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Giving Generously

9/27/2017

Exodus 16:2-15, Matthew 20:1-16

Do you remember this old saying:” a conservative is a liberal who has been mugged, and a liberal is a conservative who has been arrested?” Of course, we know there is more to it than that! But it makes us think: What makes us so hardened in our points of view? Also, what helps us to change? What opens us up to respond to life the way Jesus did? What makes us transcend our labels so we become simply children of God?

Look at health care, for instance, which is being debated vigorously again in Congress this past week. One strong group wanted to gut and replace the Affordable Care Act. They are slowly bleeding it dry. On the other side of the aisle, there are representatives just as dedicated to put the kibosh on these plans -- some are even calling for a single payer plan. Opinions are hardened. The atmosphere is tense and ugly. What does it take to change an entrenched perspective? Seeing sick loved ones without care? Believing taxes are too high? What makes us change? How do we simple become, children of God?

The bible is a book about change. Forget the labels of conservative and liberal, Republican and Democrat. As followers of Jesus Christ we are called to embrace the injustices and hurts of the world, to call forth the kingdom of heaven on earth. Jesus, through the Bible, calls us to be change agents in the world. Beyond all the labels we can think of, we are called to think, act and be children of God.

Last week we explored one pillar of our faith – the power of forgiveness. Today’s lessons give us different insights into the economic principals of the kingdom of God – another necessary pillar in our belief as molded by Jesus. This necessary pillar to transform ourselves into children of God is through generosity.

To understand our lesson from Matthew 18 about the generous landowner, we should take a few steps back to Matthew 19. There, a rich man who has kept the law flawlessly asks Jesus, “what good deed must I do to have eternal life?” Jesus who looks at him with compassion, says “you lack one thing. Go sell what you have and give to the poor and follow me.” The rich man walks away grieving, because he is too attached to his possessions. Jesus remarks that “it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” Jesus concludes, “the first shall be last and the last shall be first.”   So, we see that what we do with our resources, personal and corporate, makes a difference. Generosity transforms us to true children of God.

This passage segways into our story today. Jesus states that the kingdom of heaven is like a wealthy landowner goes to the town square at 6am to hire workers for his vineyard. He agrees with them the standard daily wage, a denarii. Then the landowner does something unusual. He goes out again at 9am, at noon, at 3pm and the at 5pm and hires whoever is without work and standing idly around.

The landowner is diligent about hiring laborers. His desire is to give work to as many of the unemployed as possible. He knows the lack of consistent work translates into the inability to feed your family and care for your loved ones adequately. The landowner cares for workers at least as much as he cares for his vineyard.

So, at the end of the day, he calls the last first. In sight of everyone the landowner pays those who worked an hour the entire day’s wage of a denarii. We can imagine those who started at 6am, and 9am, and the rest. They’re rubbing their hands in anticipation of a hefty wage in contrast to the workers who were only there an hour. Maybe 2 denarii or perhaps even 3 or 4 denarii, that sounds fair. The excess is already being spent in their minds -- perhaps clear up the tab at the pub, a new pair of sandals, treats for the kids.

So, imagine their outrage when the landowner gives them one denarii as well. Yes, that is what they agreed to. But they worked 12 hours, 9 hours, 6 hours- how is that fair next to someone who only worked 1 hour? And so, they protest. But the Landowner isn’t hearing it. Take your money and go, he says. Or are you envious that I am generous? The workers are stuck in their way of thinking. What’s fair and not fair. But, that’s not what generosity says. The Landowner tries to get them to shift their perspective to what it means to be generous with others.

That is the key to the parable.   Jesus has no quarrel with the wealthy landowner or wealth in general. It’s what the landowner does with his abundant resources that make a difference. The landowner knows the workers need at least a denarii as a day’s wage to care for his family. He takes the time and goes to the village square five times in the course of the day to pursue those in need of employment. He gives them all a fair, living wage irrespective of when they started. Unlike the rich man stuck with rules but couldn’t share wealth to the poor, this wealthy landowner sees as his duty to find as many workers as possible and treat them fairly. Now the text doesn’t ask us to follow these labor practices literally. What it does is invite us to engage in a conversation about generosity as a foundational spiritual practice God calls us to.

