Burning bushes are everywhere. August 30, 2020 The Rev. Kathleen M. Sturges

Exodus 3:1-15

When someone says they've had a burning bush experience likely they are talking about a moment where they had a sense of a clear encounter with God. Which is an enviable thing. My guess is that we’d all like to have that - a clear encounter, a burning bush experience - at least once in our lives.

 But what if we’ve actually been given the opportunity of having not just one burning bush experience but countless ones and are simply unaware. Because when you think about it there’s really nothing so special about a fiery bush. Even though our reading from Exodus tells us that an angel of the Lord was in the flame that’s not what Moses saw. He just saw a bush on fire. What caught his attention wasn’t the bush itself but the fact that it wasn’t burning up. It was that curious thing that prompted Moses to turn aside from what he was doing and give it a second look. It was only then, after Moses started paying attention did God reveal Godself and speak.

 Which makes me wonder, what if Moses hadn’t turned aside to investigate? What would have happened? It’s hard for me to imagine that God would have shouted from the bush, “Hey, Moses! Look! Over here! It’s me, God!” In fact, rabbis of old muse that perhaps Moses wasn’t the first one to have passed by this bush. Maybe there had been others but it was only Moses who took the time to notice.

 Because a burning bush experience is not necessarily an eye-catching display of pyrotechnics. Rather encountering God is, more often than not, found in the natural things of this world if only we take the time to turn aside from whatever occupies us to notice. Which means that life - your life and my life - are filled with burning bushes. Poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning puts it this way:

 Earth’s crammed with heaven,

And every common bush afire with God:

But only he who sees, takes off his shoes,

The rest sit round it, and pluck blackberries.

 So how can we see such ordinary experiences as holy encounters? Perhaps the first step is by reminding ourselves that burning bushes are everywhere and then to be on the lookout for them. I have no doubt that if you look, you will find. Life is chock-full of things that call to us to turn aside, to wonder, to notice. Things like sunlight upon a tree’s leaves or a cat’s delight upon a lap or a phone call from a friend. These can all be burning bush experiences if we, like Moses, turn aside from whatever we are doing to take a few extra moments to pay attention and behold the holy in our midst. And as we do, these mystical yet ordinary burning bushes ask no more from us than a response of acknowledgement, wonder, and gratitude.

 But there are other types of bushes that do call for more. Instead of ordinary, these bushes are urgent, often born out of someone’s need. These fiery bushes interrupt our plans like we see in the story of the Good Samaritan. As you probably recall, the story begins with a man left for dead on the side of the road. After some time two good, religious people see the man but they turn a blind eye to God’s fiery call and walk on by. Eventually there comes another man, a Samaritan, who sees and is willing to be interrupted, to turn aside, and to respond to the need. And in the act of doing so both men, whether they know it or not, encounter God. So what urgent burning bush is calling to you? A challenging child? A needy neighbor? A just cause? Although these holy bushes are sometimes tempting to ignore because they interrupt, because they can ask much from us, when we are willing to turn aside, to engage, and to respond we find God.

 Then there’s the type of burning bush experience that’s absolutely personal. It’s for nobody else but you. God calls your name alone because you are uniquely known and loved. Now such individual burning bushes don’t happen everyday, but when they do God speaks in a deep and personal way.

 Indeed, earth is crammed with heaven and every common bush afire with God. Look for it. Pay attention and you will see. But know that no two bushes are exactly alike. Yet one thing they all have in common is the message that God speaks to Moses and to us that no matter what, “I,” God says, “I will be with you.” God is present and always with you. That is the good news of every burning bush. And that is, ultimately, the only news that really matters.