Exodus 32:7-14
Sermon by Rev. Caela Simmons Wood
Sep. 22, 2024
A song from my childhood. Sing along if you know it:
“There’s a tree out in the back yard
That never has been broken by the wind.
And the reason it’s still standing:
It was strong enough to bend.”
I can remember riding along in my dad’s pickup truck as a kid, listening to Tanya Tucker sing these words. It was such a vibrant image in my child’s mind. As a kid in the Midwest, trees swaying in the wind until the storm passed was something I knew first-hand. I had spent plenty of time looking out rainy windows watching trees do just that. And I knew that the words she sang were true: rigid trees don’t have what it takes to withstand heavy storms - they just crack and fall down. But flexible trees were strong. They could bend and sway and change, but their flexibility meant they weren’t easy to break.
Trees know the same truth that our contemporary reading spoke of: flexibility equals strength. Engineers who create buildings and bridges understand that flexibility is needed. Maybe they learned this from watching the trees.
Physical flexibility is strong. Psychologists also know that emotionally, intellectual, spiritual, flexibility makes us strong. Studies have shown that when we’re exposed to ambiguous stimuli, we exhibit greater cognitive flexibility. Which makes us more creative and resilient. Psychologist Tara Wall writes, “Ambiguity forces the brain to process information in a non-linear way, encouraging divergent thinking—a thought process used to generate creative ideas by exploring many possible solutions….Ambiguity encourages individuals to accept that not all situations have clear-cut answers, promoting a mindset of adaptability and openness. This acceptance reduces anxiety and fosters a more resilient approach to life's challenges, as individuals become more comfortable navigating the unknown.” [2]
We see this type of flexibility modeled every week in our church’s faith formation activities. Adults gather to discuss the Bible and theological books, grappling with shades of gray and various interpretations of ancient stories. Children come forward during worship and ask insightful questions about our sacred texts. And we are all blessed to have Brandy as a model for what it looks like to encourage this comfort with ambiguity. She is never rattled by any questions presented and she doesn’t impose any rigid interpretations as she teaches. Instead, she invites the kids to wonder alongside her - to turn things over and see them in a new light - to get comfortable with multiple meanings and curiosities. To find strength in flexibility.
It turns out that flexibility is not only good for trees and bridges, it’s a key to a life of faith. Although we’ve all known religious people who are very rigid in their thinking, faith, by it’s very nature, craves flexibility. After all, a faith that is certain about everything - that has no questions or doubts - that is unwilling to bend and shift and change - well, that’s not really faith at all, is it? It’s just certainty. Faith presupposes flexibility and a willingness to be wrong, change, ask questions, bend in the breeze.
Today’s Biblical text highlights this natural connection between faith and flexibility. The people have been rescued from slavery in Egypt. And now they’ve been wandering in the desert for a long time. Moses has gone up on the mountain to talk with God. The people have gotten quite good at flexibility - they’ve left their homes and everything they knew, they’ve traveled without a destination for eons. But they can only bend so far. Moses has been gone too long and they become anxious. Before long they’ve made a golden calf to worship.
God is - shall we say - not the most flexible in this situation. At least initially. God blows up in frustration. They are doing the exact opposite of what they’ve been told to do. This little interchange between Moses and God on the mountain is almost comical. It sounds like a couple arguing over the misbehavior of their children. God says, “Moses! Go down there to YOUR people the ones YOU brought out of Egypt (see whose people they are now? Wink wink.) Tell them to get it together.”
But Moses doesn’t go. Instead, he does something quite interesting. He argues on behalf of the people and convinces God to change course. God relents and doesn’t punish the people.
There are some warm, fuzzy parts of this story. What’s not to love about Moses arguing with God and changing God’s mind? Talk about flexibility in action, right? But there are also parts of this story that make us deeply uncomfortable. We who speak of God as all-loving, all-welcoming, all-merciful, all-patient-and-kind may find it difficult to reconcile this God who flies off the handle and who wants to be left along to pout and kindle wrath against the people. Yikes.
But maybe that’s part of the point of this story. The discomfort, I mean. This is a story about people trying to stay curious about who God is and what their relationship with God is supposed to look like. They are asking questions and making assumptions. They are swaying between comfort and anxiety. They are trying to understand and then telling stories about what they’ve experience. And in that way, they’re a lot like us, aren’t they?
This off-kilteredness that we feel when God doesn’t look the way we’re expecting - I think that’s important. Because once we’ve put God into a tidy little box and we think we have all the answers? Well, that’s a pretty sure sign that we’ve become too rigid in our thinking. These ancient stories that don’t quite sit right with us can turn us off, yes. But they can also be an invitation to wonder together about where the truth lies. As a people who take the Bible seriously, but not literally, scripture becomes a portal to a richer, fuller exploration of who God might be. And who we might be in relationship with God.
There are parts of Christianity that are deeply uncomfortable with the idea of God changing his mind. Some see God as unchanging. And, in one way, in this story Moses is simply reminding God of the promises that have already been made - that God will bless the people, love them, and stand by them through thick and thin. In this way, Moses isn’t changing God’s mind as much as he is helping God remember the covenant and get back on track.
Regardless of whether God changes his mind or not, the richness of this story, I think, lies in the dynamic relationship between God and Moses and the people. I am indebted to Jewish scholar Amy Robertson for pointing this out and I think she is so right. [3] This is a story about the love between God and humanity. A story about the complexities of that relationship. A story about the flexibility necessary to stay in relationship with one another.
After all, without flexibility, is it really a relationship at all? We have to carry within us a spirit of openness, the possibility of change and growth - in order to truly be in relationship with someone else. Without that, it’s not much of a relationship at all, is it? It’s just a stubborn, rigid tree that looks strong but might break the moment the winds rise. Flexibility - that capacity to bend and sway and dance and change together - that’s what truly makes relationships work.
“There’s a tree out in the back yard
That never has been broken by the wind.
Our love will last forever
If it’s strong enough to bend.”
NOTES
[1] Strong Enough to Bend, written by Beth Nielsen Chapman and Don Schlitz
[3] Bible Worm podcast.
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