Burning Bushes and Burning Convictions: A Call to Anabaptist Discipleship

As the sun dipped low in the sky over the arid desert, casting long shadows across the rugged landscape, Moses tended the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro. The quiet hum of sheep grazing was suddenly interrupted by an extraordinary sight—a bush engulfed in flames, yet it was not consumed. Imagine Moses, dusty and weary, pausing in his tracks, squinting at the improbable sight before him. Here, in the solitude of the wilderness, he encounters the very presence of God.

This moment is not just a remarkable event from history; it resonates deeply with our Anabaptist commitment to seek God in the mundane and the marginalized. Like Moses, we are often caught in the rhythm of our daily lives—commuting to work, running errands, preparing meals—when we, too, must turn aside from our routines. We must open our eyes to the “burning bushes” in our world, the divine whispers calling us to engage with the realities around us.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter." In Exodus 3:1-6, Moses is drawn not just to the fire, but to a call that demands action—speaking truth to power and confronting injustice head-on. His encounter with God ignites a burning conviction within him.

Similarly, we, as Anabaptists, are called to engage in nonviolent resistance against the systems that oppress. We are urged to lift our voices for those who cannot speak for themselves, to stand in solidarity with the marginalized, and to live out our faith with courage. In doing so, may we find that amid the ordinary, the extraordinary awaits—God is ever-present, inviting us to be agents of transformation in our world.