The bush was burning but not burned up. That is the hook of this famous story. It is the scientific impossibility that causes Moses to turn aside and look. It is the image that has captured the faithful imagination for centuries. There are certainly many threads in this passage for a faithful preacher to follow; but at this moment, having just celebrated my 10th year as an ordained pastor, I am as amazed as Moses was at the idea of a bush – or a person – burning but not burnt up. Burning but not, to use the parlance of our day, burnt out. It’s no secret that the pastoral profession suffers heavily from burnout. Fewer studies focus on congregation members, but I suspect any faithful, committed member of the body of Christ sometimes flirts with exhaustion of the soul. There is so much we are called to do by God, by our families, by our workplaces, and by our churches, that even the most energetic volunteer is in danger of running out of fuel. Burnout – showing up as apathy, rage, cynicism, and withdrawal – haunts our pulpits and our pews. And yet God appears to Moses as a fire that burns but does not consume. God’s nature is not to destroy. God does not demand, applaud or admire our slow self-destruction, either. It sounds obvious, but the church has such a long tradition of asking folks to sacrifice themselves to God’s service that I think it needs to be said. God is the fire that burns in us, that animates us, that gives us heat and strength and power. God is not the fire that leaves us dry and brittle and empty inside. I am not about to propose a cure, antidote or vaccine for burnout. But I do think there are instructive lessons in this ancient call story to help us stay connected to the holiness that does not destroy what it inhabits. The first lesson: know what your call is. God is beautifully specific about Moses’ call. “I will send you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.” True, it is an overwhelming, near-impossible, potentially deadly job, but at least Moses knows what he’ll be doing. He is not called to save everyone who suffers across the world. God sends him to this one people.... Thank you to this week's writer, Carol Holbrook Prickett. Read the rest of the commentary at pres-outlook.org. | 
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