Since
Jesus death, resurrection and ascension we have been on a pilgrimage as the
church, a journey towards the coming return of Jesus. The Basis of Union of the Uniting Church
As
we meet as a congregation this morning I believe that we need to seek to listen
to where God is leading us now and to make the necessary adjustments.
Reflecting
on the Old Testament passage that we heard this morning we encountered the
Israelites as God’s people on a journey.
As I reflected on their pilgrimage a few issues stood out for me to
share with you this morning. Issues that
I want to simply raise and encourage you to think upon and pray about in the
days ahead.
First,
to say the Israelites were people who were encountering great change. They had moved from slavery to freedom, they
had effectively become refugees as they fled Egypt, and they were being
transformed in their relationship with God. Change was upon them spiritual; physical;
personal. And without Moses there to
guide them they kind of went off the rails.
So
here is the first issue for you, ‘How do you adjust to times of change in your
life, in the world and in the Church?’
Second,
that in Aaron responding to what the people wanted the difficult nature of the
relationship between leaders God sets apart and God’s people is played
out. It raises a couple of issues for us:
‘Do
we give our gold (metaphorically or literally) only we know we are going to see
the results?’
And,
‘Do we simply want our leaders to tickle our spiritual and theological fancies
or do we actually want them to be faithful to God?’
As
an aside sometimes when we discuss change people uses the expression ‘you can’t
please all of the people all of the time”.
I
think this misses the point - the role of leaders in the church is not to
please people but to listen for and be
faithful to God even when it upsets the people!
Third,
that in God’s relationship with human beings God is also changed. This is another of those uncomfortable
passages where we see God change God’s mind.
For many of us the notion that God changes is disturbing but Moses
pleads his case and God shifts his response away from wreaking havoc and
disaster on God’s people.
Once
again, two issues:
‘How
do we live in a dynamic relationship with a living God?’
And,
‘What does it mean for your prayer life knowing that God changed his mind in
this story?’
It
would be nice to think that we could wrap ourselves in what we have always done
and the way things have always been as a congregation. Yet, I suspect if we really think about it and
are honest with ourselves we have not always done things the way we do them now
and things have not always been this way.
To
be a Pilgrim people means moving on and not stagnating. In our journey with God now we ask together
God to guide us and lead us so that we might be faithful.
Take
a few moments of silence to listen for God speaking to you.
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