Moses ran away.
He is not with his people,
he has married into another tribe, married the daughter of one of their priest.
he is cut off from his own religious heritage.
He is up a mountain, as in last week’s gospel.
Mountains are beautiful, scary, isolated, difficult to reach places;
he is left with time to reflect and observe, time to think.
Then something strange happens.
Moses feels the presence of God
but he doesn’t know it…
the burning bush that is no consumed.
Fire is one of the biblical signs of the presence of God,
we had it last week in the covenant ritual with Abram.
Usually fire draws on the material burnt, it needs it and de-natures it.
It turns wood to ash.
This is a strange fire that does not consume,
does not burn up what it takes possession of.
We are not told this as a physical curiosity,
we are being told something about God and us.
Moses is pulled, “I must go and see this strange sight”
He is called, called by name ‘Moses’, ‘Moses’
this is personal, this is his experience, his encounter.
His first response is: ‘Here I am’ -
before saying anything creedal, anything theological -
just I hear you, I am here.
Then, there is a change in tone,
‘come no nearer’
‘take off your shoes for the place on which you stand is holy ground’
I am the God of your father, of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob
The realization dawns:
this is an encounter with God
the God of his people that he has left,
a call from his ‘old’ life,
a call from what he ran away from.
God tells him to take of his shoes….why?
Why should we be bare-foot on holy ground?
Taking off our shoes may at first suggest getting comfortable,
settling down at home,
but Moses is at the top of a mountain,
which in my imagination is covered with stones and boulders and sharp rocks.
He is told to take off his shoes so he cannot run away,
so that he remains in this holy place,
so that God can work on him.
Maybe we have lost something here
Imagine is we took our shoes off to come into church….
what ‘holy ground’ would it stop us running away from….
We encounter Christ here in: Priest People Word Sacrament
my answer is it would force us to encounter our community (People),
since we would have to mix and mingle as we left as we found our shoes and put them back on……
Then, now he cannot run away,
God gets Moses in touch with the plight of the chosen people and that he has a role in helping them.
Moses encounter isn’t ‘for’ him,
in order that he can feel good about himself, or peaceful, it is ‘for’ the people.
Today then, as we gather to celebrate our holy mysteries
and our weekly encounter with God in our Sunday Eucharist,
we are to hear God call us by name, individually, in our hearts
we mentally ‘take of our shoes’
determined to listen to what God wants from us
we are especially sensitive to any suggestions from him
that we have been running away from our responsibilities to others, especially those in need
this is the compost being placed around our roots
that through us can become fruitful, and,
as Jesus makes very clear in today’s Gospel,
God wants us to be fruitful.