Sermon for October 1

The Reading 

Exodus 2:23-25; 3:1-15; 4:10-17

2:23 After a long time the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned under their slavery, and cried out. Out of the slavery their cry for help rose up to God. 24 God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 25 God looked upon the Israelites, and God took notice of them.

3:1 Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian; he led his flock beyond the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 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. 3 Then Moses said, "I must turn aside and look at this great sight, and see why the bush is not burned up." 4 When the Lord saw that he had turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, "Moses, Moses!" And he said, "Here I am." 5 Then he said, "Come no closer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground." 6 He said further, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God. 7 Then the Lord said, "I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters. Indeed, I know their sufferings, 8 and I have come down to deliver them from the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the country of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 9 The cry of the Israelites has now come to me; I have also seen how the Egyptians oppress them. 10 So come, I will send you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt." 11 But Moses said to God, "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?" 12 He said, "I will be with you; and this shall be the sign for you that it is I who sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God on this mountain." 13 But Moses said to God, "If I come to the Israelites and say to them, "The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,' and they ask me, "What is his name?' what shall I say to them?" 14 God said to Moses, "I am who I am." He said further, "Thus you shall say to the Israelites, "I am has sent me to you.' " 15 God also said to Moses, "Thus you shall say to the Israelites, "The Lord, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you are to speak." 13 But he said, "O my Lord, please send someone else." 14 Then the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses and he said, "What of your brother Aaron the Levite? I know that he can speak fluently; even now he is coming out to meet you, and when he sees you his heart will be glad. 15 You shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth; and I will be with your mouth and with his mouth, and will teach you what you shall do. 16 He indeed shall speak for you to God of Jacob, has sent me to you': This is my name forever, and this my title for all generations.

4:10 But Moses said to the Lord, "O my Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor even now that you have spoken to your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue." 11 Then the Lord said to him, "Who gives speech to mortals? Who makes them mute or deaf, seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? 12 Now the people; he shall serve as a mouth for you, and you shall serve as God for him. 17 Take in your hand this staff, with which you shall perform the signs."

The Message

During my second year at Seminary, I was part of a 2 week course where we spent time in the churches of Milwaukee. Most of our time was spent with the pastors and community leaders in the inner city areas that were deeply affected by many of the factors that destroy cities,  the loss of jobs, closing of factories, economic crisis, abandoned properties, drug epidemics and violent crime.  We were there to help and to learn about what was being done. The course was meant to teach us what could be done when people of faith worked together in faith. Programs I remember included a bible study attended by 60 or 70 homeless people, an afterschool program that served the most at risk youth out of a church sanctuary, a partnership with a church and public school making a tremendous difference in the lives of both and a program called “Holy Ground”.   Holy Ground was started at one inner city church and then spread throughout the city.  It started in an area that, for a while, had the most shooting deaths per capita in the United States. It was the only site we visited where I was really concerned about safety.  Other people we talked to would ask “your going where?” (and not in a good way).   The idea for Holy Ground was simple,  The church and neighbors cleaned up, patrolled, ran programs to help and declared there would be no drugs or crime on the block where the church was located,  it would be a safe space, it would be holy ground. The program had spread to other blocks all over area. When we meet the founders of the program, they celebrated that their block had a good number of days without a crime and a very long stretch without a shooting (I don’t recall the exact numbers but they were incredible for the area.)   

The church put up signs along the block that said the same thing that God tells Moses in today’s reading: the place on which you are standing is Holy Ground.  To be Holy simply means to be set apart for God’s purpose. This space is holy since it is set apart as a place to worship God, to sing praise and offer prayers, to teach and hear God’s word.  These candles are holy since their place and light are set apart to represent the light of Christ. The ground on the mountain top is Holy because it is the place where God speaks news of freedom and love through a burning bush that is not damaged. The street around that church in Milwaukee was Holy Ground since it was where God works through a church and community to bring change, where God speaks news of freedom and love. 

