"Liminality" - Exodus 32: 1-14

A Sermon by Alex W. Evans, Pastor

Second Presbyterian Church, Richmond, VA

Sunday, October 11, 2020

Text: Exodus 32:1-14

“Liminality” 

            The Old Testament has lots of stories about brothers. Today, I want to talk about two brothers from the book of Exodus: Aaron and Moses.            

            “Moses was three years younger than his brother, Aaron, but starting with the day Pharaoh's daughter fished Moses out of the bulrushes and adopted him, Moses was the one who always got the headlines.” 

            Moses really got famous when he was around 80 years old. As Frederick Buechner puts it: “Out of a burning bush God himself voted Moses ‘Man of the Year.’” God called Moses to confront Pharaoh and tell him, “let God’s people go.” 

            Moses, you recall, led the people out of slavery, out of Egypt. His leadership, faith, and fortitude continue to teach and inspire all of us.

            But Aaron - “Aaron appears in the story along the way, but always playing second fiddle, which he did well enough until he got the break he'd been waiting for at last, . . . . and then he blew it. 

            With Moses lingering so long on Mt. Sinai that some thought he'd settled down and gone into real estate, the people turned to Aaron for leadership, and in no time flat, . . Aaron had them dancing (crazy) around the Golden Calf.”

            Buechner puts it like this: “Nobody knows whether this was Aaron's way of getting even with his kid brother for all those years of eating humble pie, . . or whether he actually believed with the rest of humankind that a God in the hand is worth two in the bush.” (see F. Buechner, Peculiar Treasures.)

            Here is the real story from Exodus 32:

            When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered around Aaron, and said to him, “Come, make gods for us, who shall go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” 

2Aaron said to them, “Take off the gold rings that are on the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” 3So all the people took off the gold rings from their ears, and brought them to Aaron. 4He took the gold from them, formed it in a mold, and cast an image of a calf; and they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” 5When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a festival to the Lord.” 6They rose early the next day, and offered burnt offerings and brought sacrifices of well-being; and the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to revel.

7The Lord said to Moses, “Go down at once! Your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have acted perversely; 8they have been quick to turn aside from the way that I commanded them; they have cast for themselves an image of a calf, and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it, and said, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt! 9The Lord said to Moses, “I have seen this people, how stiff-necked they are. 10Now let me alone, so that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them; and of you I will make a great nation.” 

11But Moses implored the Lord his God, and said, “O Lord, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? 12Why should the Egyptians say, ‘It was with evil intent that he brought them out to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from your fierce wrath; change your mind and do not bring disaster on your people. 13Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, how you swore to them by your own self, saying to them, ‘I will multiply your descendants like the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.’“ 14And the Lord changed his mind about the disaster that he planned to bring on his people.  

         This is the Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. 

         The title of this sermon is “Liminality.” This is an important word – an important term. “Liminality” – take note - is a sense of ambiguity and disorientation that occurs during a transition. The words “liminal” and “liminality” both come from the Latin word, “limen,” meaning “a threshold,” that is, the bottom part of the doorway that must be crossed when entering a room or a building.

            Liminal space is the space between being out and being in. Liminal space in the transition between what we were, or where we have been, . . . and what we might become, and where we might go. 

            LIMINALITY is what happens to us – how we feel, often disoriented, perplexed – when we are in some season of transition. 

            If we have lived a few years, we know that liminal seasons are always a part of life. Liminal seasons are often full of difficulty too. We used to be in school, but then we have to figure out the transition to work-life. Many of us used to be single, but then we adjust to married life. We used to be a couple, then we have a pregnancy, which will transition us to become a family. Liminal seasons are the time between. 

            LIMINALITY is the ambiguity and disorientation that happens in the transition.

            We used to be married, then we have to adjust to life on our own – maybe through grief, or through separation and divorce. LIMINALITY is the wallow and worry, the tears and uncertainty, the disorientation and re-orientation between the former . . . and the future.

            We worked all those years, . . . then we have to figure out retirement, and a difference pace, and way of being.

            We used to be healthy, . . . now we deal with chemo and fatigue. 

            We used to have healthy parents, now we deal with their challenges. 

            We used to be able to gather with friends, with church family, now we cannot. 

            Liminal seasons come to all of us, often bringing great change and anxiety, stress and concern. We seek to take these liminal seasons in stride, adjust and keep going, but much of the time these seasons are hugely difficult, full of drudgery and adjustments, disorienting and even debilitating.

            Certainly, the Hebrew people in Exodus were in a liminal season. They had been slaves for 400 years in Egypt. They have been wandering for some decades with Moses toward the Promised Land. Exodus 32 is part of this long liminal season for them – unknown, full of fears, uncertainty, anxiety.

            And to top it all off, Moses, their leader has disappeared to be with God. Aaron – Moses’ big brother - is left in charge – with no timetable for Moses’ return, and the people are getting seriously restless. 

            LIMINALITY is never easy: ambiguity, disorientation, uncertainty. 

