Cloud

In central Wisconsin in the last month, we have seen the sky clearly for two days. The other twenty-nine days were cloudy. That’s pretty rare, and it’s been incredibly awful. 

Exodus 24 confirmed the covenant between God and the people, and when God invited Moses to ascend the mountain to receive tablets of stone with reminders of the promises inherent in this covenant, Moses entered the cloud. How simple, and yet how terrifying. Clouds imply a type of veil that obscures and tantalizes. Clarity may come later, but not now.

Is the ELCA in a cloud right now? Many congregations are unclear about the present and the future, and wish that the way was clear. But Moses lived in the cloud for forty days and forty nights, so I’m going to invite all who are in the cloud to stop wishing it away, or even gritting our teeth to try to survive it, but instead to be fully present to it, opening mind and heart to see God’s presence IN the cloud. And remember, I’m asking for your trust in a God who can bring life from death, so we are in good hands.

Hiding God, help us embrace whatever uncertainty is present today, and by holding to what we don’t know may we hold more tightly to you. Amen.

Rev. Dr. Karen Zutz Rendall, 1984, LCM Donor

Moses entered the cloud, and went up on the mountain. Moses was on the mountain for forty days and forty nights.

Exodus 24:18