What Is Needed
Exodus 16:2-15
I have a confession to make. It is one that would make pundits and commentators tremble. I like flip floppers. I know that in the lingo de politico being labeled a flip flopper is a fate near death, but I actually smile when the headlines come racing across the bottom of the screen with the bold exclamation: Breaking news, this just in, Mr. So and So flip flopped. I know it depends on the subject and how much information a person had when the decision was made in the first place. And I know that flip flopping can tend to imply an inability to put one’s foot down or infer that a person lacks conviction. I know at some level it is a matter of semantics. But at least from where I sit, when it comes to the task of faithful living, flip flopping it seems to me, can be a good thing. It is really just another way of talking about changing direction or taking another way, it is another way of saying that God isn’t finished with us yet, that we can adapt and offer what is needed for a given moment, that it is possible for us to grow, which means that flip flopping can be a holy activity.
To be sure, flip flopping as political pandering does not fit into this category and there is a lot of this kind of flip flopping going on. And I suppose that it is often difficult to distinguish between the occasions when flip flopping is growth and when it is going back on a promise. But I hate to think that we live in a time when gathering more information, when changing one’s mind, when growing can lead to political death. So, for the record, when it comes to our journey with God, I think that flip flopping can be a holy activity.
And it seems to me that even Jesus flip flopped on occasion. Remember that time when Jesus is approached by a Canaanite woman, a woman who has no status and no man and no hope. She is desperate because her daughter is sick and dying. But when she asks Jesus to put his healing hands on her daughter, Jesus ignores her and says, “It is not fair to take the children’s food and feed it to the dogs.” I’m not sure about you, but being called a dog isn’t on my list of compliments. But he calls her a dog and then blows her off. But that’s not the end of the story the Gospel tells, something changes, his heart turns and God breaks in and Jesus flip flops. He shouts to the woman, "Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish."
And even Moses, a great leader and a man of profound faith could be labeled as somewhat of a flip flopper. God spoke to Moses from the burning bush, telling him that he heard the cries of the Israelites, and that God is going to free them, to deliver them. And God tells Moses to get ready because he is going to be the one to help do it, he will be the one to lead them to a new life. But instead of saying, “Yes!” with joy, Moses says, "Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt?" We know that this too is not the end of the story. We know that Moses prays and struggles and then…flip flops, he changes course and says, “yes,” to God.
And when we find Moses in the wilderness in our scripture this morning, he is probably wishing that he had stayed with his initial response, because the first line we read is that the whole congregation of the Israelites complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. Moses wasn’t sure he wanted the job in the first place. He wasn’t sure if he would have what was required to lead his people to life beyond what they had always known. And he wasn’t sure what was ahead, but there was one thing that Moses was sure of and that was that God would be there- whatever mountains they had to climb, whatever valleys they had to traverse, whatever pain they had to endure, God would be there. Moses wasn’t sure about much, he wasn’t sure how to lead his people, he wasn’t sure about his abilities or gifts, but he was sure about God. And I wonder why that is, why is that Moses, despite all of his questions and insecurities, despite his fragile human sensibilities, why is that he is so sure about God?
Most of us join the Israelites’ cry, "If only we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the fleshpots and ate our fill of bread; for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger." When we find ourselves in moments of uncertainty and hunger and longing, most of us find it hard to believe that God will come through. It’s easier not to because then we can get busy feeding ourselves. Instead of opening our arms out and up to receive what God has to offer, we draw in and hold on tightly to what we have, we cling to what there is, to what we can see. But Moses, despite all of his questions, was sure about God. Most was willing to wait, he was willing to let God move and adapt and change and provide.
When Moses received his assignment from God, he asked God for God’s name. God said, "I Am Who Am," or "I will be who I will be." God said, “I will be who I will be,” or put another way, God said, "I will be what is needed at the time." Did you hear that? God said, “I will be what is needed at the time.”
But I wonder if we can only really believe this, that we can only live this, if we let God work. You see Moses wasn’t that different from any of us. He was unsure of himself and he wondered why God wanted to use him, but even with all of this, he was willing to give God a chance. And Moses, didn’t have much of a choice. I mean Moses was in the wilderness with his people, everyone was hunger and complaining. He had nothing to lose, so he had to wait for God. He was so low that he had to be open, he had to be patient. And God provided. God provided manna, sweet manna, food for the soul and spirit, food of faithfulness. God’s very name is “I will be what is needed.” That is who God is.
And those of us who have wandered in the wilderness hungry and in pain are probably the first to be able to say this is true. God will be what is needed. God will change direction or take another way, God can adapt and offer that steadfast presence, the best kind of presence, one that can change, one that can offer exactly what is needed at the time. And I believe this because I have seen it. I have seen it at bedsides and heard it through tears. I have seen it in those of you who have been cared for when you thought that such love was simply not possible. But God does not only provide in the wilderness. God provides when we feel we have little to fear. God provides when we feel we have reached a peek. God provides what is needed.
I believe God does whatever God can to offer us abundant life, which means God moves with us, adapts, flexes, changes or if you like, God is a bit of a flip flopper, but a holy kind. God wants to make sure that we are fed and quenched and nourished. God does whatever God can to offer what is needed. And so I wonder what it would look like if each of us lived as if we really believe that. What would it look like for us to rise with the sun each morning and breathe in and out as if we really believed that God will provide exactly what is needed at the time? What would it look like for us as a community of faith to move forward, to dream big, to pray as if God will provide exactly what is needed at the time?
We have marked this season, these weeks leading up to Advent as our time to get unstuck in our lives. And friends I believe that God will be exactly what we need in every moment. I believe it. But it is one of things that we have to be willing to see. We must have our eyes opened and be willing to receive whatever God sends. I believe God will be what is needed, but first we have to live as if we need God. May it be so. Amen.
i.UCC@ucc.org Kate Huey’s reflection Sunday, September 21st, Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time