Sunday, August 28, 2011

Sermon (August 28) "In Your Wildest Dreams: Your Burning Bush"




     Have you ever had a burning bush moment?  Even people who might not know their bible too well will most likely have some understanding of this often used phrase. 
     In its common usage, it’s a phrase that refers to a moment in your life when you felt called to go after some dream.  It’s when you become aware that you are being called to do something significant that will make a difference in the world.
     A burning bush moment is what many high school seniors hope to have so they know what their next step will be following their high school graduation.  A burning bush moment is what the person who has hit a wall in her career wants to have so that she can pursue a new direction that will be fulfilling and life changing.  A burning bush moment is what the person who is in trouble longs to encounter so that he can begin to make better decisions and get on the right track again.  A burning bush moment is what the new church member wants to experience so that he can use his particular gifts and resources to share God’s love with the community and world.  A burning bush moment is what the person who is feeling restless in her spirit is hoping to have so that her faith becomes exciting and new.
     What is your burning bush?
     For the next four weeks, we’re going to spend this time during worship thinking about what it means to go after our wildest dreams.   We’re going to be following the story of Moses as part of our lectionary scripture readings to help us go after those dreams.
     Today, we begin with the Moses and the burning bush story from the Book of Exodus.  As I’ve been reflecting on this story, it seems to me that there are five important elements in any “burning bush” encounter.  And by focusing on these five elements, like Moses, we too can respond to the invitation to live out the dream that God has placed before us.  And it all begins with a burning bush moment.
     Here is the first element that I see from the Moses and burning bush story.  Burning bushes often occur during our everyday activities. 
     When we think of Moses, we usually think of how he did a lot of great things for God, but in this burning bush story, we need to remember that Moses was an ordinary person like us.  When we get to Exodus chapter 3, we find that Moses has settled into a comfortable life in the land of Midian.  He’s married and he has a son, and he takes care of the animals on the family farm.
     One day, as he was leading his flock, he sees a bush that is on fire but it wasn’t being consumed.  A messenger from God appeared from that same bush.  And here’s what I find interesting in this story that I never really saw before in all the times that I have read this story.  It says that when Moses first noticed that this bush was on fire but wasn’t burning up, that instead of continuing on, he turned aside to see what was going on.
     I find that significant because this tells me that Moses had a choice.  He could have ignored this burning bush and just kept on heading the direction he was going.  But it was because Moses turned toward the bush that the Lord called out to him.
     I wonder how many times God reaches out to us during our day to day activities, and instead of paying attention to God, we just keep on doing whatever we were doing.  God puts more burning bushes along our path than we may think.
     Here’s a recent burning bush story that comes to mind.  I was having lunch with Dave Diamond who is one of our retired United Methodist pastors here in the church.  In his retirement, Dave has been serving as a chaplain with hospice and he’s been leading a grief support group in our church.

      So as we’re eating our lunch and talking about Big Ten football, our families, and ministry, I began to sense that God was trying to get my attention.  And as we kept talking over lunch, I continued to feel like God was tugging at me.

     When there was a break in our conversation, I said to Dave, “Dave, I think I’m having a God moment.”  And I said, “This might sound a little strange, but it’s like God is calling for the two of us to visit someone at their house after we’re done eating lunch.  There’s a family who needs to know that God loves them and that somebody cares.”

     And then I said, “Do you have some time to stop by at this house with me today.”  And Dave, having served as a United Methodist Pastor for many years, and knowing that God tends to interrupt our everyday lives like this, didn’t even flinch and says to me, ‘Well, sure, let’s go.’”

     So we go to this house and nobody was home.  And so I stood there at the front door and said a prayer for this family that God would reach out to them and remind them that our church was thinking of them.  I wrote a little note of encouragement on that back of my card and Dave left a card as well.

     I didn’t think too much of that burning bush moment until a couple of weeks later.  I was heading to the hospital to make some visits and for some reason I decided to go a different way to the hospital.  And I ended up driving by this same house that Dave and I had visited.

