"The Presence of God" - Proper 24A

The text of Exodus 33:12-24, my first attempt on preaching from OT scripture. I think I survived the experience and hope I gave the congregation something to think about, particularly in these tough times when it would be so easy to focus on worldly concerns and forget about God and neighbor.

For as many years as I can remember, baseball has been one of my favorite sports. Beyond the joy of simply watching the game, I enjoy the “sport” of engaging others in the exciting debate of naming the greatest players of all time. Growing up in Connecticut as an avid Red Sox fan, names like Ted Williams, Carl Yastrzemski, and Carlton Fisk fill my list of the game’s greatest players…although I will concede that there might be room for a few other names on that list, including a spot or two for that team that plays in the Bronx. What I remember most about those baseball debates was the need to identify the essence of the player’s greatest quality. Often these central characteristics became common nicknames: Ted Williams was “The Splendid Splinter” and Reggie Jackson was “Mr. October.” We commonly identify and remember the key points of songs, movies and stories in the same manner. The story of the Exodus is undoubtedly one of the greatest stories in the Bible and in today’s scripture reading I think we hear Moses articulate the story’s key point: the necessity of the presence of God. The presence of God is central to the life of the Israelite people and because the Exodus story is our story, the presence of God is central to us as well.
Throughout the past several weeks we have re-lived many of the key elements of the Exodus story: the high points (the birth of Moses and the parting of the sea) and the low points (the Israelites’ grumbling for food and water and their questioning of God’s faithfulness to the promise He made to them). Last week we heard the well-known story of the “golden calf,” I believe one of the lowest points of the entire Exodus story. The Israelite people, impatiently waiting for Moses to return from the mountain top, take matters into their own hands and create the golden calf. God is angered, but Moses is able to plea with God and protects the Israelites from God’s full wrath. Our reading last week ended here, but the story continues with Moses’ anger against the people, smashing the Commandment tablets to the ground; showing not only his anger, but the destruction the people have inflicted on their covenant with God, which the tablets symbolize. After taking action against the people, Moses again hears from God and the news is not good. God will send an angel to direct the Israelites on their journey to the Promised Land, but God will not be present among them because they are a stiff-necked people (Ex 33:2-3). Moses realizes that without the presence of God, the Israelite people are not the Israelite people. This morning, our reading begins with Moses again pleading with God to reconsider his action to withhold His presence from the people. God grants Moses his request, saying “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest” (Ex 33:14). Even after hearing this good news, Moses reiterates the importance of God’s presence by responding, “If your presence will not go, do not carry us up from here” (Ex 33:15). Moses successfully intercedes on behalf of the Israelite people, who have transgressed against God in two important ways: in their impatience for Moses’ return from the mountain, they pursue their own timeline and not God’s; and by creating the golden calf (an untimely creation of human means), they subvert God’s will and satisfy their own desires. Both actions remove them from the presence of God.
As the Israelite people impatiently wait at the base of the mountain and finally choose to pursue their own agenda (and absent themselves from the presence of God), we can be certain that they were not busy surfing the internet; they were not driving in commuter traffic while talking on their cell phones; and they were not rushing through the grocery store in order to get home on time. Please don’t misunderstand me, the Israelite people certainly had their challenges, but so do we. Our world has become hyper-sensitive to time and the rapid delivery of information. Presidential debates have barely concluded before a scientifically selected subgroup provides us with feedback; the economic crisis swings back and forth as real-time global stock information is relayed across the wires; and iPhones and Blackberries ensure that no one is ever too far from being connected with the world. But how connected are we with things that are not “of this world?” How able are we to slow down and become present to the presence of God if we are not even able to patiently live in this world?
We are creatures of this world, but we are more than just that. Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, in his discussion of the “Essence of Man” writes, “Man is more than what he is to himself. In his reason he may be limited, in his will he may be wicked, yet he stands in a relationship to God which he may betray but not sever and which constitutes the essential meaning of his life. He is the knot in which heaven and earth are interlaced.”[i] The knot in which heaven and earth are interlaced. Rabbi Heschel’s metaphorical knot is fascinating and provides powerful insight to our relationship with God and the meaning of our lives. A knot, by its very nature, is held together by the interaction and tension of two things. The more closely the two objects draw together, the greater the tension, but the knot becomes stronger and more effective. Part of our nature resists this tension (a tight knot might be binding and constraining – threatening to our freedom), but another part of our nature welcomes this closer relationship (especially if we consider the knot to be the tight embrace of a loved one). There are also difficult times in our lives (perhaps even now, with so many domestic and foreign challenges in our world), that we tend to focus primarily on the earthly strand of the knot. Our focus slips and the knot becomes loose. As the knot begins to come apart, the heavenly strand seems so far away; the counter-balance, the close relationship, the tension that makes a knot a knot seems to be lost. But Rabbi Heschel reminds us that we stand in relationship to God and we may never sever the line that brings us into the presence of God. During these difficult times, instead of trying to create our own outcome with a single earthly strand, we need to pull close to the presence of God and allow God to pull the knot tight again.
To be in the presence of God and allow God to pull the knot tight again is exactly what Moses understood as he pleaded for God’s presence. God finds favor with Moses and places him in the “cleft of the rock” so that he may be present as God’s glory passes by. However, Moses is still limited in his humanity and cannot see God’s face and live, so God protects and cares for Moses as He passes by. Both “presence” and “face” are translated from the Hebrew root word “paniym” [paw-neem’], which I think shows the delicate nuance of being in God’s presence and the loving-kindness that God gives to each of us: God’s presence is necessary for us; God’s face is too much for us, but God will take care of us. God is in charge; God “will be gracious to whom He will be gracious and will show mercy to whom He will show mercy.” God will not only take care of us, but He expects that we will take care of each other. We know this to be true because Christ, the Incarnate Word of God, tells us so. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” (Mt 22:37-40) Jesus refers to the teaching of the Shema and adds the love of neighbor to be clear of His expectations for us.
I remember when those lively “greatest baseball player, EVER” debates were over; we did not limit our energy to simply admiring those players and their qualities. We wanted to be just like those players: we wanted to hit like them, to pitch like them, to be on the greatest team, like them. God is calling us to be on His team and He has sent His only Son to be our Redeemer and to be present to us so that we may be present to God. And God is calling us, in the midst of our hectic and busy lives to be present to each other, so that we may become a tapestry of knots, in communion with each other.
Evelyn Underhill captures the power and the promise of presence in her prayer, “To be Refreshed by Christ’s Presence.” Let us pray:
“O blessed Jesus Christ, who didst bid all who carry heavy burdens to come to Thee, refresh us with Thy Presence and Thy Power. Quiet our understandings and give ease to our hearts, by bringing us close to things Infinite and Eternal. Open to us the mind of God that in His light we may see light. And crown Thy choice of us to be Thy servants by making us springs of strength and joy to all whom we serve.”[ii] Amen.
[i] Abraham Joshua Heschel, Man is Not Alone: A Philosophy of Religion, (New York: Farrar, Straus & Young, Inc., 1951), 211.
[ii] Evelyn Underhill, Love’s Redeeming Work: The Anglican Quest for Holiness, compiled by Geoffrey Rowell, Kenneth Stevenson, and Rowan Williams, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001), 574. [from Underhill, The Mount of Purification, (London, 1960) 93.]