Never a hiker, Mom was 79 when she decided to hike to the top of Mount LeConte with us. My cousin Ruth convinced mom to buy hiking boots and take daily training walks. After hiking 9 miles and gaining 2,000 feet, Granny Due, and Connie arrived at the cabins in time for dinner but well after her elementary school grandchildren. Taking off her boots and hiking socks, Mom sat down on the cabin steps and proclaimed: “Hallelujah, whew… Praise the Lord, we made it, Thank you Jesus.” I grew up hearing “Thank you Jesus” all the time.” On that day, Mom could have said, “thank you Paul Robert for carrying all my gear” (except for her inhaler) , or thank you Connie and Tom, for hanging back with me, hiking at my pace and carrying my water”. Or even “Thank you to Hallie and Zach”, her sister’s grandchildren, who thought to invite her on the trip. But mom was thinking of all those things when she said, “Hallelujah, whew… Praise the Lord, we made it, Thank you Jesus.” She would thank us, mentioning little acts of kindness, laughing with Lewis wrapped in a blanket watching the sunset over the cliftops, or in her famous “Memory Cards” that arrived in the mail, always highlighting a thankful moment which sparked joy in her.
Father Richard Rohr writes “In authentic mystical moments, any clear distinction between sacred and profane quickly falls apart. Afterward, one knows all the world is sacred… look at the lives of Abraham and Sarah, Moses, Elijah, Mary, and Jesus. Few, if any, of their “sacred” moments happened in “holy” places, but simply wherever they were.
Our baptismal liturgy begins: “Sisters, Brothers, Siblings united in Christ: Through the Sacrament of Baptism, we are initiated into Christ’s holy Church.We are incorporated into God’s mighty acts of salvation and given new birth through water and the Spirit. All this is God’s gift, offered to us without price.”
I love those verbs, “united, initiated, incorporated, given, offered”. Our baptismal vows invite us to live with a sense of incorporation within God’s mighty acts of salvation. They invite us to take off our shoes and gaze in wonder- to stop drawing hard lines between the sacred and profane, but accept that life, love, and salvation are all God’s gift, offered to us without price. Take off your shoes- embrace God’s grace and grandeur.
It likely took decades for Moses to become centered enough to lead the people out of Egyptian Slavery. As a young prince of Egypt, seeing a fellow Hebrew beaten by a slave holder, Moses’ anger erupted and he murdered that oppressor, only to flee to the wilderness the next day. In the home of a Midianite priest Moses found refuge. Jethro will become Moses’ father-in-law and spiritual coach. Chapter 18 tells a lovely story of their kinship. Moses will marry Jethro’s daughter Zipporah, who is a spiritual powerhouse as well, saving Moses’ life at least once! Moses may have needed to unlearn some of the ways of Pharaoh’s palace. Decades passed before Moses the Burning Bush appeared, by then a new pharaoh ruled Egypt, Moses’ crime was forgotten, while the oppression continued. Moses, the once prince, was now married with children, a career, family, farmhands, flocks, fields, homework, lacrosse practices, and lute lessons.
It is easy to miss that Moses’ call and God’s great work of liberation begin with questions, then wonder and worship. We progressives at times see the injustice and want to get right to work, some see daily prayer and weekly worship as okay, but not foundational. This is not a biblical understanding. Jesus spends the early morning in prayer and then heals all day- and never misses church. Exodus merges meditation and revolution. Moses has long prayerful arguments with God and stands up to a superpower. Exodus offers instructions for building the tabernacle and speeches that break the back of Egypt. Like the seeds in Jesus’s parable of the sower, without deep spiritual roots and focus, we burn out, dry up, wither in the heat, or get wooed into self absorption. (Matthew 13) Daily prayers center, ground, and guide us building God’s kindom first within us.
Moving the flock from the desert to the mountains, Moses saw a little tree engulfed in flames. Somehow the leaves did not burn up. Moses said to himself, “Let me turn aside and check out this amazing sight and discover why the bush isn’t burning up.” Moses’ turning aside began the revolution. Turning aside, questions, wonder, awe, worship, scientific examination, and art are gateways incorporating us into The Holy. Worship needs spirit and truth.(John 4) Authentic Faith does not shut down questions, no honest faith trusts that God is with us in our questions. What are we missing because we do not turn away from our pressing matters? Are we missing the wonder around us? Are we missing little moments of praise, peace, justice, goodness and love?
The text tells us “when the Lord saw that Moses was coming” and that is a literary mystery or device that you might pursue later! God called to Moses and Moses answered, “I’m here.” The Lord said, “Don’t come any closer! Take off your sandals, because you are standing on holy ground.” Our Muslim friends take off their shoes and wash their feet, marking the beginning of worship. We post moderns often neglect daily worship and life rituals that remind us that we belong to something bigger than ourselves.
Only when Moses climbs a holy mountain, pursues a mystery, turns away from ordinary work, and takes off his shoes does Moses hear God’s deeper plan for his life. Maybe without that time turning aside for worship, the people stay stuck in slavery for a few more decades? Spiritual routines slow us down so we can actually explore holier ways of living: new ways of being good, generous, just, peaceful, kind, forgiving, thoughtful, and loving. How can we be thoughtful when we never set aside time to think, meditate and pray? How can we be spiritual people, if we do not take time for spiritual things? When do you take off our shoes and feel the grass under your feet and call out: “Hallelujah, whew… Praise the Lord, we made it this far, Hallelujah, Thank you Jesus.”
The deep evil and injustice that pours into our phones can overwhelm us. We need to turn aside, take off our shoes and worship. Without awe, wonder and worship might never believe that God still “clearly sees oppressed people and hears their cries of injustice. And that God knows all of our pain. And that God has a plan to rescue them that involves us.” But thanks be to God, Moses heard the golden thread woven through our Scriptures as God speaks “I’ll be with you.”
Bishop Kenneth H. Carter writes “Here is our confession, God is with us! The temple of God‘s presence can be wherever we are. We will know it is of God if it changes us.” (Unrelenting Grace: A Methodist Way of Life) When we believe that “God is with us” then we can, “get going” building God’s kingdom on earth. Christ promises “I’ll be with you to the ends of the Earth.” (Matthew 28)
Worship matters so much in our liberation that God promises Moses “And to show you that I will be with you, after you bring the people out of Egypt, you will come back here and worship on this mountain.” Worship, awe and praise unite us with what God is doing in the world and incorporate us into God’s mighty acts of salvation. Turn aside, take off your shoes and see how we belong to a big beautiful sacred space, given to us without price.
So when the once enslaved people stand on the Promised Land side of the Red Sea- having defeated the most powerful army in the world; free to worship, free from oppression, Miriam takes out her tambourine and leads a new song with everyone singing to the Lord. We might critique parts of Miriam’s song- but having never escaped slavery I will not! Instead, let’s listen for the joy, let’s listen for a people incorporated into God’s mighty of salvation and rejoicing in new birth: “I will sing to the Lord, for an overflowing victory! Horse and rider thrown into the sea! The Lord is my strength and my power; God has become my salvation. This is my God, whom I will praise, the God of my ancestors, whom I will acclaim.” “Hallelujah, whew… Praise the Lord, we made it, Thank you Jesus.” Amen.
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