Are You There, God? It's Me, Moses (Exodus 33:12-23)

The Old Testament lectionary readings lately have been from the book of Exodus, and in today’s scripture, there is a verse where Moses basically asks God, “Are you there? Are you with us?” … and it made me think of the book, Are You There, God, It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Bloom… 

Except I never read that book, and I never saw the movie that came out this year, (which I heard is wonderful, by the way).

Who here has read the book?

I mentioned to Ginger that I had never read the book, and she found a copy at a used bookstore that cost one dollar, and I started reading it.

This happened just before the regional clergy retreat and regional gathering that took place last week. For the retreat, the region hosted clergy and their spouses at the Fullerton Marriott, which is probably the nicest place I’ve stayed at in a long time. (That’s not saying much, since my little cabin on Catalina Island has no plumbing and no electricity, but still…)

So, anyway, that’s how it is that I ended up one afternoon, laying by the pool at the Fullerton Marriott, with an umbrella over me and that warm, golden California sun shining down, surrounded by palm trees, my shirt off, iced tea on the table next to me, trying to look cool, while reading my second-hand paperback copy of Are You There, God, It’s Me, Margaret.

For those of you who don’t know, the story is about a girl named Margaret Simon, who is just a few months away from turning 12, when her family moves from New York City to Fartbrook, New Jersey. Margaret's mother is Christian and her father is Jewish, but Margaret has been raised without an affiliation to either faith. Nevertheless, she frequently prays to God in her own words, beginning by saying, "Are you there God? It's me, Margaret." 

Now, it’s not a coincidence that her family is moving to a new state just as she’s about to turn 12. Both moving to a new home, and transitioning into puberty, are two drastic life changes. There’s the physical journey, from her old home to her new home; and there’s the spiritual, developmental journey, as she figures out who she is. Both journeys involve new beginnings, new discoveries… and leaving behind all things familiar. 

In that sense, it’s very similar to the journey Moses and the Hebrew people took to the promised land.

Like Margaret’s journey, theirs is a double journey: It’s a physical, literal journey, from Egypt, through the wilderness, to Canaan; but, more than that, it’s a spiritual, developmental journey, as they transition from their old lives as slaves, and prepare to create a whole new nation, basically establishing for themselves a whole new identity as God’s liberated people.

And in the part of the story that appears in today’s scripture, Moses all but says, “Are you there, God? It’s me, Moses.”

Now, thus far, God has led the people out of Egypt, through the Red Sea, and into the wilderness. At Sinai, God established a covenant with them, and God gave them the 10 commandments to guide them as they prepared to live in covenant with God and with one another in the new land they were about to enter. And God held back his anger when the people got impatient and made a golden calf, and worshiped it instead of God.

God loved the Hebrew people, and had promised to be with them, but after that golden calf incident, when God’s anger was kindled, and God almost destroyed the people in anger… God wondered if maybe going with the people into the Promised Land wasn’t such a good idea. What if these stubborn, impatient, unfaithful people got God angry again, and God reacted violently by destroying them? Maybe it would be better for the people to enter the Promised Land without God…?

Moses did not agree. Moses wanted God to assure him that God would go with them, that God’s presence would accompany them. God again gave in to Moses’ petition, and said, “Yes, I will go with you,” but Moses wanted even greater assurance.

Moses said, “Don’t play with me, God. If you really are there, show me. Show me your presence. I need to see you. I need to be assured of your presence now, and assured that your presence will stay with me, and with us, as we continue this journey.”

Now, at this point, I should mention that this depiction of God, whose presence is limited to a specific location, doesn’t quite match what I believe about God. Does it match what you believe about God? Do you think God’s presence is limited to certain locations? Or do you believe that God is everywhere, that there is nowhere in creation where God is not?

Ancient people were influenced by other religions, and by the gods of those religions, who dwelt in specific places, not everywhere all at once.

And one of the things I actually like about scripture is how human understanding about God evolves across the pages of scripture. 

