Then Moses said, “I must turn aside and look at this great sight and see why the bush is not burned up.” When the Lord saw that he had turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” Then the Lord said, “Come no closer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” Exodus 3:3-5

Moses encounters God on the mountain, doing his ordinary, everyday task of tending his father-in-law’s sheep. He is intrigued by the site of a bush burning, yet the branches and leaves never burn up. How long that bush has been burning, before Moses notices it, we will never know.

Most of us  aren’t all that sharp at noticing when, God is trying to get our attention.  But on that monumental day, Moses does notice, and when he comes close,  God says to him, “Take off your sandals, this is Holy Ground.” Exodus 3:5

Holy Ground is sacred space, where we discover God ahead of us, present when we take time to pause, and stand in God’s presence. This is the place where God’s Spirit burns in our hearts. When we dare to ask who this God is, God tells us, “I am who I am, I will be who I will be. ” Exodus 3:14

Just when we are set to box God in, God says, “I will be who I will be. Not who you thought I was, but who I will be.”

Throughout recorded history of God encounters, God surprises us with where God points us, in living out our faith. The constant is love. God who hears the cries of God’s people,  sends us out to free captives, stand up for justice, to be instruments of grace and peace. But first God frees us from  our own prisons,  touches our hearts with Divine love, claiming us as God’s children and precious in God’s sight.

Moses will be sent on a mission to free people from the backbreaking yoke of slavery, Egypt had condemned them to.  Many times he will question the how of it, his capacity to fulfill it, and the wily people he is sent to free. Along the way he will teach these former slaves a new way of living, loving each other and loving  God. He will discover God is one who delivers from captivity, both leads him and prepares a way in the wilderness for them.  He will know God is one who not only  hears the cries of God’s people, but hears his own cries  and is with him each step of the way.

Often Moses will look back on that fateful day, when he noticed a burning bush and discovered he was standing on Holy Ground. He will ponder the mystery of God’s confidence in him, and the journey God sent him on.

Then the Lord said, “I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters. Indeed, I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them.” Exodus 3:7-8a