       This is how God acts with us. We are all given grace, irregardless of when we became followers: whether we are children or senior citizens. Further, we are called to emulate the landowner, and to share our resources abundantly. Right now, we are faced with so many who need our help, the victims of Hurricane Harvey, Irma, Maria -- Mexico hit by two earthquakes in a month, all the displaced people in the world, the Rohingya Muslim refugees from Myanmar, the undocumented young adults, the DREAMers who face deportation, and all the people we each know who have problems, illnesses, conflicts, unemployment in their lives. The list can be endless. It may bring on compassion fatigue and we are tempted to bury our heads in the sand. We must cling to Paul’s encouragement when he writes in Galatians 6:9 “We must not grow weary in doing good.”

Compare this to our Hebrew passage from Exodus. The people of Israel are now a displaced people. God has led them out into the wilderness, a barren land that is unable to sustain them. Their lives are turned upside down. Everything around them is unfamiliar and looks dangerous. So, they begin to have second doubts. Their minds are hardened. Even slavery in Egypt looks better than this endless wandering with no guarantee of food. They cry out “would God have killed them in Egypt, where they had bread” instead of leading them out in nowhere land to die of hunger. The text mentions that they complain at least eight times. God, however, remains a calm presence in the midst of the endless complaints.

God could have found some way to shut them up. Or sent them back. After leading them out of a 400-year history of slavery God, instead of giving in on this difficult people, God addresses their needs. God sends bread from heaven, manna, to the Israelites in the morning. In the evening God sends quail for the Israelites to eat. God does this every day for the forty years that the Israelites sojourn. He sends just enough for one day, in order that the people can learn to trust, not the slave-master, but God. In this enormous time of transition, God’s grace is sufficient. Despite the people’s lack of faith and being stuck in the past, God gives generously. Giving generously over decades forges these Israelites into the people of God.

Giving generously is the action of a God-filled heart, led by the Spirit, inspired by Jesus. We give despite the grumblings of the vineyard workers, we give generously despite the constant complaints of the people of Israel in transition. We live in a wilderness time where our church, our nation, our world, our ecosystems, are in the center of change. We live in an anxious frightening time. Will we get hit by a hurricane or earthquake? Will we have the resources to retire? To get our children through college? To pay the mortgage or rent? Will we encounter a terrorist on the train or an unstable person yielding a gun? We are surrounded by so many whatifs. We have turned our vision of a “Promised Land” into a wilderness for the majority of the people. No wonder there are so many complaints. No wonder we are stuck in our way of thinking.

Our texts today acknowledge a people whose lives have turned upside down in the wilderness, a vineyard whose values run counter to that of the world. And we are called to give generously in the wilderness, to give generously in the vineyard. The root of generous from the Latin means “to come from noble birth.” As children of God we indeed come from a noble birth. Let us not forget this, and let us live up to our spiritual heritage.

In this regard we are all called to be liberal-minded, for that is what generosity does. Liberal in the meaning that does not refer to politics. It is an attitude that takes the liberal view, the copious view, the abundant approach. It doesn’t seek the minimal level in giving. It strives for the maximum and then some. Since we have a generous God, we are beckoned to be a generous people of God. So, this calls us to give as much as we can when there are pleas for help, in Houston, in Puerto Rico, in Mexico City, Syria and famine-ravished parts of Africa, to the homeless person who begs on the subway or street corner. We give of our time to go to meetings, to tutor a child, to visit someone in the hospital or prison. We come to church not just when it fits in our schedule easily, and not only for our own spiritual edification, but to lift the spirits of others. We make a habit to bring food, to respond to the needs of the vulnerable of our community. We stretch and train the muscles of giving to make it a daily habit. We give generously, because God, life gives generously to us. So noble people, live to give generously, as our God-given birthright calls us to- the people of God. amen.

http://day1.org/6106-a_wilderness_people_in_the_promised_land

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Welcome Works

9/20/2017

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        Two Texans were trying to impress each other with the size of their ranches. One asked the other, “What’s the name of your ranch?” The other replied, “The Rocking R, ABS, Flying W, Circle C, Bar U, Staple Four, Box D, Rolling M, Rainbow’s End, Silver Spur Ranch.” The other feller was duly impressed and said “whew whee! That’s sure is some name! How many heads of cattle do you run?” The rancher replied: “Not many. Very few survive the branding.”

