7/23/2015 – Thursday of the 16th week in Ordinary Time - Ex 19:1-2, 9-11, 16-20b

      The people of Israel had been wandering around the desert for three months after having been liberated from their slavery in Egypt.   God saw that they needed a real sign of his presence in their lives, so he told them to sanctify themselves, to wash their clothes, to prepare for his arrival.   He came to them in dramatic fashion: in the clash of thunder & lightening, in the blasts of trumpets.  Great Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke as the Lord appeared to the people in a great fire.  When we think about today’s reading from Exodus, maybe the images here are not to be taken entirely literally. Perhaps these images are intended to convey the awe and wonder with which we are to approach God, the way that he is immanent in the world, but also the way he transcends the created world, the way we can know God in some ways, but also the way in which there will always be more we can learn about God.

      God was present to the people at Mount Sinai in a special way in their Exodus from Egypt.  If you have climbed up a mountain before, you can understand the power and the majesty a mountain has and the reason it would have such special symbolism with regards to the presence of the divine in our lives.  God can speak to us in sublime and quiet ways in our lives, but he can be present to us in very dramatic ways as well.   God, let us feel your presence with us today, both in those easily recognizable ways, but in those sublime ways as well.