Moses had failed, and he considered himself a failure. One can fail without being a failure, but Moses hadn't learned this yet. He was in Midian, running away, running away from his failure, and (although he really didn't mean to, I think) he was also running away from God.

But God wouldn't let him go. High in the mountains of Midian, God set a bush on fire. Nothing really remarkable about a bush burning - lightning caused bushes to burn quite frequently. But this bush was not consumed: it burned and burned, but it didn't burn up. And that got the attention of Moses, and Moses "turned aside" to see. And, ah, that's where God got at him again. Out of the bush God spoke, and Moses went back down to Egypt and led his people out.

Well, God is calling for our attention this morning. And to a degree, at least, he has it: we have, in fact, "turned aside" from where we have been going, and we have left off what we've been doing, and we are here. We have turned aside to pause at this place and time, here before God's altar. May we hear him say, as Moses heard: "The ground on which you stand is holy."

And from this holy place and time may we go, as Moses went, in the way that God appoints, and, going, may we hear, as Moses heard, that most significant of all promises, as God says, "I will be with you."