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<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:23.25pt'><b><font size=5
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:19.0pt;font-weight:bold'>The
Names By Which He Is Known<br>
<br>
</span></font></b><i><font face=Arial><span style='font-family:Arial;
font-style:italic'>Proper 17 | Ordinary Time 22</span></font></i><b><font
size=5><span style='font-size:19.0pt;font-weight:bold'><o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
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</span></font><b><i><font size=3 face=Helvetica><span style='font-size:11.5pt;
font-family:Helvetica;font-weight:bold;font-style:italic'>from the book<br>
Sermons On The First <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Readings</st1:place></st1:City><br>
Series II, Cycle A<br>
<br>
<br>
<a
href="http://www.sermonsuite.com/content.php?i=788031208&key=gqy8zlmo6ufOSkhg">David
Kalas</a></span></font></i></b><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p style='line-height:17.25pt'><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:13.5pt'>When I was about six years old, I made friends with a
boy named Danny. At the lake community where our family spent our summer
vacation, the house where Danny's family stayed was right across the street
from the house where we stayed. Because we were not year-round neighbors, the
families did not know each other at all, but Danny and I eventually met and
began to play together. <br>
<br>
One day, when we were playing catch together, the ball got away from us and
rolled over near where my sister happened to be sitting. Not knowing my
sister's name, Danny called out to her, "Hey, David's sister, could you
please toss us that ball?" <br>
<br>
My sister, who was seven years older, was amused by the appellation, and so it
stuck. From that time on, among the kids in the two families, she was known as
"David's sister."<br>
<br>
And the pattern grew. Next there was "Danny's brother." Then
"Danny's other brother." And then, of course, there was "Danny's
mother" and "Danny's father," as well as "David's
mother" and "David's father." We even had "David's sister's
dog." <br>
<br>
The pattern continued for several summers as our families vacationed across the
street from each other. It was a playful way that the members of the two
families referred to one another. <br>
<br>
What we did playfully for a few years, however, is what <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region> did
quite seriously for centuries. Danny's brother, Jeff, was not known by his own
name: He was known as Danny's brother. And, likewise, the Lord was not known by
his name: He was known as <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region>'s
God. <br>
<br>
Our Old Testament text for today is a portion of the famous burning bush event.
Moses, who was a fugitive from <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Egypt</st1:place></st1:country-region>
where he had killed a man, had settled among the Midianites. There he met and
married a woman, and he lived with her family, caring for the flocks of his
father-in-law, Jethro. <br>
<br>
One day, while he was tending the flock, Moses' attention was suddenly captured
by a strange sight. <br>
<br>
The occasion reminds us, of course, of the marvelous versatility of our God. He
appears to and calls Isaiah in the temple, but he is not limited to working in
such a designated sacred space. He calls Gideon in his hiding place, the
fishermen and the tax collector at their work, young Samuel in his bed, and
Saul/Paul right on the path of his well-meaning and zealous opposition to God.
So, here, Moses is walking along, literally minding his own business, when the
Lord gets his attention with this strange phenomenon. <br>
<br>
The sight that Moses turned aside to see was a bush: specifically, a bush that
was on fire. Yet while it appeared to be burning, it was not burning up. Moses
moved toward it to take a closer look, at which point the Lord called out to
him from the bush. <br>
<br>
The Lord began by calling Moses by name. We may take that for granted, and yet
it remains an unnecessarily personal touch. Calling someone by name may be
required in order to get a person's attention, the Lord already had Moses'
attention there at the bush. He could have begun speaking without personally
naming Moses, much as the angel over <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Bethlehem</st1:place></st1:City>
began speaking without calling the shepherds by name.<br>
<br>
Interestingly, the Lord speaks Moses' name twice. Obviously, most salutations
do not repeat the person's name, but it is a pattern that occurs several times
in scripture. And the repetition -- "Moses, Moses!" -- seems to
convey a certain affection and urgency: Samuel, Samuel (1 Samuel 3:4); Martha,
Martha (Luke 10:41); Simon, Simon (Luke 22:31); and Saul, Saul (Acts 9:4). <br>
<br>
Next, the Lord introduced himself to Moses. This strongly suggests that Moses
had not heard the Lord speak to him prior to this occasion. Introductions are
the sort of thing that only occur once between two people, unless they have
forgotten each other; and that doesn't happen with God.<br>
<br>
While the record we have of Moses' early life surely assumes God's providential
hand in his life, there is no earlier indication that God had spoken to him.
