Leader:
Take a few minutes and talk about the things that your group is facing - new jobs, kids leaving home, broken relationships, whatever is on the hearts and minds of your people. You may ask a question like: What is happening in your world right now that is tough to understand? Or, do you ever find yourself asking God, "Why me or why now?"
After some discussion, remind your group that there are times we simply do not know what God has in mind, but because of who He is, He can be completely trusted.
Say something like this to lead into the reading:
Moses is meeting God. It is a peculiar meeting because God is in the burning bush and is talking to Moses. He is informing Moses that he is to leave his desert home, his home of security, to rescue the people of God. Notice what God calls Himself and how Moses is supposed to take great comfort in that.
READ OUT LOUD:
[10] So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt." [11] But Moses said to God, "Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?" [12] And God said, "I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain." [13] Moses said to God, "Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' Then what shall I tell them?" [14] God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: 'I AM has sent me to you.'" Exodus 3:10-14 (NIV)
READ the following as a responsive reading.
Leader: Who is the one who calls our name?
Group: I AM
Leader: Who shows mercy new every morning?
Group: I AM
Leader: Who is the lover of your soul?
Group: I AM
Leader: Who will make a way when there seems to be no way?
Group: I AM
Leader: Who hates injustice?
Group: I AM
Leader: Who is with us when we feel nobody is listening?
Group: I AM
Leader: Who hears our cries?
Group: I AM
Leader: Who sits next to us when no one else understands?
Group: I AM
Leader: Who works the night shift?
Group: The great I AM.
