O Lord and Ruler of the House of Israel, who appeared to Moses in the flame of the burning bush and gave him the law on Sinai: come, and redeem us with outstretched arms. Amen.
The same one who is known as Lord, flickers in an unsteady fire – a fire extinguished neither by our own logic nor expectations. The challenge of the burning bush is not to believe that one day long, long ago, once upon a time, Moses saw a flame burning where he ought not to have seen it burning. No, the challenge is to see that every bush is burning. Every bush is alight with God's presence. Take off your shoes, this is holy ground and the flame of God's presence is no more scarce than God's grace. For all is alight with God's love and all is drenched in God's grace – and all at the same time. Blazing…Drowning.
The one who gave the law is alive – and not in the tablets of stone, but in a living, growing, blazing tree. It is the God of the Burning Bush who promises freedom – liberty from all that binds us. And the Exodus freedom-ride is still only now beginning.
The Advent Antiphons are not words to make us stumble in incomprehension – they are words to resound within. Whoever understands everything anyway? Who wants to? Let there be space within wherein God's word may echo around.
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