May the Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ enlighten the eyes of our hearts, that we may know what is the hope to which he has called us. See Ephesians 1.17, 18
As we come to the end of summer, and the many changes brought with the changing weather, our Scripture readings for this Sunday remind us of the steadfast, unchanging love of the God who eternally is. Moses, a fugitive from his homeland turns aside to observe a miraculous sight. A bush is on fire, yet does not burn up! This is the moment of his calling as a prophet, the moment in which the divine name is revealed to him. "I AM WHO I AM," is the name that Moses is told, or, as some translations tell us, "I WILL BE WHO I WILL BE." God is a vibrant, living God ~ the very source of life itself - and is unchanging in his steadfast, love. In Hebrew this steadfast love is known as hesed, and it the basis of God's relationship with his chosen people, and indeed with all of humanity. We are reminded of this in Psalm 105, which rehearses the history of salvation drawing our attention to the covenanted faithfulness of God.
St. Gregory of Nyssa, a bishop and theologian of the fourth century Church, drew a parallel between the burning bush, which bore the flame of the divine light, and the blessed Virgin Mary who bore the divine light of Jesus into the world. The burning bush prefigured the manifestation of God in the Incarnation of Christ, he wrote : “What was prefigured at that time in the flame of the bush was openly manifested in the mystery of the Virgin, once an interval of time had passed. Just as on the mountain the bush burned but was not consumed, so also the Virgin gave birth to the light and was not corrupted. Nor should you consider the comparison to the bush to be embarrassing, for it prefigures the God-bearing body of the Virgin.”
Giving ourselves fully to God, as Mary did in accepting her vocation, does not diminish or consume us, but sets us ablaze with the light of divine glory. Truly finding ourselves requires consecrating all that we are and have to God, picking up our cross and following Christ. God has given us everything, our very life comes from God. In the words of Thomas H. Troeger's hymn, "How shall we love this heartstrong God who gives us everything, whose ways to us are strange and odd; what can we give or bring? Acceptance of the matchless gift is gift enough to give. The very act will shake and shift the way we love and live."
Acceptance of God's gift sets us free to "Love one another with genuine, mutual affection, outdoing each other in showing honour. (Romans 12). Join me this Sunday Evening in the reading of Scripture, in prayer, and in pouring our love and lives out before God.
Readings: Old Testament Lesson: Exodus 3. 1-15. The Burning Bush and the Divine Name Psalm: Selections from Psalm 105. God's Steadfast, Covenant Love New Testament Lesson: Romans 12. 9-21 Genuine Love and Overcoming Evil with Good. Gospel: Matthew 16.21-28 The Suffering of Christ and the Way of the Cross as the Road to Glory.
Hymns: Go to Dark Gethsemane Tune Common Praise 190; A Spendthrift Lover is the Lord Tune Common Praise 177