Exodus 24:1-18
Friday, 11 April 2008
I have never liked to be left out. I want to know what the conversation is about, what the organization does, what the person behind the facade is like. I don't want to be the only one who doesn't understand the joke. I don't even want to be one of the ones who doesn't get it. But as much as I want to be included, I know that there are some things I cannot understand without being let in and some places I cannot go without being invited.
The section we have been considering from the book of Exodus has been discussing the preparations and conversation that constitute the covenant between God and the Israelites. Have you noticed how often God draws boundaries and limits as a part of the relationship's terms? In today's text, there are various levels of engagement into which individuals or groups are invited. Although all are drawn into the covenant, speaking with one voice their intention to obey the Lord's command and being sprinkled with the blood of the covenant, there are degrees of intensifying closeness, culminating in the last verse of our lesson when Moses is the only one who enters the cloud.
Like the Israelites, we share a common invitation to be cleansed by the blood of the covenant and a diversity of gifts and callings. But what is different is that now we all have an invitation to the space where before only Moses could enter. We are all invited into the presence of God; we all may enter the cloud. The thing is that too often we either miss the invitation or ignore it. Too often we have far more curiosity about each others' business and a far more passionate desire to be invited into exclusive clubs than we desire the things of God. Yet what we get when we enter the cloud is not trivia or gossip; it is an experience of the knowledge that makes life full or actually that makes real life possible.
Sing, "Close to Thee"
Let us pray:
Lord, thank you for the provision of your word and of your blood which make relationship with you possible for us. Thank you for laying the foundation and opening up the way to abundant and eternal life. We pray that you will give us a passionate curiosity to know the things about you that can only be learned through closeness and intimacy. Help us not to be afraid to enter the cloud, though Jesus Christ the Door to all that his holy. Amen
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