Wednesday in Holy Week prayer

Prayer for Wednesday of Holy Week 

"Jesus the annointed, teach us to honor those who need our help, 

and we shall give without condescension, 

and receive with humility."

~from the New Zealand Book of Common Prayer

Holy Week - Tuesday

Mark 11:27-33 (NRSV)
27 Again they came to Jerusalem. As he was walking in the temple, the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders came to him 28 and said, "By what authority are you doing these things? Who gave you this authority to do them?" 29 Jesus said to them, "I will ask you one question; answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things. 30 Did the baptism of John come from heaven, or was it of human origin? Answer me." 31 They argued with one another, "If we say, 'From heaven,' he will say, 'Why then did you not believe him?' 32 But shall we say, 'Of human origin'?"-they were afraid of the crowd, for all regarded John as truly a prophet. 33 So they answered Jesus, "We do not know." And Jesus said to them, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things."

Holy Week - Monday Poem by John Keble

From a poem for the Monday before Easter, by John Keble:

“Father to me Thou art, and Mother dear,

And Brother too, kind Husband of my heart!”

So speaks Andromache in boding fear,

Ere from her last embrace her hero part—

So evermore, by Faith’s undying glow,

We own the Crucified in weal or woe.

Strange to our ears the church-bells of our home,

The fragrance of our old paternal fields 

May be forgotten; and the time may come

When the babe’s kiss no sense of pleasure yields

Even to the doting mother: but Thine own

Thou never canst forget, nor leave alone.

There are who sigh that no fond heart is theirs,

None loves them best—O vain and selfish sigh!

Out of the bosom of His love He spares—

The Father spares the Son, for thee to Die:

For thee He died—for thee He lives again:

O’er thee He watches in His boundless reign.

Thou art as much His care, as if beside

Nor man nor angel lived in Heaven or earth:

Thus sunbeams pour alike their glorious tide

To light up worlds, or wake an insect’s mirth:

They shine and shine with unexhausted store—

Thou art thy Saviour’s darling—seek no more.

From a poem for the Monday before Easter, in The Christian Year: Thoughts in Verse for the Sundays and Holydays Throughout the Year by John Keble (London: Suttaby and Co., 1883).

A tip of the holy hat goes to my friends at the Episcopal Cafe...

Palm Sunday...Jesus enters Jerusalem

Image by Giotto, Arena Chapel frescoes

Holy Week - Rowan Williams on Holy Week

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, gives his thoughts on Holy Week, which begins tomorrow, March 28th. 


Holy Week is 'a week when we discover in a way we don't at any other time just we are and just who God is'.

Annunciation: Magnificat Luke 1:46-55

The Song of Mary Magnificat
Luke 1:46-55
My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,
my spirit rejoices in God my Savior; *
    for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.
From this day all generations will call me blessed: *
    the Almighty has done great things for me, and holy is his Name.
He has mercy on those who fear him *
    in every generation.
He has shown the strength of his arm, *
    he has scattered the proud in their conceit.
He has cast down the mighty from their thrones, *
    and has lifted up the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things, *
    and the rich he has sent away empty.
He has come to the help of his servant Israel, *
    for he has remembered his promise of mercy,
The promise he made to our fathers, *
    to Abraham and his children for ever.

Be present

Be present, O merciful God, and protect us through the hours of this night, so that we who are wearied by the changes and chances of this life may rest in your eternal changelessness; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

Remembering Oscar Romero - 24 March 1980

Today, March 24th, marks the 30th anniversary of the assassination of El Salvadoran Catholic Archbishop Oscar Romero.


More to read at Episcopal Cafe, and on many other sites...


May his work for justice continue!

Spring is Christ

Spring is Christ,

raising martyred plants from their shrouds.

~Rumi

Lent - Lent 5 Sermon

The Rev. Peter M. Carey
Lent 5 Sermon

Emmanuel Episcopal Church, Greenwood, VA
John 12:1-8

Mary gets it.  Do we?