        Most of us want some measure of success in life. The question is, how do we define what success is? What does it mean to be great? Having a plush bank account?   Is it determined how well we can sculpt our bodies? How elaborate can we make our weddings, vacations, parties and funerals? How many friends we have on Facebook? How many awards on the wall? How busy we are? Can we survive our success?

We can imagine the conversation of the disciples as they debated the topic of their greatness as they passed along the way through Galilee. Peter had the most prominent fishing business and ego, so he’s the greatest. But no, Judas has a way with the money, he can stretch out a denarii, so he’s the greatest. James and John, they have enthusiasm and energy, which every new movement needs, doesn’t Jesus himself call them the “Sons of Thunder?” So naturally, they are the greatest.   Andrew, Peter’s side-kick brother was Jesus’ first follower, so must be the greatest. Jesus personally went to Philip and said, “follow me” so he’s the greatest. Matthew was the tax collector who gave away his former life and turned it all around, so it goes without saying he’s the greatest.   Simon is the zealous nationalist who really gets what messiah means and can put this ragtag group on the right track. He’s got to be the greatest of them all.
So on and on they squabble until they arrive at Capernaum. Once there, Jesus turns to them and says, what were you arguing about along the way?” Now, Jesus was there all along. He had to catch their heated debate as they walked. Jesus surely noted that their discussion about their greatness took place immediately after Jesus reminded them, for the second time, the Son of Man, would be betrayed, killed and raised from the dead.   They did not understand Jesus’ teaching, they were afraid to ask Jesus questions, so the conversation devolved into this petty topic about who was greatest.
Once again, they are silent, embarrassed not only by their lack of knowledge, but apparently what they believe, what they have shared, has led to a fight. Jesus then sat down. It reminds us of the first time Jesus entered Capernaum back in Mark 1:21, where Mark tells us “They came at last to the village of Capernaum on the Sea of Galilee; and on the Sabbath Day, Jesus went straight into a synagogue, sat down, and began to teach.”

        Jesus sat down and began to teach the disciples what it mean to be great in the kingdom of God. Jesus said:   “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.” Then he took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them, “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.”
We can just see these disciples.   Still smarting from their turf wars, Jesus picks up a child and holds her close.   You want to be great? This is where it begins.
        Jesus suggests to us that the beginning of spiritual greatness is welcoming the powerless and vulnerable – in ourselves and in our world.   Children in Jesus’ day had no legal standing. They were at the bottom of the social hierarchy. Children were disciplined harshly and the lot of most children was work and illness. A child was constantly exposed to harm, abuse, and death.   Absolute obedience was expected. There is no one more vulnerable than an orphan, a child who has lost her parents; and not surprisingly, the Scriptures place a high priority on the care of the fatherless and orphan.
        To Jesus, the beginning of spiritual greatness is welcoming the powerless and vulnerable.   The first time the Scriptures draw our attention to God’s greatness and use the word “great” to characterize God, is in the act of liberation of the children of Israel from the bondage of slavery in Egypt. In the book of Exodus we are told God hears the cries of the children of Israel in response to the oppression of their task-masters.   So God chooses for us to understand that greatness is a response to suffering and oppression around us. If we want to be great in the way that God is great, then we will excel in making a better life for those who suffer. That is hallmark of greatness.

        So Jesus turns the human understanding of greatness on its head. If we want to be great then don’t strive to be first, strive to be last. Jesus isn’t advocating actively losing, low self-esteem, being a slacker or incompetence.   On the contrary. Jesus wants the best of us, Jesus wants us so secure in ourselves, knowing we are so loved by God in Christ, so convinced of our worth, that we are completely freed of comparing ourselves with other people so we can instead go serve other people.

         Today, as we celebrate Homecoming , we celebrate the ministry and work of Welcoming as Jesus taught us. I can’t help but think of the example of Ahmed Mohamed, the 14 year old Muslim, son of an immigrant, from Irving, Texas, who was arrested after his teacher mistook a clock he built for a bomb. Other students called him bomb-maker and terrorist. Instead of evacuating the school, Ahmed was questioned and allegedly asked to sign something akin to a confession under threat of expulsion. Then police took him in handcuffs to a juvenile detention center where he was also fingerprinted. He was interrogated for 1 ½ hours and denied his right to speak to his parents.

Finally the police admitted the error and let him go. However his three day school suspension was still in force. Even during this ordeal, the Mohamed family ordered pizzas for all the journalists camped outside their house, waiting to interview their son.