For example: In the Garden of Eden, God was walking in the garden, and Adam and Eve hid from God; behind a bush or a rock, I presume. So there, in Genesis, God appears to be limited to a specific location. Yet later, the psalmist says “Where can I go from your spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?” And the implied answer is: nowhere. Because God is everywhere.

And when Jonah comically tried to outrun God, it didn’t work. Because even at the ends of the earth, God is there.

When Jesus talked theology with the woman at the well, part of the conversation centered on whether God’s home was on this mountain, or was on that mountain, but then Jesus said that God is spirit; God is wind; God is breath. Just as the wind does not reside on a single mountain, neither does God; and just as breath is in every human, so is God.

So I don’t look at these depictions in Genesis and Exodus of God as present in one location but not present in another as definitive. Rather, they are a glimpse into how the people thought of God, and how human understanding of God grew and developed over the ages.

And even in this story today, which begins with a question of whether God will be present or not, we move to the realization that God’s presence will not be withdrawn, that God’s presence will be with the people, and God’s presence will be with Moses. 

The assurance is given.

Are you there God? Yes, I am. I am here, with you. And always will be.

No matter where your journey takes you.

So… back to our story. In this story, people didn’t quite think of God as being everywhere, like the wind, or breath, and Moses wanted an assurance from God that God’s presence would be with him and with God’s people as they complete their journey into the Promised Land.

So Moses said to God, “Show me your glory.” It was a presumptuous demand. Moses was dictating the terms of their relationship.

But God agreed. “I will pass by you, and you will see my glory,” God said. “But you cannot see my face. I’ll cover your face with my hand until I’ve passed you, and then I’ll remove my hand, and you can see my backside as I go by.”

And this begs the question: “What exactly does God’s backside look like? And am I going to hell for asking such an irreverent question?”

Well, no one is ever sent to hell for asking questions. But perhaps a more important question is: What does this story teach us about God?

And what it teaches us is that God is present. And that it’s OK to ask God to reveal God’s presence, to make that presence known. Because even though God is always present, we aren’t always aware of that presence, and that sometimes, even though God is always present, what we feel is God’s absence.

Even prophets and psalmists have felt the absence of God. Even prophets and psalmists have questioned God about these things.

So whether your name is Margaret, or Moses, or anything else, it’s OK to ask, “Are you there, God?”

And no matter what type of journey you are on, and no matter what new land awaits you, it’s OK to ask, “Are you there, God?”

Then, wait for God to answer. 

Sermon: "To See God" (Exodus 33:12-23)

Moses was in need of a confidence boost.

God called Moses to lead a huge undertaking, a mighty migration of epic proportions, filled with great challenges and tribulations.

Moses was reluctant at first. Remember, at the Burning Bush, how he tried to convince God to send someone else? But Moses soon demonstrated that he was, in fact, the right man for the job.

He courageously confronted the king of Egypt, Pharaoh himself. He led God’s people out of Egypt and through the wilderness. He prepared them for life in the Promised Land.

But it was so hard. It was a struggle. Day after day, he woke up and led God’s people, but 40 years in the wilderness is a long time. Would they ever arrive in the Promised Land? Would the people ever learn to trust God completely?

Every day, some new challenge arose. Every day, there was some new headache. Every day, Moses himself had to struggle just to get out of bed and do what he had been called to do.

And some days, he got so frustrated with the people he was leading, that he just wanted to kill them. Some days, God got so frustrated with the people, that God wanted to kill them! That’s how difficult they were! But of course, neither God nor Moses, no matter how frustrated they were with the people, would actually kill them. Perhaps it was just an expression, one we’ve all used. After all, both Moses and God cared deeply for the people, showing them great love and compassion.

Still, Moses needed some support. He needed to vent. He needed some reassurance. He needed a confidence boost. So one day, he said to God, “Look: you’ve been telling me, ‘Lead these people forward.’ Well, I’ve been trying. I can’t do this alone! You’ve given me your approval; you’ve said to me, ‘I know you by name and think highly of you.’ But I need something more…”

God replied, “I’ll go with you. I’ll help you.”

