sustain:if:able kiwi

The burning bush and mission revealed

The revelation of God begins with the orthodoxy of “I am”. This God of the ancestors is then revealed in three verbs. The One who has observed the misery of the oppressed (3:7a); heard their cry (3:7b) and knows their sufferings (3:7c). The listening (orthopraxy) ends with knowing suffering (orthopathy). If this empathy is an expression of orthopathy, then Moses is being called to follow the trio God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, God of orthodoxy, orthopraxis and orthopathy.

The burning bush of Exodus 3 has 5 branches. They are the 5 faces of mission. Each branch looks different – as it produces fruit, giving witness to proclamation; nurture; responding to human; seeking transformation; creation care. Each branch draws from the one source of life; from I am who listens to those who suffer. Our response is to feel the earth of our local context, for the ground, our turangawaewae, is now holy.

The God of the burning bush listened – deeply – to the suffering of those in bondage in Exodus 3. That God continues to be revealed as the deep listening God. That God invites those who want to reveal God to in turn be deep listeners, as a first step in mission.

KCML offers online Listening in mission courses annually, to ensure that those who commit to deep listening are supported, sustained, resourced, so that deep listening never stops.