God of the Ordinary
By Rev. William Dohle
Like many families, my family has two sets of dishes.
We have the dishes we use every day. Those we dirty on ordinary occasions. Dinner, lunch, etc. These dishes all go in the dishwasher to be washed and then thrown in the cupboard.
Then there are the special dishes. The china. These dishes only come out at special occasions, like Thanksgiving and Christmas, and they DON'T go in the dishwasher.
The ordainary dishes have normal wear and tear on them. They're stained in some places. They're scratched. We've even broken a few pieces of the ordinary dishes.
But the china... Now that's a different story. Because they're stamped on the bottom, we are extra extra careful with the china. Nothing(and I do mean nothing) stains the china. It's all very special you see.
Now... here's a question for you. If God was going to use dishes... which ones would he choose??
Would he choose the dishes that are used every day. The ones with scratches and stains on them. The ones thrown about in the dishwasher?
Or... would he use the china? The special dishes. The ones that we set aside as a little holier than the other dishes?
You might think that God would use the holy dishes. Since God is...well... holy! But if you did you'd be wrong. Very wrong. You see God loves ordinary things. He resides in ordinary things. He uses ordinary things. God is just an ordinary thing sorta God.
Take God's first face-to-face encounter with Moses for instance. Instead of speaking to Moses from one of the great cedars of Lebanon(one of the holiest trees in all the Middle East!). Instead of speaking to him from a cloud or a pillar of fire...God speaks to Moses through a bush. A SHRUB in Hebrew.
Now you might think: Come on... This shrub is pretty important, isn't it??
Well... no its not. It's just a shrub. One of many, many thousand you would see growing all around the area. God doesn't choose a special tree. He chooses an ordinary shrub.
Even Moses doesn't get it at first. The Bible tells us, "Moses saw that the though the bush was on fire, it did not burn up. So Moses thought, "I will go over and see this strange sight--why the bush does not burn up."(Ex. 3:2-3) Moses walks up to the shrub to see this freak of nature. To him it's nothing special. Nothing holy. It's just a strange bush!
Moses walks up to the thing, but still doesn't get it! God calls him, "Moses! Moses!" from within the bush. (Notice, it's from WITHIN the bush, and not from some voice in heaven.). Moses still doesn't get it.
"Here I am." He says.
Finally, God tells him, "Do not come any closer. Take off your sandals, for the place you are standing is holy ground."
Without these words from God, Moses wouldn't have had a clue who was talking to him or why! And, catch this, the Bible never tells us whether Moses obeyed! It never says he took off his sandals or anything!
Now, why would Moses have this reaction? Because... Moses was expecting a God of the Holy and God is a God of the Ordinary. God works in ordinary ways, transforming ordinary things into extraordinary.
We see it's true for Moses here... and we see it's true elsewhere.
God changes ordinary people...into HIS ordinary people.
God changes ordinary bread and birds...into manna and meat from heaven!
Later with Jesus God makes an ordinary manger...into the cradle of a king.
God changes ordinary water...into baptismal water!
He molds ordinary bread and wine...into the body and blood of Christ!
In fact, if you think about it, God doesn't use very many things that start holy. He likes to infuse his own holiness into them and through that holiness, make the ordinary, extra-extra ordinary! He does it for things. And he does it for people. Our God is a God of the Ordinary!
So... ordinary people... if God can speak out of a shrub...what could he possibly make of you?
Almighty Lord, you spoke out of a shrub to call your servant, Moses. Use us as your shrubs in the world, calling the world to behold your presence here, in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
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