Lenten Journey: The Burning Bush

Moses was tending the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian.  Leading the flock across the desert, he came to Horeb, the mountain of God.  There an angel of the LORD appeared to Moses in fire flaming out of a bush.  As he looked on, he was surprised to see that the bush, though on fire, was not consumed.  So Moses decided, "I must go over to look at this remarkable sight, and see why the bush is not burned."

When the LORD saw him coming over to look at it more closely, God called out to him from the bush, "Moses!  Moses!"  He answered, "Here I am."  God said, "Come no nearer!  Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground..." 

- Exodus 3:1-5 

For Reflection...

Moses was spending another day in the desert.  He was tending sheep, but in other ways, I imagine his desert days were not so unlike ours.

What was Moses thinking about there, in the desert?  Was he remembering Egypt?  Growing up in Pharaoh's palace?  The murder he committed that forced him into exile, to the desert?  Was his heart heavy with memories and worries?

Was he thinking instead of the future?  Was he wondering if this was it for him, whether he, son of Pharaoh's daughter would tend sheep forever?  Whether his past would eventually catch up with him?  Whether he was meant for something more than this?

Or, perhaps most likely of all, he wasn't thinking much of anything.  Perhaps his day, like so many of my days, was filled with the ordinary, the routine.  Was he preoccupied with tracking the sheep that tended to stray?  With watching the horizon?  With waiting for something that might distract from the monotony of another day in the desert?

In any case, something did happen that day, something out of the ordinary.  And Moses noticed.  And not only did he notice, he turned aside.

Maybe we forget that that didn't have to be the case.  Moses could have been sufficiently preoccupied with remember the past or worrying over the future or just going about his business, that he would not have noticed the burning bush.  He could have continued on, not turned aside.  He could have, but he didn't.

He turned aside, looked more deeply, and he heard the voice of God.

We've focused our prayer on time apart, a portion of daily quiet in which we might connect with God. We've also explored what it means to fasten a word to our hearts to recall us to God during the day or night.  Today we add this new dimension to our prayer -- becoming aware of the presence of God all around us, in the most ordinary moments of our days -- watching, becoming alert, noticing that there might be a burning bush right now, right here.

For Entering In...

- Spend a few moments in silence becoming present to yourself and to God.

- Reflect on these questions:

• What does an ordinary day look like for you?  What are the things that preoccupy your mind?  Do you tend to get caught up in thinking about what's past?  Worrying about the future?

• Have you had a "burning bush" experience?  Has there been a time, when you were going about an ordinary day and felt called to turn aside and notice something new, something God was doing to break through and attract your attention?  

• The ground God calls "holy" in this passage is the same desert floor on which Moses always walked.  What would it mean if your ground -- the ground you walk in your home, your workplace, your grocery store, your kids' school, your neighborhood -- was holy?  What would it look like for you to "remove your sandals"?  What does it mean that everything around you is sacred?

• The voice that speaks to Moses from the burning bush tells Moses God's particular will for him (Exodus 3:10ff).  God draws on Moses' past, his history as a son of Pharaoh, in this present moment, to set Moses on a road to his future.  Spend some quiet prayer reflecting on how God might be using your past -- your relationships, your experiences -- to call you into service for the Kingdom, now and into the future.  How have you been prepared?  Where might you be called?

- As you move out of this period of quiet reflection, consider how you might take your heightened awareness of God with you into the rest of your day.  What can you do to remind yourself that, wherever you stand today, you are on holy ground?

Lenten Journey: Third Sunday - God's Will

Scripture Readings of the Day

Exodus 3:1-8a, 13-15

Psalm 103

1 Corinthians 10:1-6, 10-12

Luke 13:1-9

For Reflection...

During this third week in Lent, we will arrive at the half-way point of the forty day journey from Ash Wednesday to the Passion of the Lord and Holy Week.  It's time to notice where we have come to along the Lenten road.

We began with the three great themes of Lent, fasting, almsgiving, and prayer.  Lent is a dessert season, and its practices of self-denial are all meant to call us into deeper relationship with the God who, in Jesus, we can meet face to face.

