We humans have lots of questions for God, especially “why” questions.  God rarely answers those questions directly, but there is still much to learn from the answers we do get.  If you are reading this sermon, you will be missing the response that the congregation sang after each section, so you may want to hum a little when you get to those breaks.

I AM WHO I AM

Exodus 3:1-15 Romans 12:9-21

You ask “why,” they ask “why,” Sometimes “why” doesn’t really have an answer.

So take your “why”, and live your “why,” and give it to the great I AM.

My four-year old granddaughter Renee is a splendid asker of questions. And most of her questions at the moment begin with the word “why.” Sometimes she asks just because she is curious,

or maybe puzzled by something she has seen or heard. Sometimes she asks to keep a conversation going – often to the irritation of the adult who runs out of answers long before Renee runs out of questions. And sometimes she asks “why,” I think, just because she is a human being, and one of the things it means to be a human being is to wonder about the “why” of things.

We wonder out of curiosity – in fact, for many in this room, wondering is not only a human trait but a calling and a career. We wonder because it helps to keep the conversations going around the dinner table or the water cooler. And we wonder because – well, because we do. We ask “why.”

[Sung response]

Our Biblical ancestors asked questions, too. Consider Moses. He was tending the flock of sheep belonging to his father-in-law Jethro, and one day on the mountain of Horeb he encountered a bush that burned but was not consumed. Reasonably enough, he asked why the bush was not consumed.

Instead of an answer, he heard God’s voice calling his name, and telling him to take off his shoes, because the ground on which he was standing was holy. Further, the voice identified itself as “the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and God of Jacob.” [Exodus 3:6] And Moses stopped asking questions – at least for a while – because he was afraid to look at the face of God. He asked a “why” question, but he got a “who” answer.

[Sung response]

And there was more: God used this occasion to call Moses to the great work of his life: leading the Israelites out of Egypt and into freedom in a new land, a promised land. And in this call, God revealed something else – that God attends to the suffering of God’s people.

And to all of this good news, Moses had another question: “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” [Exodus 3:11] Moses used the word “who,” but I would argue that this is really another “why” question – perhaps “Why do you think that I can do this?

God did not exactly answer this question (in fact, God rarely answers these questions, a point to which we will return later). Instead of encouraging Moses by listing his gifts and talents, or maybe scolding him for being so tentative, God simply promises presence: “I will be with you;” [Exodus 3:12]. Moses asked another “why” question, but this time he got a “how” answer.

[Sung response]

Moses has one more question for God: “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?” [Exodus 3:13] I think this is a “why” question, too: Why should I believe you unless you tell me your name.

God’s answer is just this: “I AM WHO I AM.” [Exodus 3:14] And if you look in the Bible, you will see that the translators put all five of those words in lower-case capital letters, just as they do with the word “Lord” when they are translating it from the Hebrew manuscripts. This odd phrase is really God’s response to Moses’ question; this is how God would like to be known: I AM WHO I AM. Moses asked another “why” question, and again he got a “who” answer (or maybe a “when” answer, since the verb tense of this phrase is unclear ; it might be I WILL BE WHO I WILL BE). Sometimes “why” doesn’t really have an answer.

[Sung Response]

St. Paul brings us a somewhat different kind of “why” question in this long series of exhortations we heard from the book of Romans. We always wonder, of course, what it was that Paul had heard from the church in Rome, or heard about the church in Rome, that occasioned this long list of virtuous instructions. There are, by my count, about twenty five of them in this paragraph, starting with “Let love be genuine,” and winding up with “overcome evil with good.” I find myself asking the question, “Why should I do all of these difficult things, some of which are absolutely backwards from the way other people think about them?”

The answer, of course, is not about “why,” but about “how.” Paul gives us here a set of instructions about how to be a Christian, not about why to be one. It is, by the way, a pretty wonderful list; it would be a blessing to live in a community where these were the standards of behavior towards one another. And perhaps that is the deeper answer to the “why” question – these things are worth doing because they are the bedrock of a just and compassionate community.

[Sung response]

I suppose that we might feel disappointed at God’s consistent refusal to answer our “why” questions. And (at the risk of sounding a little irreverent), I suppose that God might be disappointed at our persistent asking of them.

And yet I am going to defend our asking “why” when our lives take difficult turns, when tragedy seems more common than comedy, when sickness seems more powerful than health, when burdens seem too heavy to be offset by blessings. There is something profoundly faithful about asking “why?” The questions carry with them the conviction that our lives do have a meaning, and that God is the keeper of that meaning. And the questions do for us what they do for my granddaughter: they keep the conversation going. As long as we are asking “why,” we are in dialogue and relationship with all that is Holy. It is our human way of consistently and persistently reaching out to touch God and to be touched in return. And so, we ask “why?”

[Sung Response]

The Sung response is from “Daughters of the Desert,” written by Bob and Ann Gregory-Bjorklund for our congregation in 2006.

Prayer for September 7, 2008

Almighty and everlasting God, creator of all things seen and unseen, hear now our silent prayers, as we open our hearts to you in the sacred quietness.

God of faith and hope, we bring before you our prayers for those we have named this morning – we especially remember … Bring to each of them the gifts of mercy and grace that are most needed, according to your wisdom and love.

Good and gracious God, we come to you this morning to offer our prayers for the work we do and for the work we depend upon others to do.

We who have jobs are grateful for the privilege of meeting our own and our families’ needs through our efforts and skills. We give thanks for the dignity of honest work and for the opportunity of making our own way. We who do not have jobs – whether by our choice or by the actions of others – we pray for renewed employment. And we who have retired offer our prayers for those who continue to work and to seek work.

Holy One, you call each of us into your service, and that call is only sometimes about our paid employment. Open our hearts and our spiritual ears to hear your voice, and give us the imagination and courage to follow that call, wherever it may lead us. When our calling is not the same as our paid work, teach us to knit the two into our lives so that they form a seamless whole.

We pray this morning, too, for all of our brothers and sisters who labor around us, and from whose labor we often profit. Keep us humble, Lord, in realizing how many people we depend upon for our simple day lives. Keep us grateful for the work of others, and mindful of the sacrifices that may have been made for our benefit.

And keep us alert, we pray, for the ways that working men and women in all kinds of occupations are exploited and exhausted. Help us to care as deeply for their safety and prosperity as we do for own. Open our eyes to the silent and often invisible suffering of others that contributes to our safety and prosperity.

And with our eyes open, we pray for the courage and wisdom to be companions with others whose work is very different from ours. Let us be steadfast companions in the journey towards justice, beginning with naming what is unjust. Let us be steadfast companions in the journey towards peace, beginning with naming what is not peaceful. Let us be steadfast companions on the journey towards healing, beginning with naming what is wounded and in need of healing. Let us be steadfast companions in the journey towards reconciliation, beginning with naming what needs to be reconciled.

All these things we pray in the name of Jesus, who labored with his companions in the first century, and labors with us now as our Risen Savior, and we pray together now in the words that he taught us …