Il 13 luglio 2018, presso la Cappella della Casa di Amministrazione, il Diacono Werner Schlittenhardt, della Chiesa Evangelica Luterana , ha tenuto un sermone che si inserisce nel percorso delle lectio di quest'anno. Ha trattato la chiamata di Mosè (Es 3,1-8)
Adesso anche noi sappiamo cos'è stata Pentecoste... ognuno parlava la propria lingua e ciascuno capiva nella propria lingua... Sì, certo! avevamo l'interprete! Ma si è trattato comunque di un'esperienza arricchente di condivisione e comunione.
Il Sermone del Diacono
Mose 3, 1-8 Mose and the burned bush
When God calles people, the first thing we can realize is the fact that God takes the initiative.
1. God takes the initiative.And there is a reason for hat. He has a plan and he is looking for people that fit into his plan. NT. Jesus:Not you have choosen me but I have chosen you.
2. The second thing we can see very often is.
There is a kind of preparationbefore God called someone. Maybe it was the family live, the culture, the education, the work they had learned or the language they spoke and the especially the experiences positive and negative – all of this is a kind of preparation for the job God calls us.
I remember reading about one pastor who lives long time ago in Germany. He was a pastor but one day he realized that he wanted to preach about a living faith when he realized, he himself didn’t have it. But then God spoke to him.
God wants us to have a living faith. And A living faith comes through a living word from a living God.
When God calls us, he often disturbs our comfortable lifeand not always is the job God wants us to do something very fancy. Often it means stepping down rather than stepping up in the career.
The preparation of Mose had lasted for 80 years.
About 40 years as a member of the pharaoh family and 40 in the desert. Looking after sheep.
And honestly, Mose felt comfortable in the desert. He didn’t want to be disturbed by God. O yes he had his private faith for him and his family. He felt that was enough. But it was not a living faith. Because he had not heard the living word from the living God for a long time.
So when God gave him this idea that he should become a leader of many people he was not very interested in this job. This wasn’t very attractive. In his heart Mose thought. God what are you telling me. Leave me alone. I believe in You privately. That should be enough. Don‘t disturb my comfartable desert life.
Yes, we too often sound like Mose. No difficult job please. Nothing that disturbs my comfortable Christian life. NO difficult tasks please. No big problems I have to deal with.
But God is looking for servant workers. Jesus said. The harvest is there. Pray for workers for the harvest.
Why ist that so? It is because God can see something we cannot see. He can see that people are lost like sheep without a sheepard. He can sees the many needs and bondages of the people and he wants to set them free. Set them free from Egypt and lead them to a promised land.
Now the first scenes of a filmoften give us an idea of what the story will be all about. And when God calls – it is like the beginning of a film and we get an idea of what is going to happen.
I want to explain this. In Vers 1 we read. (in Italian).
God found Mose as he was looking after his sheep in the desert near mount Horeb. Here we have 3 pictures which will be very important for the future life of Mose.
The sheep, the desert and mount Horeb.
1. God wants him to be a shepeard for the Israelites. They are his flock, they are the lost sheep.
2. Mose has become a desert man and that is why he can lead them through the desert.
3. On the mount Horeb he receives the word of God and he shall pass this word on to the people of Israel.
Mose had become a man of the desert. shy, quiet, every day the same routine. He had no big expectations.
His lifestyle is very simple. He doesn’t need much to survive. Nothing compared to the splendid life at the palace in egypth. He wants his peace an quiet.
But God had not forgotten him and he had prepared him.
And now Gott takes the file of Moses in his hand. Everything is written in there. Also that he had murdered an egyptschen man. But God has a plan of Salvation. And he wants to save his people, He can see the suffering of the Israelites. He can hears their cries. He wants to save them. He wants to take them to the land he had promised Abraham. God loves plans to save people. But he does not do this automatically. He wants us to get involved in it. He nees our hands and feet, our eyes, our mouth, our mind, and especially our heart.
