The Burning Bush Pt. 2
Burning Bush Pt. 2: The Invitation to Turn Aside
We're continuing our look at Moses' encounter with God at the burning bush and asking a question:
What makes up real transformation or true conversion?
Tim Keller talks about how perhaps this moment is Moses' conversion. And while all of our faith journeys are different, there may be three things that make up true conversion:
An interruption in life.
An expanded view of God.
A crossroads—a moment of decision.
This week, let's sit with the first two.
The Interruption
Moses was interrupted by a bush that didn't burn up.
Our interruptions usually look different.
Maybe it's an unwanted diagnosis.
Maybe it's watching someone you love sitting silently, holding the weight of real grief.
Or maybe it's something as small as a kid having to say your name three times:
“Mom. Mom. Mom.”
Whatever form it takes, an interruption is that moment when you see something you cannot simply fold into your existing categories.
Scripture says Moses turned aside to see the bush that didn't burn up.
And when an interruption comes, we have a choice.
We can keep walking past it.
Or we can turn aside.
He Didn't Have to Stop
Barbara Brown Taylor points out something important about this story:
Moses didn't have to stop that day.
He could have glanced out of the corner of his eye, noticed the strange light, thought, Oh, that's pretty, and kept driving the sheep.
Nothing forced his hand.
But Moses was willing to turn aside.
“Belief doesn't require a detour. Encountering God does.”
Moses already believed in God. But this was something different.
He accepted the invitation.
He didn't have to.
And neither do we.
Often, we don't.
There are interruptions we hurry past because we're busy getting somewhere else. There are things that don't fit neatly into our categories, so we keep walking rather than allowing them to disrupt us.
But Moses turned aside.
And then God spoke.
An Expanded View of God
This brings us to the second movement of transformation: an expanded view of God.
Notice what God doesn't do when Moses turns aside.
God doesn't launch into a systematic theology.
God doesn't lay out a catechism.
God doesn't give Moses a lecture.
Instead, God says:
“I have seen the misery in my people and I am concerned.”
Before there's a mission, a church handbook, a Bible, or theology, it begins with compassion.
Simone Weil said that attention is the highest form of generosity.
And here we see a God who pays attention.
God isn't a distant idea or simply a theology.
God notices suffering.
And God moves toward it.
“Who Are You?”
Then Moses asks the question that seems to sit underneath every belief system:
Who are you, exactly?
What's your name?
God responds with something that isn't really a name at all:
“I am who I am.”
God is saying, in a sense, I am being itself.
The ground of all being.
Scripture describes God as having no beginning and no end. If something has a beginning, then something else has to begin it. If God had a beginning, someone else would have had to begin God.
But God isn't dependent upon anyone.
All existence only exists because of God.
And Moses' understanding of God is expanding in real time.
He already believed in God.
But now he is encountering God.
When Our Categories Become Too Small
There's an invitation here for us, too.
Religion can so easily become focused on right belief and right behavior.
Believe these things.
Behave this way.
As though those are the only things that matter.
But Moses' encounter tells a much bigger story.
It points us toward a God who is surprising. Mysterious. Bigger than we can imagine.
An encounter with God can expand our view of God.
Maybe you've experienced that.
Maybe you've lived through an interruption that didn't fit inside the categories you already had.
Maybe you've had a moment when the God you thought you understood suddenly seemed bigger.
Maybe something caused you to stop.
To look again.
To turn aside.
Turn Aside and See
So far, Moses' encounter has shown us two movements of true transformation:
An interruption in life.
An expanded view of God.
Next comes the crossroads—the moment of decision—and we'll sit with that next week.
But we don't have to rush there yet.
For now, perhaps the invitation is simply to notice.
What has interrupted you?
Where has your understanding of God begun to expand?
What might be happening in your very midst that you could easily walk past?
This week, may we be like Moses.
May we be willing to turn aside.
And may we see the mystery that is already in our midst.
