Such a moment

Monday March 7th, Exodus 24: 15 When Moses went up on the mountain, the cloud covered it, 16 and the glory of the LORD settled on Mount Sinai. For six days the cloud covered the mountain, and on the seventh day the LORD called to Moses from within the cloud. 17 To the Israelites the glory of the LORD looked like a consuming fire on top of the mountain. 18 Then Moses entered the cloud as he went on up the mountain. And he stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights. The symbols roll one upon another in this description. The connections to the Glory and Majesty of God in the clouds and fire, the six days of the new creation followed by communing with the Lord, the consuming fire of purification and the forty days and nights of Jesus in the wilderness or the forty years of the wanderings in the desert. They are all rolling around in these few simple verses. They all are meant to connect us to these stories and the God connection in each. Something new is starting, something big, and all these signs let us know that God will be the main part in it. This is a liturgical moment of the Nth degree. It lets us know that humanity will be blessed with the presence and the promise of God. How many times in our lives do those liturgical connections, in whatever form they may take, punctuate a new beginning or a Holy moment in our lives? The birth of a child, a long darkness ended either emotionally or in the cosmos, a simple leaf falling from a tree but connecting with us in an amazing way, an amazing sunrise, or some event or observation that often has meaning only for you. In these moments God is there. The history of God’s relationship to all humanity is there. Your life is punctuated with a “yes” and you go on knowing life will never be the same. For those who have their eyes and hearts open, life is liturgical, and God’s nearness is known in the sign and the symbol. May you this day have such a moment.