This appears to be the first time. And on the numerous subsequent occasions
when the Lord spoke to Moses, he did not introduce himself again as he does
here in this, their first meeting.<br>
<br>
This encounter at the burning bush is especially distinctive, for in the end
the Lord introduces himself twice.<br>
<br>
At the outset, God introduces himself this way: "I am the God of your
father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." Then,
as the episode unfolds, God calls Moses to return to <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Egypt</st1:place></st1:country-region> as the instrument of his
deliverance, and Moses responds with resistance. He feels unqualified and
ill-equipped, and so he raises a series of objections. And among them, Moses
expresses this concern: "If I come to the Israelites and say to them, 'The
God of your ancestors has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is his name?'
what shall I say to them?"<br>
<br>
God had called Moses by name. And God had introduced himself to Moses. Still
Moses did not know God's name. <br>
<br>
This detail may elude us in our reading, for we may have lost, in our own
practice and prayer, the distinction between names and titles. We use his
titles freely -- God, Lord, Savior, Redeemer, Father, and such -- and we may
use them as though they were his name. But Moses perceived the fact of the
matter: He did not know God's name. <br>
<br>
On this occasion, therefore, God disclosed his name to Moses and, by extension,
to his people: "I AM WHO I AM.... Thus you shall say to the Israelites, 'I
AM has sent me to you.' " <br>
<br>
Several eventful months later, Moses was back on that same mountain to meet
with God. With the Israelites camped below, God gave to Moses there on that
mountain his commandments, which would form the basis of his covenant with his
people. Included among those fundamental commandments was this high-ranking
instruction: "You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your
God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his name" (Exodus
20:7). And, somewhat later, the penalty phase of this important command is
revealed: "One who blasphemes the name of the Lord shall be put to death;
the whole congregation shall stone the blasphemer. Aliens as well as citizens,
when they blaspheme the Name, shall be put to death" (Leviticus 24:16). <br>
<br>
So it is that the Old Testament people of God had a sense for the importance,
the holiness, and the power of God's name. They knew it as majestic (Psalm
8:1), as their protection (Psalm 20:1), as their source of help (Psalm 124:8),
as their refuge (Proverbs 18:10), as their pride (Psalm 20:7), and as worthy of
praise (Psalm 113:3). <br>
<br>
That wonderful name was revealed to Moses at the burning bush. And that episode
presents us with a noteworthy sequence of events: a sequence that may be a
universal pattern. <br>
<br>
At the end of the episode, Moses knows God by name. It's personal and it's
powerful. But at the beginning of the episode, that's not the case. God knows
Moses by name, but Moses does not know God in that personal way. In order to
introduce himself to Moses, God says, "I am the God of your father, the
God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." <br>
<br>
In short, before Moses knows God by his name, he knows God by other names:
specifically, the names of other people. <br>
<br>
This is not a mystery; this is quite natural. We understand this sequence from
our own day-to-day human interactions. For when we introduce ourselves to
another person for the first time, we often do it in reference to some
third-party. Since we are unknown to the individual we're meeting, we identify
ourselves, if possible, with someone who is known to them. <br>
<br>
To a friend of my daughter, I introduce myself as "Angela's dad." To
a friend of my wife, I introduce myself as "Karen's husband." To the
nurse outside a patient's door, I introduce myself as that patient's pastor. <br>
<br>
If I say, "Hello, I'm David," that might mean nothing to one of my
daughter's friends. When I introduce myself as Angela's father, however, then I
make a connection. Such was God's approach with Moses. He did not begin by
introducing himself by name; Moses didn't know him yet. Instead, he began by
introducing himself by other people's names: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. <br>
<br>
This is, you know, always the nature of our experience with God. You and I were
not born with a knowledge of the Lord; we came to know him. And we did not come
to know him in a vacuum; we were introduced to him by someone else. We were
taught about him, led to him, and nurtured in our relationship with him by
someone else. Indeed, probably by dozens of other people. <br>
<br>
Before he is known by his name, he is known by someone else's name. Before he
was my God, he was the God of my father. Before I know him as my God, I might
know him first as "Danny's God." <br>
<br>
See, then, how our testimony circles around to become our responsibility. <br>
<br>
When I bear witness to God's work in my life, I discover that his work has been
done through so very many people along the way. Some of them have an idea how
God used them in my life. Some others have no idea. But they are the names by
which he was known to me: He was their God before he was my God. <br>
<br>
And now he is my God. He and I have been introduced. It is a personal
relationship. I know him by name. <br>
<br>
Since he is my God now, there is a good chance that he will be known by my
name. There are a great many people who don't know him yet, but they know me.
And for some, I may be their only association with him. <br>
<br>
Likewise with you -- for some friend or family member or neighbor or coworker
-- someone in your life who does not know the Lord personally only knows him
right now as your Lord. You and I are among the names by which he is known.
Amen. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='line-height:17.25pt'><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:13.5pt'><a
href="http://www.sermonsuite.com/content.php?i=788031208&key=gqy8zlmo6ufOSkhg">http://www.sermonsuite.com/content.php?i=788031208&key=gqy8zlmo6ufOSkhg</a><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='line-height:17.25pt'><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:13.5pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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style='font-size:13.5pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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