Thanks for joining us for another daily encouragement from our daily bread. It was written by Lisa M. Samra,

and she titled it Christmas Light. To my eyes, the Christmas tree looked to be a blaze in fire,

not because of artificial strings of lights,

but from real fire. Our family was invited to a friend's alt-dois tradition, or the old

German way, a celebration featuring delicious traditional desserts and a tree with real lit

candles. For safety, the freshly cut tree was lit one night only. As I watched the

tree appear to burn, I thought of Moses's encounter with God in the burning bush. While tending sheep in

the wilderness, Moses was surprised by a flaming bush that was somehow not consumed by the flames.

As he approached the bush to investigate,

God called to him. The message from the burning bush was not one of judgment, but of rescue for the

people of Israel. God had seen the plight and misery of his people who were enslaved in Egypt and had

come down to rescue them.

While God rescued the Israelites from the Egyptians, all of humanity still needed rescue,

not just from physical suffering, but also from the effects that evil and death brought into our world.

Hundreds of years later, God responded by sending down the light, his son, Jesus,

sent not to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

Our scripture reading today is from Exodus chapter 3 verses 4 through 10.

When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, Moses.

And Moses said, here I am. Do not come any closer, God said. Take off your sandals for the place where you are

standing is holy ground. Then he said, I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of

Isaac, and the God of Jacob. At this, Moses hid his face because he was afraid to look at God.

The Lord said, I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out

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