Once we have encountered this God, what then?  Encounter is not synonymous with going to church or following the rules.  It is a living relationship.  God takes the initiative in our very creation.  We respond by doing what we're doing now, turning our faces toward God.

But if our relationship is to grow, we must wonder what is next for us.  God wants us to do more than show up.  We are invited to participate in the work of redemption, that is, in the transformation of the world-broken-by-sin into the Kingdom of God.

If we have come to believe that we have met the real God, we might well wonder what our Creator desires of us. What is God's will?  How do we recognize it?  How do we begin to respond?


For Entering In...

- Spend a few moments in silence becoming present to yourself and to the God who dwells within you.

- Reflect on these questions:

• Have you chosen something from which to fast this Lent?  If so, how has that been for you?  Rather than thinking about yourself as having been "good" or "bad," notice whether and when it has been easy or difficult.  What have you been aware of as you fast?  What have you learned?  If you have not been fasting, consider what you might be called to abstain from and why you may be resisting.

• Have you given alms, that is, acted in mercy for someone in need?  Have you been vulnerable enough to receive help in your own need?  Remember that when we act in charity, whether as one who gives or one who humbly receives, we see the face of Christ in another -- and she sees the face of Christ in us.

• How is your prayer life?  Have you adopted or renewed a daily practice of time set apart to be present to God?  Do you still feel concerned about what or where or when or how you pray?  What if every time you became conscious of the presence of God, that was your prayer?  Could you use that as a place from which to grow?

• Have you yet chosen a word to "fasten to your heart."  Continue to carry your word with you, letting it speak in your heart.

• Think back to where you felt you were in relationship to God on Ash Wednesday.  Notice where you are now.  Has anything changed?  Write about what comes up for you.

- As you finish this quiet time, rejoice in the presence of the God who made you just as you are and who longs to have you draw near.

Lenten Journey: Exodus

And behold, two men were conversing with him, Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of his exodus that he was going to accomplish in Jerusalem. 

- Luke 9:30-31

For Reflection...

We talked last week about Jesus as the Jewish Messiah.  That identity could hardly be more evident than it is here, on the Mount of Transfiguration.  Who should be conversing with Jesus, but Moses, the lawgiver, and Elijah, prophet among prophets?  In Matthew 7:15, Jesus asserts that he has come not to abolish, but to fulfill the Law and the prophets.  He is the completion of the story that Moses and Elijah both represent and embody.

All three appear in glory.  They shine forth with the light of God in their faithful witness to God's purpose -- which is exodus and Jerusalem.

I am grateful that this translation (New American Bible, rev.) uses the word exodus, where others translate departure or death.  No.  Exodus is critical, because we are meant to be recalled to the exodus from Egypt, the foundational story of Israel and, thus, of Israel's Messiah.

The exodus from Egypt is the saving event in Israel's story of God's saving work.  Israel escapes slavery only through the Passover, the sparing of the firstborn of Israel amidst the death of the firstborn of Egypt.  The Israelites are kept safe by being marked with the blood of the sacrificial lamb (Exodus 12).  They will be saved through the waters of the parted sea (Exodus 14).  They will wander in the desert for forty years.  They will inherit the land God has promised.

Jesus prophetically enacts every move -- passing through the waters in his baptism (at the Jordan, the river across which the Israelites under Joshua finally enter the Promised Land; see Joshua 3), spending forty days in the desert.  He is leading us on a new exodus from slavery -- to sin -- into a new land of promise, the Kingdom of God.

And the road goes through Jerusalem.

Even from the mountaintop, we must set our faces toward Jerusalem (Luke 9:51).  Beyond Egypt, beyond the desert, Jerusalem is ground zero for the story of salvation.  Jerusalem is the capital, the Holy City, the place of sacrifice.  It is our final destination, the only destination.  God's glory shines forth from this city on this hill.  If we are going to be light-bearers, God-image-bearers, we too will have to continue on from the mountaintop toward Jerusalem.

For Entering In...

- Spend a few moments becoming present to yourself.  If your mind is preoccupied, allow the thoughts to come and to go.  Notice what you feel in your body, in your heart.

- Invite God to be present with you.

- Reflect on these questions:

• The law can be seen as a way of maintaining a sound boundary.  It keeps us safe.  It can also keep others out, and it can oppress those who are "in."  How do you understand the role of the law in your spiritual life?  How does it relate to your sense of freedom?  Of responsibility?

