O Adonai

O Adonai, ruler of the house of Israel, who appeared to Moses in the flame of the burning bush and gave him the law in Sinai, come to redeem us with outstretched arms.

This antiphon offers one of the freakiest images in the Bible- the burning bush. It isn't so much that the bush is burning, but that it won't stop burning. It burns brightly, but it isn't consumed. That suggest that its fuel, if you like, isn't limited to the leaves and the wood of the bush, but comes from somewhere else. No wonder Moses realizes there is something sacred about where he is and takes off his sandals. He realizes that this flame is meant to represent the flame of God's love for us which also will not be consumed.

Nor is it coincidental that this antiphon ends with redemption with God's arms outstretched. If we find God's love in the burning bush, we find the sacred ground where God meets us, where we are in order to bring us back into relationship with Him. Redemption is a return, a 'buying back' of us by God, so that we can return to our real homes. This Adonai, this ruler of the house of Israel, through the burning bush, started Moses and his Hebrew people on a journey back to their promised homes and back to an intimate, if troubled relationship with Him. They, slaves of the Egyptian pharoah, were bought back and returned to freedom and the God who loves them right up to today.

So, I wonder, if this antiphon isn't meant to make us think where our burning bush, that sacred ground, is. Where are we going to find our 'buying back'?

Reflection: Consider where you've found a 'burning bush', a bit of sacred ground. What was it like? What did you do to respect that ground? What did that encounter do for you?