Glory is to be noticed

Ami Hudson 2/14/10 Sermon

                 How do we seek out and attend to glory?  In Exodus 34:29-35, Moses came down from Mt Sinai and “the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God.”  This was different from any glow or flush you or I might get if we had carried those stone tablets down the side of a mountain.  This was different because some of God’s radiance imparted to Moses.  God’s glory was visible on the face of a person. 

                And the Israelites were spooked.  They kept their distance from this figure with the shining face.  Moses might have expected a warmer welcome after 40 days on the mountain with no food or water on their behalf.  Their hanging back scared must’ve been a big let-down to Moses.  He’d just received word for them from the LORD, but couldn’t get an audience among the people.  Unaware that his face is shining, I imagine Moses baffled by people’s standoffish reaction.  But Moses called to them, they came close enough to hear, and Moses spoke to them the words of God. 

                This is the first time that Moses’ face shines.  But Moses is no stranger to God’s glory.  It’s Moses who met God in the burning bush.  A reluctant Moses though whom God worked signs and wonders as a warning to Pharoah.  Moses before whom God parted the sea.  Moses leading God’s people securely in the wilderness guided by a pillar of cloud and fire.  Moses trusting God’s daily provision of manna to a tired, hungry camp.  No, Moses is no stranger to glory.  In fact, just before our present passage Moses makes an unusual prayer request.  In 33.18 Moses pleads, “Show me your glory, I pray.”

                The word “glory” that we use comes from Latin.  But Exodus uses a Hebrew word for Glory that I really like: KABOD. I like KABOD because it sounds heavy.  While the word “glory” I associate with heaven, clouds and bright light, it can seem far-off and other worldly.  Gloria in excelsis deo has its place.  But it’s this KABOD-glory that Moses requests.  It feels heavy and close like holy presence, it has weight, authority and reverence.  This is right in character with the God of the Exodus–the guiding pillar of cloud and fire, the presence of God known by Moses. 

                I wonder what we can learn from Moses about how to know God.  A while back I Read more