In Exodus 33 God decides to take a little break from the Israelites.  He tells Moses that an angel will accompany them instead.  But Moses does not like the plan.  Its kinda like having Michael Jordan on your team and him telling you he’s sending his four-year-old niece instead next game.

For Moses, it is about that personal relationship he has with God and also about the corporate relationship the people have with God.  The relationship is with God, not an angel.  To Moses, no substitute will do.  An angel instead?  No thanks.

Put in the same situation, we should react the same way.  Today we view God as three ‘parts’ of one person – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Our personal faith is tied to God.  This relationship is the one thing that determines how we live our life.  Jesus told us that the greatest commandment is to love the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.  Our faith grows as our relationships with God deepens and we in turn become a greater part of the community as well.

As a community of faith, we are also bound up in this same relationship.  How we live as a community of faith is determined by our relationship with God as well.  And in the community of faith we find support, encouragements, correction, and learning.   We honor Jesus’ second command most often as a community – to love neighbor as self.  As a body of believers we are intertwined and interconnected not only with each other, but also with the greater world outside our church walls.

Scripture reference: Exodus 33: 12-23