Thanks to all of the support, Ahmed is coming away with mostly positive feelings about this experience. "I didn't think I was going to get any support because I'm a Muslim boy," Ahmed said in one interview. "So I thought I was just going to be another victim of injustice. But thanks to all my supporters on social media, I got this far, thanks to you guys. I see it as a way of people sending a message to the rest of the world that just because something happens to you because of who you are, no matter what you do, people will always have your back."

         This is healing fruit of the work of welcoming. We make room for the gifts of others. We nurture and encourage its growth. This is a great task we are called to do. Because there are literally hundreds of thousands of Ahmeds around the world who do not have a social media network. There are Ahmeds stuck in detention centers and refugee camps just for the crime for being in caught in the middle of conflict. The cries of pain and the cries of fear do not know nationality, religion, class, race or ethnicity.   We can become great at welcoming these cries. Just as God listened so we can listen and then act. We become welcomers, agents of welcome, going about the subversive act of welcoming wherever we go – for whoever needs it. We need to remember this as many talented undocumented young people are being threatened with deportation.

Later this month we will observe the International Day of Peace. A week of World Wide Welcome of peace. We are reminded that the universal church's call to greatness in serving the poor – to rise out of the globalization of indifference that surrounds us – and to find our spiritual strength lies in serving those at the margins of society - the poor, the dispossessed, the immigrant and the refugee. As Christians who are blessed to live in the wealthiest country in the world, we are called to service in light of natural and human made disasters surround the globe and threaten he works of welcome.

        On this Homecoming Sunday, we celebrate a new season. New opportunities to worship God. New opportunities to learn and grow in spirit and in truth. New opportunities to become more like Jesus, more Christ-like in our demeanor. New opportunities to welcome and serve our neighbor – our neighbor in the pew next to us, in the house down the corner, and our neighbor around the globe. New opportunities to be great. New opportunities to become radical welcomers --- welcoming in everything we do.

So be great. Make welcome work. Create opportunities for others. Embrace the stranger. Provide for another’s needs. Welcome the Ahmeds and his sisters on your path. Serve where you are needed. Remember you are welcome. We are divinely, radically, completely utterly welcomed – by God – and each other.
         This is a welcoming place. Here Welcome Lives. Here Welcome Works – because God is here. We are here together. Welcome home. Amen.

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Storm Chasers

9/13/2017

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Exodus 12:1-14; Matthew 18:15-20

This is America, the people have said. A black deputy sheriff wading through floodwaters with a white child in each arm; a white SWAT officer, also wading through floodwaters, carrying a Vietnamese American cradling her sleeping baby; three Asian and Hispanic constables, knee-deep in water, carrying an elderly woman in a wheelchair. A Hispanic police sergeant who drowned to in the early morning hours getting to work to help.   Four Mexican bakers, trapped by the flood, baked sweet bread around the clock for other victims. Hundreds of ordinary people taking out their boats to rescue neighbors, animals; a human chain that reached a woman in labor. This is America, the captions read, reinforced by the five former presidents, the best of America is people coming together in the middle of a storm, putting divisions aside in order to help one another recover.

There have been lots of storms we have endured and currently are in the midst of. Each storm we encounter stretches us to open our hearts and respond with hope and compassion for those whose lives have been damaged or destroyed by the storm.
Our Hebrew lesson is the famous passage about the first Passover that has been the cornerstone of the Jewish community for centuries. It is a text that prepares the people of Israel for its most powerful storm it has ever faced: the in-breaking of freedom from 400 years of slavery. The people are told carefully how to prepare for the storm of freedom. They are to prepare a one-year old lamb to eat, divided evenly among each family. They are to brush the blood of the of the lamb over the doorposts and lintel of the entrance to the house, so the storm of death will bypass the dwelling of the Israelites, and claim the lives of the firstborn of the Egyptians.

This storm would forever split the chains of slavery that existed between the people of Israel and the Egyptians. It split the Red Sea so that the people of Israel could leave Egypt and go on to the Promised land. It was the beginning of the development of a new identity that would be forged as the people struggled to leave the identity of slavery behind and embrace the identity as the children of the God of Israel, a new community called to live in the image of God alone. While we might feel the sorrow of Egypt’s pain, even though they were oppressors for centuries, we remember this is an ancient text that reveals to us the storm of Passover to Freedom from a tribal way of thinking.

