In today\u2019s reading from the book of Exodus, we find Moses minding his own business, tending the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro. Suddenly an amazing thing happens to him. The angel of the Lord appears to him in a flame of fire out of a bush, and he looked. Although the bush was blazing, it was not consumed by the fire. This amazing event got Moses\u2019 attention, and he turned aside to see what was going on. And when God saw that Moses was paying attention, God spoke to him, telling him that he was standing on holy ground, and further identifying himself: \u201cI am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Moses was afraid and hid his face, but God continued. God wasn\u2019t appearing in a burning bush just to give Moses a thrill, but rather, because God had a job for Moses to do: God was sending Moses to Pharaoh, so that he could then lead God\u2019s people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now Moses is a great hero in the Bible, one of the pioneers of the faith whom we all revere. So we might like to think that what Moses said was, \u201cWhatever you say, Lord.\u201d But that\u2019s not exactly what happened. Of course, Moses is not the only character in Holy Scripture who had questions, doubts, or excuses when God asked them to do something. Sarah laughed, Isaiah said that he was a man of unclean lips, Jonah ran away, and Jeremiah reminded the Lord that he was \u201conly a boy.\u201d Even Mary, the mother of Jesus, had to wonder, \u201cHow can this be, since I am a virgin?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But it seems that Moses takes first prize when it comes to excuses. Only two of his excuses are included in today\u2019s passage from Exodus, but if you read a little further you will see that they did not end there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His first excuse is a very common one: \u201cWho am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?\u201d Probably most of us would be tempted to make this excuse if God asked us to do something really important. \u201cI couldn\u2019t do that, I\u2019m not good enough, I\u2019m NOT WORTHY, Lord.\u201d But God has the answer for that excuse: \u201cI will be with you.\u201d Moses couldn\u2019t do it by himself, but God didn\u2019t ask him to do it by himself. God promised to be with him. That\u2019s a good lesson for us to remember \u2013 we can do nothing in and of ourselves, but with God all things are possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now Moses, of course, wasn\u2019t through yet. He questioned God. \u201cAll right, suppose I do go to this people and tell them that the God of their ancestors has sent me to them, and that they ask me what your name is? THEN what shall I say?\u201d This was a difficult question, because God\u2019s name was too holy to be spoken. But God had an answer for this, too. God said to Moses, \u201cI AM WHO I AM.\u201d This may also be translated, \u201cI will be who I will be,\u201d or, in the third person, \u201cHe causes to be.\u201d And just to make it crystal clear, God reminds Moses of what has already been said: \u201cI am the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.\u201d The Israelites knew who that was, all right, and so did Moses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The next objection that Moses came up with was, \u201cBut suppose they do not believe me or listen to me, but say, \u201cThe Lord did not appear to you.\u201d Moses has obviously entered into the land of the \u201cwhat ifs\u201d here. We\u2019ve all heard it from our children: \u201cWhat if the teacher doesn\u2019t like me? What if there\u2019s a monster under my bed?\u201d and so forth. Moses already tried the \u201cWhat if they want to know who you are?\u201d line, and now he tries, \u201cWhat if they won\u2019t listen to me?\u201d And so God explains that Moses will receive certain signs from God which he can use to convince the people: the staff that turns into a snake, the hand that turns leprous, the water that turns into blood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It seems that for every excuse or quibble that Moses can think of, God comes up with an answer. But Moses is not daunted; he tries again. \u201cO my Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor even now that you have spoken to your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.\u201d I just can\u2019t do it, Lord; I\u2019m not a good speaker. Some have speculated that Moses stuttered, or had some other speech impediment. But no matter, of course God has the answer. God said to Moses, \u201cWho gives speech to mortals? Who makes them mute or deaf, seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you are to speak.\u201d God didn\u2019t ask Moses, nor does God ask us, to do something without also giving us the help we need in order to do it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Well, our friend Moses is getting nowhere. He has tried the \u201cO Lord, I am not worthy\u201d excuse; he has tried the \u201cBut what if this or that happens?\u201d quibble, and he has tried explaining why he is not the right man for the job. Now, finally, he is going to have to be honest enough to say what he wanted to say all along: he doesn\u2019t really want to do this. \u201cO my Lord,\u201d he cries, \u201cPLEASE SEND SOMEONE ELSE!\u201d But God is not taking \u201cno\u201d for an answer. God does, however, meet Moses halfway. God agrees to send Moses\u2019 brother Aaron with him, to be, so to speak, his mouthpiece. \u201cYou shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth; and I will be with your mouth and with his mouth, and will teach you what you shall do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And so in the end, having used up his stock of excuses, Moses bows to the inevitable. He goes with Aaron to Pharaoh, and the rest, as they say, is history. And not just any history, but part of Salvation History, that great story of God\u2019s dealing with God\u2019s people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Brothers and sisters, the way Moses behaves in this story is all too familiar to us. We all are a lot like Moses. God has revealed himself to us in a much more amazing way than God did to Moses. Instead of speaking to us from a burning bush, God has spoken to us by sending God\u2019s son to become a human being, like us. God\u2019s son lived as one of us. He sweated, cried tears, and shed blood, just like we do. He speaks our language. And God has a job for us, just as God did for Moses. This job applies to each of us individually and also corporately to us all, to the church at large and to our congregation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And our task is this: to proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Jesus Christ. All the time. Wherever we find ourselves. To everyone. No quibbling. No excuses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For we are just as good at quibbling and making excuses as Moses was. We\u2019re not worthy. So what? Read your Bible and you\u2019ll see, over and over again, that unworthiness never stopped God from using whomever God wanted, to bring about God\u2019s purposes. What if they ask something we can\u2019t answer, what if they won\u2019t pay attention, what if they even laugh at us? Doesn\u2019t matter. God is with us. But we don\u2019t have what it takes, we\u2019re too old, too poor, too small, too whatever. We\u2019re just not able. Well, guess what? God is not interested in our ability nor in our disability. God is interested only in our availability. If we make ourselves available to God, God will use us in ways that we never expected. God knows what God is doing, even when we don\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
God is faithful, as St. Paul tells us, and God will not let us be tested beyond our strength. And don\u2019t even think about that \u201cO Lord, please send someone else\u201d line. There isn\u2019t anyone else. WE are that someone else, and God is counting on us today. God is also empowering us today. Let us go forth into the world, rejoicing in the power of the Spirit! Amen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This sermon was written by the Rev. Barbara Beam<\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In today\u2019s reading from the book of Exodus, we find Moses minding his own business, tending the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro. Suddenly an amazing thing happens to him. The angel of the Lord appears to him in a flame of fire out of a bush, and he looked. Although the bush was blazing, it…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":201212,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_tec_requires_first_save":true,"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_tribe_blocks_recurrence_rules":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_description":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_exclusions":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1963,43,52,1953],"tags":[306],"class_list":["post-511402","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lent","category-sermons","category-sermons-that-work","category-worship-and-prayer-menu","tag-lent-3c"],"acf":[],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":1963,"label":"Lent"},{"value":43,"label":"Sermons"},{"value":52,"label":"Sermons That Work"},{"value":1953,"label":"worship_and_prayer_menu"}],"post_tag":[{"value":306,"label":"Lent 3C"}]},"featured_image_src_large":false,"author_info":[],"comment_info":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sermon\/511402","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sermon"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/sermon"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sermon\/511402\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3474602,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sermon\/511402\/revisions\/3474602"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=511402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=511402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=511402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}