     And lo and behold, someone in the family was sitting on the front porch step as I was driving by.  Another burning bush moment!  I pulled over a couple blocks down and walked to the house and sat down next to this family member.

    She was glad to see me and she thanked me for stopping by a couple of weeks earlier.  She said, “I’m glad you stopped to see me today because today is when our family is going to meet at the cemetery to see the headstone and it’s going to be very difficult for us.”  This family had experienced a tragic death in their family.

     And after we prayed there on her porch, she couldn’t stop thanking me and our church for reaching out to them just when they needed it the most.

     Friends, I believe in burning bush moments.  And I notice that they often happen while you’re eating a tuna melt sandwich at a local restaurant or while you’re driving through town.

     Here’s the second element from the burning bush story.  Not only do they often happen during our normal day to day activities, burning bushes also remind us that God knows who we are.  Moses might not have known who God was, but God sure knew who he was.  God knew that even though Moses was brought up and raised by the Egyptians, that he was really a Hebrew and part of God’s family.
     Notice in verse 6.  God tells Moses, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.”  And then we’re told that after God said this that Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.  Sometimes, it catches us off guard when we realize that God knows us better than we think.
     So remember, the One who calls you from the burning bush is also the one who knows your strengths, your weaknesses, and the real you.
     Let’s look at the third element of the burning bush story.  Burning bushes lead to serving in a specific way.  When God calls Moses from the burning bush, God doesn’t just call him in a general way.  God has a specific task in mind.  God wants Moses to lead the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt. 
     We live in a world that is filled with injustice, oppression, sin, and despair.  And since God is the one who created the world and called it good, it only makes sense that God also has specific tasks in mind for us to help bring about transformation in our community and world.
     Moses didn’t leave from his burning bush experience wondering what God wanted him to do.  He knew that God wanted him to free his people.  Like Moses, God calls us through burning bush moments to offer God’s freeing and rescuing love in specific ways to the people around us.
     Here’s a fourth element of the burning bush story:  Burning bushes lead to the making of excuses.   And this is related to the third element that we just looked at about burning bushes.  Since God gives us specific tasks to do, it will be natural for us to feel inadequate for the task that God has in mind for us.
     It’s unfortunate that Moses is known in a negative way for the many excuses he expressed to God in the burning bush story.  But remember, anything worth doing is going to lead to doubts and uncertainties.  Here’s Moses, living a comfortable and quiet life, and now God wants him to do the unthinkable – convince the powerful Egyptians to release the people who are supplying their slave labor.  That’s probably not going to go over too well!
     So Moses has his excuses ready and they are many.  I counted five excuses that Moses thought of right there as the bush was still burning.  Here they are: Verse 11 – “I’m a nobody.  They won’t listen to me.”  Verse 13 – “They’re going to want to know who sent me and I don’t even know your name.”  Chapter 4 and verse 1 – “They won’t believe that you appeared to me.”  Verse 10 – “I’m not a good speaker.  I won’t be very convincing.”  Verse 13 – “I’m not the most qualified person for the job.  Send somebody else.”  Excuses go with the territory.  We might even say that if you don’t voice any excuses, it might not be a true burning bush moment.  Excuses often accompany God’s calling to go after our wildest dreams.
     One of the reasons that Methodism was so successful was because John Wesley trained and equipped lay people to serve in ministry.  Some of those lay people served as preachers.  Even though many of them were uneducated and felt unqualified, Wesley encouraged them to respond to God’s calling in their lives and to use their gifts in ministry.
     On one occasion, one of these lay preachers preached from Luke 19:21 which says in the King James Version, “Lord, I feared thee, because thou art an austere man.”  “An austere man.”  This lay preacher, who had never heard of the word “austere,” before which is an adjective meaning “simple” and “plain,” mistakenly thought this Bible verse was referring to “an oyster man.”  Austere and oyster, they sound alike.
