Home is Like a Burning Bush

 Moses
     by
Lucille Clifton

  i walk on bones
  snakes twisting
  in my hand
  locust breaking my mouth
  an old man
  leaving slavery.
  home is burning in me
  like a bush
  God got his eye on.

If the title of Lucille Clifton's poem weren't "Moses," I wouldn't have a clue what this poem was about.  However, the more I read it, the more I understand it.  The bones and snakes and locusts represent the plagues; God sent to Pharoah.  Moses was sent by God to free the Israelites from slavery.  They roamed the desert for years, looking for a home.  Home!  That is really the theme of the poem, not Moses. 

Moses met God in a bush that was on fire, but not burnt down.  That bush drew Moses to it.  Was not Moses drawn to a home?  Does not home give warmth and light and love?  

Stop Complaining and Pray

 Lectionary: 28Reading I

LECTIO:                                          Ex 17:3-7

In those days, in their thirst for water,
the people grumbled against Moses,
saying, “Why did you ever make us leave Egypt?
Was it just to have us die here of thirst 
with our children and our livestock?”
So Moses cried out to the LORD, 
“What shall I do with this people?
a little more and they will stone me!”
The LORD answered Moses,
“Go over there in front of the people, 
along with some of the elders of Israel, 
holding in your hand, as you go, 
the staff with which you struck the river.
I will be standing there in front of you on the rock in Horeb.
Strike the rock, and the water will flow from it 
for the people to drink.”
This Moses did, in the presence of the elders of Israel.
The place was called Massah and Meribah, 
because the Israelites quarreled there
and tested the LORD, saying,
“Is the LORD in our midst or not?”

STUDIUM:

"Are we there yet?"  
Long trips are trying, especially for people who were enslaved.  This is an unfamiliar situation for them.  Moses had just freed them, thanks to God's use of Moses staff.  The Red Sea had parted--the staff, again.  And here, Moses uses his staff again to strike the rock.  Is it the staff?
It's a wonder, the people don't make an idol of Moses' staff.
Look deeper.
Moses prays.  It is prayer that the Lord listens, too.  The people should pray and not complain.

MEDITATIO:

I get it, Lord.  Pray.  Pray before I do anything, especially when I start complaining.  I should have done that when I was working on that excel spreadsheet.

ORATIO:

Yes, Lord, I know You are in the "midst."  May my Guardian Angel help me to remember to pray, always, especially in difficulties.

CONTEMPLATIO:

May I never doubt You.

Why Couldn't Moses Enter?

                                                I'm not talking or hitting the rock.  I'm pushing.

 Numbers 20: 8:

The Lord said to Moses, "Take the staff, and you and your brother Aaron gather the assembly together.  Speak to that rock before their eyes and it will pour out its water..."

It is important that you note the verb, "Speak". My NAB Bible uses the verb, "Command."  Note that both are telling Moses to talk.  But what does Moses do?

Numbers 20: 9-11:

So Moses took the staff from the Lord's presence, just as He commanded him.  He and Aaron gathered the assembly together in front of the rock and Moses said to them, "Listen, you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?" Then Moses raised his arm and struck the rock twice with his staff.  Water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank.

See.  This is what Pax Christi keeps telling us.  God is peace, even the Old Testament God.  God told Moses to "speak" not "hit" the rock.  

Moses couldn't enter the promised land because he acted violently, not once, but twice.  He didn't obey God.  

How many of us don't speak to express our feeling?  We hit! 

The Cast for the Puppet Show Moses

 Here is the line up:

The sock puppets are the extras. Next to the sock puppets is Pharoah.  He is wearing a bracelet for a crown and another bracelet around his neck.  The next two puppets are Aaron and Moses.  Moses is holding a staff made out of a straw.  Moses' sister is next to him.  Next is Pharoah's daughter.  She has a bracelet as a crown.  Next is the baby Moses in a basket.  Moses is a Barney Rumble pez wrapped up in a wash cloth.  All the other puppets are animals that play themselves.  They die in one of the plagues.