I am that I am

Good morning and Shabbat Shalom.
In synagogues around the world this morning we will be starting to read the Book of Exodus.
In this weekly section we read the story of the Burning Bush, where Moses, while tending his father-in-law’s sheep comes across a bush that appears to be on fire, which isn’t unusual in the wilderness, but it is not burning or being consumed.
This catches his attention and he gets closer to have a look. The text says an angel of God appears in the fire and that God speaks to Moses from the bush. The voice identifies itself as the God of his father’s house, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.
This would certainly have been different and very much out of the ordinary for Moses. God tells Moses that he must go back to Egypt and tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites go. Moses asks what God’s name is. He is simply told “Eh’yeh asher Eh’yeh”, translated as ‘I am that I am’ or ‘I will be what I will be’.
Does that help Moses? It seems to in some way! But does that help us to understand what God is? What does God mean for us? How and when do we experience God in our lives?
Well, I am not Moses and I am not looking for any Burning Bush moments in my life but I know that I do sense moments of God’s presence in my life and in our world. I have no idea when, why or how I get those moments – and I might not even be aware of them at the time.
So I pray today that I continue to experience moments of God in my life, in the ordinary and the mundane, as well as in the more special, even holy moments.
May I find God in the people I meet and the things I do and that others do. May I find God in nature and in the humanity around us and in our common desire to make the world a better place.