            How quickly the crowd turns on Moses. Their lack of trust in him - in his return, and really lack of trust in God - continues to astound. How could they forget so much? A burning bush, the ten commandments, a walking stick that turns into a snake and then back into a stick again, water from the rock, manna from heaven, the Red Sea parted, Pharaoh’s army destroyed. And all the respect Moses gets is “we do not know what has become of him.” 

            That is a tough crowd.

            Aaron steps in and fills the void. He probably thinks he has come up with a great solution. The people miss Moses. They feel they should be worshiping like they watched the Egyptians do their entire lives. They figure they are supposed to sacrifice to idols. The people brought their gold earrings and other pieces. Somehow Aaron made a mold and cast a golden calf in the middle of the wilderness. And the people rejoiced. They had a huge party – got their minds off their anxiety and fear and uncertainty – so they could get through another complex, liminal season. 

            But - they did not just make an idol and have a party, “they forgot God, their Savior, who had done great things in Egypt.” (Ps 106:1-6)

            If we are not careful, this is often what LIMINALITY causes in our lives. Moments of ambiguity and transition can cause such great disorientation that we get far off-track from faithfulness. We forget God’s love, cannot feel God’s presence, find ourselves lost and far from loving and serving God. Unexpected liminal seasons can generate bad decisions and actions. We might do things that not only disappoint God but bring about God’s anger and judgment. God says to Moses, “Your people have acted perversely!”

            We have certainly been in a liminal season here. A double pandemic – with the devastating coronavirus and so many manifestations of systemic racial injustice covering our land.

            The great texts of the Bible intend to teach us about life with God and life loving and serving as God’s people. We are called and challenged to be faithful to God in good seasons and bad seasons. We are asked to lean on God’s steadfast love and faithfulness, and love and serve God as disciples.

            Today is a good day to pause and take stock of the LIMINALITY that fills our lives. It is a good time to assess how we are doing in this liminal season and where our focus, our worship, our work might be. 

            How are you doing? How are we doing? Are we continuing on, with faith, hope, and love – or finding ourselves irritable, tired, frustrated, discouraged, and often rude? There are lots of things that might be overwhelming our ability to live faithfully – in worship and work, love and commitment - this liminal season.

            I read this week about “Blursday.” There used to be distinctions about the days of the week: Monday, Tuesday, . . . Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Now the days are just known by “Blursday.” Same crisis, same setting, same people around us, same news, same frustration, . . . it can be so difficult.

            LIMINALITY: a sense of ambiguity and disorientation that occurs during a transition.

            We have all had to deal with major changes and so much uncertainty. We have to adjust – and keep adjusting - to new circumstances. We thought it might last a short time; . . . it keeps going – which just bumps up against the ability to cope well in liminal seasons. 

            And during liminal seasons, as we see so clearly in this story, there is a real temptation to give our hearts and devotion to something other than God. The people waiting for Moses to come back took off their gold and made a golden calf – something that they could see and feel and worship. The great preacher and reformer, John Calvin, warned that our innate desire for God always tempts us toward idolatry, and idols. He even warned that it would be a daily struggle – between piety and idolatry. We are inclined, all of us, toward reverence and devotion and service of God OR to substituting idols for God. What have become our idols in these days?

            I do not think that any of us will be so tempted to dance around a golden calf. But there remain so many temptations that lure us from doing justice, loving kindness, and walking humbly with God. We need to be on guard. We need to keep our eyes fixed on God’s promises, presence, and purposes.

            I re-discovered this week some writings from Gandhi. Remember, Gandhi was quite taken with Jesus and his teachings. What Gandhi always had trouble with were Christians, who did not seem to follow Jesus’ teachings. And he outlined what he called “Social Sins” - some warnings about what we should watch out for, especially in liminal seasons, when we are anxious and overwhelmed. He said we should always beware of these: (write these down!)

-       Politics without principle

-       Wealth without work

-       Commerce without morality

-       Pleasure without conscience

-       Education without character

-       Science without humanity

-       Worship without sacrifice

            Those are all really pertinent in these days. Let me read them again – reminding us of the temptations that lure us from faithful life with God.

            That last one – worship without sacrifice – would be one that Moses would have certainly emphasized. We cannot say we love and serve God if nothing in our lives shows evidence of sacrifice and praise, honor and commitment. 

            Friends, we cannot change the circumstances that surround us. We might even need to embrace LIMINALITY in these days – with faith, hope, and love. And we certainly need to re-commit our lives to trusting God and serving God – doing justice, loving kindness, walking humbly through these days. May God bless us all along the way. AMEN

Prayer of Commitment: O Lord, to turn from you is to fall; to turn to you is to rise; to open our hearts, to follow Jesus doing justice, loving kindness, walking humbly – that is to abide forever. We seek that way always. AMEN

Alex W. Evans, Pastor, Second Presbyterian Church, Richmond, VA preached this sermon for Sunday morning worship on October 11, 2020. This is a rough manuscript.