Exodus 34:29-35
February 10, 2013
Sermon preached by Rev. Donald Ng at the First Chinese Baptist Church in San Francisco.
In 2006 when I had my sabbatical in Israel, I was very far from home. There was a 10-hour difference so I was getting up early in the morning in Jerusalem and it was the evening hours of the day before in California. One morning when I was homesick we decided to try Facetime. I was in Jerusalem, our daughter-in-law was in Boston, our son who was in Texas on a business trip, and Joy and our daughter and her family were here in California. After a few delays, we were all on together having face-to-face time from 4 different places in the world! It was amazing. But I was still homesick.
Modern technology can make some truly amazing connections, across continents and around the globe. In the world of business, virtual meetings have become increasingly popular because they save time and money while offering flexibility in location and timing. When we finalized both Pastors Peter and Visal’s call to ministry at our church, we Skyped them in Hong Kong and Portland. I belong to one planning group that have never met in person but only on GoToMeeting which is seeing each other on our computers and talking over the phones. It’s virtual. Frankly, before each of these meetings, I had to make sure I was wearing something presentable!
I was a part of another meeting that only met by conference calls but toward the end of our work, we decided to meet face-to-face and came to San Francisco where we met upstairs in our Fellowship Hall a few weeks back. The final conclusion was remarkable. We decided to recommend a very different and transformative proposal rather than something that was typical and perhaps safe. I believe this face-to-face time was what made the difference.
Last week, a few Sojourners met at a Starbucks in Mountain View because it was the most convenient location for 5 people having a busy Saturday. But the results and rich discussions that we had could never have been achieved if we only met in the virtual world.
In 2009, a Forbes study involving 750 businesses, revealed that face to face, in-person meetings go deeper than webinars and virtual events. In fact, 80 percent of the executives said they prefer face-to-face contact to virtual meetings. They believe that in-person meetings are superior for achieving almost every business objective, including persuasion (91%), leadership (87%), engagement (87%), inspiration (85%), decision-making (82%), accountability (79%), brainstorming (73%), and strategy (73%). As you can see in the bulletin, the church staff will be going on our spring retreat this week.
You can make a strong case for face-to-face. Business executives prefer it. Baptists prefer it. And if you were far away from home, seeing your loved ones on a laptop screen would never be enough. Some of you have grandkids scattered across the country or you have children in college far away from home. Many of you are Skyping or using Facetime to connect with them. But there’s no doubt that every single one of you would prefer real face time to virtual face time. You want them to come home to celebrate the New Year!
God and Moses
Our text this morning tells us that Moses was on Mount Sinai with the Lord for 40 days and 40 nights. They were having face-to-face time. It was a high-level and very intense meeting; nothing like meeting at a Starbucks. Exodus tells us that Moses neither ate bread nor drank water. He wrote on the tablets—stone tablets, not iPads tablets—“the words of the covenant, the ten commandments” (Ex. 34:28).
Then Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets. He could have simply placed the commandments in front of the people and walked away, saying something sarcastic like, “Here you go, people. Read them and obey.” But instead he called to the people and spoke to them—he had face-to-face time with the people. Then he returned to speak to God, and then he spoke to the people again. Moses knew the value of face-to-face meetings, and used them for persuasion, leadership, engagement, and inspiration.
Face-to-Face
In our world of Skype, Facetime, Facebook, video chats, conference calls, webinars and other virtual meetings, what does this message say to us? From Moses’ experience with God, we need to have more time to go face-to-face in the church and in the world.
Now we know we can’t do face-to-face time with Moses. But what we have in Exodus, we can imagine that Moses is texting us with a biblical message that informs us on how important it is to have face-to-face time in the church.
From Moses, we can see four insights that we can learn from his relationship with God. First, imagine Moses texts us the words: Take the time to build a relationship with God. Notice that Moses does not try to arrange a virtual meeting with God, one that gives him flexibility in location and timing; one that’s convenient.
Well, you might say, “He couldn’t. That was 2000 years ago and the latest technology they had was a domesticated camel!”
But Moses could have asked God to just call in to talk with the people directly. He could have asked God to send a vision, theophany and the people would have been impressed to listen.
Moses does not do that. From Moses’s standpoint, hiking to the top of Sinai was no picnic. But that’s what he did. He hobbles right up Mount Sinai to the precise location where he could get close to God. There, he spends 40 days and 40 nights, listening to God and taking down every word that God said.
Moses takes the time he needs to build a relationship with God. Today, we might do this through daily prayer, through weekly Bible study, through attending regular worship. All of these practices put us in personal contact with God and keeps us open to the presence and possibility of God.
At the back of the sanctuary, we have these daily devotional books called The Secret Place and The Upper Room for you to use. What kind of relationship might we have with God, if we simply took the time to sit with him, silently, in deep prayer and meditation?
The second text message Moses sends is: Expect your relationship with God to change you. Look at what happens when Moses spends time with God. Exodus says that, “the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God.” After meeting God, Moses is no ordinary person anymore. He had entered deeply into God’s own life. While it is hard for us to imagine what this shining face looks like, we can understand it to be a reflection of God’s own shining face.