     And so, this uneducated lay preacher proceeded to mistakenly preach a sermon about the work of people who retrieve oysters from the sea bed and it went like this…“The diver plunges down from the surface, cut off from his natural environment, into bone-chilling water.  He gropes in the dark, cutting his hands on the sharp edges of the shells.  Now he has the oyster, and kicks back up to the surface, up to the warmth and light and air, clutching in his torn and bleeding hands the object of his search.  So Christ descended from the glory of heaven into the squalor of earth, into sinful human society, in order to retrieve humans and bring them back up with Him to the glory of heaven, his torn and bleeding hands a sign of the value he has placed on the object of his quest.”
     Because of his passionate preaching on Jesus as our “oyster man,” twelve people ended up giving their lives to Jesus Christ that evening.  Afterwards, someone complained to Wesley about the inappropriateness of this lay preacher who didn’t know the difference between the word “austere” and the word “oyster.”
     Wesley replied, “It doesn’t really matter.  What matters is the Lord got a dozen oysters tonight.”  Good for Wesley!
    Sometimes we can even let our excuses get in the way of seeing how God is using us to make a difference in the world! 
     Pastors are supposed to be the ones leading the way, right?  But not always.  I remember facilitating a task force at a church I was serving.  We must have met at least 20 times for several hours, praying, and collecting data on whether or not the church I was serving at the time should take on a new ministry outreach in the community.
     It was very controversial because if we would pursue this outreach, it would mean that our church would have to realign our ministry structure, raise additional funds, change our staffing, and discontinue some of our ministries that weren’t having the same impact they once did.  After several meetings of discussion, planning, and prayer, it was becoming very apparent that this new ministry direction was where God was calling us to go as a church.
     We were excited about this new direction and we really felt that this was a burning bush moment.  But I was also aware that there would be many people in our church who would not appreciate all of the changes we would need to make for this dream to become a reality. 
     So toward the end of one of our several meetings, I said to the task force, “Well, when do you want to schedule our next meeting?”  And God bless them.  They said to me in so many words, “What do you mean another meeting?  We already know what we need to do?  What are you waiting for Robert?”
     Sometimes, we pastors win the prize for having the most excuses.  So whenever we start making excuses about how God can’t possibly be calling us to go after our wildest dreams that just might mean that we’re having a burning bush moment. 
     And then this fifth element that I see in this story of Moses and the burning bush.  Burning bushes will include God’s reassurance.  Notice that after Moses offers his excuses, that God provides a reassuring word.  In verse 12, God reassures Moses with these five very important words – “I will be with you.”
     Those words remind me of the words that Jesus spoke to his disciples just before he sent them to make disciples.  He said, “And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”  The God who meets us in the burning bush and who calls us to a particular task is also the one who promises to always be with us.
     And this is important because if left to our own strength, we will find it extremely difficult to go after our wildest dreams.  But with God, all things are possible.  God will provide the people, the resources, and the strength that we will need to accomplish great things for God.
     William Wilberforce was a devout Christian and member of the British Parliament from 1780 to 1825.  He is best known for abolishing the slave trade and slavery itself in all British territories.  His burning bush moment came on May 12, 1787.  Sitting under a large oak tree, a friend challenged him by saying, “Wilberforce, why don’t you give notice of a motion on the subject of the Slave Trade?  You have already taken great pains to collect evidence, and are therefore fully entitled to the credit which doing so will ensure you.  Do not lose time, or the ground will be occupied by another.”  Wilberforce’s response is not recorded, but he later declared in old age that he could distinctly remember the very knoll on which he was sitting near Pitt where he made his decision.
     It took William Wilberforce 18 years to get his motion to abolish the slave trade passed.  And then just four days before his death, Parliament finally passed a motion to end all slavery in the British territories.  A year after William Wilberforce died, almost one million slaves were set free from the evil force of slavery.
     One of the reasons why Wilberforce didn’t give up during those long 18 years was because of a letter of encouragement that he received from John Wesley, the founder of Methodism.  Wesley wrote that letter of encouragement just before he died.
     To go after our wildest dreams, God provides us with a burning bush moment.
     What is your burning bush?
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