That is, they thought God show overthrow the Romans occupation through power. Instead, God though Jesus was tortured and then crucified to bring salvation, for us as Christians to know Jesus, we can’t simply wait in Church – or stand on a mountain top, like Moses. We get to know Him by following Him – knowing that He is with us – into the places that need light, into the lives of people who long for the truth – or who need to experience deep nourishment.

Are we willing to venture forth with Jesus and in doing so get to know Him in ways that break our limited assumptions?

A lot has happened over the last year concerning the Dixon St Café – a couple of weeks ago we celebrated the one-year birthday. It has been one year since I was invited to bless the building and meet with some of the tenants.  It was one year ago where I heard stories of the tenants and how they wanted a place to build community.

Now, we as a faith community could have left it there. But we noticed something out of the ordinary – a burning bush moment. We went and investigated and in doing so heard God’s call for us, as a church, to go with ‘I AM WHO I AM’ to support, care, love and empower our neighbours.

Before we went, we worshipped God. We removed our sandals in reverence to HIM and remembered that all are made in God’s image. We were reminded that God would go with us. And in going we have come to know God greater and to love our neighbours more. We have learnt that God cares for all people, not just those like us.

On a personal note, I have learnt, in moving with God, that God is amazingly generous, in ways I could never have planned –

• calling for volunteers and they turned up
• requiring food for around 50 people each week and it was provided in abundance
• someone with knowledge of the issues the tenants faced offered his time and skills

I don’t want this to sound clichéd but in all honesty I did go into this idea thinking St John’s would bring God into a very difficult situation – I should have known that God was already concerned for the people who lived in the flats, well before I was.  It is I who has – and continue to – learn from the people there, about God and the love God has for all people.

It is I who has learnt that with Jesus with me, the places we walk, work, live, serve coffee, are Holy – therefore they are places where we show reverence and respect.

As we finish the series ‘On holy ground’, I hope you remember to look out for those moments in your life that God might be calling you to something new or different or where God is affirming you.

That as we worship we remember to take our shoes off and in doing so show reverence to our HOLY GOD, and respect others and ourselves who are made in the image of God.

And finally, rather than trying to box God in, rather than trying to name God, we go if God calls and in doing so, get to know God, in new and amazing ways.

Readings were Exodus 4:1-17 and Acts 7:30-34

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I shared last week that over the next couple of Sundays we will be exploring the story of Exodus and what it means to walk ‘on holy ground’. Last week we heard the story about Moses and His encounter with God through a burning bush. We reflected on how Moses chose to investigate something out of the ordinary and through that investigation was met by His God. In doing so he was called by God to change the direction of his life and the life of a nation. I then asked you to think about the moments in your ordinary lives that God might what you to investigate and in doing so hear His call or affirmation.

Today I want to talk about shoes. By the way, this may sound simple, and maybe it is, that is, to understanding – but I believe to live it out, to apply it to our lives is what is hard.

We know that Moses wore sandals because God commanded him to remove them. So we can assume he wore them prior to the burning bush incident. Of all the things for God to begin dialogue with Moses, it was to ask him not to come any closer and to take his shoes off.

In the ancient world, it was common for people to remove their (shoes) sandals when entering a temple. Some scholars suggest that this might have to do with not bringing grime from the outside world into a sacred place.

In Madagascar, Lala and I often travelled by a diesel bush taxi from the capital to the little village we worked in. We would catch the taxi in a place that was often extremely muddy – the ground would be a slop of mud, leaking diesel, water and waste. One day, someone was trying to push his overloaded rickshaw through the mud and I decided, instead of watching, to help. The muddy slop quickly filled any unprotected areas of my boots – the tread of the boots became filled with everything that was in the mud (I didn’t want to think too hard on what that might be). If I had worn the boots inside, not only would I have trampled mud (and other things) through the house, I would have shown total disregard for others in the home.

Removing shoes then, is a sign of respect similar to removing a hat when entering a building, or perhaps removing a nose ring when entering a strict parent’s house. Maybe we would understand the story better if God asked Moses to remove his nose ring?

Other commentators see the removing of (shoes) sandals as a sign of submission, since slaves generally went barefoot. Though we can’t be sure of the original meaning of (shoe) sandals removal, for Moses it was surely a sign of reverence before God, as well as an act of obedience to God’s command.

Take your shoes off Moses because they are covered in dust, dirt and manure – and this is a Holy Place, because it is where I AM.

This is the point I want us to focus on today. Respect.

Over the years, I’ve noticed a change in how we respect God, others and even ourselves. When it comes to respecting God – I believe there is a balance. Of course God desires relationship with us. Today we will celebrate Holy Communion, where all are invited, to take part in the meal, to remember and celebrate God’s gift of love shown in the action of Jesus.

Like Moses we can argue and negotiate with God. We can be ourselves with God, warts and all. But do we, like Moses, remove our shoes? Do we recognise the dirt in our lives, the stuff we cling to, the rubbish we hold on to, and are we willing, obeying God’s command to forgive and be forgiven in Jesus, to put aside those things? Are we willing to recognise again, God, who is Holy, all-wise, all powerful creator of the universe, a God worthy of our reverence and submission?

As we respect God, I believe it changes the way we see others and ourselves. As we respect the Holy one who created us, we are reminded that we are all made in His image.

Therefore, we are to show respect to others. This doesn’t just mean, opening the door to someone, although that’s a great thing to do. But it is about respecting the life of each person, a life moulded and formed with precision, passion and love, a life uniquely gifted. When we disrespect someone we are spitting in the face of the Holy one who created them.

