Genesis 12:1-9; 15:1-6 – Abraham’s Call Story

Lectionary Readings for May 02, 2021         Fifth Sunday Of Easter, Year B
Acts 8:26-40   v35 That began a conversation in which Philip used the passage to explain the good news of Jesus.
Psalm 22:25-31   v26 Those who are suffering will eat and be nourished; those who seek Him will praise the Eternal. May your hearts beat strong forever!
1 John 4:7-21  v8 Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love.
John 15:1-8     v5 I am the vine, and you are the branches. If you abide in Me and I in you, you will bear great fruit.

But this week we’re digging into Genesis 12:1-9; 15:1-6 – The Call of Abram.

Peace through Leadership Quotes

“You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today.”  ~ Abraham Lincoln 

“The road to the sacred leads through the secular.”  ~ Abraham Joshua Heschel

As we follow God’s ancient commands and God’s immediate nudgings to be people of peace and people nurturing peace, we must travel beyond our safe sanctuaries – both literal and figurative – and travel into relationships and communities unfamiliar with our faith and skeptical of our motives. But travel we must, because future peace depends on us being the hands and feet of Jesus in our world.

Any time I preach or lead a group, regardless of age, I start the same way. I’m going to say three short sentences. Please repeat each sentence, with enthusiasm.
God made me.           God loves me.            God has plans for me.

Preface to Today’s Scripture Reading

Perhaps you’ve heard someone say, “God called me to do this.” That’s churchy language when someone describes their feeling that God is directly connecting with them and leading them to do something in the moment or for decades. Some people feel called into an occupation, others feel called into a specific type of public service, and others feel called into parenthood, artistic creations, or a host of other ways of expressing their gifts, skills, and interests. Other people feel called in a specific moment to a specific action such as praying for someone or calling or visiting them.

To be clear, this is different from someone saying, “I like hiking; not sure why, but I do.” Compare that to saying, “God has called me into a ministry that involves hiking. That’s where I’m able to share God’s love with myself and others.”

Confession: I am deeply convinced that as part of our relationship with God, God equips and calls each and every one of us into... something. (Jeremiah 29:11) Sometimes it’s hands-on ministry such as working at the local food pantry. Other times it’s moment by moment; as one person in our Bible Study group said, “I don’t hear God audibly speaking to me, but I frequently feel God firmly nudging me to talk to people, often strangers.”

Today is the first installment of a six-week series during which we’ll explore “call stories” of famous Biblical characters. My hope is that, as we explore each of these stories, you’ll discover different ways God “calls” people and, in the process, you may be able to more clearly identify how God has called you in the past and is calling you now.

Our first Biblical character is Abram; God called him many years before God changed his name to Abraham (Genesis 17:5). Today’s reading starts with what little we know of Abram’s life story. At this point, Abram is 75 years old and likely living a nomadic, herdsman’s life in the area around modern Egypt and Israel. When you hear today’s reader say, “Years of stressful hardships pass,” (chapters 12-14) know that Abram and his family have endured multiple life-threatening situations as he has faithfully responded to God’s leading. Through it all, Abram remained faithful to God and obedient to God’s nudgings throughout his long life.

Let’s open our ears, minds, and hearts as we hear the story of God calling Abram into a new relationship and grand adventure.

Read Genesis 12:1-9; 15:1-6 .

This time, 19 years ago, Anne and I were making the final arrangements to move from Atlanta, GA to Reno, NV. All of our friends and families were on the East Coast. In our wildest dreams, we never thought we’d live west of the Mississippi River. Why on Earth would we leave everyone and everything that we knew and loved?!? We left because we believed God was calling us to move.

Long story short, we were both heavily involved in youth ministry and loving nearly aspect of it. We were both growing in our faith faster than bamboo trees in the tropics. With every passing day, I increasingly felt like God was calling me into full-time ministry. BUT I kept explaining to God that I could do ministry while I worked in business. That’s the life path my culture taught me: get a great education, get a great job, climb the corporate ladder, and if you really love Jesus, do some ministry on the side as you’re able to work it into your important schedule. Sound familiar?

