MOSES AND THE BURNING BUSH

But Moses said to God, "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and lead the Israelites out of Egypt?"

He answered, "I will be with you; and this shall be your proof that it is I who have sent you: when you bring my people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this very mountain."

Moses, however, said to the Lord, "If you please, Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past, nor recently, nor now that you have spoken to your servant; but I am slow of speech and tongue."

The Lord said to him, "Who gives one man speech and makes another deaf and dumb? Or who gives sight to one and makes another blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Go, then! It is I who will assist you in speaking and will teach you what you are to say."

Exodus 3 and 4

On Saturday past, we had the account of Moses and the burning bush from Exodus in the first reading from the Office of Readings. The day before I had visited my spiritual father for confession and was simply mesmerized by his Marc Chagall print of Moses and the burning bush that he had recently hung in his office. Then Father asked me about my own burning bush -- what is it, where in my life do I stand on holy ground with my feet unshod (with 'no impediments,' he stressed, between me and God), what is the place from which God sends me out day after day to speak His word and do His work? I've been pondering these things and praying over them a lot these past few days. The Spirit led me back to a certain book that affected me profoundly when I first read it in 1970, Instrument of Thy Peace by Alan Paton, originally published in 1968. These are brief but packed meditations he was prompted to write by the prayer of St. Francis of Assisi, "Make me an instrument of Thy peace."

Paton begins the second chapter of his book with the above verses from Exodus, then states: "No Christian should ever think or say that he is not fit to be God's instrument, for that in fact is what it means to be a Christian. We may be humble about many things, but we may never decline to be used... The gospel is full of reassurances to us, some of them startling. You are salt to the world! You are light to all the world! Even the hairs of your head have all been counted! These words were exciting to those who heard them. Things might be dark but they were to be the light of the world. They were given a new sense of their value as persons. Especially was this true of women. One can hardly describe the joy of the first disciples, who were given by Jesus such a sense of their significance in the world. This same sense of significance has been given again and again to other people by disciples of Jesus."

Paton concludes with these comforting yet challenging words: "There are therefore two things for us to do. The first is never to doubt that God can use us if we are willing to be used, no matter what our weaknesses. The second is to see that God can use any other person who is willing to be used, whatever his weaknesses, and if need be, to assure him of this truth."

Oh, Lord who chooses us for your own divine purposes, let us never decline to be used! Let us be happy to be used according to your holy will. And help us to recognize that anyone and everyone is fit to be your instrument if they are willing, that you can and do use them to be salt and light for the life of the world.