Moses, Paul, and Me

The Exodus reading for Sunday [32:1-14] is troubling. Having grown tired of waiting for Moses to come down from the mountain, the people insist that Aaron, Moses’ right hand man, make a god for them to worship. He collects their gold and makes the golden calf and he and the people begin to worship the calf. This is the troubling part for two reasons.

The reading shows again just how fickle God’s people can be. They are unhappy there in the wilderness, perhaps still preferring Egyptian slavery to difficult freedom. The thankful they must have felt when they crossed over from Egypt is completely forgotten. In their unhappiness, they decide to abandon Yahweh and chase after a god of their own making who will apparently take better care of them. We should be able to identify.

It’s not as if we’ve never done the same thing. In fact, we seem to be better at it today than ever. The most recent god at whose altar we have decided to devote ourselves seems to be greed and a sense of entitlement. We seem to have largely abandoned concern for the things of God in favor of chasing after more transitory things which we believe will make us happy and provide security. It has backfired in spades, of course. Greed and stupidity have created the worse economic situation we have faced in 90 years—and not just in the U.S.

Whatever security and peace we’ve sought has turned in on itself and now many are just chasing survival. Not to say some haven’t gotten filthy rich in this debacle, but most have lost their shirts.

Paul, in Sunday’s epistle reading encourages his friends in Philippi to seek peace in a very different way. He says, “Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received…and the God of peace will be with you.”

I shared with my wife, Carol, the other day what mixed emotions I have when I write a check from savings for a charitable purpose. On the one hand, the needs are real and we want to respond to them out of a sense of thankfulness for our having been blessed. On the other hand, as a retired person who has seen pension and investment values drop by 30% in the last few weeks, I can’t help think, “We may need this money ourselves before long.” So far, the thankfulness has outweighed the fear. But I can better understand those who fear in the wilderness.

Peace,

Jerry+