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The\xa0Lord\xa0said, \u201cI have indeed seen\xa0the misery\xa0of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned\xa0about their suffering.\xa0So I have come down\xa0to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians\u2026 (Exodus 3:7-8a).

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When Elijah traveled to Mount Horeb, he discovered that \u201cthe Lord was not in the fire.\u201d\xa0 Years earlier when Moses traveled to Mount Horeb though, that\u2019s exactly where God was!

It was on Mt. Horeb, the mountain of God where Moses encountered the burning bush\u2014ever aflame, but never consumed.\xa0 It\u2019s out of that bush, which stood in the wilderness, on a deserted desert mountain, that Moses first met the God of his ancestors.\xa0

God had been active in Moses\u2019 life, but Moses probably hadn\u2019t paid much attention to God.\xa0 He certainly hadn\u2019t had an experience of standing in God\u2019s presence.\xa0 But now in the wilderness, Moses had his sandals off and his face hidden, because God had shown up!

But God hadn\u2019t only shown up for Moses\u2019 sake.\xa0 God had come because of the misery and the suffering of his people.\xa0 They had cried out to God, and God was concerned for them.\xa0 So he set out to rescue them from their slavery.\xa0

This story has an important echo in the scripture passage from Romans we\u2019ll explore this Sunday.\xa0 When Paul writes that \u201cwe cry Abba, Father\u201d he\u2019s echoing the same language of the cries of God\u2019s enslaved people in Egypt.\xa0 And as Moses discovered in the desert: those are cries that God listens to.\xa0 Cries that God responds to when, like a good Father, he comes down and scoops us up in his arms to comfort us in the midst of our suffering.

We are incredibly tired of this pandemic we\u2019re slogging though.\xa0 We\u2019re itching for any way to claw back some normalcy.\xa0 We\u2019d really rather focus on anything else.\xa0 But we cannot let that stop us taking account of our suffering and that of our neighbours.\xa0 As this thing drags on: jobs are being lost, anxieties are rising, the days are growing darker, and our collective capacity to deal with it all is growing thin.\xa0

It\u2019s at just such times that God\u2019s people have cried out to him for mercy for themselves and for their neighbours.\xa0 And, it may be in wilderness places just like these where God suddenly shows up in a burning bush to say: \u201cI\u2019ve seen the misery of my people and heard their cries, so I have come\u2026\u201d

On my ornament today, I\u2019m going to write \u201cI\u2019ve seen, I\u2019ve heard, I\u2019ve come\u201d to remind me that Jesus is always present in the midst of suffering, shouldering the cross with me, even when I\u2019m not aware of it.\xa0 And, to go with that phrase, maybe I\u2019ll draw a cross, maybe a burning bush in the desert, or maybe a good Father.\xa0 I haven\u2019t decided yet\u2014what will you draw?\xa0 \xa0\xa0

I\u2019d also like to invite you to be with others today as God is with us.\xa0 I wonder if there\u2019s someone you know who may be facing some particular suffering during this pandemic time.\xa0 Cry out to God for them in prayer, then go and offer one tangible form of support to them as the hands and feet of Jesus (a card, a call, a gift card, a meal, etc).

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