Face To Face

I love chatting to people, but there is nothing quite like talking face to face.  I often find myself saying, "I haven't seen you in ages!" even if I have spoken to someone on the phone recently, or have been texting or emailing them.

 

There is something about seeing someone face to face.

 

When we are face to face with someone, we can see their reactions.  We can read their thoughts and see their emotions.  We can hear the pauses in their conversation and the changing tone in their voices.  There is something different about being close enough to someone to look into their eyes.

 

It creates intimacy and allows for authenticity.  It's harder to pretend you're fine when someone can look into your eyes and see that you're not.

 

The Bible says that Moses enjoyed this privilege in speaking to God face to face:

"The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend."

[Exodus 33:11 NIV]

 

Often we can feel as though we couldn't look God in the face, because we are too sinful or ashamed or guilty.  We think that if He looked into our eyes, He would be disappointed.  But through Jesus, we can have a close and intimate relationship with God. 

 

We can talk to Him face to face.

 

Paul describes this beautifully in his letter to the Corinthians:

 

"God said, 'Light up the darkness!' and our lives filled up with light as we saw and understood God in the face of Christ, all bright and beautiful."

 

[2 Corinthians 4:6 MSG]

 

We see God's love for us when we gaze into the face of Christ. But we have to choose to spend time with Him, talking face to face.

 

And as we look into the face of Christ, we see and understand that God is not disappointed in us, or ashamed of us.  He is delighted in us and rejoices over us.

 

 

 

 

Toasters

I was ravenous when I got home from work today and popped a couple of slices of bread in the toaster.  Minutes later, I had all the windows open, the extractor fan on, and was frantically flapping my scarf at the black smoke which was filling my flat.

 

The blackened toast lay abandoned in the bin.

 

I then spent a chilly hour sitting with the windows open, the smoke making my eyes sting, trying to get rid of the smell of burn.  I can still smell it in my hair now.

 

Toasters are funny things.

 

Getting the settings just right is so much harder than you'd think.  The bread is either only slightly warm and crispy, or is instantly cremated.  It is difficult to find the middle ground with a toaster.

 

It is difficult to toast and avoid burning.

 

All of this made me think of Moses' first encounter with God: he was minding his own business shepherding his flock, when he encountered a bush that was on fire, but wasn't burning away to nothing.

 

"Moses was shepherding the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian.  He led the flock to the west end of the wilderness and came to the mountain of God, Horeb.  The angel of God appeared to him in flames of fire blazing out of the middle of a bush.  He looked. The bush was blazing away but it didn’t burn up.   Moses said, “What’s going on here?  I can’t believe this! Amazing!  Why doesn’t the bush burn up?”

 

[Exodus 3:1-3 MSG]

 

Contrary to my toaster experience, this bush was on fire and was 'toasting', but wasn't burning.  No black, eye-watering smoke in this story.

 

But what's it all about?  Why is there a bush that's on fire, but not consumed by the fire? 

 

Is God displaying His pyrotechnic skills?

 

Or is it about something bigger?

 

Fire in the Bible is a symbol of God's holiness and purity - a holiness that belongs to God alone.  A symbol that He is different from us and separate from us because of His pure goodness and love. 

 

But the bush doesn't burn up; it is on fire, but is not consumed.  It's a symbol of how we can experience and approach God's holiness and love and not be consumed, because Jesus has made a way for us to reach God. 

 

Instead of burning up, and ending up blackened and in the bin, the more of God's love and 'fire' we experience, the purer we become.  The more like Him we become.

 

Please Take Off Your Shoes

There is a sign in the prayer room at Momentum asking people to take off their shoes or wellies as they come in. Given the heavy rains and muddy ground, and the fact that people are sitting on the floor in here, it is understandable.

But it got me thinking about Moses' encounter with God. And about Moses' shoes. Moses sees the burning bush and is stopped in his tracks. Then God speaks to him:

"God saw that he had stopped to look. God called to him from out of the bush, 'Moses! Moses!'

He said, 'Yes? I'm right here!' God said, 'Don't come any closer. Remove your sandals from your feet. You're standing on holy ground.'

[Exodus 3:4-5 MSG]

Remove your sandals from your feet.

You're standing on holy ground.

I've never really stopped to wonder why God told Moses to take off his shoes. And what that had to do with holiness.

According to Matthew Henry's commentary, it was a sign of respect. In the same way that we might "doff our hats".

But no one really wears hats anymore - let alone doffing them - do they?

In a society which doesn't know how to respect its elders, or itself, or its own bodies, how do we understand what it means to show respect for God? And why does it matter?

Taking off our shoes is vulnerable: not many of us like our feet. Depending on the ground, it can be painful. If our feet are not that fresh, it can be humiliating. Sometimes our shoes denote our profession, and so removing them is a reminder that we come before God as people, not professionals.

Removing our shoes as we come to pray reminds us that God is God and we are human: we are vulnerable and broken people meeting with a holy God.

We don't have to physically remove our shoes every time we pray (and it wouldn't always be practical), but it is a good reminder for us as to the attitude of our hearts. When we pray, we make ourselves vulnerable and strip away our earthly labels. We realise we have nothing to bring and we encounter the Holy God. And, by His grace, we are not consumed.

What's In A Name?

People get my name wrong a lot. I can count over 30 variations of spelling and pronunciation and it really irritates me. None of those alternatives are my name. None of them are me.

We identify ourselves by what we are like as people, but also by what we are called, what we are known as. And we don't just feel a minor frustration when our names are misspelled or mispronounced, we feel as though we ourselves are misunderstood or unknown.

One of Shakespeare's most famous lines is all about names:

"What's in a name? that which we call a rose

By any other name would smell as sweet."

Juliet says that her beloved would still be as attractive to her if he had another name.  But doesn't this undermine the significance of names and the meaning that they carry?  Names are important.  The first thing we share when we meet someone knew is our name: it describes and defines who we are.  And people change their names and abbreviate them to reflect their personalities.  Oscar Wilde even wrote an entire play about the issue and importance of names [The Importance of Being Earnest].

Names matter.

In the Bible, names had meaning too.

God reveals His name to Moses in Exodus:

"I am who I am.  Tell the people of Israel 'I am sent me to you.'"
[Exodus 3:14, NLT]

God chose to reveal Himself in the present tense.  I am.  Not I was.  Not I will be.  But I am.

God is. 

Constant.  Consistent.  Unchanging.  Unwavering.  Stable.  Steady.  Reliable.  God is the same today as He was when Moses encountered Him.  God is alive and active in our lives today.

God is.

Names matter.