But that wasn’t enough for Moses. Moses said, “I need to know…. So that I know you really are with us, that you really are with me, and that you will stay with me and help me, I ask that you please show me your glorious presence. Let me just see, with my eyes, your presence.”

Moses wanted proof. God is always elusive,  mysterious, just out of reach. Is it really God that you are hearing? Is it really God that called you and summoned you? How can you be sure?

When the ghost of Jacob Marley confronted Ebenezer Scrooge, Scrooge wasn’t sure it was really him. Maybe it was a hallucination, caused by spoiled food. “You may be an undigested bit of beef,” Scrooge said, “a blot of mustard, a crumb of cheese, a fragment of underdone potato. There’s more of gravy than of grave about you, whatever you are!”

How could Moses know for sure that this voice, this presence that had summoned him and guided him, really was God, and not a hallucination caused by an upset stomach?

Maybe Moses wanted to believe, for a moment at least, that it wasn’t God. Maybe Moses, like Scrooge, was hoping that it was all in his head. Then he could dismiss it all, and go back to watching sheep for his father-in-law Jethro and live in peace. These people he was leading - so frustrating! What was he really leading them for?

“If it’s really you, God, show me; show me your glorious presence, so that I can know. I’m about ready to quit. I’m about ready to throw in the towel, unless I know that it is really, really you that has been calling me.”

God listened to Moses. God heard what Moses was saying. And, for a moment, God sat there, stroking his chin, stroking his beard, thinking.

You can laugh at that, by the way. Any anthropomorphic description of God is, when you think about it, kind of funny. We can imagine God however we want: with a long white beard, perhaps pacing back and forth as God does in the Garden of Eden, whatever… but, like Moses, we cannot see the true nature and glory of God. If God were to come and stand right here in our sanctuary, what would God look like? If God were to stand here in our sanctuary and you were to take a picture of God, what would that look like?

It’s kind of a crazy question, which I’ll come back to shortly…

So Moses asked to see God, to see God’s glory, and God thought about it and said, “I’ll make all my goodness pass in front of you, and I’ll proclaim before you the name, ‘The Lord.’ I will be kind to whomever I wish to be kind, and I will have compassion to whomever I wish to be compassionate.

“But,” the Lord said, “you can’t see my face because no one can see me and live.” The Lord said, “Here is a place near me where you will stand beside the rock. As my glorious presence passes by, I’ll set you in a gap in the rock, and I’ll cover you with my hand until I’ve passed by. Then I’ll take away my hand, and you will see my back - just my back - but my face won’t be visible.”

So Moses got to see God… but not really. Moses got a glimpse of God. Moses got a glimpse of God from the rear. Anthropomorphically speaking, Moses got a glimpse of God’s…what? God’s backside? Was God mooning Moses? That’s what some scholars - serious scholars - think.

You can laugh at that, by the way.

One scholar said that God was mooning Moses, because Moses’ request to see God was a bit too - wait for it - cheeky.

Moses gets to see God… but not directly. It’s a partial view, an obscured view. Apparently, God can be seen, but God is holy and other and is not seen easily or clearly.

In the next chapter of Exodus, Moses gets to see God a little differently, a little more clearly, yet it still isn’t quite what one would expect. God is visibly present, yet at the same time, God remains hidden...

It all reminds me of the story of the blind men who encountered an elephant, and tried to describe it… In case you haven’t heard that story, it goes like this:

Once upon a time, there lived six blind men in a village. One day the villagers told them, "Hey, there is an elephant in the village today."

The six blind men had no idea what an elephant is. They decided, "Even though we would not be able to see it, let us go and feel it anyway." All of them went where the elephant was. Everyone of them touched the elephant.

"Hey, the elephant is a pillar," said the first man who touched his leg.

"Oh, no! it is like a rope," said the second man who touched the tail.

"Oh, no! it is like a thick branch of a tree," said the third man who touched the trunk of the elephant.

"It is like a big hand fan" said the fourth man who touched the ear of the elephant.

"It is like a huge wall," said the fifth man who touched the belly of the elephant.

