The Doctor will see you now…
September 03, 2017
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Exodus 3: 1-15
1 Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian; he led his flock beyond the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of a bush; he looked, and the bush was blazing, yet it was not consumed. 3 Then Moses said, ‘I must turn aside and look at this great sight, and see why the bush is not burned up.’ 4 When the Lord saw that he had turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, ‘Moses, Moses!’ And he said, ‘Here I am.’ 5 Then he said, ‘Come no closer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.’ 6 He said further, ‘I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.
7 Then the Lord said, ‘I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters. Indeed, I know their sufferings, 8 and I have come down to deliver them from the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the country of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 9 The cry of the Israelites has now come to me; I have also seen how the Egyptians oppress them. 10 So come, I will send you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.’ 11 But Moses said to God, ‘Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?’ 12 He said, ‘I will be with you; and this shall be the sign for you that it is I who sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God on this mountain.’
13 But Moses said to God, ‘If I come to the Israelites and say to them, “The God of your ancestors has sent me to you”, and they ask me, “What is his name?” what shall I say to them?’ 14 God said to Moses, ‘I am who I am.’ He said further, ‘Thus you shall say to the Israelites, “I am has sent me to you.”’ 15 God also said to Moses, ‘Thus you shall say to the Israelites, “The Lord, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you”:
This is my name for ever,
and this my title for all generations.
Some would say that the human condition is to inquire, discover, find out more about how things tick. Although we can be better at taking things apart than putting them back together.
Our fiction and TV drama often reflects ourselves: the Doctor, or 'Doctor Who' if you prefer, is one who can’t leave mystery alone. Who sees, if you like, a burning bush, and points his sonic screwdriver at it; sticks his hand in to see if it, too, will be immune to burning.
Occasionally, too, the Doctor is given a task - from his people (the Time Lords) or from some even more powerful cosmic being.
Mostly, he arrives unexpectedly, plunges in, heedless of danger (or confident of his ability to overcome it) to be the problem solver, bringer of justice, righter of wrongs. Unlike Moses, he rarely has to be persuaded to get stuck in.
Like ‘I AM WHO I AM’, ‘The Doctor’ is a name meant to inspire confidence - and if that doesn’t work, he always has his psychic paper (fake ID) to get past the gatekeepers, before winning their trust.
Our sympathies are often with his friends who think, who need to believe, that he has a plan, or fear that he may not: ‘How will you get us out of this one, Doctor?’ Whether pre-planned or not, his escapes rarely involve getting back in the box (the Tardis, his time/spaceship) - except to avoid emotional farewells.
Supreme confidence? Or a good actor, perhaps? Christopher Eccleston’s portrayal (2005) was of a damaged person, perhaps experiencing PTSD, after the loss of his people and planet; still trying to do right but aware that any action, any choice, can have unplanned results.
Lord,
inspire in us: curiosity, inquisitiveness,
interest in the world and people around us.
Give us a task, a role in your cosmic drama, whether great or small.
Help us to see that you value our availability as much our ability;
and surprise us with skills
we cannot yet see in ourselves.
Grant us the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of those around about us; and also your mercy and grace,
for the times when there are unintended consequences.
Amen.
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