The Burning Bush

Thankfully, I took these pictures before Hurricane Sandy's winds hit us yesterday.  Now the branches are totally bare.  This beauty showed itself all around the area and especially in my back yard.

Burning Bush (Euonymus alatus)

It is not native to the U.S. and is invasive to wooded areas, but has long been used as an ornamental shrub.  I'm sure it's because of its stunning, bright red beauty!

Of course, its common name comes from the Bible story of Moses and the Burning Bush.  As a child I was so enthralled with that story because it taught me about how amazing God must be to speak through a bush and make a bush burn and not be consumed!  I was in awe.  As an adult, it still intrigues me for other reasons as well.

In that story, God calls Moses by name.  Such a powerful thing, to be "called by name."  When someone calls me by name I feel seen, acknowledged, connected since my name is such an integral part of me.  One's name is so sacred; as in the African tradition described in the book Roots where the child's name is not spoken until it is whispered to the child and the child presented to God.

I also love how God tells Moses to take off his shoes/sandals "for the place where you stand is holy ground."  So many societies and traditions show reverence for a place or person by removing their footwear.  I wish I could show reverence for every inch of the earth by going barefoot always, and though that is simply not practical, I take every opportunity to tread gently, barefooted on lush carpets of mosses.  And these "burning bushes" at MorningStar remind me too that all the earth is sacred ground.  (Thank you, Elise, for turning dead sumacs into sacred art.  Thank you, Julie, for the vision and implementation with others to gather 135+ acres of hunters' land into a sacred space called MorningStar and for your commitment to see it through these 32 years.)

Thank you that this is not a current picture.

And lastly I love the power of this story of God calling, commissioning Moses to do God's work in the world.  Moses was scared and sure he wasn't enough and who would believe him if he said God sent him, and besides, "I am slow of speech and tongue" but not enough to stop arguing with God to send someone else. So wonderfully human is his response.  So like mine too often. And yet in the end (after some negotiating and concessions on God's part) Moses says yes; not graciously, not wholeheartedly, not without reservations and certainly not without a fight, but still "yes."

Yeay, Moses!  If you can do it, so can I!