How Will They Know 17 April 2008

Exodus 33:1-23
Thursday, 17 April 2008

I grew up in a church tradition that focused on holiness, on being set apart. The "saints" didn't behave the way the "world" behaved. In speech, in attire, in commitment, in recreation, in everything visible they tried to be an example of the sanctified life. They wanted people to know by looking at them that they were saved.

The disaster of idolatry and its devastating aftermath are fresh in the minds of Moses and the people. But God is ready for them to move on into the Promised Land. In conversation, though, Moses notices that God has not promised that the divine presence will accompany them. Instead, God promises to send an angel, a messenger to fulfill God's will. The problem is that an angel is not God, and Moses knows it. In one of the most poignant prayers of the scriptures, Moses declares that if God's presence does not go with them, then Moses will not go. "How else," Moses asks, "will they know that we are your people, if you are not with us?" It is by God's presence that the people are distinct from other peoples. God relents. In seal of this promise, Moses asks to be shown the divine glory - the weighty presence of God. Although Moses is not permitted to behold that glory, he is given protection in a rock as the Lord passes by.

Our desire as Christians to be distinctive from the world is an appropriate one. But our distinctiveness is not primarily measured in how we dress or what we eat or what we say or how we have fun. It is really the presence of God in our lives and the hand of God upon our lives that distinguishes us from the rest of the world. The world will know that we are Christians by our love, by our light, and by our truth, as the character of God is demonstrated in our character as God's children.

Sing "He Hideth My Soul"

Let us pray:
Lord, we confess that we are not all that you would have us to be. Just as our ancestors in the faith have done before us, we have sometimes failed to honor you. But we pray that your presence will continue to go with us and lead us to your promised land. Set us apart as your people even as you develop in us character and beauty that is more than skin deep, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen