Then the LORD said: “I am making a covenant with you. Before all your people I will do wonders never before done in any nation in all the world. The people you live among will see how awesome is the work that I, the LORD, will do for you. – Exodus 34:10

Today’s Scripture Reading (June 22, 2012): Exodus 34

I am convinced that life is created for us to live in community, that from the very beginning the healthy part of us is drawn into partnerships and relationships, that there is something deep inside of us that really needs people. God, who exists only in community, created us in his image, and we are never so much like God as when we pause to embrace each other. I also recognize, probably because I am a bit of an introvert, that the community part of life is not always easy for a lot of us. It is something that does not come natural; we have to press ourselves in order to achieve it. The relationship hurts and disappointments always threaten to tear us away from community rather than toward it. And I know, because even as I write these words I am feeling the tension.

But faith has also always had an individual bent to it. It is found in the conversations that God had with Adam and Eve in the cool of the day in the Garden of Eden. It is present in the conversations that the patriarchs had with their God as he taught them and shaped them and moved them toward being who he had created them to be. And it is found in the story of Moses, beginning with the incident before the burning bush and continuing on through the birth of the nation of Israel. And here he speaks directly to Moses and not to the community. The words he speaks are that he is making a covenant with Moses. God was making a corporate commitment to the nation of Israel, but wrapped up in that commitment was a personal promise that God was making to the man called Moses. And in return Moses was committing himself to God. It is the way a covenant works, two parties committed to each other.

A few weeks ago I told my church that I was sure that God loves and is committed to our church. We are not the only faith community that God is committed to, but I do not want to water it down in any way. God is committed to our community. But that commitment starts with the commitment that he makes to us individually and the return commitment that we make to him.

And it is through this covenant that God will build his community – and his church. It is through this commitment that God performs his wonders, and that we realize that he is truly God.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Exodus 35