Seeing, eating, drinking

In this morning’s Gospel lesson we saw a number of allusions to Exodus 24 when the glory cloud of God’s presence descended upon Mount Sinai. One of the other things we find Moses and the elders doing on the mountain in Exodus 24 is sharing a meal. Exodus 24:11 says, “So they saw God, and they ate and they drank.” This eating and drinking with God comes at the end of what some have described as a covenant renewal service very much like our own. They have already been called by God to appear before Him on Sinai, which has required their cleansing and consecration by the reading of the Book of the Covenant. They have been called, cleansed, and consecrated, and then “they saw God, and they ate and drank.” Beloved that is very same pattern that has brought you to this Table this morning. Only unlike Exodus 24 you need not remain at the base of the mountain like the people, or mid-way up like the seventy and even the priests. No, you are invited right into the middle of the glory cloud of God’s presence to eat and drink with Him. As His light has shined in your heart through the preaching of the gospel this day, He bids you come and “behold as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, ...being transformed into the same image from glory to glory,…by the Spirit of the Lord.”