Six days before the Passover, Jesus goes to Bethany, where he stays with his friend Lazarus.  Remember Lazarus, that friend of Jesus died, and when his sisters Mary and Martha told Jesus he wept.  Jesus wept the tears that we all weep when we have lost someone that we love. But then, Jesus goes to Lazarus, and raises him from the dead.  It is an early sign of the great rising from the dead that God will do with his son, Jesus.  It is a sign of the in-breaking of the Kingdom, it is an eschatological announcement of Jesus’ own rising from the dead.  It anticipates Jesus own Resurrection.

And so, here in Lazarus’s house, Jesus is given dinner.  Martha served the table, and Lazarus was at the table.  A man who was dead is now alive, and is offering hospitality to Jesus and the other guests.  

At these feasts, the guests would be reclining around the table on pillows, cushions, rugs.  It was a custom of the time that the host, or a member of the host’s family, would wash the feet of those who visited.  For us, the custom seems strange and jarring, but for them, the washing of feet would be as customary as taking someone’s coat and putting it upstairs on the master bed (now, that’s a bit strange, too, when you think of it, no?).

While foot-washing was customary, the anointing of feet with oil was not.  Neither was the use of hair for wiping the feet.  However, Lazarus's guests would know that anointing is what happens before one’s burial.  Mary is preparing Jesus for burial – even before he has given the disciples clear signals about this imminent event.

There are really two ways of viewing this event.  If the viewer sees Jesus as an interesting teacher, or a wordly rebel, or as a kind of Greek Stoic philosopher, it looks strange and perhaps wasteful and even crazy.  A dead man is now alive, offering hospitality.  A woman is wasting expensive oil on a guest’s feet, when water and soap suffice.  Strange, wasteful, crazy.

However, if the viewer sees Jesus as Messiah, as the Son of God, as the human embodiment of God the Father, the creator of heaven and earth, this all looks quite different.  If the viewer sees that this God who has become human in the form of Jesus is about to take up the brokenness, separation, alienation, and sin of the world, and enact the final victory over death itself…well, to eat with one who was dead and brought to life, seems quite possible – likely even.  And to anoint his body with a bit of oil seems but a trifle when we know all that God has done for us.

You see, Mary gets it.  Judas does not.  Judas is hung up on arguments about what else could be done with the oil, when in reality he has no plans to help the poor (or anyone else at all) if the oil were sold.  

Mary gets it.  Judas does not.  Mary sees Jesus for what he is, and Judas dreams of an earthly messiah made in his own image, rather than the Son of God who has brought healing and salvation to the world.  Mary gets it.  Judas does not.

Mary’s act anticipates the final anointing of Jesus before burial, and her act of discipleship in the washing and anointing of Jesus’ feet happens even before Jesus teaches his disciples about serving others through his own washing of their feet at the Last Supper. Mary’s action is the action of loving discipleship.  Just as the raising of Lazarus anticipates God’s raising of Jesus, Mary’s discipleship anticipates the promise of discipleship.  Like the raising of Lazarus, Mary’s act is the eschatological announcement of the promise of discipleship.  Jesus has done this for you, and you should do this for one another.  “Washed their feet and said to them, do you know what I your Lord have done to you?  I have given you example, that so, you also should do.” 

Mary gets it.

"Revised Coffee Lectionary" meets Monday 22 March at the Mudhouse in Crozet

See you there in the morning at 10!

Palm Sunday

The Liturgy of the Word

Almighty and everliving God, in your tender love for the human race you sent your Son our Savior Jesus Christ to take upon him our nature, and to suffer death upon the cross, giving us the example of his great humility: Mercifully grant that we may walk in the way of his suffering, and also share in his resurrection; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Isaiah 50:4-9a

The Lord GOD has given me

the tongue of a teacher,

that I may know how to sustain

the weary with a word.

Morning by morning he wakens--

wakens my ear

to listen as those who are taught.

The Lord GOD has opened my ear,

and I was not rebellious,

I did not turn backward.

I gave my back to those who struck me,

and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard;

I did not hide my face

from insult and spitting.

