"I am who am"
Ex 3: 1-8, 13-15
1 Cor 10: 1-6, 10-12
Lk 13: 1-9
The
ever popular movie, The Wizard of Oz is
a story essentially about a quest for identity. The virtues of courage (the
lion), compassion (the heart of the tin man), and intelligence (a brain for the
scarecrow), and Dorothy’s desire for “home,” all engage us in our own
self-awareness.
Ultimately,
they travel to the mythical kingdom of Oz in search for these virtues from the
wizard who they assume can grant them these traits. Once they enter his throne room, they encounter
a blazing ball of fire and an over powering voice which states “Come no closer.
I am the great and powerful Wizard of Oz!”
Frightened,
the three strange companions of Dorothy scatter in fear but Dorothy herself
boldly approaches the smoke and fire of the Wizard and dares him to grant their
request. She displays courage, wisdom, and compassion for her friends and meets
the wizard on his own terms. Once she
returns home, was it all a dream she wonders, she recognizes that the three
companions were symbolic of character traits she could find among her own
friends and family. In the end we discover that the wizard himself is all show.
His awesome display of power, however, was convincing.
By
contrast, this Sunday we are confronted with a less frightening display of
power and a real presence that is anything but an illusion. There are no balls
of fire or grand displays of command but a mysterious burning bush. The book of
Exodus relates the familiar story of Moses and the bush which burns but is not
consumed. Unlike the smoke and mirrors of the “Great and powerful Wizard of Oz”
this fire is a living presence.
Moses,
it seems, is not in search of any particular quest but rather, “. . . tending the flock of his father-in-law
Jethro . . . leading the flock across the desert, he came to Horeb . . . (Ex
31-2). While tending to his sheep, he spots a strange burning bush and forever
his life changes. Moses approaches with feet unshod for he hears the voice from
the bush say: “Remove the sandals from your
feet for the place where you stand is holy ground. I am the God of your fathers
. . .” (Ex 3) He confronts the living God; a God who invites us into a
relationship with him; a God of mercy, and love.
This
season of Lent can be for us a new recognition of God’s presence in our lives.
While his presence is a constant, ours often is not. We’d sometime rather search for that “yellow
brick road” rather than stay on task.
Looking for God in all the wrong places or simply not at all rather than
encountering him right at home.
God
hides in the sign of the fire but the fire is not God, nor is the bush, but
through his own creation – with a sign of consuming energy – God reveals
himself to Moses and through Moses to . . . my
people . . . (Ex 3) God is not
satisfied with remaining distant and unapproachable. He desires a relationship with us.
The great theologian of the Church, St. Thomas Aquinas, wrote a great deal on the nature of God. That God is existence itself. That God’s existence is what sustains every living being, creation itself. Because God has created all to be good, each being has its purpose and contributes to the good of creation. Humankind, of course, is of the greatest good and contributes to moral goodness in the world. Love, like God himself, is best when it is a self-giving love that mirrors its creator.
To
encounter the living God, as we do in Word and Sacrament every time we gather
at the Mass, may not be a burning bush or a ball of fire who tries to overwhelm
us with illusory power but it is the silent yet life sustaining presence of the
God who lifted the veil off his face for us in the person of Christ Jesus. He seeks our response; our loyalty to him, as
did Jesus so often with his own disciples.
Yet,
has the Mass and our faith in general become all about the “me” or all about
this sacred encounter as a conscious response to God’s invitation of love? It
is a balance between a gathering of family and friends for that sake alone and
a gathering on sacred ground before the living and life-sustaining God who
comes to us under the signs of word, bread and wine. Yet, have we lost a sense
of the sacred and lost a sense of awe and wonder these days?
We have a diminshed
respect for human life and have set up an entire class of the unborn human being
which we have decided has no rights or legal protection. This has rippled out to the
prevailing culture like water when a rock is thrown in. The single-minded
effort to redefine marriage, the family, and the role of a parent has reduced
the sacred to a level of distorted politics and bigotry. This Lent is a call to
reclaim our stand before God, as Moses, with bare feet, on holy ground, with humility and
wonder - to once again make room for God and his voice in my life.
Those
who encounter us as believers who sometimes walk a different road should feel
welcome to journey with us. Is your
faith contagious to others? As we become living signs of Christ to others they
should feel in us a faith reflected. God
longs for relationship with him. How can
I seek to deepen that truth in my life?
A Prayer for
Communion
Son of the Living
God,Lord Jesus Christ,
Whose death
Willed by the Father,
Empowered by the Holy Spirit,
Restored the life of the world,
Deliver me from all my iniquities and from every evil
Through this most sacred Body and blood of yours.
Keep me always close to your commandments
And never allow me be separated from you.
(9th
century)
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