"It is like a solid pipe," Said the sixth man who touched the tusk of the elephant.

They began to argue about the elephant and everyone of them insisted that he was right. It looked like they were getting agitated.

A wise man was passing by and he saw this. He stopped and asked them, "What is the matter?"

They said, "We cannot agree to what the elephant is like." Each one of them told what he thought the elephant was like.

The wise man calmly explained to them, "All of you are right. The reason every one of you is telling it differently is because each one of you touched the different part of the elephant. So, actually the elephant has all those features that you all said."

"Oh!" everyone said. There was no more fight. They felt happy that they were all right.

The moral of the story is that there may be some truth to what someone says. Sometimes we can see that truth and sometimes not because they may have different perspective which we may not agree too. So, rather than arguing like the blind men, we should say, "Maybe you have your reasons." This way we don’t get in arguments, and we can live in harmony with the people of different thinking.

How do you know God is real? Wouldn’t you like proof? Wouldn’t you like to see God face-to-face? We just catch a glimpse of his backside, and we wonder: was that God? I didn’t get a good look. I can’t tell…

If only we could see God. That’s what Moses wanted. To see God. That’s what we want: to see God. To see God, and know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that God is real, that God is with us, just as God promised. To see God, standing here in front of us, in person...To see God walk down the aisle, shake our hands, or give us a reassuring hug.

Imagine the instagram photos we could share! “Look, a selfie with me and God!” That would probably help us attract more members, anyway...

It’s what Moses wanted. It’s what we want. It’s what so many people want: to see God. To know God.

So many people are praying that God might intervene in their life. Maybe they are struggling. Maybe they just need a friend, or even a smile, and they pray to God for a reason to live, a reason to smile.

Maybe you can be that reason to smile. Maybe you can give them hope. Maybe you can give them just enough of a glimpse of God that they decide to live another day. After all, God’s image is in you. A person can’t know all there is to know about God, but they might learn something. Just a morsel of information. From you. And maybe it will be enough.

You are the image of God. What does that mean? It means that God is present in and through you.

Ancient kings wanted their people to know that the kings were always present among their people, always watching, always looking out for them, always controlling them. So they put their image everywhere: they had statues built of their image. They had coins minted with their image. The people would see the king’s image everywhere, and know that the king was always present.

God didn’t put God’s image on statues or coins. God put God’s image in you. Which means that the only way people are going to see God is if they can see God in you.

So… if God were to come and stand right here in our sanctuary, would God look like an old white man with a long beard? No. God would look like you. You are created in the image of God.

And… God would look like your neighbor. We know God through Jesus. The Bible says that those who have seen the son have seen the Father. But Jesus himself says that you will see him when you look into the face of the one who is hungry, the one who is thirsty, the one who is naked, the one who is sick, the one who is a stranger.

The most holy thing of all, the thing that makes God the most visible, is when the image of God in you recognizes and responds to the image of God in your neighbor. Because even though the image of God is in you, it is incomplete. It’s only part of the elephant. And even though the image of God is in your neighbor, it is incomplete. It’s only part of the elephant.

The image is incomplete until the image of God in you recognizes the image of God in your neighbor, and you respond with love, and you respond with kindness. We are called to love our neighbor because the image of God is in our neighbor. And, as the story of the Good Samaritan shows, it doesn’t matter who our neighbor is, how old she is, what race he is, what religion, what country they are from, how rich or poor they are...Every person you meet is a neighbor.

After the crucifixion, two of Jesus's disciples were walking to Emmaus. They were joined, part way through their journey, by a stranger. The three of them journeyed, and when they reached Emmaus, they treated this stranger as a neighbor. They showed great hospitality, inviting him to dine and stay with them.

They showed love and kindness to this stranger, which then allowed them to see Christ in this stranger. In this stranger, they recognized Jesus. In this stranger, they saw God.

That's how it works.

Do you want to see God? Then find a way to make a connection. Find a way to help a stranger. Find a way to show kindness. Find a way to show love to a stranger, an enemy.

And God will be revealed to you.