When God Gets Away

Our scripture passage for worship together this weekend comes from Exodus 32:1-6. Most of you will recognize this story after reading only a couple of verses. You will probably remember several sermons you've heard on the passage, too. In fact, some of you might be tempted to stay home this weekend rather than hear another sermon about all the idols we sinful humans turn toward when we turn away from God.

Don't do it. I promise you, this will not be a sermon about placing money, liesure, people, or success above God in your life.

This time through the story of the golden calf, I intend for us to take a more lenient look at the people Israel. What were they really asking for when they confronted Aaron?

Many translations of this story begin with the people saying something like this to Aaron: "Come, make gods for us, who shall go before us..." Immediately, our monotheistic monitors go off! What? Gods? Plural? Have these people so quickly forgotten that they are the children of one God? The God who freed them from captivity in Egypt and asked nothing more of them than to paint the doorposts and lentils with a lamb's blood?

It would seem that they have...

But wait. Look at the verses as they are written under the "Worship for Sunday, October 12" section. These verses are taken from the Jewish Study Bible, the Jewish Publication Society Tanakh translation. Notice that the people say, "Make us a god who shall go before us..." The annotation for this verse admits that many commentators choose the plural here, but it then goes on to state that it is more likely that what the people actually wanted was not other gods, but "something that would serve as a new means of securing God's Presence." This makes sense if you remember that the whole reason for the people's panic is that Moses, the one who has represented God's presence to them, has left them and been gone for forty days. It's possible that the people didn't want many gods or even any god, but that they wanted reassurance of the presence of the God of Israel.

Think about it. They were homeless, wandering in the desert, and uncertain of tomorrow. They had been abandoned by their spiritual leader, and they were afraid that God had left them as well.

Ever been there? Ever been desperate to know that God has not gone away? That you are not alone? Ever felt the need for reassurance that God is with you? Ever been afraid, lost, anxious, lonely?

My answers? Yes, yes, yes, yes, and yes.

If you've ever answered yes to any of these questions, come worship with us this weekend. I don't promise you easy answers, magic words, or even revelations. But I do promise you this: Whenever two or more of us gather in God's name, God is with us.

O Come, Emmanuel!