Holy Ground EncountersHomily

Homily – Sunday, the 3rd September 2023

Reading: Exodus 3

At the Wise One’s on Friday we had a very interesting reflection on Helen’s pilgrimage to the Holy Island and one question that was raised is why do we call that place holy?

A place that is holy for one person, is it necessarily holy for another?

What makes a place holy?

Is it religious significance, historical religious connections, religious symbolism?

Is it because it is associated with spiritual energy, pilgrimages, miracles, sacred art, spiritual leaders or saints?

Is it because of historical or cultural significance?

Is it because of Encounters with the divine people claim to have had and continue to have?

The text that we heard today talks of one such Holy Ground Encounter

That of Moses

God Who Meets Us in Our Ordinariness in Unexpected moments

Moses the fugitive is now a shepherd, caring for his father in laws’ sheep. He came with his sheep into Horeb, the mountain of the Lord. He is about eighty and has had over forty years of his life in the wilderness.

As he walks into Horeb with his sheep he was not expecting anything extra-ordinary to happen.

As though caught unaware he meets with God in a most unexpected hour of his life.

And that was a life changing God encounter.

Note the four things that happened in that meeting.

First, the Angel of the Lord appeared in a Flame of Fire- Moses saw that the desert bush was burning but it was not consumed. It was an invitation for him to take a close look and while he was doing that the call came. Sometimes in out of the ordinary and sometimes in very ordinary the Lord does keep appearing before his beloved ones.

Second, Called him by name- Moses, Moses. Yes, it was not a generic call. It was very personal. It was by name.

It is said- “A name represents identity, a deep feeling and holds tremendous significance to its owner. It is for the owner the sweetest sound in any language. A person’s name is a connection to their past, a road map to their present and the legacy for the future.”

God calls by name.

Thirdly, Called him to COME NEAR. Had Moses moven away from God?

I had raised this question quite often in my homilies

How far do we think we are from God today?

What has happened to our God connect?

People might be coming to church, but can still be far from God.

Changing values and priorities could distance people from God

Negative religious experiences could distance people from God

Secularism and Scepticism could be another reason

Or people could be too busy to be think about God

God calls him- Come near

That’s why often sing

Day by day, day by day,

Oh, dear Lord, three things I pray;

To see Thee more clearly, love Thee more dearly,

Follow Thee more nearly, day by day.

Fourthly, Called him to realisation of HOLY GROUND. The voice of the Lord tells Moses. The ground that you are standing in the presence of the Lord is Holy Ground. Take the sandals off your shoes.

It is a symbolic acknowledgement of the holy presence of the Divine.

Casualness has become a causality for several of us

We seem to lose the sense of awe, the sense of wonder, the sense of the zing factor, the sense of Holiness.

Here is the reminder- this is Holy Ground.

Pope Francis once said- Holiness is not the privilege of a few, it is not an option for some, it is a call for all. Holiness is the most attractive face of the church.

God who meets us revealing Godly nature in the Holy Ground

The nature of God is manifest in

• Observing the misery of the people in Egypt
• Hearing the cries
• Knowing the suffering
• Coming down to deliver
• Bringing them out
• Leading them to a new future

Primarily we must be reminded that Holy Ground Encounters are meeting closely with our God Who Hears Our Cries-

Are we crying today?

This was a persistent question across this series of sermons.

God who sees our crying

Who asks the Hagars and Magdalenes- Why are you crying?

Is our God.

In the Holy Ground we meet a God who sees our tears.

Holy Ground Encounters are meeting closely with our God Who knows our suffering.

It could be structural suffering, physical suffering, mental suffering, emotional suffering, psychological suffering, economic suffering.

Here is a God who says I know your suffering.

When the world breaks you God meets you in that broken places.

Holy Ground Encounters are meeting closely with our God

Who comes down to deliver, not the one who sits above and watches helplessly.

We have an engaging God, an active God and involving God. I have come down to deliver you- says this God.

Holy Ground Encounters are meeting closely with our God who brings us out of our situations of bondages and slavery. We must be going through the deep breathing of How Much Longer? We might be resigned to the thinking that there is no way out. Here comes the promise of the Holy Ground- I will deliver you.

The promise of deliverance reminds us that even in our darkest moments of life we need not lose hope.

Holy Ground Encounters are meeting closely with our God who gives us a hope for the future. Moses is told to tell people from the experience of the wilderness they will reach a situation they will stay in a land that is symbolically flowing with milk and honey.

Even in situations of dire hopelessness we are invited to a new hope.

Hope keeps reminding us- even the darkest hour has only sixty minutes. Hold on God has something exciting in store

Our response is simple

Day by day, day by day,

Oh, dear Lord, three things I pray;

To see Thee more clearly, love Thee more dearly,

Follow Thee more nearly, day by day.

This could be true in communities in bondage and slavery too. Even for them, whatever be their life situations the voice of the Lord is the same

Observing the misery of the people

Hearing the cries

Knowing the suffering

Coming down to deliver

Bringing them out

Leading them to a new future.

God who invites us to be participants in the making of the future

Come now, I will send you to the Pharaoh, the Lord tells Moses.

Holy Ground encounters are invitations to engage in the process of liberation.

You can no longer be sheer spectators.

The Pharaoh might take new forms today.

It could be that of authoritarian pollical regimes, the ultra-wealthy elite, corporate CEOs, dictators, religious leaders, autocrats, oligarchs, technological innovators, philanthropic millionaires, demi Gods.

People could be in bondage in various forms today,

It could be debt bondage, refugee crisis, trafficking, domestic servitude, organ trafficking, criminal exploitation.

God calls, come now I will send you

I, the Lord of snow and rain,

I have borne my people’s pain.

I have wept for love of them.

They turn away.

I will break their hearts of stone,

Give them hearts for love alone.

I will speak my word to them,

Whom shall I send?

Here I am Lord. Is it I Lord?

I have heard you calling in the night.

I will go, Lord, if you lead me.

I will hold your people in my heart.

Holy Ground encounters are invitations to understand deeper the nature and the presence of the Holy one who is with you

I am Who I am- This I am shall be with you.

The Withness of God- continuing presence of God in our midst is important for us to understand.

Holy Ground encounters are invitations to creatively Handling our excuses.

The excuses included.

Who Am I- Inadequacy?

Legitimacy- If they ask me who send me, what would I say.

Rejection- What if they do not heed to me.

Constraints- I am slow to speech.

Someone else- Please send someone else.

When everybody thinks let somebody else do it we end up nobody doing it. That is sometimes the crisis of the church too.

Holy Ground encounters are invitations to Handling our fears.

“Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you’:

Holy Ground encounters are invitations to Ensuring we join hands in Godly mission- Liberation.

Will you come and follow me

If I but call your name?

Will you go where you don’t know,

And never be the same?

Will you let My love be shown,

Will you let My name be known,

Will you let My life be grown

In you, and you in Me?

Will you let the blinded see

If I but call your name?

Will you set the pris’ners free,

And never be the same?

Will you kiss the leper clean

And do such as this unseen,

And admit to what I mean

In you, and you in Me?

And the message for today is simple- Our Holy Encounters are not far away.

Vinod Victor

September 3, 2023