Todays reflection... Do you remember learning to ride a bike? The first time the training wheels come off? You were so sure of yourself, you had seen others do it, it looked so effortless. So much so that when mom or dad offered to hold on to the bike for you you refused, insulted at not being treated like the big kid you were. You went out on your own, and without the support of training wheels or the guiding hand of a parent your lack of judgement quickly becomes apparent as handlebars jerked side to side, wheels veered in all directions and your knees make contact with the unforgiving ground. After the wounds had been cleaned, the tears wiped and re-assurances given, you were ready again. What made it possible for you to get back on that bike was the assurance that this time mom or dad would be right beside you holding on, perhaps letting go at times but always by your side. As you set off, you looked up nervously at your parent and he or she responds, “I’ll be right here with you.” Your parent responds that way because they can see the question you are asking with your eyes, “are you with me?” Are you with me? It’s a question that Moses asks a lot. He’s not a very confident man. Moses seems to need lots of re-assurance that God is right there with him and with the people of Israel. This Moses is no Charlton Heston, the self-assured leader from the old Hollywood movie, The Ten Commandments. Moses is full of insecurity demanding God’s presence, pleading with God, “are you with me?’: “ …If I have found favour in your sight, show me your ways. So that I may know you…” (Exodus 33: 14) When you consider what Moses had been through you might understand his need for re-assurance. Only one chapter back the people he was leading had turned their back on God who lead them out of slavery in Egypt. They had become frustrated by years of wandering in the desert and built a calf out of gold and began to worship it as their new god. Just before the passage we read today God has told Moses that it was time for the people of Israel to leave the base of Mount Sinai, the place they headed after escaping Pharoah’s army, and journey toward the promised land. To use a modern term, Moses was freaking out. This was a major turning point in the life of Israel, Moses was questioning his leadership, he was questioning his people’s readiness to move on as God had said. “Are you with me God?“ Moses says. Because if you’re not there is no point in us going anywhere: “For how shall it be known that I have found favour in your sight, I and your people, unless you go with us?” (Exodus 33: 16) God says, I am with you, because you are faithful Moses and you call upon me; “I will do the very thing you have asked; for you have found favour in my sight, and I know you by name.” (Exodus 33: 17) But Moses goes further, “show me your glory.” (Exodus 33: 18) “I need proof that you’re with me, Moses says. ”Are you with me? It’s a question I find myself asking a lot. Life constantly takes us into new territory, places that throw us off balance, that frighten us, that send us to the ground inflicting wounds on us. A marriage breaks up. A job is lost. Old age begins to bring declining health. A loved one dies. “Are you with me in this God?” We just want to know that we’re not alone, that the rough times will get better, that we’re being lead in the right direction. Sometimes though we just don’t understand why God can’t be more present to us in ways we can understand; a flash of light, a voice, an angel. We want it plain and obvious; we want proof. We demand God’s presence, its what Moses did. Are you with me God? What God gives Moses is enough for faith. God doesn’t give Moses proof, God is quite clear about that: “you shall not see my face, for no one shall see me and live.” (Exodus 33: 20) Proof is about certainty, proof is about control. God doesn’t want that kind of relationship with Moses and Israel. God knows that proof would be coercive and manipulative.[1] It would turn faith into belief, it would eliminate the need for trust. It would turn Moses and Israel into objects, cogs and gears in a machine that God controls—things doing God’s whim. It would kill their humanity and their very essence as creatures made in the image of God—you can’t see the face of God and live. God would never do that to Moses and Israel, God knows Moses doesn’t need proof, he doesn’t need certainty, Moses needs faith and God gives Moses enough for faith. A promise that God’s goodness will be shown and a passing glance as God strolls by. We know its enough for faith because we know how the story goes—Israel gets to the promised land. God gives us what we need for faith, because faith, not proof is what we need. The late Viktor Frankl, a psychiatrist and concentration camp survivor, wrote a bestselling book called Man’s Search for Meaning about his experiences. In it he shares a couple of experiences of God giving him what he needed for faith.[2] “Another time we were at work in a trench. The dawn was grey around us; grey was the sky above; grey the snow in the pale light of dawn; grey the rags in which my fellow prisoners were clad, and grey their faces. I was again conversing silently with my wife, or perhaps I was struggling to find the reason for my sufferings, my slow dying. In a last violent protest against the hopelessness of imminent death, I sensed my spirit piercing through the enveloping gloom. I felt it transcend that hopeless, meaningless world, and from somewhere I heard a victorious “Yes” in answer to my question of the existence of an ultimate purpose. At that moment a light was lit in a distant farmhouse, which stood on the horizon as if painted there, in the midst of the miserable grey of a dawning morning in Bavaria…(from Isaiah the words came) “and the light shineth in the darkness.”. [3] For hours I stood hacking at the icy ground. The guard passed by, insulting me, and once again I communed with my beloved. More and more I felt that she was present, that she was with me; I had the feeling that I was able to touch her, able to stretch out my hand and grasp hers. The feeling was very strong: she was there. Then, at that very moment, a bird flew down silently and perched just in front of me, on the heap of soil which I had dug up from the ditch, and looked steadily at me.”[4] Faith is also presence, but a very different kind of presence, unlike proof and certainty its not overbearing, it doesn’t seek control, it doesn’t deny our role as co-creator’s with God. Faith stands with us, respects us, is mindful of our sacredness as God’s partners in creation, as creatures made in the divine image. Faith calls us into a relationship of trust. Faith calls forth our strengths, our courage, our capacity to love, our compassion. God gives us what we need for faith. Not proof, but a presence that encourages our growth and gives us the confidence and the courage to go where life leads us. Are you with me God? Yes comes the reply. I’m here ready to guide you, waiting to let go, running beside you, there to catch you, prepared to comfort you, waiting to rejoice with you. Amen (October 19, 2014-19th Sunday after Pentecost) Rev. Joe Gaspar [1] Howard Wallace hwallace.unitingchurch.org.au/WebOTcomments/OrdinaryA/Pentecost23.html [2] Viktor Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning , pp. 55-56. [3] Frankl, 60-61 [4] Frankl, 60-61
Posted on: Sun, 19 Oct 2014 16:36:03 +0000
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