Our text from Matthew depicts another storm, and how we are to cope with the storms of dissension that often touch the church community and threatened to enslave them in sickness and sin. Jesus instructs us from first century wisdom, that if there is a disagreement or some hurt between two people, they are to take the problem directly to each other. No gossiping, no involving uninvolved third parties, no harboring resentments, no spreading rumors or trying to create factions in the church. Address your problems one on one. -- As an aside, through a modern lens this is an appropriate only if the people are equal in power in the church. For example, we wouldn’t allow a child to confront someone accused of child abuse. – However next, if a disagreement cannot be resolved by one to one contact, then the embroiled parties should approach trusted elders for their help. If that fails then the church should help. Only when all efforts are exhausted and the argument remains should the parties separate. These steps that Jesus laid forth are created to minimize conflict and promote reconciliation.

Only if the storms of dissension refuse to abate, if there is ultimately a split, and the relationship between people between the quarreling parties involved unfortunately consider each other as a tax collector or sinner. Some people may think this means we should treat estranged members as hated outsiders. There are many churches, as a result, that practice excommunication or shunning. While in dire circumstances, separation may be the only way to handle a conflict, we need to recall that isn’t how Jesus generally treated gentiles or sinners. Although considered outsiders, Jesus embraced as a whole gentiles and sinners and ate with them and to make them feel welcomed.

Therefor Jesus reminds us where two are three are gathered in his name, Jesus says, “I am there” with them. So, Jesus is present to help resolve any anger, pain or hurt, between individuals and in communities. Jesus is there to teach us how to forgive and reconcile. We see this especially since Matthew has surrounded this passage by texts where Jesus warns us about not creating stumbling blocks, or to be sure that none of God’s little ones be lost. Jesus also responds to Peter that forgiveness is to be extended to 70 times 7. We should not tire of forgiveness or seeking the lost in the storms we face.

Matthew’s text is a reminder that conflict, storms, are a part of life. Storms are found in homes, in our hearts, in businesses, schools, neighborhoods, nations, between countries—and yes even in churches. Matthew’s text is actually refreshing. Churches are not made up of perfect people. If anything, the healthy church reminds us that we do sin. We need forgiveness, from God and from each other, as we remind ourselves in our order of service with our prayer of confession.

The church unfortunately has developed a stigma of being a place of judgment and being judgmental to those who need mercy, grace, love and forgiveness the most. We are called to be practitioners of love and forgiveness during the storms. Jesus admonishes us to recognize our own faults first, to not judge lest we be judged. Still, we are called to be storm chasers, and engage the storms around us, and the storms in us, following Jesus and his teaching. We are called to recognize the slights, hurts, sins are injuries that can get infected and spread if not addressed. We are called to seek healing, our own and between relationships through the process of reconciliation. We are encouraged to seek out these storms, because Jesus assures us he is there.

         We recently saw a public church split last week, when Rev. Robert E. Lee IV, a descendant of the renowned confederate general, spoke at the MTV music awards. Lee stated at the ceremony:

"My name is Robert Lee IV; I am a descendant of Robert E. Lee, the Civil War general whose statue was at the center of violence in Charlottesville. We have made my ancestor an idol of white supremacy, racism and hate. As a pastor it is my moral duty to speak out against racism, America's original sin. Today, I call on all of us with privilege and power to answer God's call to confront racism and white supremacy head-on. We can find inspiration in the Black Lives Matter movement, the women who marched in the Women's March in January and especially Heather Heyer who died fighting for her beliefs in Charlottesville."

Soon after his address, Lee resigned from United Bethany Church of Christ in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, because of pressure and a backlash at the church, and emerging different mission and goals of the church. Rev. Lee has shared his beliefs on other occasions, and he and the church became the focus of threats and hate mail, which contributed to his resignation last week.

The reality is there are many churches that would denounce Rev. Lee, just has there are many churches that would back Rev. Lee as their pastor. So, no church is free from the storms of the day. We must confront them if we desire to be a church that is vibrant and alive. We must pursue them or risk being enslaved. We are called to confront sin with love, not hide from it. We are challenged to call upon Jesus name, to stand together with him, in the storm that are swirling around us. We are called to encounter the storms, not run away from them.