• Psalm 119, the longest chapter in the Bible, is a hymn in praise of God's law.  Spend the next few days reading some or all of it.  Write or reflect about what you discover about the law.  Does Psalm 119 change your view?  Reinforce it?

• Who have been the lawgivers and keepers in your life?  What are the laws you have been expected to live by, either by others or by yourself?  Which, if any, would you like to have seen abolished?  Which laws, if any, have been flouted that you wanted to defend?

• Jesus says that he has come not to abolish -- and not to defend -- but to fulfill the law.  Spend some time reflecting on this saying.  What might it mean to you, in your life today?

• From what in your life are you looking to experience an "exodus" of freedom and deliverance?  Can you ask God to lead you out of your enslavement, your Egypt?

- As you finish this quiet time, take a moment to connect with your soul and with the God who made you and is sustaining you this day, in this moment.  Notice your breathing.  Remember that it is a gift.

Lenten Journey: Reflecting God's Glory

Jesus took Peter, John, and James and went up the mountain to pray.  While he was praying his face changed in appearance and his clothing became dazzling white.  And behold, two men were conversing with him, Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of his exodus that he was going to accomplish in Jerusalem.   Peter and his companions had been overcome by sleep, but becoming fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men standing with him.  As they were about to part from him, Peter said to Jesus, "Master, it is good that we are here; let us make three tents, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah."  But he did not know what he was saying.  While he was still speaking, a cloud came and cast a shadow over them, and they became frightened when they entered the cloud.  Then from the cloud came a voice that said, "This is my chosen Son; listen to him."  After the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone.  They fell silent and did not at that time tell anyone what they had seen.

- Luke 9:28b-36 

For Reflection...

"Jesus took Peter, John, and James and went up the mountain to pray. While he was praying..."

Do we notice that this story which we refer to as the transfiguration of Jesus takes place while Jesus was praying?  We've spent some time already this Lent reflecting on prayer and even more time practicing  prayer.  We have talked together about prayer as the act of becoming present to the God who, even now, is waiting for us to notice that God is always present to us.  We have considered the throat-parched cry of the desert prayer; we'll be there, in the desert with Jesus again, before Easter arrives.

But this week we are on the mountaintop.  We, with Peter and James and John, are invited to watch and learn from Jesus who has climbed to the heights to pray.

It is in the midst of this mountaintop prayer that Jesus, like Moses (Exodus 34:29ff), radiates the light of God's presence.  Like Moses in the tent of meeting (Exodus 33:11), Jesus approaches God face to face (cf. Hebrews 9:24), and Jesus invites his disciples -- us -- to do the same.

There is something about being in the presence of God that shows in my face.  I look different, even if the difference fades.  There is a glory in me that, when it encounters the glory of God, shines out of me like a light.  I become like a lamp in the darkness, a city on a hill (Matthew 5:14).

The dark world needs my light.  When I am shining, I become a sign to the nations, promised in Isaiah (49:6).  I become a part of the solution that God always intended to insure through Israel's Messiah.  I am equipped as part of the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12) to participate in the work of reconciling the broken world -- healing, loving, forgiving.

It is no accident that Jesus transfigured appears clothed in "dazzling white," and we, at our baptism, are likewise adorned.  We put on the promise of transfiguration.  As Paul says in 2 Corinthians 3:18:

And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit.

We are the mirror image of the glorious face of God.  We are called with Christ to be the image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15).  Do we believe it?  Do we believe that when the light shines from our faces, it is God that people see?

For Entering In...

- Spend a few moments becoming present to yourself.  If your mind is preoccupied, allow the thoughts to come and to go.  Notice what you feel in your body, in your heart.

- Invite God to be present with you.

- Reflect on these questions:

• What have been mountaintop experiences in your life?  What are the times when you have glowed with joy or wonder or peace or delight?

• Choose one or more of your mountaintop experiences.  Ask yourself, when you were there, on the mountaintop, where was God?

• Sometimes it can be difficult for me to see my own light.  Can you think of a time when you saw someone else's face aglow with the glory of God?  Who was it?  What were the circumstances?  How did it make you feel?

