Introduction to Worship for 8/13/2017

Getting Lost:

This week we continue our journey into the Dark Wood by looking at the gift of Getting Lost. Dr. Elnes writes that, “People who find and live into their calling rarely do so without getting lost first. Yet since there are no straight or clear paths in the Dark Wood of life, they do not cease to get lost after once being found. Rather…[they] learn that the regular experience of getting lost is one of the most important gifts we can receive.” (p.84)

Exodus 2: 11–15, 3: 1–12

In this week’s scripture, we’re looking at one of the early stories in the life of Moses.  Born to an enslaved mother, raised as a prince in Pharaoh’s house in Egypt, Moses loses himself by killing an Egyptian nobleman, then fleeing into the hinterlands of Midian. He marries and starts a life, but he is far from what God intends for him to be. Whether by his own actions or by the forces acting around him, he is lost. He’s going through the motions, but he is no more at home in this new life than he felt in the old one.

The second part of the story finds Moses in a field, talking to a bush. God has finally gotten his attention, and is telling Moses what his role in life is to be. And Moses has a few doubts…

When you feel lost, or are not sure what God intends for your life, how do you respond? Do you flee from the place you are in? Do you rush around, trying to keep busy so you can avoid the feeling? Do you dig and keep doing the next thing, refusing to look around at all?  

David Wagoner’s poem, “Lost”, suggests that sometimes the best way forward is to stop and listen:

Stand still. The trees ahead 

and bushes beside you

are not lost. Wherever you are is called Here,

and you must treat it as a powerful stranger,

must ask permission to know it and be known.

The forest breathes. Listen. It answers,

I have made this place around you.

If you leave it, you may come back again, 

saying Here.

No two trees are the same to Raven.

No two branches are the same to Wren.

If what a tree or a bush does is lost on you,

you are surely lost. Stand still. 

The forest knows

where you are. You must let it find you.

My own mother used to say, “The Holy Spirit is not big on details”.  Even when we are pretty sure that we know where God is calling us to go, sometimes there are detours or blocks in the path; sometimes we have to find ways to overcome our own reluctance to be led. But if we understand that the Spirit comes alongside us as our guide and friend, we can learn to listen for the voice that will help us to find our way.