Building Community, Creating A People

by Pastor Kathy Barlow-Westmoreland

This week's focus scripture is Exodus 20.

With thunder and lightning and the sounding of the ram’s horn, or shofar, all the people gathered in trembling. Moses led them to the foot of the mountain, toward the presence of the Holy One. There was smoke on Mount Sinai, and the mountain trembled violently. The blare of the shofar grew louder and louder. Moses spoke and God answered in the thunder. In the midst of this fear and trembling, knowing that God was too holy to approach or face, the people stood at the foot of the mountain and waited.

And God spoke.

It is with this fire and smoke, lightning and thunder and the sounding of the ram’s horn, that God gave the people his Ten Statements. We have come to call them the Ten Commandments, but in the Hebrew they are the Ten Words/ Statements/Pronouncements, the difference being that with these words, the people are invited into a relationship with the God who had delivered them from Egypt, but also into a relationship with one another. These are statements that not only tell you what is illegal but what is morally wrong; not only what will disrupt the order of society, but what violates universal principles. Because of their universal nature, what better day to reflect on them than World Communion Sunday?

This morning I am going to focus more on the first pronouncements, the ones that pertain to the relationship with God. For these not only set the tone for our relationship with God, but also tell us a great deal about the nature and will of the Great Deliverer.

“I am the Lord your God…” with these words a relationship is established. The “your” is singular noting that must come to understand God in his or her own way, must find their own path to God. So, while this is addressed to the whole community, each individual also carries a responsibility as part of the community. This is important for us to hear as we tend in the 21st century Christian community to lean to far toward the individual, that is personal, relationship, but not as part of the whole community. That’s why more and more people described themselves as spiritual but not religious- I have my own relationship, but have no use for the community. But from the very beginning God dealt with us on a communal level.

“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, the house of bondage…” This is not some abstract concept of a God- a Creator of the Universe- something hard to grasp- no this is the God of a specific moment of freedom- an event that is still part of the corporate memory. I am the God who brought you to this moment. God does that same with us- I am the Lord your God, who brought you to be this particular people, the Union Church on Neeb Road. I am the God who has brought you through the valley of the shadow of death, the valley of addiction, the valley of loneliness and despair. This is a God who brings us out of, who brings us through.

The land of Egypt, the house of bondage. For many in the region, Egypt was the source of culture, science and mathematics- look at wonders of the pyramids. But for God and God’s people they were a house of bondage. Cultural, scientific or economic developments cannot make up for a nation’s treating some of its residents as less than human. We do not have to look far back in our own history to see when we were a house of bondage- for Native Americans, African Americans, immigrants…and yet, in each case, God sought to deliver them from their bondage. Our God is a God of freedom.

There will be no other gods before me…no sculptured image- no physical object of worship, nothing that would diminish the infinite nature and wisdom and love of God. Nothing worthy of worship. As long as we have God we have no need of any other images. For we are the image of God in the world. We are God’s agents. Which just goes to prove the vast diversity and depth of who our God is.
I am an impassioned God- our traditional English translations say, a jealous God…but the Hebrew really translates to impassioned, which really makes more sense as it will lead to the other commandments about how we treat each other. Our impassioned God is emotionally involved in human affairs, holding us accountable for our words and actions. It means that God grieves when a child dies, that God is angry when the low of status are demeaned and misrepresented, that God is disappointed when we are silent in the face of injustice, when we refuse to get involved in the struggle of another, God grows impatient with our inability to reconcile with one another, when within families or among nations.

God expects our exclusive loyalty. This one is truly a tough one. Think of how many things demand our loyalty- family, nation, community, fraternal organizations, friends, workplace, athletic teams…how do we make this work in the real world? Are we capable of finding the common ground between the purposes of God and these other relationships, and yet stepping back when they do not advance the purposes and kingdom of God on earth? This is no simple, black and white expectation for us, for it requires us to be able to discern what is faithful to our God and what is not.

And God wants us to understand the power of the Holy Name. Not the word “God” for that is not the name of the Holy One. Lord, for us, is the name of our God, and it is more than simply not cursing with this name. It is not using it in a frivolous manner- would that include bumper stickers? Or to perjure yourself after swearing to tell the truth or even worse to use God’s name to make your lies more plausible, more believable? It is about speaking falsely and not honoring the name of our God. It is interesting how our Jewish and Muslim brothers and sisters use words of blessings reverence whenever they speak God’s name or the name of a revered prophet, a reminder to them not take lightly these holy names.

So, where does all this leave us? It leaves us with a God who desires to be in relationship with us, warts and all. A God who has a specific and wise purpose for this world and wants us to help bring it to reality. Our God is the only God- we need no other God- and we need not show loyalty to anyone or anything but our God. Our God will bring us out of whatever bondage we are in, and bring us through whatever struggle we are in the midst of, because of God’s great love for us.

These pronouncements and the ones that follow about how we treat one another, can be compared to a tent. A tent without poles will not stand. But sink these ten strong poles in the center of your camps and put your tent upon them and together we will survive whatever wilderness we find ourselves in. God tells us in these pronouncements- Guard your life with me; guard your life together. Amen.

St. John's Westminster Union Church
1085 Neeb Rd. Cincinnati, Ohio 45233
(513) 347-4613