 Jeff Nelson |
Don't
Box Me In
Sermon:
Scripture: |
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I
will tell you something about stories [he said]. These
are the opening lines of Native American author Leslie Mormon
Silko’s book, Ceremony.
And while they were not written for or about the
church, we would do well to heed their wisdom. Because
stories, Silko reminds us, are powerful things. And so tonight, as I begin this new chapter in my life and as we begin this new journey together in ministry, let us begin with a story. I have to tell you, I have thought a lot about it. I have prayed a lot about it. How should I start our journey together? Should I give my testimony or tell of my call to ordained ministry? Should I preach about my understanding of ministry and the priesthood of all believers? Should I keep it light? Should I make it serious? What to do? What to do? But the more I thought about it and the more I prayed about it, the same phrase kept coming across my mind: Start it with story. Because Silko is right, stories are powerful things. And
so we will start with a story. An old story. One of the
classics: Exodus. And I tell you, it’s a great story. It has
all the elements of great biblical drama. I mean, it’s all
there. It has babies in baskets, burning bushes, and bread
that falls from heaven. It is the story of an interstate that
splits the Red Sea, tablets of stone with God’s Top Ten
List, and one big group party around a golden calf. It’s
Moses. It’s Miriam. It’s Pharaoh. It’s Aaron. It’s
Exodus. And there is no doubt about it, it is a great story. And so we
start with a story. Exodus: God’s story…Moses’
story…Israel’s story…our story. But let us remember that
we gather here tonight not only to read the story, but to have
the story read to us….to have it break us open so that we
may discover its truth for this time and this place. Start
with a story, the story of a God who proclaims I AM, I am
listening and I am with you. The story begins in the desert. Here we find Moses going about his business of tending sheep. Not just any old sheep, mind you, but the sheep of his father-in-law, Jethro. I am sure that any fella out there who has a father-in-law can understand that working for your father-in law is no laughing matter. It is serious business. Moses doesn’t want to mess this up. Besides, if you get down to it, I imagine that Moses must think he’s got it pretty good. In a couple of years the old man will retire and will turn over the operation to his son-in-law. So as our story begins, Moses has it made. No need to rock the boat. No big career changes in the future. Just ride it out, play by the rules and he’ll be living the good life. Perhaps that is where we find ourselves tonight, especially those of us who consider Sunday Night Alive our place of connection at the church. Because we have really got a good thing going. Like Moses, we have a flock to tend, to care for and to feed. And to be very honest, we are doing a very good job with it. We wouldn’t have to change a thing. We wouldn’t need to rock the boat. And we would continue to care for each other and God would continue to use this ministry in important ways. It is such a great feeling to know that I am joining a ministry that is healthy, vibrant and effective at what it does. Like Moses, it is tempting to maybe just sit back and enjoy the good life. Funny thing about those moments in life, though. It is just about the time when everything has settled into the groove that a new call from God comes along, asking us to rethink the path we are walking. That’s
exactly what happens to Moses. He is tending the flock, the
same way he had the day before and the day before that. In the
midst of everyday living and business as usual, God speaks to
Moses in a new and powerful way. Through the flames of a
burning bush, God says, “Yo, Moses!” “You
talking to me? Hey Aaron, I know that’s you. Come on, cut it
out.” “Yo,
Moses! I’ve got a job for you.” “All right, is this one of those hidden camera shows? Have I just been Xed?” “Yo,
Moses! We’re going to Egypt. You and me…let’s roll.” “Go
where? Egypt? You gotta be kidding me!! Haven’t you read the
headlines? Egypt’s a mess, and besides that, they don’t
treat my kind too well down there. I’ve got a good thing
going right now, thank you very much.” “Yo, Moses!