An example

A shopper was left devastated when children stopped to point and laugh at her severely disabled daughter in Tesco – only for their mother to join in. Bethan Germon, 30, was shopping in the supermarket in Fforest-fach, Swansea, when two young boys started to point and laugh at her one-year-old toddler Lydia. But to the horror of mother-of-two Ms Germon – who has also had to regularly deal with online abuse from trolls – the boys’ parent then started to join in. She said:

I was dreading going to Tesco as supermarkets are the worst place for horrible comments and behaviour.

What is happening in our world, where even a mother, who is struggling with her daughter’s illness, is unable to go shopping because of fear her daughter will be made fun of?

Often disrespecting someone is more subtle, however. Pornography is seen as something that is done in the privacy of the home, therefore doesn’t really hurt anyone. And yet not only is it destructive to relationship, it disrespects God’s intent for human intimacy. It wipes out personhood, and it disrespects women and men .

What are some of the things we do in our lives that disrespect others?

Respecting ourselves

I want to show you a video from a series called ‘I am Second’, which is a series of stories of people struggling with real life issues.  The video we will watch now is of Ashley Rawls, who shares how she struggled with self -hate. Ashley shared how she struggled to respect herself – she always felt she need to be better, until she remembered God’s love for her and that she was made in God’s image

I wonder, do we like Ashley, disrespect ourselves – are we always trying to fix something about ourselves to the point it causes us to hate ourselves.

As we remove our sandals (our shoes) out of respect/reference of our Holy God, let us also remember our call to respect others and ourselves because we are made in the image of our Holy God.

Action

As we get ready for Communion, I want you to take some time reflecting on what it might mean for you to ‘remove your shoes’?

With God’s help are you ready to let go of the things in your life that disrespect God, others and yourself?

Readings were Exodus 3:1-15 and Matthew 16:21-28

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The Old Testament reading today is a story that is a favourite to many, myself included. Today we hear about a:

• man called Moses
• burning bush that doesn’t burn
• voice from God
• fearful listener
• request to remove sandals because of being on Holy Ground.

A story that has been captured in a multitude of ways through film and media.

The problem with the reading today is that is jumps in from chapter 3 so we miss finding out who Moses is and how he ended up being this figure chosen by God. So briefly for those who don’t know.

• Moses was a Hebrew who used to live in Egypt
• As a baby he was rescued and brought up in the household of Pharaoh’s daughter
• When he was around 40 years old (about my age), he saw one of his own people treated harshly – his response was to kill the Egyptian responsible
• Out of fear for his life he fled Egypt and settled in the desert of Midian, got married and looked after his Father in laws’ sheep
• By the time he experienced the burning bush, he was around 80 years old

In that time he would have had 40 years to try and forget his past. Moses is often held up as a faithful follower of God, someone to exemplify as a leader extraordinaire (and he was) but he was also very human, like all of the characters in Scripture. He was brave and cunning, a risk taker but full of fear, a justice seeker who committed murderer, and an outlaw who was a father and husband.

It is this human man, doing the ordinary, with the burden of his past and family expectations of the present that God meets him in an extraordinary way. It is on a normal day that he is met by the divine and told he is standing on Holy Ground. Not only that, but that God has chosen Him, with all his baggage, to be involved in what God is going to do to save not one harshly treated Hebrew, but all of them!

What I love about this story is the honest dialogue that happens after God calls Moses. Even though Moses is talking with God and has witnessed the miraculous, he still has enough will and memory to raise concerns and fears. Even in the face of the Divine, Moses is himself, and is able to not only refuse God but negotiate with God – to the point that God graciously, in future verses, allows changes to His plan.

What is really amazing in this dialogue is that Moses dares to ask God’s name.  Why? Because to know a name is to have a certain power over it.

Which is what makes God’s answer so perfect:

I AM WHO I AM!

Which really means, in a sense, “Don’t box me in, Moses!”  You can negotiate with me and I will never force you to do what I ask. But you will never control the Divine, for I am Creator and you are creation. I choose to call the weak and broken hearted, the outcast and outlaw but ultimately, with love, it is on my terms!

We’ve prayed that God speak to us today and as you’ve heard, there is a lot to take on board. Rather than trying to explore everything this morning, I would like to offer one point that I believe God is saying to us today. And over the next couple of weeks, we will continue the journey through Exodus, a journey I will call ‘on Holy Ground’.

Moses was not forced to go to the burning bush. God did not suddenly jump out at him, point a gun at him and tell him to obey.

Like I’ve said before, Moses was doing something he had done every day for years and yet he notices something that is different from the usual and rather than walk past decides to investigate. As he investigates, He is met by His God, and is called to change the direction of his life and the life of a nation.

Have you ever experienced a burning bush that doesn’t burn?  How would you know if you have never taken that moment to investigate?  I believe there are moments and times in our lives that God is longing to call us to something new or to affirm what we are doing and yet in our routine we fail to notice or maybe even to care. 

Many of you know I have been unwell, I have been dealing with the illness called depression.  As I reflected on this reading and my time away from work I realised that there had been a burning bush moment. God did not cause my illness. But I know there were times in the dark, where in struggling to get back to the normal routine I had known, I saw something different which I needed to investigate.

What I found was God’s wonderful affirmation that I am loved. That I don’t need to fix everybody because that is God’s job. And that I am called to reply on His strength not my own.

What could be the burning bush you need to step closer too?  What is God calling you to?  What is God affirming?

• Is it the moment when we hear our child say ‘you’re always going out’ that we stop, breathe, and take stock of our priorities?
• Is it that split second when we decide to help someone, knowing that it might cost us?
• Is it the time when we receive words of affirmation without feeling guilty?

Just take a few moments to reflect on these questions, and if you are willing, share your thoughts with your neighbour.