Uncanny… uneasy, unsure
James Cathcart
February 28, 2022
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Exodus 34: 29-35 (NRSVA)
29 Moses came down from Mount Sinai. As he came down from the mountain with the two tablets of the covenant in his hand, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God. 30 When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, the skin of his face was shining, and they were afraid to come near him. 31 But Moses called to them; and Aaron and all the leaders of the congregation returned to him, and Moses spoke with them. 32 Afterwards all the Israelites came near, and he gave them in commandment all that the Lord had spoken with him on Mount Sinai. 33 When Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil on his face; 34 but whenever Moses went in before the Lord to speak with him, he would take the veil off, until he came out; and when he came out, and told the Israelites what he had been commanded, 35 the Israelites would see the face of Moses, that the skin of his face was shining; and Moses would put the veil on his face again, until he went in to speak with him.
What must it have felt like to behold the face of Moses, blazing unrelentingly?
Let’s imagine it. Let’s have a stab at describing the indescribable.
Picture the face of Moses.
Ablaze.
Eyebrows crackling.
Cheek’s blushing with heaven’s glory
as teeth and lips snap and spark
forming words of the ever-new eternal,
that shoot blinding light
won from mountain tops.
Shading our eyes
as the universe sings from an old man’s face.
PRAYER:
Creator of All,
sometimes in our restlessness we don’t know where to turn,
where to look,
how to process the wonder
and the wondrous heartache of living
in amongst all this,
amongst all that shines.
Amen.
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