The Burning Bush

Some thoughts on the burning bush.

The older I get, the more I am fascinated by the whole idea of Moses' encounter with the Divine at the burning bush. All of the elements for a great drama are there: simple shepherd with a spotty past, theophany in a desolate area, and a God who has a total sense of self and who needs not explain that self beyond offering a variation of the infinitive of "to be" as identification.
I may be one of many, or a few, who hates the film "The Ten Commandments." Charlton Heston's hammy performance aside, the film makes God out as unapproachable and vindictive. OK, the text seems to uphold that view at times. But the film fails to capture the simplicity of the event of Moses' first encounter with God. Was it a bush that was actually burning, or was it a relative of the "fire thorn" that grows in my back yard? Who cares? The bush is a prop, the encounter is the real thing. Moses, simple shepherd and un-convicted murderer, experienced the presence of the Almighty. What would each of us give for such an encounter? Yet, the simplicity of the encounter, on a hill above grazing lands, should serve to remind us that such encounters may be closer than we ever dared hope. We must keep eyes wide open, for to miss such simple and fleeting glimpses of the God of Abraham would be a cause for grieving beyond measure!