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A Burning Bush Would Be Nice

July 31, 2006 - 10:36am

A burning bush would be nice. Moses got one, and he wasn’t even a nice guy. He was on the lam at the time, running from a murder rap back in Egypt. So why can’t a nice guy like me get a burning bush every once in awhile?...

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by Gordon Atkinson

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Essay | The High Calling Bible Reflection

I think this all the time!!

Submitted by Anonymous User on July 31, 2006 - 11:35am.

I think this all the time!!

Hi Gordo--I have to

Submitted by Anonymous User on July 31, 2006 - 11:37am.

Hi Gordo--I have to admit--this story got to me. It is so easy to take for granted all of the wonderful things right in front of us--but yet we still allow ourselves to get knocked down time and time again.

As I am healing from my surgery, I feel really knocked down--but thanks for reminding me to look at what is right in front of me.

Love you--Janan

What a great reminder to

Submitted by Mark Goodyear on July 31, 2006 - 12:09pm.

What a great reminder to look for miracles all around us! I think about hearing God more than seeing him. Maybe because I'm a word guy, I don't know.

Elijah heard God in the quiet wind--which just strikes me as just the kind of thing you are talking about here. Seeing God in the ordinary miracles around us.

I also hear this as a kind of caution not to look for flashy commands from heaven to descend upon us like tyrannical directives.

Mark Goodyear

I remember being halfway

Submitted by Simian Farmer on July 31, 2006 - 12:55pm.

I remember being halfway through a five-hour drive one summer evening a few years ago. I had spent most of that time fuming internally at any number of minor grave injustices for which I felt justifiably irate. I was driving north, but the road took a bend to the west and I was presented with a spectacular, glowing sunset - clouds, rays of sun, trees and hills - at which point I offered up a silent but heartfelt apology, to myself and to God, and then a thanks for the gift. I was inundated by a warm, effusive glow of prickles that lasted a couple minutes and whose aftereffects kept a small smile on my face for the rest of the drive.

That was my burning bush.

How right you are Gordon. It

Submitted by Anonymous User on July 31, 2006 - 2:34pm.

How right you are Gordon. It is only natural for such weak beings to long for the warmth of that burning bush, and in the search to overlook the truth at our feet. Thanks for expressing your thoughts and validating my own. Your writing always gives me comfort in the knowledge that I am not alone.

Michael

last week at one point I was

Submitted by IdlePilgrim on July 31, 2006 - 3:07pm.

last week at one point I was in a pretty low place, I went to the prayer shed (I was at a christian conference). I had to take my shoes off - compelled to. I wandered back to my tent feeling the ground through my socks! some bits were prickly (as my 3yr old God son would say), some bits really uncomfortable, some bits comfortable and smooth - but some how I was in touch with creation in a way I often miss, prickly bits and all.

IdlePilgrim

I was talking with some

Submitted by JoKeR on July 31, 2006 - 11:36pm.

I was talking with some friends recently about the desire to have a burning bush when I suddenly had a vision of a burning Bush which gave me a whole different interpretation of that image. I guess that's an indication that I have a long way to go on the spiritual journey.
Peace,
JoKeR

Makes me realize anew that

Submitted by SmallGlimpses on August 1, 2006 - 8:29am.

Makes me realize anew that the God we worship cannot be contained in a box or be bound by our human conceptualizations. Sometimes he makes big splashes. Sometimes only tiny ripples...if even that. Sometimes he's very clear in his direction. Other times silence. Sometimes when I don't know what else to pray I pray, "God, be HUGE in this circumstance. Reveal yourself in a mighty way." I believe he hears my heartfelt prayer of desperation and today I surrender the how in his answer.

Ultimately I believe he is good and there is no duplicity in his plans, purposes, or intentions and today I grasp tightly to this truth in the uncertainty of these moments. Thanks for writing this thought provoking and faith affirming essay.

Very nice! Reminds me of

Submitted by grendyll on August 1, 2006 - 8:32am.

Very nice! Reminds me of John 20:29: 'Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."' Sometimes I feel closer to God in the midst of the quiet...

******
grendyll
Jer. 29:11

I can't, actually. How is

Submitted by scout on August 1, 2006 - 8:46am.

I can't, actually. How is the drive to help your fellow human being evidence of some greater power? I just don't see it. Not that a burning bush would help much either. If I saw god in a burning bush, I'd probably have myself committed. I'd settle for something more mundane - a post card perhaps.

Hey Scout,I hope this

Submitted by rlp on August 1, 2006 - 9:48am.

Hey Scout,

I hope this doesn't sound too picky, but this piece is not offered as any kind of evidence of the existence of God. If you need/want that, then pursue it with all speed. But that's not what I'm writing about.

What I am saying is that my spiritual tradition teaches that God will be found in small things and in acts of service. That's a true thing - I mean that the tradition of Christianity teaches this. It's available knowledge for anyone who will read the gospels seriously.

