Memories and New Beginnings

Friends, we are standing on holy ground! A place in time that is defined not only by the presence of our Holy God, but of a turning point - a time when we have been given a choice to either stay where we are in or to move forward.

What is this holy ground, this holy decision that we have been given responsibility over? Let us explore the story of Moses before we seek to find its parallels in our lives today: Moses had been through a lot in his early years. He had been born in a time when he should have been slaughtered simply for being a Hebrew, male child. Yet his mother risked her life to save his. She wove a basket out of reeds and placed Moses in it, hoping and knowing that someone would rescue him and raise him. She gave up her most precious piece of herself in this world, her newborn baby, in order to save him and to give him the life that she wished for him. She had her daughter, watch over the basket to make sure no harm came to her son, until the daughter of the Pharaoh came and drew him out of the water. She named him, Moses, and cared for him as if he was her very own.

Moses knew that he was different, that he was a Hebrew who was revered as an Egyptian. But he still considered the Hebrews who worked around him to be his brothers. One day he saw one of Pharaoh’s men who was set to supervise the Hebrews work as salves, strike one of his Hebrew brothers. And Moses killed him and buried him in the sand.

Later Moses saw two Hebrew men scuffling, and one hit another. When Moses asked them why they were quarreling with one another, the one who struck the other verbally lashed out at Moses, asking if he was going to kill him as a Hebrew, the same way that he had killed the Egyptian. Moses’ murderous secret was out. It had even reached the ears of Pharaoh who sought to kill Moses, thinking that true blood ran deeper and thicker then those who were raised as family. So Moses fled to the land of Midian, where he married one of the priest of the area’s daughters and formed a life for his family there as a shepherd. While Moses started his life as a sojourner, the Pharaoh who sought to kill him died, and the hardships of the children of Israel increased under the new régime.

Which brings us to our point in the story today. Moses was tending to the flock of sheep owned by his father in law. He was alone in the wilderness, when a messenger from the Lord sent a flame onto a bush that burst out of the bush, but did not consume it. A sight never before experienced. Moses, realized that he was standing on holy ground, because of this unnatural occurrence. He turned his face away from the holy sight, and the voice of God called to him from the midst of this burning, but unconsumed bush, calling him by name. Moses responded by taking off his sandals, for his was standing on holy ground.

God laid it all out for him, saying, “I am the God of your father, of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I have seen the affection of my children, my very people, in Egypt and I have heard their cries in the face of the salve drivers. I have known their suffering. So I came down here, into this moment in time, into this bush, to you, to rescue them and bring them up to a land beyond their wildest imaginations. So go! I am choosing you, I am sending you to Pharaoh, to bring my people out of Egypt.”

But Moses did not exactly go at first. He recognized that he was hearing God. He turned away from the bush because he was afraid to see the face of God. He took off his sandals because he knew he was standing on holy ground. But he was afraid. He was afraid of the past, of what he had left behind in Egypt. He had worked so hard to shed the shell of who he once was, how he had defined himself, as a murder. And here this Holy being, had come to him and commanded him to strike out on the path of new beings. God had commanded him to leave behind the memories of his past that had consumed and defined him, and to leave behind his present safety for his family and himself, and move forward. God knew of Moses fear, even when all Moses could ask was “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt? Who am I?”

Friends, we are standing on holy ground today – this is a defining moment for our country and for us as Christians. Today is September 11^th, 2011. Ten years ago on this day lives were lost as the world trade center collapsed and another plane went down in Pennsylvania. Today, we are standing on holy ground because God has given us a choice about how we are going to proceed. Are we going to get so caught up in memories of pain, rage, and sadness that we become stuck? Are we going to keep seeking to label and blame others simply because of their religion or color of skin? Are we going to live in fear of the past and let that define us, or are we going to move forward, with God, into new beginnings?

New beginnings are hard for us to understand sometimes, because we think that we need to forget whom we are or where we came from in order to start over. We think that we need to give up on the memories that have formed us – both the good and the bad – in order to choose the way of a new beginning, but this simply is not true. God’s name is defined in this passage of scripture to Moses, as “I will be there however I will be there.” Or in our English translations, “I am who I am.” Believe, brothers and sisters, that which is impossible for us to truly understand. God is not confined by our sense of time – of the past, present, and future. God simply is. Because of this incomprehensible truth, God simply asks us to sojourner the direction laid before us. And because God has given us free will, when we reach a fork in the road of our journey, we have a choice to make, will we continue to move forward into the unknown, or will we stay stuck?

I truly believe that God can redeem all moments for the glory of the Holy Three in One! Sometimes we need the memories of the past to propel us into a new direction in the future. But other times those memories become toxic – the type of memories that help us define ourselves and our mission in human terms instead of God’s terms. And brothers and sisters, human terms and definitions lead to messes. Moses realized this - can you imagine the guilt and fear that consumed him for years because he saw himself as one thing and one thing only – a murder. He saw himself, not as a kin of the holy, chosen people, but as one who was self-banished from them. Set apart from his family for his own self-flagellation. Inherent in Moses asking God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh?” is the bigger question, “Who am I that I am good enough to deserve to be spoken to by God? To be given a mission from God? To be allowed a new beginning?”

But what could this new beginning with God on this anniversary look like? I think it involves claiming some of the powerful images that came out of a horrible day – that when we see those around us in need, we step up and do the impossible. There is no better example of this then the first responders, firefighters, and police men and women who risked and sacrificed their own lives to save those whom they did not even know on that day. And surly we are never to forget the memories of those who lost their lives, needlessly, on this day ten years ago. But what are those memories calling us to do? Are we living in a way that honors those who died or are we living out a human agenda propelled by our emotions of rage and unspeakable sadness?

Friends, as a nation we’ve tried living out the human responses for ten years. What if God’s new way was one of radical peace? A peace that others do not understand, but that we live into any way? What if God’s new beginning for us, in this moment in time, was a chance for us to share an unbounded love for our neighbors right around the corner and down the street? What if this was our time to be creative about how to express our faith in this God whose name is “I will be there” our great “I am”. Can we truly let go and let God redeem this moment this tragic moment in history for good? Can we choose to venture down the road of new beginnings, even if we fear that we do not know fully where it will lead, but knowing that God goes with us? Can we forge new friendships across boundaries, that are authentic and life changing? Can we lay ourselves down in order to walk down the road of peace that others have forged before us.

May today be the day that we choose to let God our memories transform us memories into new beginnings.