I Am Here For You

You have all had experiences of presence and of separation. In American history, there is a remarkable record of correspondence between Abigail and John Adams during the years of the American Revolution. The notable Adams couple endured lengthy stretches of separation when Abigail was home in Massachusetts, and John was gone in the course of his role in governance. They were estranged again while Adams was in France and in the Low Countries, negotiating for naval and financial backing for the Americans running out of hope against England. That separation and all the other times were agonizing. The pain intensified due to the mortal danger of the time, such as in the smallpox fears and infection that plagued their family. The pain also came through the natural ache of missing each other’s presence. They had to wonder, what would become of them?

Love is wonderful; support is wonderful. Separation is so very hard. The proximate presence of our loved ones is our favorite way to celebrate the love we feel. Hugs, conversation, and the pleasure of face to face meetings are the expressions we cherish. I wonder if that is why people have such love for, and memories of Thanksgiving, with people, gathered. Modern technology helps us stave off the ache when separated, but nothing replaces the presence of one another. John Adams took advantage of the low technology of quill and ink, and ships that carried letters for weeks to his home, and carried letters from Abigail back to him; lending him her wise counsel, her ideas, and her sentiments of affection. John Adams was fortunate she survived her own bout with smallpox, allowing their happy reunion.

Let’s give consideration to the notion of presence and separation? When Moses was called, he was alone with the Lord, No one was around. The burning bush provided the physical conduit through which the Lord called the prophet to his mission. Moses is again separated from the people and present with the Lord in not one, but two trips to the mountain top to bring the Torah.  After the first descent of Moses from the mountain to the people, there was a sorrowful happening: the people were not on the same page with Moses and the Lord. The spiritual rift is terrible, and the fruit of the prophet’s divine meeting atop Mount Sinai is spoiled by the people’s restlessness, and the tablets that carry the commandments are broken. I share here the lines of free-verse I shared in a recent sermon.

Reduced to Rubble

The tablets crack, they crumble
When the crash they feel…
On mountain top they felt so real
Now, where could they go,
what could they do with a crew
so bent on reducing them
with a crowd that would construe them
mere tickets to affiliation

Born of the mind and the fiery finger
of the Holy, the flat stone tablets
first descend with the Prophet,
then fly from his hand
they fall against
the rocky foot of Sinai
now in fragments are they strewn:
pebbles and chucks, showing
the shattered nature
of hearts bent on reduction
Holding dreams shrunk down
to what they know
what their fingers can fashion
without aid, and with no more
glory than glitter, the gold
of their accessories.

The golden-calf dancers
these knights of resignation
take a pass on the
one critical leap
freshly fractured stones lie inert in a heap.

Though at the summit
tablets intact
the script on the stone was
passage to everywhere and always
now in fragments they spell out
never and nowhere            DWP+.Oct.2020

But of course, that was not the end of it. As Fr. John Claypool used to say, God is the God of second chances. Because God’s property is always to have mercy, life is not a spelling bee. It is not “one miss and you are out”; we perpetually experience second chances.  Moses later completes the delivery of the Law. This Sunday we hear of the time between the two trips up to the mountaintop.

Moses speaks to the Lord and negotiates for the Lord’s presence with them as they move on. He makes the appeal, stating the presence of the Lord is the only thing that distinguishes them from any other nation. In that passage from Exodus 33, the Lord promises, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” Ex. 33:14, and “I will do the very thing that you have asked; for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name.” They are no longer in the dynamic that Moses will experience theophany encounters apart from the people, rather, Moses will be experiencing the presence and direction of the Lord from within the midst of the people. Of course, we thirst for the presence of those we love. We thirst for the presence of God. It is comforting to hear promises like that from Hebrews 13:4, “I will never leave you, nor forsake you” and Matthew 28, “And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”