The Lord GOD helps me;

therefore I have not been disgraced;

therefore I have set my face like flint,

and I know that I shall not be put to shame;

he who vindicates me is near.

Who will contend with me?

Let us stand up together.

Who are my adversaries?

Let them confront me.

It is the Lord GOD who helps me;

who will declare me guilty?

Psalm 31:9-16 Page 623, BCP

In te, Domine, speravi

9

Have mercy on me, O LORD, for I am in trouble; *
my eye is consumed with sorrow,
and also my throat and my belly.

10

For my life is wasted with grief,
and my years with sighing; *
my strength fails me because of affliction,
and my bones are consumed.

11

I have become a reproach to all my enemies and even to my neighbors,
a dismay to those of my acquaintance; *
when they see me in the street they avoid me.

12

I am forgotten like a dead man, out of mind; *
I am as useless as a broken pot.

13

For I have heard the whispering of the crowd;
fear is all around; *
they put their heads together against me;
they plot to take my life.

14

But as for me, I have trusted in you, O LORD. *
I have said, "You are my God.

15

My times are in your hand; *
rescue me from the hand of my enemies,
and from those who persecute me.

16

Make your face to shine upon your servant, *
and in your loving-kindness save me."

Philippians 2:5-11

Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,

who, though he was in the form of God,

did not regard equality with God

as something to be exploited,

but emptied himself,

taking the form of a slave,

being born in human likeness.

And being found in human form,

he humbled himself

and became obedient to the point of death--

even death on a cross.

Therefore God also highly exalted him

and gave him the name

that is above every name,

so that at the name of Jesus

every knee should bend,

in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

and every tongue should confess

that Jesus Christ is Lord,

to the glory of God the Father.

Luke 23:1-49

The assembly of the elders of the people rose as a body and brought Jesus before Pilate. They began to accuse him, saying, "We found this man perverting our nation, forbidding us to pay taxes to the emperor, and saying that he himself is the Messiah, a king." Then Pilate asked him, "Are you the king of the Jews?" He answered, "You say so." Then Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowds, "I find no basis for an accusation against this man." But they were insistent and said, "He stirs up the people by teaching throughout all Judea, from Galilee where he began even to this place."


When Pilate heard this, he asked whether the man was a Galilean. And when he learned that he was under Herod's jurisdiction, he sent him off to Herod, who was himself in Jerusalem at that time. When Herod saw Jesus, he was very glad, for he had been wanting to see him for a long time, because he had heard about him and was hoping to see him perform some sign. He questioned him at some length, but Jesus gave him no answer. The chief priests and the scribes stood by, vehemently accusing him. Even Herod with his soldiers treated him with contempt and mocked him; then he put an elegant robe on him, and sent him back to Pilate. That same day Herod and Pilate became friends with each other; before this they had been enemies.


Pilate then called together the chief priests, the leaders, and the people, and said to them, "You brought me this man as one who was perverting the people; and here I have examined him in your presence and have not found this man guilty of any of your charges against him. Neither has Herod, for he sent him back to us. Indeed, he has done nothing to deserve death. I will therefore have him flogged and release him."


Then they all shouted out together, "Away with this fellow! Release Barabbas for us!" (This was a man who had been put in prison for an insurrection that had taken place in the city, and for murder.) Pilate, wanting to release Jesus, addressed them again; but they kept shouting, "Crucify, crucify him!" A third time he said to them, "Why, what evil has he done? I have found in him no ground for the sentence of death; I will therefore have him flogged and then release him." But they kept urgently demanding with loud shouts that he should be crucified; and their voices prevailed. So Pilate gave his verdict that their demand should be granted. He released the man they asked for, the one who had been put in prison for insurrection and murder, and he handed Jesus over as they wished.


As they led him away, they seized a man, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming from the country, and they laid the cross on him, and made him carry it behind Jesus. A great number of the people followed him, and among them were women who were beating their breasts and wailing for him. But Jesus turned to them and said, "Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For the days are surely coming when they will say, 'Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never nursed.' Then they will begin to say to the mountains, 'Fall on us'; and to the hills, 'Cover us.' For if they do this when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?"