Now you and I might argue all day about whether there is a being in the sky who made everything and loves everyone and has opinions about what goes on here. But while we discussed that, you would have to know - if we were friends - that I was committed to my spiritual path and tradition. I'm pretty sure that would be okay with you, unless you were a jerk or something. I mean, why would you care if I have a spiritual tradition that is important to me?

If you want to do acts of service and goodness in the world, I won't question what drives you to it, though I might be interested to hear about it if you wanted to tell me.

So then the two of us could do good things in the world and for people. And I would claim that over years, my service had brought me closer to a sense of the presence of the Divine. And you would say whatever you would say about it, I guess.

But we would both being working hard for justice and goodness in the world, right? I mean, you're with me on that, right? Cause then we could live in peace with our different motivations and even talk if we wanted while we rested from our labors with cold diet cokes and maybe even cookies.

This is why I love reading

Submitted by Mark Goodyear on August 1, 2006 - 9:53am.

This is why I love reading your blog.

I'd venture that one reason

Submitted by Anonymous User on August 1, 2006 - 11:04am.

I'd venture that one reason for questioning would be the desire to know.

That was dumber than it sounded in my head before I typed it.

I really wish I understood what made people see the divine in the things you wrote about. I'd like to see it too, if it's there.

Not too picky at all. It

Submitted by scout on August 1, 2006 - 12:24pm.

Not too picky at all. It just doesn't ring true with me - that's all.

You see - I don't see god in the face of the homeless man selling newspapers. What I see is myself. When I look into his eyes, I'm struck by how similar we are. We both have mothers, fathers, the same basic genetic make-up, an ability to learn... We both love, loathe, regret, celebrate and mourn. In all probability, we've both done things we've sworn we'd never do, fallen in love, had our hearts crushed, drank so much we've forgotten our own names... Yet, there he is and here I am. The same...yet different. Who will give a damn about him if not you and I? Who will care about any of us? We can throw around notions of god in some useless theological debate, but the fact of the matter is that no god will rise up and help this guy. Nope – help will only come from his fellow human – those of us who recognize deep down that, with one flawed gene or a few bad decisions, they'd be selling two day old copies of the Times right there next to him.

That's not to say your reasoning isn't valid...or even superior to mine. Whatever it takes for someone to act like a decent human is fine with me. As Ghandi once said: "I offer you peace. I offer you love. I offer you friendship. I see your beauty. I hear your need. I feel your feelings. My wisdom flows from the Highest Source. I salute that Source in you. Let us work together for unity and love."

See, you and I would like

Submitted by rlp on August 1, 2006 - 3:39pm.

See, you and I would like each other if we met in a coffee shop. You wouldn't understand me, and perhaps I wouldn't understand you. But we'd have so much in common.

And for the record, I'm racked with doubts and uncertainty about God. At the end of the day, I suppose I would admit that my own history, growing up in the church and being taught to love Jesus, is the thing that has produced whatever it is that I am.

There are many times when I don't think there is a God. But I follow my tradition out of faith and habit and to honor those who came before me. I fall in and out of belief, but my faithfulness to the journey is not transitory. That's just the way I do it. That's the way it is with me.

Every once in a while, you

Submitted by Keith on August 1, 2006 - 4:09pm.

Every once in a while, you say something about faith (yours, anyway) that I actually understand.

There's a thing we all see, but we have to see it through some sort of glass. You were given a certain glass growing up. I wasn't; or at least not that one.

It worries me sometimes: If I'm trying to see clearly, is there a way to do it without the glass?

Oddly, I was also raised in

Submitted by scout on August 2, 2006 - 7:49am.

Oddly, I was also raised in that tradition - perhaps excessively so. Maybe that's my problem.

As usual you took a

Submitted by TheEdge on August 1, 2006 - 10:47am.

As usual you took a sentiment that I too tried to cover on my blog (Speed Dial to Heaven) and made it something much better than I could have hashed out. It is good to know that the burning bush desire is a common one. And your conclusion is much more mature which is evident of your spiritual condition. Thanks.

Frankly, I think a burning

Submitted by enz on August 1, 2006 - 12:06pm.

Frankly, I think a burning bush would scare me witless. Much more comfortable to have God at arm's length, a little blurry or vaguely conceived.
Kudos to anyone who has the strength to wish for such an experience, though. People like me need people like that to lead us.

Okay so it's now Wednesday.

Submitted by abiding on August 2, 2006 - 8:04am.

Okay so it's now Wednesday. I think it's time to share Jeanene's blog. Not that I'm impatient or anything...

hahaha seriously!! what do

Submitted by Anonymous User on August 2, 2006 - 9:13pm.

hahaha seriously!! what do you have to do to get a clear sign these days!!! or at least a letter in the mail or something...
oh yay, i got my netflix dvd in and God finally got around to writing me back! that would be scary actually

wonderful end, really

Submitted by Anonymous User on August 4, 2006 - 1:07pm.

wonderful end, really great.
thanks as always...

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