Just in case you’ve lost track of the saga of Moses I’ll offer a brief recap. As an infant, he’s been picked up in the river by the Pharaoh’s daughter after his mother set him afloat in order to keep him from being killed by the Egyptian soldiers. Moses has been raised in the Pharaoh’s palace, but is now in the equivalent of the witness protection program after killing an Egyptian who was beating a fellow Hebrew. He’s currently in Midian, married to Zipporah, daughter of the priest Jethro. Moses is keeping the flock of sheep that belongs to his father-in-law, when, near the mountain of Horeb he sees a bush that is burning, but is not consumed. You have to love the Old Testament stories – the plots are as thick as Days of Our Lives, or As the World Turns. One big difference is that these stories really are the history of the days of our lives and really have had an impact on how the world turns.

Just in case you’ve lost track of the saga of Moses I’ll offer a brief recap.  As an infant, he’s been picked up in the river by the Pharaoh’s daughter after his mother set him afloat in order to keep him from being killed by the Egyptian soldiers.  Moses has been raised in the Pharaoh’s palace, but is now in the equivalent of the witness protection program after killing an Egyptian who was beating a fellow Hebrew.  He’s currently in Midian, married to Zipporah, daughter of the priest Jethro.  Moses is keeping the flock of sheep that belongs to his father-in-law, when, near the mountain of Horeb he sees a bush that is burning, but is not consumed. 

 

You have to love the Old Testament stories – the plots are as thick as Days of Our Lives, or As the World Turns.  One big difference is that these stories really are the history of the days of our lives and really have had an impact on how the world turns. 

 

But in today’s episode, Moses approaches the mysterious burning bush.  Why not?  Watching the sheep can’t have offered much excitement and an ever-burning bush was a bit of a diversion.  If this were a soap opera -- as Moses approached -- the music would crescendo -- it would beat faster – with just a little dissonance – to warn us that our man Moses was about to encounter a perilous situation. 

 

As Moses gets close to the bush, a voice booms out his name, “Moses, Moses.”  Those of us who keep up with these stories know that Moses is on the verge of something big.  Anytime a name gets repeated, we know that this person is about to be called, commissioned into God’s service.  This call story begins with the command, “Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.”  And God tells Moses what God has seen and what God has heard, but Moses is not thrilled with this call.  Not only is it inconvenient, it is downright scary – Moses is a wanted man in Egypt.  And besides, what makes God think that Moses is the right person for a job this big?  So Moses replies, “Who do I say sent me?  What is his name?” 

 

God replies with one of the most enigmatic answers in the whole enigmatic-filled Bible, “I AM Who I AM.”   Or “I am he who is.”  Or “I will be-there howsoever I will be-there.”  Or “I am that I am.” 

 

What does this tell us about who God is?

 

I spent most of the week of my vacation with my good friend Cathy who is a senior at the School of Theology at Sewanee.  One of her professors is a man – whose wife, I am told,  is a fierce feminist and as such his wife apparently finds the name God to be offensive – too masculine.  So this professor – instead of calling the Deity God calls the Deity – Creator – Sustainer – Redeemer.  To me, this is full of problems itself – not the least of which is that these are not names, but are activities.  It would be like calling each of us here by our professions – or more specifically – by the tasks we perform the most.  I could be called Talker – Listener – Writer.  What would be a description of what you do most?  I’ll bet that whatever three descriptors you come up with don’t come close to what you actually do in a day, nor do they approach the reasons why you do these things, or the outcome that they contribute to. 

 

Rather God, in this story, is naming himself somewhat the equivalent of I AM – (as a historical side note -- is believed to be the origin of the name YAHWEH )– doesn’t limit God’s self to what we have seen God do.  No, God names himself as being itself – ever present – always with us.  God isn’t just what we’ve seen God do, God is all pervasive.  Where life is, God is. 

 

For those of you who have seen Rob Bell’s Everything is Spiritual you have heard his wonderful, exciting integration of Quantum Physics and Creation, String Theory and Spirit.  You’ve heard him explain the amazing miracle of life.  How could all this have come into being without an intelligence behind it all.  And all of life – from the biggest whale to the smallest quark – or string – or whatever we find is the smallest element of life – all of life is integrated into a whole.  We are all related and everything we do affects everything and everyone else on the planet….or maybe in the universe…or the cosmos.  We don’t have a clue, really, just how inter-related we are with creation around us.  Where life is – God is. 

 

For those of  us who are more artists than scientists, more poets than physicists – all we have to do is to look around us at all the wonder and beauty that surrounds us.  All of this splendor has to be more than an accident of evolution.  We are surrounded and filled with the very being of God.  All we have to do is to embrace the wonder – accept our role in the miracle of life.

 

What does this have to do with the message that Jesus gives to Peter and to us this morning?  All this wonder and beauty seems to get lost in the statement, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.”  Here, Jesus is challenging us.   Our cross, I believe, is a total turning to live our lives as we promised in our Baptismal vows...and this also includes the element that we live fully into who God created us each to be. Jesus is calling us to make our choices based on who are and who we follow - forsaking those things in the world that get in the way. Not an easy message, but some of the good news may be found, not only in the next life where everyone will be repaid for "what has been done" but also in the fact that God IS life - our very being and all that has life is full of God's own being-ness. No matter what, we are never alone.

 

Each and every day each one of us makes choices – like Frank will make and we will witness today – like the promises that will be made on behalf of Haleigh – we make choices about whom and what we will follow.  We can choose the wonders of life that we find in God – or we can chase those things that the world tells us are important.  Sometimes they aren’t in contradiction to one another, but other times they are and that junction is when the difficult decisions come to bear.  This is when we are asked to take up our cross and follow Jesus.  It can be hard to go contrary to everyone and everything around us.  We can see that we are surrounded by the world and our culture and it is not easy to turn aside from what seems so tangible – what we’ve been taught is so logical. 

 

This is when we need to listen to our hearts and respond to the wonderful truth – the good news – that God is.  God is being; God is life.  We are surrounded, upheld, filled with God’s love and God’s being.  We are never, never alone.

 

That is our gospel – our good news.

 

Thanks be to God.