You and me…let’s roll.” At some point it becomes clear to Moses that this is no regular day at the office. But before he is going to agree to anything, he wants to know what he is signing up for. He says to the voice coming from the bush, “If I go, who do I say sent me?” Moses isn’t going anywhere until the details are spelled out. In fact, he probably would have liked to see a mission and vision statement, an annual report, and the five-year strategic plan before signing on for this project. Moses wanted it all defined, boundaries delineated and nicely packaged. “You know, just give me the three-color glossy brochure and an 800 number and I’ll let you know.” I mean, after an encounter with a burning and speaking bush, Moses simply wanted no more surprises. But God sets the record straight right then and there. “You can’t define me. You can’t confine me. You can’t box me in. I am!” The message is clear. Any human attempt to define or confine God will simply fall short. It will just not be sufficient. “If you want to know me, Moses, then Yo! Let’s roll! I will reveal myself to you en route, on the way, in the midst of the journey. In the midst of following the call that has been put on your life, you will know who I am.” Right there, in that moment, we get the answer to the quintessential query of Theology 101: Who is God? The answer? It’s not about speculation…it’s about liberation. So don’t box me in, Moses. I am who I am. Again, I think we find ourselves in a similar place here this evening. In the midst of doing what we do and doing it well, God is calling us to take the next step, to imagine new possibilities and broaden our vision of how we can share this ministry with others. And so, in order to follow our “out of the box” God, we’ll have to be “out of the box” people. People who are open to taking new risks. People who are willing to think differently about who we are and where we are headed. And most importantly, people who are willing to step out in faith and embrace the new opportunity that has come our way. Brothers and sisters, I wish I could stand up here and tell you that I have it all figured out. I don’t. I wish I could stand up here and give you the step-by-step plan of how we are going to take this ministry to the next level. I can’t. But I stand here tonight and tell you that I am willing to help us step out together in faith, trusting that we can receive direction and inspiration along the way. Friends, let’s not box ourselves in. Let us take this opportunity to discover the path that the Great I Am is calling us to. But why has God called Moses? What’s this all about? We discover that the God who declares “I Am” is also the God that says, “ I am listening.” God tells Moses, “I have seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard their cry.” God hears humanity’s cry. God is in touch with our suffering. But most importantly, God is moved by it. Moved to action. “Yo, Moses! Let’s roll.” Moses is called to respond to the cry. We are part of a tradition that began with the cry of Exodus slaves and continued in the cry of the widow, the orphan, the poor and sojourner… a cry that was then taken up by the prophets when Israel itself became repressive. That cry emerges most powerfully with Jesus, the one who looked for the cry, who licensed the cry, who brought the cry of folk up onto the surface and who then, on the cross, screaming out, “My God! My God! Why have you forsaken me,” embodied that cry, and in the resurrection assured that we are not commended to a lifetime of crying. Ours is a tradition that has always been leveraged by a cry and has always been about going below the surface of the culture and paying attention to the groan, the moan and the sigh of a broken and hurting world. Although we might not have all the details of what God is calling us to at this time, tonight’s story can give us a focus: the cry. It is my hope that, if nothing else, we will become more responsive to the cry in our midst. Let us seek new ways to reach out and make space for those in our neighborhoods who shed tears and have no one there to wipe them dry. Let us commit ourselves to be a visible presence where the cries of the hungry, the homeless, the sick and dying fill the air. Let us not be afraid to invite those crying for connection into this place where they, too, feel the touch of God’s grace and joys of the community of faith. God declares, “I am listening.” The only question is, are we? So how does
it end for Moses? How will it end for us? Well, we know Moses
went. He stepped into the unknown adventure we call the life
of faith. Was it exciting? You bet. Was it a piece of cake?
Not at all. Because he said yes to the call, Moses had to
endure plagues, an army in hot pursuit, angry followers, and
an angered God. And when it was all said and done, he didn’t
even get to see his people to their new home. That would
happen after his death. So how did he do it? How was he able to stick it out through thick and thin, ups and downs, joys and pains of this call God had placed on his heart? Why didn’t he ever just throw in the towel and go back to herding his father-in-law’s sheep? Because not only did he meet a God who said “I Am” and “I am listening,” but on that day in midst of everyday living, Moses met the God who declares “I am with you.” From that moment on, Moses’ life was lived out in relationship with God. Through everything he endured, he knew he was not alone and he knew he would not be abandoned. It was that relationship with God, the God who boldly proclaims, “I am with you,” that helped to give us the faith that we are a part of today. Not bad for a guy who would have been content just being a sheepherder, huh? That’s our promise, too. If we grasp this new opportunity that is offered to us at this time, if we respond to the call to move out of the box and out to where the cries of the world are yearning to be touched, then we can rest assured that we don’t go it alone. God is with us. God is for us. And as the Apostle Paul would later say, “If God is with us, then who can be against us?” We’ve
been given a powerful story. A story that is too good not to
tell. It’s God story and it’s our story. And hopefully we
take this moment in our life together to make sure that it can
become other people’s story, as well…people who have never
heard it…people who have never experienced it. I
Am Yo! Let’s roll!
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