On Holy Ground

Exodus 3: 1-15; Matthew 16: 21-28

FPC; 8-31-08

          When Moses awoke from sleep that day, he could not have anticipated the site he would see.   After slipping on his sandles, Moses went to work.  He was a shepherd.  He had the important responsibilities of protecting his sheep from predators and making sure the sheep grazed in the right places.  Moses’ routine work becomes interrupted by an odd site.  A bush is burning but is not burnt, engulfed in flames but not consumed by them.  Moses turns aside to get a closer look at this strange site.  It is then that the Lord speaks to Moses out of the burning bush. 

          “Remove the sandles from your feet.”  “For you are standing on holy ground.” 

          Holy Ground is any place where the Divine meets the human, where God speaks, where God confronts us with a mission.

          “I have seen the affliction of my people in Egypt.  I have heard their cry because of their taskmasters; you are the one I have chosen to deliver them.” 

          Moses, the one hidden in the bulrushes as a baby so that he would not be found and killed by Pharaoh as a first born Hebrew child….Moses, who came to the land of Midian, seeking and finding refuge from Pharaoh,….Moses who has received Divine protection since birth,…Moses is a part of God’s great plan.

          “You, Moses, are the one I have chosen to deliver my people.” 

          On this day before Labor Day, this scene of God extending God’s call to Moses while Moses is at work is intriguing to me.  It raises the interesting possibility that God visits us while we are at work; our places of work can be Holy Ground, that place where the Divine meets humanity and extends a calling, gives a mission.  The call is not so much about being a responsible employee as about  being a responsible Christian disciple while employed; the calling is not so much about arriving to work on time, though that’s important, as it is about maintaining a Christ-like attitude of compassion and love while at work, while sitting behind the desk; or conducting the meetings; or making a sales pitch; or teaching the lesson; or driving the nails.

          Though Moses was at work when the Lord extended the call, Moses could just as easily have been at the dining room table eating supper with Zipporah, his wife; or in the side yard playing catch with Gershom, his son; or, standing before the vegetable counter in the local marketplace.  To be met by the Divine, one does not have to be in a place where corporate worship occurs, such as this place, or standing before a burning bush.  God meets God’s people in the spectacular events of life and in the mundane, in the extraordinary and in the ordinary.  Wherever God merges his life with ours we stand on holy ground. 

          Can you recall times in your life when you stood on holy ground?

          Let’s suppose that, just the other day, you were sitting on the den couch, reading the newspaper.  Suddenly you felt little hands and feet moving onto your lap, edging up between your outstretched arms.  “Play with me,” your little daughter or granddaughter begged.  “Give me some of your time.” 

          Could it be that that was one of the occasions of the Divine merging into an ordinary , or routine chapter of life, calling you to be Christ’s presence in the life of your daughter or granddaughter?

          Or, let’s suppose that the other day you were entering the grocery store.  There, at the entrance a table was set up; dotting that table top were a couple dozen saran wrapped cakes ….chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, cocunut…all the flavors that you can imagine.  As she sees you approaching, the one sitting behind the table says, “We have any kind you’d like; and all the proceeds will be given to Habitat for Humanity.”   

          Or maybe, for you, the Holy Ground was evident in your kitchen where you were preparing a meal.  Green beans were boiling on the stove eye and the roast was in the oven cooking.  As the aroma of a soon to be enjoyed meal filled your nostrils you experienced a brief, almost fleeting thought: “there are some people in the world who don’t have food in the cupboard.  The two cents a meal collection is next Sunday.” 

          That place where we are met by God’s presence and called to do God’s work is holy ground. 

          For the disciples in today’s gospel text, holy ground was Caesarea Philippi. Peter has just proclaimed: “Thou art the Christ  the Son of the living God.” 

          Following Peter’s profession of faith, Jesus begins to talk about the fate that awaits him as the Messiah.  Jesus talks about the suffering, death and sacrifice of the cross. 

          “God forbid it, Lord!  This must never happen to you!”

           Peter who once deified Jesus now defies him.  Peter, who once was the star pupil with the right answer falls to the bottom of the class. 

          For Peter, it is unbelievable that Jesus would seek the glory of the cross over the glory of a regal throne.  He is unable to comprehend that the way of the cross for Jesus is the way of self-denial and sacrifice. 

          “Get behind me, Satan, you’re a stumbling block to me.”    Then Jesus speaks these words that are for our hearing also. 

          “If you want to become my follower, deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me.”

          The calling we have-whether it comes while we are at work, or at worship, at the homeplace or in the market place-is to get behind Jesus, assume a position as his follower and follow his example of sacrifice and self-denial. 

          I wonder, in this age of self-fulfillment, does anyone deny self anymore?  Does anyone make the kind of sacrifices Jesus had in mind?  

          I went on a quest this week to find a self-denying, sacrificing person and my quest took me all the way to Louisiana.  For some thirty years, the sound of a mop head being dipped into a bucket of water was heard in an elementary school in Louisiana.  For thirty years, for eight hours a day, five days a week, the same person created that sound.   Her name escapes me, but her story does not.  She worked as a school custodian, making the meager wages that school custodians generally make.  Here’s the striking part of the story.  At her retirement, she had saved a couple hundred thousand dollars.  She gave it away, leaving herself with only enough money to live a simple life.  She gave it away to a college where the money was designated to fund scholarships for students in need of financial assistance. 

          In the background of that story is the sound of Jesus’ voice: “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves…and follow.”

Holy Ground is any place where the Divine meets the human, where God speaks, where God confronts us with a mission.

          Caeserea Philippi is holy ground and so is this space and time of worship.  “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves…and follow.”