Among the fundamental storms we face are the storms of idolatry and putting the worship of money or of self ahead of God. The storms that would leave God’s children with the resources to live a decent life. The storms that seek to tear the diversity of God’s people apart. The storms that would fill our hearts with fear, resentment or self-righteousness anger.   The storms that tempt us to ignore the very presence of Jesus, paying lip-service to his life.

So in the midst of Hurricane Harvey, Irma, Jose and Katia, the wildfires of the West, the earthquake that hit Mexico, we are reminded once more we are storm chasers. Whether the storms are here in our hearts, here in the church, or out in the community, we must choose. Will we seek to ignore the destruction? Will we be enslaved by conflict and apathy, seeking only to care for ourselves, and leave the carnage to others to deal with? Or will we stand with Jesus, there in the storm? Our texts implore us to confront storms, and doing so bring those in need to safety, rebuild a new community through the power of deliverance, through the power of reconciliation, through our commitment to Passover to Freedom. As we stand together confronting the storms of life, let us have hope in a just and caring future. Let this be the America we salvage from the storms. Amen

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Holy Ground

9/6/2017

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Exodus 3: 1-15: 4:1-5, 10-15; Romans 12:9-21; Matthew 16:21-26

“Who made you a ruler and judge over us?” These were among the last words spoken to Moses by one of his people before he fled Egypt after killing an Egyptian overseer. These words would haunt Moses for years, 25 years in fact, and no doubt prickled his conscience that day he approached Holy Ground, where he saw a burning bush, a burning bush that was not consumed by the flame. And from that bush Moses heard his name called, he listened to God speak. “I have seen the misery of my people … go to Pharaoh to release my people.”

25 years earlier, Moses too had seen the misery of God’s people. He witnessed an Egyptian taskmaster brutally beating a Hebrew slave. Outraged, Moses killed the Egyptian on the spot and buried the body in the sand. The next day he went out again, and tried to resolve a fight between two Hebrew slaves. But they had seen Moses murder the Egyptian. This Moses, one of the their own, yet raised in privilege in Pharaoh’s courts.

This Moses, spared the fate of the harsh life of slavery.   Did his ears ever hear the jeers and taunts of the slave masters. Did he ever experience the sting of the overseer’s whip? And now you suddenly appear to defend us? Is this the kind of leader we need?   “Will you kill me too, Moses, just like you did that Egyptian?” the slave asked, and “hide my body in the sand?” “Who made you ruler and judge over us?”

After killing that slave master and being taunted by Hebrew slaves, Moses fled east to the land of Midian—the land where his ancestor Joseph was taken into slavery. There Moses ended up marrying a daughter of a Midian priest and settled down to a Shepard’s life. But that pain didn’t go away. He named his firs-born Gershom, which means, “I have been an alien residing in a foreign land.” Moses didn’t belong in Pharaoh’s palace, nor did he belong in Midian as a Shepard. After 50 years he still didn’t know where he belonged. Who he was. Until he reached Holy Ground. For Moses went on to play a significant role in the salvation history of Israel. And he underwent a prolonged test of character to become ready to be the leader God was molding him to be. Moses would finally discover his calling, in the presence of the burning bush, on Holy Ground.

There on Holy Ground, Moses would receive his calling. “Moses! Moses!” God summoned him. “I Have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt. I have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters, and I have come to deliver them… So come, I will send you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.”

God knew that Moses murdered an Egyptian and was a persona non grata. God knew what his kinsfolk thought of him. God saw him, an alien in Egypt, an alien in Midian, yet God placed his confidence in Moses to send him straight back to Pharaoh’s house to deliver the Hebrew people out of slavery?

Holy Ground, alive with God, reveals Moses’ true identity. It reveals our true identity. It tells us who we really are. It gives us our true spiritual purpose in life, to ease the suffering of others and deliver the vulnerable and needy from their oppression. Holy Ground opens our hearts to expose our fears so we can face them and overcome the terror that blocks us from living out our true calling.

Holy Ground revealed five fears that Moses, like us, must work through in order to answer our calling from God.   “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” This task is too great, too overwhelming for me.   I’m not good enough for your plans, God. Send someone else!

