9.28.25 - Sermon written and preached by Leigh Rachal @ FPC Abbeville, LA

Narrative Recap Before Scripture

Last week we heard the story of Jacob.

And in the end, he had run away, fearing for his life,

after tricking his father and gaining the blessing intended for his older brother.

When Jacob fell asleep in the wilderness, with only a stone for his pillow,

he dreamed of a ladder stretching between heaven and earth.

God promised to be with him, to bless him, and to make his descendants into a great people.

Much has happened in God’s story since then.

Jacob wrestled with God and was renamed “Israel.”

And then Jacob’s sons became the tribes of Israel.

His son Joseph (best known for his fancy coat) was

betrayed by his brothers,

And carried down to Egypt as a slave,

but through both hardship and providence, he rose to power.

When famine struck, Joseph’s family went to Egypt looking for food,

and there he forgave them and welcomed them as honored guests.

But generations passed and a new Pharaoh arose “who did not know Joseph.”

So, hospitality turned to fear. And Fear turned to oppression.

Joseph’s descendants, the Israelites, became enslaved, their lives pressed down under hard labor.

Pharaoh even decreed the death of every Hebrew boy.

In an act of desperate courage,

Moses’ mother placed her son in a basket on the Nile,

where he was found and adopted by Pharaoh’s daughter.

Though raised in Pharaoh’s household,

Moses fled to Midian after killing an Egyptian taskmaster,

and there he lived in exile as a shepherd.

Meanwhile, back in Egypt, the Israelites’ burden only grew heavier, and their cries rose up to heaven.

And God heard. God saw.

God remembered the covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

God took notice.

That is where today’s scripture picks up the story.

Scripture Reading - Exodus 2:23–25; 3:1–15; 4:10–17 & John 8:58

Sermon: “Here I Am… Send Someone Else”

Moses begged God to send someone else.

He didn’t feel eloquent enough, ready enough, or strong enough.

And who could blame him?

The task before him was enormous.

He was being asked to stand before Pharaoh,

the ruler of the greatest empire of his day,

and say, “Let my people go.”

To confront the powers that had enslaved his people for four hundred years.

To march them out of Egypt with nothing but bread for the journey

and a promise ringing in their ears.

Moses looked at himself – at his history, his flaws, his slow tongue, his fragile courage - and he saw only lack.

So he said what so many of us say, in one way or another:

“Please, Lord. Send someone else.”

Moses begins well enough.

When God calls his name from the fire,

he answers with the words of the faithful:

“Here I am.”

But as the conversation continues,

Moses’ “Here I am” turns into “Who am I?”

“Who am I to stand before Pharaoh? Who am I to lead your people?”

And then, his question shifts again, from “Who am I?” to “Who are you?”

Moses says to God, “If I go to Israel and say, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me,’ they will want to know your name.”

God’s answer is one of the most mysterious in all of scripture:

In Hebrew the words are: ’ehyeh ’ašer ’ehyeh

(pronounced “ech-yeah -- ashear -- ech-yeah”)

It is a form of the verb “to-be” and is difficult to translate, but it means something like:

“I Am who I Am.” Or “I will be who I will be.”

Or even “I Am the Source of all Being.” “I cause all being”

In essence, God’s response to Moses is, “I am God and I will be YOUR God.

And I’m the whole reason you or anyone or anything exists at all.

And I will be with you, for you, ahead of you, and beyond you.….

I will be God for you.”

God is offering not just a name, but a description.

And not just a description, but a promise.

I will be faithfully God for you and for my people. Forever.

He seems to be saying, in unequivocal terms, that this

is not about who Moses is.

It is not about what he can or cannot do.

It is about who God is.

And about who God promises to be for his people.

And here’s the striking thing:

Moses has no trouble speaking with God.

He argues. He questions. He raises every excuse he can think of.

The bush is burning, and Moses is protesting.

But when it comes to Pharaoh, that is where Moses is afraid and begins to stammers.

He cannot imagine himself standing before the seat of empire.

Moses is more at ease wrestling with the Almighty

than confronting the ruler of his own world.

And maybe that is true for us, too.

It can feel easier to pray to God in private

than to speak truth in public.

It can feel easier to cry out to heaven

than to confront injustice on earth.

But God does not let Moses off the hook.

God name is a reminder that God is WAY more powerful than Pharoah.

In fact, God’s even the source of being for Pharoah.

And God will outlast Pharoah and every other ruler of this earth…..

God IS forever. Pharoah is for right now.

But Moses is still not certain….

Finally, God’s like: “If you can speak with me, you can speak for me.”

And God (not so subtly) reminds Moses that

God is the one who gave Moses a mouth

and the power of speech…

and that God knows GOOD AND WELL what Moses is and isn’t capable of…..

         And still Moses pushes back….

And this time God gets angry, but STILL remains committed to Moses.

Ultimately, God relents and allows for Aaron to be like a mouthpiece for Moses.

God is sure Moses can do it, but works within Moses own ideas of himself to get him to say “yes”….

Later in the story, Moses does find his voice and doesn’t need Aaron as much...

And so God’s original plan plays out after all.

The promise is true for Moses and for us:

When we are called,

We will not have to do it alone.

God be with us.

God’s presence will go before us.

This is the shape of call.

God interrupts the ordinary with presence.

Like a bush in the wilderness, burning but not consumed.

Over the next few weeks, we will read stories of call that come in a

another shepherd’s field,

a boy’s bed,

a temple filled with smoke,

and even a boat rocking on a lake.

The ordinary becomes holy ground whenever and wherever God speaks.

It is interesting to note that the one who is called in these stories always hesitates first.

Their “Here I am” always leads to…. “Who am I?”

And the answer is always the same:

It is not about who you are.

It is about who God is.

And God’s answer is always, “I will be with you.”

This is the rhythm that will echo through scripture in the coming weeks as we read about:

Samuel confused by the voice in the night,

David overlooked in the field,

Isaiah undone by his unworthiness,

Jeremiah certain he is too young,

Peter falling to his knees in shame.

Hesitant people, faithful God.

That is the pattern.

And the other thing to notice is that these calls are never private or for personal gain:

Moses is not called so he can feel fulfilled or gain personal wealth.

He is called so that Israel might be set free from enslavement.

The prophets will be called for the sake of justice.

The disciples will be called for the sake of the world.

God’s call is always for the people.

Always for the community.

Always for the healing of the world.

This is why the lectionary pairs this story with John’s gospel.

When Jesus says, “Before Abraham was, I Am,”

he is not just playing with verb tenses.

He is speaking the name of the burning bush.

He is embodying the promise of God’s faithful presence.

The same God who was “I Am” to Moses is “I Am” to us in Christ.

The same presence that sent Moses to Pharaoh

now sends US into the world.

And so, we find ourselves in this story.

Not because we are Moses,

but because the God of Moses is our God, too.

The same God who spoke creation into being and saw what was good,

The same God who spoke blessing and provision to ensure that Goodness could continue and that Light would shine in the darkness,

The same God sees us AND ALSO calls us to action,

And God always says: “I will be with you.”

This fall we will watch the pattern unfold again and again—

ordinary people, who are interrupted by God’s holy presence,

hesitant people, who are reassured by God’s faithfulness,

ordinary and hesitant people who are sent into the world for the sake of others.

And each time, we will be reminded:

It is not about who WE are,

but about who God IS.

Not about what WE can or cannot do,

but about what the One who will be faithfully God for us CAN DO.

So, let us go where we are sent…

Not because WE are enough,

But because the One who IS, always IS.

Amen.