Daily Office Readings for Tuesday of the 4th Sunday of Easter: Year 2
Morning, Psalm 45; Evening, Psalms 47 and 48;
Exodus 32:21 to 34; Thessalonians 1:1 to 10; Matthew 5:11 to16:
“They said to me, “Make us gods, who shall go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.”” (Exodus 32:23)
There are so many problems going on in the theology of this reading that we should be made aware of. First, Aaron is weak. He is intimidated by a vicious mob. Second, Aaron tries to convince Moses of the “sensibility” of his weakness. Third, we can’t “make” gods. The very nature of a god is that such a one is well beyond our existence. Of course it is possible to make representative images of what we believe such gods to look like. But our God has a strict Commandment against that. Here’s a hint; if we can make it, it cannot really be a god, especially not our God. We ourselves were created by God our Parent. Lastly, if we do not know what happened to someone, we should always assume they are still alive until otherwise shown. They should never have given up on Moses.
Now for me, there is sadness in this reading because it tells of mass murder from Moses and the Levites. I leave it to you to think what you will about that. The point here is that there is only one God, and God is not made with hands or anything. God always was and always will be. And this is true before we existed and will be true long after we exist no more. God does not need us to be God.
While we are ordered not to make anything to resemble God, we can, and should, use the earth provided materials of art to help and aid us in the worship of God. In fact, in Chapter 35 of Exodus God begins to give Moses specific instructions about how to craft a worship space and worship items. Today, using our God-given skills, we have continued in making items that assist us in our worship of God. Today we have stained glass windows, paintings and icons, music, candles and incense, our Book of Common Prayer and the Bible itself, which are not items to worship, but rather, to assist us in our worship of God.
Without doubt, prayer is the most powerful source for worship. Prayer is something that all humans can produce even if a person has no hands or discerned gifts of art. To just sit quietly and opening one’s self to God is the greatest worship practice anyone can do. Aaron could have used this advice to strengthen him against the insistence of the people to make a calf. We too must be diligent in prayer. There are always anxieties around from some kind of fear that tries to move our loyalty from God to something human made.
Let us pray:
Oh Holy and Creating Spirit of God, who gifts us with faith and reverence for your loving creation, be with each of us in our prayers in order that we will find the strength to remain steadfastly loyal to your guidance and follow where you lead us as you did the people of old. We ask this in Your most sacred Name, I Am, Amen.
Please keep up your thoughts and prayers and hopes for Ukraine and Russia, Israel and Palestine, and our schools including St. Augustine in Raleigh, North Carolina.
As we listen to what the Spirit of God is saying to us, let us live to love and serve, and to teach others to love and serve, while pondering anew what the Almighty can do. John
onewhoponders 