Two others also, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with him. When they came to the place that is called The Skull, they crucified Jesus there with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. Then Jesus said, "Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing." And they cast lots to divide his clothing. And the people stood by, watching; but the leaders scoffed at him, saying, "He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one!" The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine, and saying, "If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!" There was also an inscription over him, "This is the King of the Jews."


One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, "Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!" But the other rebuked him, saying, "Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong." Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." He replied, "Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise."


It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, while the sun's light failed; and the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Then Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, "Father, into your hands I commend my spirit." Having said this, he breathed his last. When the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God and said, "Certainly this man was innocent." And when all the crowds who had gathered there for this spectacle saw what had taken place, they returned home, beating their breasts. But all his acquaintances, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things.

Lent - Lent 5 Sermon - "mary gets it"

Lent - Lent 5 - Sermon preview

courtesy of wordle.net

Lent 5 - Sermon - in process

Lent 5 - Sermon - in process - here's how it looks so far, courtesy of wordle.net . . .

I guess I'm preaching about Jesus, this is good!

Lent - St. Patrick's Breastplate

St. Patrick's Breastplate..."I bind unto myself today..."

Christ be with me, 

Christ within me, 

Christ behind me, 

Christ before me, 

Christ beside me, 

Christ to win me, 

Christ to comfort and restore me. 

Christ beneath me, 

Christ above me, 

Christ in quiet, 

Christ in danger, 

Christ in hearts of all that love me, 

Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.

Lent - Your love...

Psalm 89: 1-18

1 Your love, O LORD, for ever will I sing; *
from age to age my mouth will proclaim your faithfulness.
2 For I am persuaded that your love is established for ever; *
you have set your faithfulness firmly in the heavens.
3 "I have made a covenant with my chosen one; *
I have sworn an oath to David my servant:
4 'I will establish your line for ever, *
and preserve your throne for all generations.'"
5 The heavens bear witness to your wonders, O LORD, *
and to your faithfulness in the assembly of the holy ones;
6 For who in the skies can be compared to the LORD? *
who is like the LORD among the gods?
7 God is much to be feared in the council of the holy ones, *
great and terrible to all those round about him.
8 Who is like you, LORD God of hosts? *
O mighty LORD, your faithfulness is all around you.
9 You rule the raging of the sea *
and still the surging of its waves.
10 You have crushed Rahab of the deep with a deadly wound; *
you have scattered your enemies with your mighty arm.
11 Yours are the heavens; the earth also is yours; *
you laid the foundations of the world and all that is in it.
12 You have made the north and the south; *
Tabor and Hermon rejoice in your Name.
13 You have a mighty arm; *
strong is your hand and high is your right hand.
14 Righteousness and justice are the foundations of your throne; *
love and truth go before your face.
15 Happy are the people who know the festal shout! *
they walk, O LORD, in the light of your presence.
16 They rejoice daily in your Name; *
they are jubilant in your righteousness.
17 For you are the glory of their strength, *
and by your favor our might is exalted.
18 Truly, the LORD is our ruler; *
The Holy One of Israel is our King.

+


What do you love? Who do you love? We use the word love so often that its depth and breadth have been stripped. However, God's love has not been stripped away, even if our imaginations cannot begin to conceive of the fullness of God, and God's love for us.

What do you love? What do you truly love? There may be glimpses of God's love for us in the midst of the love we have for one another. Reflecting on the people we love, and on the activities we love is helpful as we strive to more fully sense and feel God's everpresent love, faithfulness, and loving-kindness for us. We only have to turn aside and see the many many burning bushes that God gives us to remind us of God's love. We only have to turn around and see that God is running to greet us with open arms after our time away as the Prodigal Child. God's love is ever with us. May we have the eyes and ears and hearts to know it.

~The Rev. Peter M. Carey

Spring is coming!!

Lent - The return of the prodigal son

Rembrandt van Rijn The return of the prodigal son c. 1662 Oil on canvas 262 x 206 cm The Hermitage, St. Petersburg

Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32

All the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to Jesus. And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, "This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them."