So God thinks. Well get ready Moses. I need you. I have prepared you for a special job. O yes I will disturb your private life. Yes, you won’t like it in the beginning, I know. But I can see something, you can’t see. I can hear something, you can’t hear.
And you know Egypt. You know the language, the culture, at the same time you are a desert man and you are shepard, and you are intelligent. Mose I need you. Get ready.
God has opened the file and he calles him from the bush. Moses, Moses. Your are on my mind.
Do you ever think that God has you on his mind. Isnt that great – he has you on his mind, because he lives you, because he needs you. Not because of your sin. No. He is looking at your file. And he has something he wants you to get ready for the future. Some job, some responsibility.
But it is even more thanthat.When God called Joshua many years later. He said to Joshua, I will be with you in all things you do. That is what God desires. That is why he calles us for. He doesn’t want us to be Sunday christians or church christians.
He wants to be in everything we do. And when Mose said here I am – he didn’t really know what this meant.
Because if we really say here I am. Than we say.
Yes. I want that too, God. With all my heart, and soul, and mind. I want You to be with me in everything I do. Day and night. I want to experience you in all the thing of my life. In my relationships, in my work, in my daily routines.
Mose didn’t understand this when he said…here I am. But later he understood.
In the conversation that fallows probably between the angel of God and Mose it is interesting that God is
mentioning Moses past. He is not mentioning the sin of Mose. He is just looking into the future.
But before the conversation takes place, Mose in a simple act takes off his shoes. The place is holy because
God is there. Any place where God is, is a holy place. Holy actually indicates. You cannot come near me, unless I make you holy. The holiness of God doesn’t mean there appears thunder and lightening. It is something very soft, very simple. Take off you shoes.
Take time to pray. Give me your burden. Say sorry to the person you did hurt. Take this bible word and meditate on it this day. Speak to someone about Jesus. Yes. There is holiness in simple acts. Write some encouragement to someone. Help that person.
God introduceshimself as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jakob. He says I have given these people my promises and I am going to fulfill them. These names indicate that God is a God that writes history with us human beings. The political history gets written by Mr. Trump, MRS. Merkel and Mr. Berlusconi maybe. But the history of God gets written by the people he calls.
And finally. We startet with three pictures. The sheep, the desert and Mount horeb. And we finish with four pictures very briefly.
The engel, the voiceof God and the burningfireand the bush
In the Engel of God, I can see Jesus. I think the engel is an indication of Jesus. As the engel was sent from God to Moses, so Jesus has been sent to us. To became a human being. He was send from God for our salvation, to be on our side, Through Jesus we are called by God.
And so the voice is the voice of God. He is the authority. He speaks to us. Is is a living voice, a personal voice. He has you on his mind. He communicates with us through his word. He doesn’t want to dictate us. But he sees something we do not see. And he needs us. So many times we read the words in the bible…and God spoke. And God spoke. Yes he wants to speak with us – not about our sin, but about our live and our future, that he needs us
The fire is a symbol of the Holy spirit I think. A burning in us. It is not noisy. It is soft. It creates in us this desire. Yes I want you to be in all things I do. He is the fire, the wind, the dove, create fruit in us. Not noisy, not loud.
And Mose and we are the bushin the picture. Part of this nature. A sinful creature. But because of the fire our sin is forgiven and love is now the flame. So in this bush, there is the whole trinity. This is a picture for Mose to show him what is going to happen in his life from now on-
Yes, We are called by the father, the son and the holy spirit. God speaks to us.Jesus is on our side. And the Holy spirit does his work in us – a desert bush. But holy because God is in it. And so our life becomes holy and becomes eternal, because God is in it.
And we are still saying here I am. That means, we don’t want this fire to get extinguished. And if we really want to love God than we want to cooperate with God in everything we do. We want his word, his friendship, His passion and his love, his work in us and yes, also the tasks and the job he wants us to do. To lead people out of egypth into the promised land.
Get ready and say, here I am. God needs you, more than you know. More than you think.
A living faith through a living word from a living god
He disturbs our comfortable life
Do you ever think that God has you on his mind. He is looking at your register.
Mose, Get ready
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