Burning Bush Pt. 1

Burning Bush Pt. 1: Present in the Present

A few years ago, I was sitting on the floor playing Legos with my kids.

My body was there.

But I wasn't.

My mind was somewhere else, replaying a meeting I'd had, thinking about what might happen at the next meeting, and rehearsing it over and over.

I think we've all been there.

It's that moment when your kids have to say, “Mom. Mom. Mom.” just to get your attention. Not because you're deaf, but because they've learned it takes saying your name multiple times to get you to be in the room you're already in.

It's a simple thing.

But it's also enormous.

To be present in the present.

And that's where we begin with Moses and the burning bush in Exodus 3.

Knowing About God

There's something about Moses that we don't always think about.

Moses wasn't an atheist wandering around the wilderness wondering if God existed.

He already knew the stories.

He knew about the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He believed in God in the way many of us do.

God wasn't a new fact for Moses to accept.

But knowing about God isn't necessarily the same thing as having an encounter with God.

Moses knew about God.

Perhaps he didn't yet know God personally—not in the way of encounter.

And if we're honest, that can be true for a lot of us.

We believe in God.

We could probably pass a quiz on the big themes of the Bible. We've heard the sermons. We've said the prayers. We've sat there and nodded along.

But somewhere along the way, belief can become a kind of background noise.

Something we know in our heads but aren't really present in the room with.

We can know something is true without allowing ourselves to be fully present to it.

We Like What We Already Know

And here's the kicker:

We're really good at staying that way.

Researcher Thomas Kuhn talked about the tendency of human beings to operate as closed systems. When new information appears, it doesn't necessarily change our minds. Instead, we tend to fold that information into what we already believe.

Think about 9/11.

People watched the same footage, on the same day, witnessing the same events.

But people who already believed America was the villain—greedy, bullying, and imperialist—could watch those events and think:

“Told ya.”

Meanwhile, people who already believed America was the good guy, the defender of freedom, could watch those same events and think:

“See? Told ya.”

Same event.

Completely different takeaways.

For the most part, it didn't change anyone's mind. It simply confirmed what they already believed.

Transformation Usually Needs an Interruption

That's fascinating because it tells us something about ourselves.

As human beings, we don't naturally wander toward transformation.

Usually, something has to interrupt us first.

Some scholars treat the burning bush as a kind of conversion moment for Moses. He already knew about God, but now he's going to encounter God.

If we look at the story that way, it gives us a question to carry with us:

What are the components of real transformation?

What are the components of true conversion?

As we continue looking at Moses and the burning bush, there seem to be at least three:

An interruption.
An expanded view of God.
A crossroads.

We'll spend more time with those in the weeks ahead.

But perhaps for now, we can stay with the beginning.

Moses knew about God before the burning bush.

Then something interrupted him.

Maybe that's an invitation for us, too—not simply to know more about God, but to notice where God may be interrupting the background noise and inviting us to become present.

Present to the moment.

Present to what God might be doing.

Present in the room we're already in.

We'll come back to the burning bush next week.