Tag Archives: Moses

Holy ground

God said, “This is holy ground.” In the middle of the wilderness, to the side of the path, from the heart of a desert shrub, God spoke, and God said, “This, too, is holy ground.” Because there is no place on earth that God has abandoned. Continue reading

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Some people are never satisfied

I wonder how many evictions one trip into the atmosphere could offset. Continue reading

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Bronze serpents and steel needles

The people found their way into the snake-infested territory through impatience, selfish grumbling, ingratitude against God, and concern each for their own comfort over the salvation of the whole people from slavery. As long as each person sat in their own poison, death pursued them. But when they looked to the sign that God had given them of hope and of mercy, they were made better, and not only as individuals, but the community recovered, and they were able to move on from that place. Continue reading

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People want answers

What is our role, as the church, as Christians, when we are faced with the questions that arise after a disaster, asking where is God when trouble happens, and what it means when God is or is not seen to intervene? What is our line? Continue reading

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Beholding glory

God’s grace and mercy have never left us, passing over us and shielding us from more than we can imagine; but how much glory can we handle, human as we are? Continue reading

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Idols made of metal

The bronze serpent was not an amulet, but an icon of futility; an emblem of the impotence of evil in the sight of a gracious God.
The modern casting would be an AR-15 made into a museum piece, rendered harmless, useless, toothless by its irrelevance, not empowered by false reverence. Continue reading

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Living parables

he parables within which we live are those of Moses’ mother, who shares in the history of God, remembering creation, rebuilding the ark, reclaiming her son to raise and to nurse, her love subverting the powers of imperialism even in its most beautiful and seductive form, the young woman bathing by the river. Continue reading

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Year B Proper 17: commandments vs amendments

It all starts out so well: “This will show your wisdom and discernment to the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes will say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and discerning people!’” pronounces Moses, so full of … Continue reading

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Year B Lent 4: snakes alive

There comes a time, Jesus tells Nicodemus, to look up, and to trust God, even though you know there are snakes snapping at your ankles, even though you know there is more work to do, more wilderness to slog through, more sin to solve, more than you can shake a stick at; there comes a time to look up and to trust God, even though what you see looking back is the serpent that bit you; even though what you see is the Son of Man crucified, dying on a cross. For God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Continue reading

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Year A Epiphany 6: Choose life

Jesus said, “If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out.” Gruesome stuff. What does he mean by it? I remember when our eldest child was newborn, and sleeping in my arms in the living room in front … Continue reading

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