God didn’t go into specifics what Moses should do and how he should pull it off. God was unimpressed with Pharaoh’s power or Moses’ lack of power. God cuts through the drama with a simple: “I will be with you.” On Holy Ground, we ask who are to confront the powers of the world? The Greed, the racism, those with better resources and power.   We get stuck in fear. “I will be with you” is what we need to hear to carry out the ministry of peace, holiness and justice.

Moses give voice to our second fear: “If I come to the Israelites and say to them, the God of your ancestors has sent me to you, and they ask me, “What is his name? What shall I say to them?”

In whose name and authority do we act? Not our own. Our power comes from the God of Jesus.

God responds with a mysterious title that eludes precise translation: Yahweh: “I am who I am” “I will be who I will be” “I create what I create.” It is a name that links the God of the past throughout the book of Genesis, back to the God Abram and Sarai, to the God of the present to the God of the future, who in Jesus describes the suffering the Son of Man would undergo at the hands of the elders. Holy Ground teaches us that the God who is with us is a God who liberates, a God who leads, a God who lay down his life in Jesus and gives us the same authority to heal and proclaim the Good News. Look at the marchers from Charlottesville VA, on their way to Washington DC, to stand against white supremacy. They should arrive in DC by September 6. Holy Ground energizes us because God walks at our side.

Moses delineates a third fear that paralyzing our spiritual progress:
“But suppose they do not believe me or listen to me and say, “The Lord did not appear to you?” The fear of failure and rejection keeps many of us from carrying out the ministry God has placed in our hearts.

         Now God didn’t answer Moses’ question directly. He instead transforms Moses’ staff into a snake, a symbol of divine presence and power in the ancient world. The snake then becomes a staff again.

         Isn’t this what we want.   That the work of our hands would somehow be suffused with the presence of God. That the work of our lives make a positive impact. That is how God will be known through us. By the good we do. By standing against evil. By helping people in distress.   That is how God desires to be known through us and prove that God has appeared to us in our prayers and our deeds.

         Still Moses persists and gives rise to a fourth fear we suffer from.   “O my Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor now, I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.” The irony here is that Moses doesn’t have any problem communicating to God his fear. He is doing a perfectly fin job telling God all the stumbling blocks, why he can’t fulfill his work. If he can talk with God about all this why can’t he talk with mere mortals. God replies, “Who gives speech to mortals? Who makes them seeing or blind” Is it not I, the Lord, now go, I will be with your mouth and teach you what you are to speak.” When we are on Holy Ground we learn over time how to speak as the Holy Spirit will give us speech, in times of trial. A coalition of Evangelical leaders, the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood including prominent members on President Trump’s council, issued the “Nashville Statement” this past Tuesday, which among its 14 points condemned homosexuality and transgenderism and reaffirmed traditional marriage and gender roles. This document was rebutted point by point by a congregation in Denver, calling the document the “Denver Statement” there has also been a statement from Chicago as well. During a week of horrific destruction in Texas due to Hurricane Harvey, the need to speak out for peace, justice and righteousness is as urgent as ever.

     Finally, we come to Moses’ last pitch. He has no more questions, but issues this desperate statement out of fear: “Send someone else!” We feel the danger. The burden of oppression seems too heavy. Let someone else do it!   We are tempted to go away, to give in, and to hide.

      Holy Ground helps us engage this struggle. Will we give into temptation, drop the cross, or will we follow the road of discipleship, stand in the danger to protect others, to be a leader out of oppression and slavery?   Will we pick ourselves up and go to face pharaoh, or to face the defiant crowds of Charlottesville?

      The scriptures call us to be disciples in the journey to freedom. Here at church we have this Holy Ground where we will struggle with our identity, despite our misgivings. Will we follow God’s call to stand up to the pharaohs, to help those in slavery, the economic slavery, slavery of mistaken faith or beliefs, to lead them forth to a better future?

       Here on this Holy Ground, we come face to face with our hopes and fears our trials and triumphs, our failures and our success, our past and our unfolding future.   So, we stand on the Holy Ground today, the burning bush blazing in our heart; we hear God say, I have seen the suffering of my people. The people sitting next to us. The people out on the streets. I have seen the oppression of the taskmasters of the world. So come, I will send you to lead my people out of their oppression.

         Is that old call stirring? The old vision awakening? In the midst of the turmoil around us? Who will go? The flame is burning and it says, let the people of God overcome their fears and respond, “Lord, I will go. Send me.” Amen.

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