Popeye theology

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?" 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.'" (Exodus 3:13-14a)


Imagine. 

Try, for a minute, to forget you ever saw Charlton Heston play Moses in a movie, and imagine yourself standing on holy ground. Slip off those flip flops and pay attention. God himself has appeared within a bush that burns but is not consumed and is speaking-- to you.

What the heck-- and God wants me to tell the Israelites his name is I AM WHO I AM? Or, as some translate it, I WILL BE WHO I WILL BE?

What is that supposed to mean, anyway?

Well, my Old Testament classes taught me that in the Hebrew world, repetition in a name intensifies its meaning. This is not "just" God talking, this is GOD.

There were many gods in the ancient world, and I AM wanted Moses to understand: he was not just one of them.


This month, many Hindus will be celebrating the birthday of one of their gods, Krishna.

I AM has no birthday. I AM was here before there was time, before there was anything at all. I WILL BE will be here long after time has ceased to be. This is GOD.

My mind cannot grasp it.

But somewhere deep in my being, where God's Spirit lurks, I understand. (Barely. Sorta kinda. If I don't try too hard.)

"So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them." (Genesis 1:27)

God created us-- each of us-- in God's own image. Breathed into us the breath of life, formed us and molded us each in God's likeness. No, we are not God (even when we act like it). But within each of us is a kernel of God, a reflection, a recollection. And like God-- I am who I am. Only without the intensifiers.

I am a mother and a grandmother.

I am a widow.

Cut me and I bleed. Hurt me and I will weep.

I am broken. Yes. I am deeply wounded and seriously messed up in spots.

But-- I am God's beloved heidi.  I am a Child of the Almighty God, formed in the image of the great I AM.

I was worth dying for and so are you.

I AM has chosen you. And you, and you-- and yes, even me.