Text: Exodus 2:23-25, 3:10-15, 4:10-17

Randy: Hello
God: Who are you?
Randy: I am Randy, Randy Marshall. Who are you? God: I am.

It’s really that simple, or maybe not.

Commentators have wrestled with how to translate God’s name; “I am what I am”, “I will be what I will be”, there are others. But for today I want us to consider the fundamental statement of being in this name (Note that by verse 14 the name has been shortened – “Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”)

We, you and I, are identified by our name. OK, we’re also identified by our Social Security Number, Our Drivers License Number, Maybe our Passport number. Actually we’re identified by any number of different unique identifiers. But the operative word here is “unique.” In every case one of those numbers identifies each of us as a unique individual.

Not so with God. The first thing we learn from God’s statement “I Am” is that God is not a unique individual. God does not say; “I am and they shall know me by my driver’s license number DL12345.” Rather God transcends uniqueness. God is universal.

But there’s more. When I say I am Randy I make a claim to being. I am a living breathing, physical presence. Actually the word “am” is a form of the verb “to be.” So when God says; “Tell them I Am has sent you.” God is making that same claim – again, on a universal scale. But the point is that when pressed for a name God responds with a verb.

Our God is a verb. It’s kind-of shocking when you say it. But when you consider how God is present throughout the Biblical record, when you consider how God is present throughout history and even today, it makes perfect sense. When we talk of “God moments” or “God sightings” we most often refer to actions – people showing compassion, showing love, crossing boundaries of race, of nationality, of economic status, of any of the ways our culture seeks to divide us.

This summer has been one for the record books in North America. We’ve been battered by hurricanes, jolted by earthquakes, chased from our homes by wild fires. As the natural disasters continue to pile one on top of another we wonder if it will ever end. And yet in each case we see God at work; from the Cajun Navy descending on Houston, to the homeowners helping firefighters battle blazes in Oregon and Montana, to the volunteers searching for survivors in Mexico City.

As I think about this summer, as I think about these and many other instances where we see God at work I see a common factor. I don’t know if this is right but it makes sense to me. In every case where we see God at work we see individuals who have let go of their individual identity; “I am from the National Guard. We’ve been assigned to this sector.” “I am the taxi driver who just happened to be passing by” “I am the bank president, taking my vacation to
help out in this shelter” They have let go of their individual identity and taken on the collective identity “I am for you.”

Maybe that’s a stretch but it seems to me that an essential part of becoming God’s hands, God’s voice, God’s heart is to let go of our grip on the importance of our individual identity and take God’s name; “I am,” that’s all. It doesn’t really matter who I am. All that matters is that you are in need and I am– here for you.

Which brings us to Moses, our other player in today’s drama. In selecting Moses to be God’s voice God picks an individual who is at once the ideal candidate and at the same time a horrible choice. On the one hand Moses is a Jew, and has some relationship with God’s people. At the same time he has been raised in the palace and has had access to the education, statecraft, contacts, and access that would be associated with his upbringing. That’s the good news. In other news Moses is a fugitive from that very palace. He has murdered an Egyptian overseer and there is significant personal risk involved in his return to the capital.

As an aside Moses serves to substantiate my belief that God is very intentional, throughout the Bible and even today, to call people the world would see as unworthy to be God’s hands, heart, voice. And I see hope in that. If God can use someone like Moses, maybe God can use me. I see hope, and not a small amount of fear. If God would consider me worthy perhaps God might actually call me to a task or a place that I would find uncomfortable. We see precedent for that in this story as well. You can almost hear God’s frustration as Moses piles on excuse after excuse, reason upon reason why God should choose someone else. I should note that in the part of the story that we didn’t read today God tells Moses exactly how the encounter will play out, and Moses still tries to convince God to send someone else.

How often have we heard God calling and responded like Moses; “Not now God, I’ve got other plans.” “Not me God, I’m too tired, old, weak. I’m scared of public speaking. I’ve served you for years and now I’ve earned a rest.” I don’t know about you but some of these excuses sound eerily familiar to me. If they sound familiar to you, you need to join me in paying attention to God’s response. “Who gives speech to mortals? Who makes them mute or deaf, seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord?”