On that block in Milwaukee, God had the same message for the people as God did for the people of Israel, who were enslaved in Egypt.  The Israelites were enslaved for 400 years. They entered Egypt as respected guests escaping famine under Joseph’s leadership.  After a while, the people of Egypt say the same thing we often hear about immigrants today, they cry to Pharaoh, these Israelites are overwhelming us, they are having too many children, taking our jobs and resources, not assimilating into Egyptian religion and culture, you have to do something.  The Pharaoh’s response is to enslave the Israelites.  To the people of Israel God says "I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters. Indeed, I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them from the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land.  Go and make things Holy, do your faith’s work, create a place where God’s love and power is known and shared.  You will be confronting a powerful and vicious empire, I will go with you. 

The people of inner city Milwaukee ended up in their suffering due to bad decisions, economic disruption, drug addiction, predatory real estate practices, racism, failing social systems and corporate greed. To these people,  God says “I have observed the misery of my people who are living in danger and desperation, I have heard their cry on account of their poverty and economic oppression, I know their suffering, I have come down to deliver them I will lead them to something better.  So you church on the corner, go and make things holy, create a place where God’s love and power is known and shared.  Confront the gangs, drug dealers, outsourcing corporations and I will go with you. Go and address the boredom, isolation and laws that foster poverty. I recognize that you will be confronting issues no one has figured out,  I will go with you. 

To us today, God says the same words:  a word like “I have observed the misery of my people in Puetro Rico and Houston after the storms.  Go and make things holy, create a place where God’s love and power is known and shared, do your faith’s work. Give, collect, pray, check in with people. This is not easy so I will go with you”. 

As we have for the past few weeks., we continue to look at the theology of Martin Luther as we countdown to the 500^th anniversary of the protestant reformation on October 29^th.  Personally, Luther confronted a powerful empire, great injustice and Spiritual misery. He did so in constant prayer, needing to know God would go with him to get it done. (Luther famously said “I have such a hard and busy day ahead, I must start with 3 or 4 hours of  prayer”) Connected to today’s message on us being Holy, Luther looks at 2 questions:  First, what makes us holy and second, what are set apart for.

The answer to the first question, what makes us holy is simply the Holy Spirit.  In the small and large catechism, or teaching guides to the faith,  Luther orders the material to change us,  giving an example of how God works. He starts with the 10 commandments where our sins are exposed. In the commandments, we are shown pure and simple, that we cannot earn our salvation by keeping God’s law. We are driven to the cross, to God’s gift of grace. Next is the Apostles Creed, a transition between exposing sin and experiencing new life, a short story on how God accomplishes this for us.  After this, is the Lord’s Prayer, where God’s gift of grace is clearly proclaimed and given to the comfort and joy of all people.  Finally, the catechisms end with the sacraments and daily prayers, all ways in which God’s unstoppable gift of forgiveness through Christ our risen savior is constantly kept in our lives.      

In Luther’s explanation for the Third article of the Apostles Creed, we see how we are made Holy.  The article goes:  I believe in the Holy Spirit, one holy Christian Church, the community of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the flesh and the life everlasting.   For this Luther writes:  I cannot give a better title than being made holy, in it are expressed and potrayed the Holy Spirit and her office which is that the Spirit makes us holy.  Therefore we must concentrate on the term “Holy Spirit” because it is so precise we cannot find a substitute for it. Many other kinds of spirits are mentioned in scripture such as the human spirit, heavenly spirits and the evil spirit, but God’s Spirit alone is called a Holy Spirit, that is the one who has made us Holy and still makes us holy.  As the first person of the Trinity is called a creator and the son is called a redeemer so on account of her work, the Holy Spirit must be called a sanctifier, or one who make us holy.   

We are made Holy, it is God’s work in and on us.  We are made holy so that we can do all the stuff I talked about at the start of the sermon, proclaim God’s loving presence in communities of suffering, advocate for freedom and justice and equality, make things around us a little better, respond to crisis with compassion, confront power without fear.   We are made holy, set apart to serve God, set apart for a Christian life so that we can do those things.