So Jesus told them this parable:

"There was a man who had two sons. The younger of them said to his father, 'Father, give me the share of the property that will belong to me.' So he divided his property between them. A few days later the younger son gathered all he had and traveled to a distant country, and there he squandered his property in dissolute living. When he had spent everything, a severe famine took place throughout that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed the pigs. He would gladly have filled himself with the pods that the pigs were eating; and no one gave him anything. But when he came to himself he said, 'How many of my father's hired hands have bread enough and to spare, but here I am dying of hunger! I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands."' So he set off and went to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him. Then the son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.' But the father said to his slaves, 'Quickly, bring out a robe--the best one--and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!' And they began to celebrate.

"Now his elder son was in the field; and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. He called one of the slaves and asked what was going on. He replied, 'Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has got him back safe and sound.' Then he became angry and refused to go in. His father came out and began to plead with him. But he answered his father, 'Listen! For all these years I have been working like a slave for you, and I have never disobeyed your command; yet you have never given me even a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!' Then the father said to him, 'Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found.'"

Lent - show hospitality to strangers

Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, 

for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it.

~Hebrews 13:2

Looking forward to NT Wright's "After you believe"

I am looking forward to reading and reviewing "After You Believe:  Why Christian Character Matters," by N.T. Wright


While I quibble at times with Bishop Wrights Ecclesial-Political statements, I generally find his writing and scholarship compelling and persuasive, and I'm looking forward to reading his new book.  Here is a bit about it...more later...

After You Believe

Why Christian Character Matters

By N. T. Wright

"In After You Believe, award-winning author and esteemed spiritual leader Bishop N.T. Wright (Simply Christian, Surprised by Hope) addresses the often neglected question of how Christians ought to live in the here and now. Newsweek calls Bishop Wright “the world’s leading New Testament scholar,” and After You Believeis essential reading for fans of C.S. Lewis's Mere Christianity, or anyone looking to understand more about Christianity and life’s real purpose today."


Read more at the HarperCollins site...






“Bishop Wright, with his usual wisdom and erudition, shows how an account of the virtues is not only compatible but required by the New Testament understanding of what it means to be a Christian. This important book hopefully will be read by theologian and non-theologian alike.”

— STANLEY HAUERWAS, DUKE DIVINITY SCHOOL

Lent 3C Sermon - "Beyond the wilderness" ~ The Rev. Peter Carey

Lent 3C Sermon

7 March 2010

The Rev. Peter M. Carey

Emmanuel Episcopal Church, Greenwood, VA

Exodus 3: 1-15; Psalm 63:1-8; 1 Corinthians 10:1-13; Luke 13:1-9

Hindsight is 20/20 they say.  Looking back at history can sometimes make us think that quite remarkable events were not so remarkable.  Looking back at history demands a sense of clearing the decks before entering into the world that came before.  To enter the world of Lewis and Clark, for instance, would demand that we look carefully at the assumptions that they held, the experiences that they had, and the abilities and temperament that they had as they began their journey to the West.  As Lewis and Clark headed West, they probably had no real sense about just how treacherous the journey would be.  They probably had no real sense about how just how high and forbidding the Rocky Mountains would be.  Having climbed the Blue Ridge Mountains and having learned the skills they needed for the wilderness put them in a good position as they headed into the wilderness.  However, their Voyage of Discovery would land them not just in the wilderness, but beyond it. 

Going into the wilderness, into uncharted territory, demands courage, stamina, and a kind of fearlessness that we may not really think we possess.  But, we each have entered wilderness from time to time in our lives. 

The wilderness of loneliness. 

The wilderness of joblessness. 

The wilderness of the necessary losses that come with living. 

The wilderness of experiencing the death of loved ones. 

The wilderness of unrealized dreams. 

The wilderness of facing our own mortality. 

We each have entered the wilderness.  And we each have also gone beyond the wilderness.  When we enter the wilderness of our lives, we may find the urge to return by the same way.  We may look to follow the bread crumbs that we left as we entered the dark cave.  However, for most of us, the only way out is the way through and beyond.  The path “back” takes us through and beyond.  Like the Magi after they visited the infant Jesus, we often “go home by a different way.”  To go into the wilderness demands courage, stamina, and a kind of fearlessness that we may not really think we possess.  And yet, somehow, we do. 