Now, If you have any question about how angry and frustrated God is at this point I would direct your attention to the book of Job, where a wrathful God thunders from the heavens; “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?” “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding.” God goes on but you get the picture. As God did with Job, so, too God is taking Moses to the woodshed, as it were. So I’d have to guess that we also frustrate God when we pile on reasons (excuses) for why we can’t answer God’s call.

And yet we do need to have some sympathy for Moses. In calling him to this task God is asking him to set aside his palace life – his royal community, his future, those who raised him, taught him, cared for him; leave behind his very identity. (And yes, I understand that at the point of this encounter Moses was a fugitive, but he was still Moses, a close relative of the Pharaoh. If caught he would have been treated as such.) So in a very real sense God’s call was a call to leave behind everything he knew and take up a new community, a new name, a new identity; the leader of God’s people.

In another respect Moses isn’t that much different from so many of the heroes we have seen at work this summer, in the flood waters of Houston and devastation of San Juan, In the rubble of Mexico City and the aftermath of terrorist attacks in London, on the fire lines in Montana and the Columbia Gorge. Kid President reminded us earlier that the world is changed by “Little People living out big love.” Granted by leaving his old identity forever Moses’ transition was more life-changing, his task was larger, his impact greater, but the process is the same – let go of whatever is holding you back and trust that “I am”, the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob is calling you to God’s work, to live out big love.

Which brings us to today. After worship we’ll grab a cup of coffee and a cookie or a slice of one of these great loaves of bread (there are breads here from all over the world) and we’ll meet back here to talk about house churches. I’m excited. This is going to be a great year! Thru our session God is calling us – all of us – to engage in study and mission, ministry and community, with each other and with the world.

Our work doesn’t need to be monumental. We don’t need to confront Pharaoh or move to the desert. We just need to realize that things don’t have to be the way they are and that together we can help to turn our little corner of the world toward the light. Frankly, the hardest part of all this for me is trying to decide which house church to join. Community Health, Human Rights, Refugees and Immigrants, Homelessness; they are all areas that need attention and engagement. And even if I do pick one of these four, someone is bound to suggest another topic, and I’ll be pulled in that direction as well. What a blessing.

So Moses goes. Accompanied by Aaron and the staff they confront Pharaoh and the rest, as they say, is history.

But before we leave this text there’s one other point that needs to be made, today especially. Prior to the sojourn in Egypt, God was the God of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and Jacob’s sons, but that was it. God’s reach didn’t extend beyond that family. During the time in Egypt a couple of things happened. First, we have no indication that 400 years later the Hebrews continued to worship this God. And second, over the course of 400 years, this family – 12 brothers and their father – became “a great nation”. So God’s claim and call now extends to the whole nation of Israel. There’s a reason some scholars claim the Exodus as the very beginning of Israel’s history.

And yet there’s more. Thru Moses God also claims dominion over Pharaoh and the Egyptians. So God isn’t only the God of the nation of Israel, God’s reach is wider still. And God’s reach continues to grow. Until, in Matthew, we hear Jesus’ final instruction to his disciples; “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations…”

And that brings us to the table today. Today is Worldwide Communion Sunday. On this day each year we celebrate the Lord’s Supper with Christians in every land, in churches throughout the world. On this day, like no other we are a testimony to God’s claim on all of creation. In a few minutes we will join in this ancient sacrament, leaving behind our individual identities, taking up the name Christian. And with this name, with this identity, nourished at this table, we will be called forth to confront the world; to carry a message of unity to a world ever more divided, to carry a message of hope to a world walking in darkness, to carry a message of healing to a world consumed by pain, to carry a message of joy to a world burdened with grief, to carry the assurance of God’s love and grace to a world focused on fear.

And like Moses we’ll respond – OK God, if you really think this is a good idea, here I am. Send me.

Amen