Charleton Heston, Moses, and an Angel go into...

Lent 3C

Exodus 3:1-15

March 24, 2019

St. Mark’s Boligee

Whenever we read any story about Moses, I cannot help but think about Charlton Heston.  If you are too young to remember, he played Moses in the Hollywood version of the 10 Commandments.  So, when I read today’s Old Testament Lesson about the Burning Bush I thought about Heston - in the role of Moses - with his long flowing hair and gray beard and if someday when I go to heaven – if the real Moses doesn’t look like Charlton Heston then I am going to be really disappointed. 

I have always wanted to have one of those burning bush experiences.  I want to see an angel morning’s story from the Book of Exodus.  I want to hear God!  Moses – however – was not expecting to see much of anything that day in the land of Midian.  He was herding the sheep of his father-in-law Jethro.  He sees the burning bush BUT what is far more startling is that God speaks to Moses.  He tells Moses to GO BACK to Egypt and lead God’s people out of slavery AND TO the Promised Land.  It is the very beginning of what will be one of the greatest stories of the Old Testament.  But at this moment Moses is not really sure about what God is asking him to do.  What would you say to a voice coming from a burning bush telling you to go save all of America or even all of Boligee?  It was a rather daunting call.  Moses asks the question most of us would ask and that is WHAT DO I SAY.  How exactly should he tell the people that God wants them to leave Egypt?  And God tells Moses to go TELL the people that he is being sent by The Lord whose name is “I AM”!  And we know from the scriptures and the movies that Moses goes to Egypt and there are the plagues and the people cross the Red Sea and begin what will be a 40-year journey in the Wilderness before reaching the Promised Land.  It is an epic adventure – a true Bible story – and the very same thing could happen to us.

I believe that God speaks to us every day, but we aren’t very good at listening.  It’s that selective deafness that we all have from time to time and especially when it comes to hearing the voice of God.  We tend to think that God rarely speaks and that if HE did - it must be in a burning bush or with a whole choir of heavenly host appearing in the middle of the night.  But even if the night sky were filled with angels, I can just imagine that the first thought that would cross my mind would be that I must be going crazy.  And I think that is precisely why God speaks to us in everyday ways.  Someone we love is sick and we hear the voice of God speaking to our hearts telling us to call or send a card to let them know that we are praying.  We sense God’s leading to feed the hungry or spend some time reading the Bible but tell ourselves that it must be our imagination because we simply do not have the time.  But then we hear the voice again and again. Could it be that God really does speak to us?

The other problem with hearing God is that we tell ourselves that God only asks for BIG THINGS like leading the Israelites out of Egypt.  There is simply no way that we could ever do something like that – something big enough to really be a call from God.  When I was about 14 years old, I read a book called “The Cross and the Switchblade”.  It was written by David Wilkerson and tells the story of how he heard the call of God and left his comfortable suburban life to go and work with drug addicts in the streets of New York City.  I read the whole book all the way through in just 2 or 3 nights.  I was hooked.  I just knew that God was calling me to go to New York City and save the drug addicts with David Wilkerson.  On the back cover of the book, there was his address.  I wrote him a letter.  I told David Wilkerson that I was ready to leave my family and friends and the rest of high school and come help in his ministry.  I knew this was what I was supposed to do AND since it was big and important sounding then surely this was a REAL call from God AND David Wilkerson would write me back immediately with an invitation to come.  And he did write me back.  I was absolutely amazed when a letter came in the mail addressed to me.  And guess what – he told me that YES God WAS calling me, and I needed to start right away.  But I didn’t need to come to New York City, and I didn’t need to work with drug addicts – instead he knew that God was speaking to me and calling me to help in my church in my town with the people I knew already.  I should help with the little kids in our church and pick up trash and maybe even sing in the choir.  I was shocked!  I wanted to go to New York City.  God wanted me to do so much more right where I was.

Everywhere we look there is a need. When we begin to listen, we hear the voice of God speaking in our hearts and telling us to spread the love of God and the Kingdom of Heaven in the whole world we live in each day.  If you don’t know what to do – ask God and then listen for the answer.  God will speak.  God will call us to serve.  There likely won’t be a heavenly chorus.  The waters will likely not part.  You will almost certainly not see Charlton Heston.  But we will hear God calling us.  We will hear our names called by the one whose name is I AM.  Listen.  AMEN.