Do you ever use the title 'Lord' when you talk to God? How does it feel when you address God in this way?
The Hebrew word for 'Lord' is 'Adonai'. You may be very familiar with it from the Old Testament or from songs in church.
When God appeared to Moses at the burning bush, the divine name revealed to Moses was "YHWH" which means "I AM WHO I AM" or "I WILL BE WHO I WILL BE".
The name that God revealed to Moses is actually a very unpronounceable word in Hebrew as it's more like a breath than a word. 'The Name' was very sacred and mysterious to the Jews, so sacred that they never said it out loud. When Jews saw the name YHWH written down, they would therefore actually say "Adonai" (Lord) in it's place. This is what's going on when you see the word LORD in capital letters in the Old Testament.
We see in the story of the burning bush, and in this sacred unutterable name, something of a mysterious God who can't be fully grasped; a God who is intensely holy and utterly beyond us, yet with us and helping us at the same time. When God appeared to the Israelites at Mount Sinai, his mysterious presence was so powerful that the mountain was surrounded by thunder and lightning and smoke. Nobody was allowed to touch the mountain. If they did they died. Even Moses had to go through long preparations to meet God face to face and he had to do so with great care.
How do you address God? Do you tend to speak to God formally or informally, or both?
Do you ever sense something of God's mysteriousness or intense holiness or sheer power?
There were times when Jesus' disciples encountered this same deep mysteriousness and holiness and power in Jesus. (The calming of the storm, Jesus walking on water, the transfiguration, the resurrection). If we believe that Jesus is God, then it must be true that somehow Jesus was in the burning bush, Jesus was in the crossing of the Red Sea, and Jesus was on Mt Sinai.
Today you might like to experiment with spending some time entering into the story of Jesus walking on the water (Mark 6:45-50) or the story of Jesus' transfiguration (Matthew 17:1-8). You could try imagine you were there witnessing it yourself and see how it feels.
Did praying with the passage help you experience Jesus in a different or deeper way?
Can you sense the connection between God as revealed in the Old Testament and Jesus himself?
Did praying with the passage help you experience Jesus in a different or deeper way?
Can you sense the connection between God as revealed in the Old Testament and Jesus himself?
Advent antiphon for 18th Dec:
O Adonai, and leader of the House of Israel,
who appeared to Moses in the fire of the burning bush
and gave him the law on Sinai:
Come and redeem us with an outstretched arm.