Third Week in Lent , March 3, 2013 (full size gallery)
Lent 3 continued with the banquet feast on Thursday which hosted around 8-9 in Jesus time. They had the basic 2 parts – the deipnon with main courses and symposium with the lighter fare and you can more information here. Looked like great foods – talapia, lamb, fruit, bread!
The slideshow above also includes mention of Catherine’s winning the John Hines preaching award from Virginia Theological from her semon on Oct 14, 2012 which you can read here. The award was mentioned announced here.
We had 39 in church on Sunday another one of these unsettled days, sun out completely then a mixture of clouds and sun. This was the first Sunday of the month and so we had coffee hour. Cookie outdid herself with venison barbebue, cooked goose, melon, grapes, cheeses and an assortment of deserts – coconut macaroons, angelfood cake.
Catherine continued with Part 3 of her Forgiveness series. You can read the notes here.
This Sunday we introduced the Haiti toilet challenge from Region One and St. George’s. People could throw funds for this project in our "make shift" toilet. The goal is to raise $32,000 among 19 churches to construct a new toilet system for the school attached to Notre Dame in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. There is one toilet there! It appears we collected well over $100.
We also recognized Johnny and Boyd on their recent retirements. Becky had a birthday and was recognized for that but for also the Christian ed work on Sunday as well as the Wednesday afternoon youth program with Catherine.
Parts were handed out today for the murder mystery to be played out at Lady’s Night Out on March 9. This is a fundraiser for the church.
Genevieve our oldest parishioner was here today and enjoyed the foods at coffee hour.
The main scripture used for the sermon was the burning bush story in Exodus. Here are the readings.
Taking our shoes off is a metaphor for not letting anything come between ourselves and God. As the sermon states " This story reminds us that God is waiting to have a conversation with each and every one of us if we’re available to listen. And this story reminds us about who we are in the light of who God is. " It is also about strengthening our commitment. God desired for Moses to have an intimate experience with the Divine Presence to deepen his commitment for the ministry God was commissioning him to do
And Jesus is there despite our brokenness. Let’s look at Moses as an example
Moses calls himself "an alien residing in a foreign land" (2:22). But he is a man who has never really been at home anywhere. Raised by his Hebrew mother, he was adopted by Pharaoh’s daughter (2:9-10) and given an Egyptian name (see the discussion on Exodus 1:8-2:10). Although he tries to intervene to help his kinfolk, the Hebrews (2:11-13), he ends up murdering an Egyptian and being rejected by his own (2:14). He flees Egypt and the mess he had created there, only to be identified as an Egyptian by the women he meets at the well in Midian (2:19). From the adopted son of royalty, Moses is now shepherding flocks (a less than prestigious job!), working for his father-in-law. He pastures his flock "beyond the wilderness," that is in a very spooky and distant place indeed, far from the known haunts of his world, and comes to "Horeb (called Sinai in another tradition of the story), the mountain of God."
In the Gospel, in the Parable of the Burning Fig Tree, the divine gardener is willing to take a chance on us despire the fact we have not born fruit.
In both cases, God meets us where we are. When we say that God meets us where we are, the implication is that we are not always where we should be, but that God adapts and accommodates us nonetheless. Moses is not necessarily where he should be, either, but the sight of the burning bush and God’s call will bring him out of obscurity and isolation (rescued yet again?!) and send Moses (and his family!) back to Egypt to lead the Israelite flock.
But even for God the task of getting Moses back on track is no simple matter. The typical commissioning scene involves the prophet’s objection to God’s commission. The objection highlights the prophet’s dependence upon God in undertaking sacred work and reveals an appropriate sense of humility. But Moses is not typical in any sense. Instead of one objection, Moses raises four (3:11,13; 4:1,10) before saying flat out, "O my Lord, please send someone else" (4:13)!
It is interesting to note Moses’ first objection, which questions his own identity: "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?" Moses is reluctant to take on the role that God asks of him, but really, who better than Moses? His dual identity seems to make him the perfect person to confront Pharaoh for the sake of the Hebrews. What is more, despite his reluctance and his own earlier misguided interventions, Moses is driven by a deep sense of justice — a desire to intervene for the victimized and the mistreated, wherever he sees injustice taking place (2:11, 13, 17). On the other hand Moses is busy – he has a wife and child and a steady job. He may want to get out of this task!
After turning from the question of his own identity, Moses turns to the question of God’s identity. "[When] they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ What shall I say to them?" Moses ponders in verse 13. God’s cryptic response is, "I am who I am." God will be known through his actions with other.
And much as Moses’ identity emerges from his own past, so God’s actions in the present emerge from God’s past commitments to the ancestors (3:15).2 The God of the Exodus is one who remains faithful to the covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But unlike human commitments that can waiver and fade, God’s identity will be constant. God will be known in God’s future faithfulness to Moses and the people — "I will be with you," God promises (3:12).