I had met a family that was planning to move to Truckee, CA to start a new ministry with their friends. Having no idea where Truckee was, I wished them well and prayed for them. But they kept saying, “We think God wants you to join us.” Well, that’s odd. But day after day, for months, nearly every church group and person I knew – including some total strangers – said something along the lines of, “Are you a pastor? You seem like a pastor. You should be a pastor.” If God was calling, my phone was ringing off the hook.

After a LOT of conversations and prayers with friends, family and each other, Anne and I decided to follow what we believed was God’s leading. We planned to live “out west” for 4-5 years then move back east; back to what we knew. That was 19 long, amazing years ago.

When God says to Abram, “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you,” I dare say I have a pretty good idea of how Abram felt. “You want me to leave all my family and friends, leave everything that I know, leave everything that is safe and comfortable, and go to... an unknown location? Seriously?!? Are there not plenty of ministry opportunities closer to home?”

Some of you may be familiar with the monthly magazine called Guideposts. I think my grandmother had a lifetime subscription; there was a copy in every room of her house. Each issue is filled with inspirational verses and stories to encourage people in their Christian faith. I hate that magazine. Here’s why: Anne and I have lived a few Guidepost stories, and they are NOT fun. A typical Guidepost story is short and briefly highlights some of the greatest struggles people have experienced in their lives; the stories often end with some variation of “and they lived happily ever after.” That’s the problem – before you read the first word, you know the story will end well. When you’re in the middle of living the story, it’s a very different experience.

The stories do not begin to convey the depths and years of emotional and spiritual misery some of us – and our families – have experienced faithfully following God’s calling. That suffering is part of the reality of imperfect people living in an imperfect world. As with Abram and many other Biblical “heroes,” we need to share our complete stories including all the highest highs and lowest lows that have shaped our faith and made us who we are.

For Anne and me, the first six months we lived in Reno were emotionally and spiritually exhausting in ways that words cannot convey. In today’s verses about Abram’s life, we skipped two chapters (13-14) filled with stories about Abram and his family surviving famine, a kidnapping (Sarai), a family feud, a military attack, and another kidnapping (Lot). With that in mind, you can better understand why God returns to Abram saying, “Do not be afraid, Abram, for I will protect you, and your reward will be great” (Genesis 15:1). You can also understand Abram’s skeptical reply.

If Abram and his family had not followed God’s leading, the story of our faith would be... different. If Anne and I had not followed God’s leading, our lives would be different. If other members of our congregation had not followed God’s leading over the past 40 years – and the past year – Susanville UMC would be... different. But here we all are. Each with our own journeys and Guidepost stories of challenges, survival, successes, and growth. Each with our own relationships with God. Each with our own gifts, skills, personalities, and calllings.  

Someone in our Bible Study group commented that when they reflect back on the past day, week, year, and lifetime they are able to see how God has led them along the way. I believe their spiritual discipline of faith-led reflection also serves us well as a faith community. We can look back over the past year (and the past decades) and see with the clarity of hindsight how God has led us to where we are today.

I firmly believe that God has positioned and equipped Susanville UMC with everything we need to get to the next step. We need to be using all of our senses to detect God’s leadings. We need to trust that, as a loving creator, God wants the best for us and for our community. We need to share our life and faith stories with each other so that we can be encouraged, we can encourage others, and we – working and talking together – can more clearly understand where God is leading us next.

Two weeks ago, we sang Amy Grant’s, Thy Word, a song inspired by Psalm 119:105 “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”

We can take only one step at a time. Even the great Jesse Owens ran and jumped one step at a time. When we make ourselves available to God and seek God’s leading, we also need to muster the courage to trust God’s leading light and take that next step. If we do so, if we emulate Abram’s unwavering faith in and commitment to God, then we allow God’s life-changing, world-changing Spirit to move in us and through us. When God’s Spirit is freely moving, our lives and our community will be forever transformed and thus better able to accept the Good News of God’s love and experience the Kingdom of God here and now.

Amen? Amen!