OK, let me unpack that first reading a bit for you. Moses is in the desert because he ran away from Egypt. He ran away because he killed a man who was beating a fellow Israelite. You see, Moses was Jewish but became an adopted prince in the Pharaoh’s court. He’s a big wig. But he witnessed a fellow Egyptian beating a Jewish slave, and killed that Egyptian. So he runs away, and becomes a shepherd in the desert.
I believe that Moses is longing for something. For sure, longing not to be found out, but also longing for a peaceful life. Then he encounters a bush on fire but is not consumed by the flame (something quite amazing). In a sense, Moses was as we all could be. That is, [Show poster of BE LONGING] to be longing. We could all have a yearning to be closer to God. To want to know God more intimately, to be closer to God.
[Sing LONGING, verse 1]
I am longing for your light, a bush unburnt.
I am longing for your grace, as gift not earned.
You are day when night all around me descends
You are healing dawn for my darkness to end.
For my darkness to end.
The story continues, God introduces himself, “I am the God of your ancestors: Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.” God is setting up the scenario of how Moses belongs. That is, how Moses is included into this group. He’s a Jew and those three people are the three biggies for the Jews. But also as a Jew, there are bad things happening to the other Jews back in Egypt and God is reminding Moses that he can’t ignore how he belongs to them.
[Show poster of BE LONGING transformed to BELONG] We all belong to a group. We are citizens of the United States and we should be proud of that. And all people are united as we seek a peaceful resolution to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
We are also Christian, and for most of us here . . . are Catholics. We should be proud of belonging to that. Is the Catholic Church perfect? Of course not, it never was. That’s why Pope Francis has initiated a Synod to here from all its members about how it can improve. We are having listening sessions in the three Catholic parishes of Sherburne County in May. You’ll hear more about that later. But for now, let us be proud of all the good things that our Catholic faith means to us.
Also, we belong to Christ Our Light Parish and we should be proud of this parish . . . especially as we continue to address our three goals: be friendly and welcoming to all, offer meaningful and vibrant liturgies, and thirdly, have a clear social justice focus. Those were established back in 2010 when we started this parish.
And now we are moving forward to build a new campus that is centrally located and will meets the needs of our future growth. But you know, recently we had Q & A sessions about the new church and the Capital Campaign. At one session, there were comments such as, “This might not be a good time to build with the economy and financial woes of some people.” And after those comments were shared, one of the pillars of the church, gets up and says, “I was here when we built this church (which by the way was intended to be a gym), and I was here when we expanded the building to move the altar from the east end to where it is now, and again when we expanded again to add the offices and chapel. And each time we had people express those same concerns about the economy and finances. And questioning if this is a good time to fund raise. And each time we did it. And we’ll do it again. We Trust God.”
I am longing for your words whispering peace.
I am longing for your voice singing my release.
You are holy sigh as my wounds are made whole.
You are breath of life whose voice is my soul.
Your voice is my soul.
Finally, God tells Moses who he is . . . “I AM WHO AM.” God is God and we don’t have to be God. We can just be who we are. [Show poster of BELONGING transformed to become BE] This applies to all of you who are concerned of worried about ANYTHING. Stop it! We do what we can, and then let God take over. So with that thing, or concern that you have going on in your life . . . let God take it. Let God be in charge. God ultimately is the one who is in control, not you. And God DOES HAVE great things in store for you. Yes, you will all your shame and your pain. It’s like the words of the Persian poet from the 13th century, Hafez. He writes that God has only one command for us: “COME DANCE WITH ME.”
I am longing for your touch asking for dance.
I am longing for your lead giving me the chance.
You the one who holds all the falls of my shame.
You, with open arms, embracing my pain.
Who embraces my pain.
I am longing. I am longing. I am longing