• How have others been touched by your light?  Has there been a time when you knew you were shining God's light into the world?  What was that experience like for you?  Was there something about that experience and your role in it that stands out for you?

• Make a list of the ways in which God has gifted you.  What are the talents that you bring to the world?  Can you give humble thanks to God for inviting you into God's healing work?

- As you finish this quiet time, take a moment to connect with your soul and enjoy the goodness that God has created in you.

Lenten Journey: Plan A

For Reflection...

All too often I feel like our Christian theology sets up the Jesus story as God's "Plan B."  That version of the story goes something like this:  God created everything, including people.  God gave people free will.  God wanted us to be in right relationship with Him, but we abused our free will and destroyed that relationship.  Uh, oh!  God's plan was ruined!  God needed to start all over with a new idea, a "Plan B."  Plan B, then, is Jesus on the cross, often understood as the sacrifice to placate a justly angry God.

The problem with this story is evident from the first page.  How could an all-knowing God not have seen sin coming?  Surely, surely we must assume that in the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth, God knew how the story of humans and our free will to be -- or not be -- in relationship with God would unfold.

In this version of the story, Jesus is Plan A.

The key to unraveling Plan A is to see the underlying pattern of election in God's Master Plan.  In the Plan A version, God recognized that we humans generally would fail in our God-given mission to steward creation.  So God's plan included calling a little group of humans, a remnant of the whole bunch of us, to carry on with the Plan.  That remnant is called the nation of Israel.  God calls Abram, whom he renames Abraham (Genesis 12), and from his seed and stock, God raises up a nation who will do what all of humanity was meant to do -- stand in the gap between God and the rest of creation.

Notice, God's plan was not for Israel just to be God's chosen people, but for Israel to be God's chosen so that they could intercede between God and the rest of humanity and the rest of creation (see, importantly, Isaiah 49:6).  Israel's election is for a purpose, to fulfill God's original role for all of humanity.  But just like the rest of humanity, Israel itself decides to go its own way (see, for example, the indictments contained in every prophetic book in the Old Testament).  Once again God's purpose goes unfulfilled.

Or so it seems.  God has a final move.

Out of the remnant Israel, God will raise up one faithful Israelite, that is, one human, a new Adam (1 Corinthians 15:45), to do what humans were meant to do all along -- to bridge the gap, to intercede between God and humans.  This One, the final remnant of all of humanity, will be anointed like a king to stand at the head of the nation and of the human race.  He will be a king who functions like a priest; by definition, a priest stands in the space between Man and the gods and offers some sacrifice from the earth back to heaven, thus restoring any discord in the relationship between them.

Thus do we come to Jesus.

For Entering In...

- Spend a few moments in the quiet becoming present to yourself.  Notice how it feels to be in your body to be here, now.

- Invite God to be present with you.  Notice what it feels like to be in God's presence.

- Theology is the study of God.  Every one of us, when we consider God at all, is engaged in doing theology.  Our theology, whether we're atheists or theists, Buddhists or Christians, monotheists or pantheists, matters.  It defines how we think about God, ourselves, and the world.  With that in mind, reflect on these questions:

• How have you come to your personal theology, your understanding of who God is and what God has done and/or is doing in the world?

• Are you acquainted with the stories of Israel in the Old Testament?  If not, consider reading through one or more books, beginning with Genesis (skipping over the genealogies, if you prefer) and Exodus and the books of 1 and 2 Samuel.  These will give you a flavor for some of the more engaging pre-historical and historical narratives.  Choose a translation of the Bible that resonates for you.*

• The Bible is often called the story of the history of salvation.  Having taken some time to reflect on temptation and our personal and collective sin, what are your thoughts about our need for salvation?  How have you come to understand the problem of sin for you personally or for the world?  Or do you see it as a problem?

- It has been a week since we began this Lenten journey together.  As you consider the time you have spent in prayer, reflection, and writing:

• Have you been able to set aside some daily quiet time for yourself?  If so, how has that been for you?  If not, why not?

• Is there anything new you have learned about yourself?  About God?

*If you would like more suggestions about where to start in reading from the Bible, e-mail me:  chris@livingthetruthinlove.org.