After Moses saw the fire of God’s glory, he had to put on a veil because his face had become radiant (Ex. 34:33). After the shepherd of Bethlehem saw the glory of the Lord, they had to search for Mary, Joseph and Jesus, and then tell others about the Messiah (Luke 2:9-18). After the disciples saw the glory of Jesus in the Transfiguration, they had a new appreciation for his connection to God (Luke 9:28-36). After the first Christians saw the glory of God in Jesus, “the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth,” they went out into the world to spread the good news of his grace, truth and love—even at the cost of their own lives (John 1:14). When we see the glory of God face-to-face, we are going to be changed.
Transformation happens when we enter deeply into God’s own life. We become more compassionate, loving, forgiving and truthful. Our actions serve others instead of ourselves, and our decisions are driven more by what is right than by what is profitable. At work, at home, at school, and in the community, the people around us begin to see evidence that we are trying to follow the guidance of Jesus, and to live in the light of his glory.
A third text message from Moses from the mountain is: Reach out to everyone, even those who annoy you. One of the attractions of virtual meetings is that we can keep our distance from people who irritate us. But Moses insists on face-to-face meetings, even with the rebellious and stubborn people of Israel.
Naturally, we want to get close to the people we love like my family and the grandkids when I was in Israel. I would have preferred to see them face-to-face than on Facetime. And at the same time, most of us are glad to keep our distance from people we dislike or disrespect, and we actually prefer virtual meetings with them.
But Moses gets close to all the people of Israel, again and again. Moses was doing the right thing. Think about this—how much better our political life in America would be if Democrats and Republicans actually sat down at the table together and had meaningful conversations? How much healthier our society would be if conservatives and liberals decreased their internet battles and increased their face-to-face meetings?
Finally, imagine Moses sends the text message: Keep moving, both up and down the mountain. He is saying that we shouldn’t talk only to God, nor should we converse only with people like ourselves. Maintain a balance between worship and work, between prayer and participation in the life of the community. If we focus only on God, we’ll miss out on the important mission of serving a world in need. If we focus only on people, we’ll miss the glory of God that brings inspiration and hope into the human life.
Seeing Face-to-Face
With the increase of Muslims coming to America, we are seeing women wearing veils going about their daily lives. In the past, brides would wear a veil to hide their “glory” or beauty until the revealing at the altar and the groom has said, “I do.” At funerals, widows may wear a veil to hide their sorrow. When Moses returned to the people after talking with God, he had to put on a veil because his face shone so brightly that the people were afraid to come close to him. I wonder today if we even have the shining faces that we should have as believers of Jesus Christ that we don’t need a veil like Moses did.
The Apostle Paul writing to the Corinthians in 2 Cor. 3:12—4:2 referred back to this Exodus passage about Moses wearing the veil. Paul was saying to the Corinthians that that they were wearing the veil, masking the fact that not only their “glory” was gone, but that they could no longer see spiritual things. Have we like the Corinthians veiled our hearts that keeps us from experiencing the freedom of the Spirit?
Have we veiled ourselves from each other so that we wouldn’t have to see each other and want to keep a safe distance? Is virtual time an easy way to veil ourselves from actually having face-to-face time?
At a preschool, a day was set to have the children bring their fathers in for a visit. One of the few fathers who came was surprised to learn that only a handful of other dads had come to be with the children that day.
During circle time, the teacher asked each of the children to tell the class something about their fathers.
“My daddy is a lawyer,” piped up one little boy. “He makes a lot of money and we live in a big house.”
Another child announced, “My father is very smart. He teaches at the college and a lot of important people know him.”
Finally it was time for a boy whose father was sitting beside him to say something special about his dad. The boy could say nothing that approached the boastings of the doctor’s or lawyer’s or professor’s children. He looked up at his father, then he looked around the circle of his friends, and just smiled. He proudly proclaimed, “My dad…my dad is here!”
St. Augustine once said, “People travel to wonder at the height of the mountains, at the huge waves of the seas, at the long course of the rivers, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motion of the stars, and yet they pass by themselves without wondering.”
Can we remove our veils so that we can see each other in face-to-face time? Moses is calling us to a life of balance, one that makes use of technologies such as Skype and Facetime, but also preserves the value of face-to-face contact. He challenges us to take time to build relationships with God and with each other, and to expect to be changed by these relationships. Moses pushes us to reach out to everyone, and not hide behind technology when the encounters are difficult. And he reminds us to keep moving up and down the mountain that runs from the human to the divine.
It’s okay to go ahead and Skype or do GoToMeeting or have Facetime when necessary, but listen to Moses who came face-to-face with God whose face shone brightly. May our faces shine brightly too.
Let us pray.
O God, we long to see your face, to know that you are with us, and yet, there are many times when we don’t recognize you. In Jesus Christ, you came to have face-to-face time with us and he has taught us to become a beloved community of disciples who see one another as sisters and brothers. Strengthen our fellowship so that we may see you in our world today. Amen.