Some things happen to us when we move into, and beyond the wilderness.  In the midst of it, we may feel that we cannot see how we can even go on into the way ahead.  At times, in the midst of it, we may not really feel God’s grace blessing us and supporting us and empowering us.  But God is there, whether or not we turn aside and are able to sense God’s presence makes no difference.  God is there, embracing us, supporting us, enfolding us always, even as we make our way through and beyond the wilderness.

Going beyond the wilderness is sometimes, in retrospect, where we see that God’s hand was upon us.  I know in my own life.  When I look now to at a time when I found myself far from home, feeling alone after a significant relationship ended, I see that God was working to open me up to experience more of the Spirit, to experience greater things than my paltry imagination could dream up on its best day.  When I look now to that time of mourning for the life that I thought I would have, I see that in the midst of that sadness, depression, and loneliness, God was bringing me beyond the wilderness.  Though excruciatingly difficult, it was a soulful time.  The modern writer, Thomas Moore (not “a man for all seasons”) has written several books on the soul.  In “Care of the Soul,” he writes of the surprising gifts that can be given to us even in these difficult times, and the ways that the life of the soul may be deepened as we move beyond the wilderness.  Of course, it helps to have the 20/20 vision of hindsight.  If I were now talking to myself then , my then self would tell my now self to get lost, in far more colorful language. 

This movement to a holy place beyond the wilderness is the movement that Moses was making while he herded his father-in-law’s flock. 

“He led his flock beyond the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.  There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of a bush; he looked, and the bush was blazing, yet it was not consumed.  Then Moses said, ‘I must turn aside and look at this great sight. . . God called to him out of the bush, ‘Moses, Moses.’ . . ‘Come no closer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.’”

So, we hear the story of God calling Moses to be the catalyst for the next great chapter in the history of God’s people.  There, beyond the wilderness, God appears to Moses.  The life story of Moses to this point included being rescued by Pharaoh’s daughter, and then as an adult, Moses killed one of the Egyptians who was beating a Hebrew slave and Moses was on the run.  He had made a life for himself, joining the family of his wife, Zipporah, having a child and working for his father-in-law.  We know the rest of the story, so we forget that Moses had already pretty much settled down.  We know the rest of the story, so we forget that Moses was adamant that he was not gifted in speech, and argued with God about whether he should lead his people.  We know the rest of the story, so we forget just how terrifying it must have been for Moses to return to Pharaoh. 

Hindsight being 20/20, we look at Moses as a prophet, liberator, and gigantic figure, leading his people to freedom and then leading them in the wilderness for 40 years.  However, in today’s story, Moses encountered God beyond the wilderness, and was being called out of the vision and plan that he had for his life.  Out there, beyond the wilderness, Moses’ imagination was broadened, and he encountered the living God, who assured Moses that “I will be with you.”  Out there beyond the wilderness, Moses found a new chapter in his life that he would not have ever imagined.  Out there beyond the wilderness, there may be a new chapter for us as well.  Hindsight being 20/20, we may be able to see that our own times in the wilderness caused us to go beyond the wilderness, to a place that was, “holy ground.”  And so, we continue our journey through life, knowing that there will be times in the wilderness, they come whether we long for them or not.  We continue on our journey through life and we can have some comfort in the fact that not only is God there with us in the wilderness, “thy rod and thy staff they protect me,” and that we are enfolded in God’s loving embrace.  We can also have comfort that as we move beyond the wilderness, there is holy ground for us, there is a place where God has made a home for us, where we will turn aside, remove our sandals, and be empowered and given strength for the journey ahead.

MY LORD GOD, I have no idea where I am going.

I do not see the road ahead of me.

I cannot know for certain where it will end.

Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so.

But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you.

And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing.

I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.

And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it.

Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death.

I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

- Thomas Merton, "Thoughts in Solitude"

 HERE.