Latest / Belin Memorial UMC / Rev. Dr. Sandra Stevens Poirel - "Go!"
Transcript
- Belin Memorial UMC: Well, good morning. We continue our Lenten journey together and the scripture today comes to us from the Old Testament all the way back in Genesis, the 12th chapter, the first four verses. You will recognize this as the call of Abram. Now the Lord said to Abram, go, go from. Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation and I will bless you and make your name great so that. you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you and the one who curses you I will curse and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." So Abram went as the Lord had told him and Lot went with him. Abram was 75 years old when he departed from Haran. This is the word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God. Now you notice there is a gospel lesson and this will sound a little bit like the text we just heard. We will get to that, but not quite yet. This Old Testament lesson that we just shared today is a very brief account. We have the entire call of Abram summed up in less than four full verses. While it is brief, it is one of the most significant events in the intersection of God's story and our story, the story of humanity. It is God's call. It contains God's promise. We essentially hear Abram's yes in action. And all of that in combination set a new course for the relationship between God and humankind. I've been told that this was an elderly couple. Now I said 75. I'm telling you it's looking younger, okay? So I hesitate to say that the commentators say that it's an epic journey of an elderly couple. But it was a journey that catapulted Abram. from anonymity to universal fame, from being childless and a member of a very tiny family, to Abram being the founding father of a great multitude of nations all over the world. So we often think of Abram as the main character in the story and Abram very definitely is at the center of this story. But today we're going to consider the story just a little differently. We're going to consider this story from the main actor's perspective. We're going to consider it from God's perspective. So we're going to think about what God did for Abraham but not only Abraham but for us. God called Abraham. Now we heard the story. There are very, very few details about this event. Now if we think back, Moses' Moses experienced God in a very big way in a burning bush. That would get your attention. And then the burning bush spoke to Moses and told him to do things like take off your shoes. We heard none of that with Abram's call. There were no special effects, at least that we are aware of. They were not recorded. But God spoke and basically God said, go. Go toward a new life. Go toward a new future. Go toward all of this without much detail being revealed. Go with God into the unknown and the uncertain. You may be aware of this if I asked you, do you know what the number one fear of humanity is? A lot of people say it's the fear of public speaking. It isn't. That's close. It is near the top. The fear of the unknown is the number one fear for most people. And yet we hear God calling Abram to that very thing, go. Go trusting God completely and just trust that God will provide a way. Now when we hear the story, Here's the amazing thing, and this is really good news for us. So this is where that's the code for listen up, because this is good for us. Abram didn't do anything extraordinary for all of us to happen. Now you may be saying that is really good news because I'm being called to just go to places unknown. You're not, you don't know what's going to happen. We're really glad God did that for Abram and God did. God spoke to Abram and God spoke words of promise and mission and hope. So God said, go, go from what? Well Abram, glad you asked. Go from everything that is familiar, everything that is comfortable and everything that is known to you. Just go. Okay, so go where? God says, well I'll tell you about that later. That's in the very first verse. For those of us who are United Methodist clergy, and there are several sitting in this room, that sounds a little bit like appointment making. We'll tell you, but not right now. And it can be a little bit nerve wracking. And you've got a family who is like, where are we going? Are we going? Well, I don't know. If we go, where are we going? Well, I don't know. We'll hear about that later. And you just essentially say what Abram said. God said, go. And Abram said, OK. And here is the interesting part. This may be the miracle in the whole thing. We have absolutely no evidence that there was any hesitation. Abram didn't ask for any details. God said, go. I'll let you know as we go along on this journey. And he just went. And then we hear that he took Sarah and his nephew lot with him. Now imagine being Sarah. God spoke to Abram. We also do not have any of that conversation recorded. We don't know how Abram conveyed this divine message to his family that pack up everything, we're moving, we're going. Well, where are we going? Well, we'll find out. But obviously they did. They gathered all of their possessions and off they went. So we say thank you, Father Abraham. You know that ultimately God changed Abram's name from Abram which means exalted father to Abraham which is father of multitudes. Abraham became the patriarch of all who believe because of his faith and his obedience and his trust in God. Abram stood in for us with a faithful response of hope. He left everything that was secure, known, and comfortable and did exactly what God called him to do. Step out in faith and trust me. That is the moment that Abram, who became Abraham, that is the moment that his life really began. Before Abram did anything or got to go anywhere, God gave the mission and provided the promised blessing to complete it. So at 75 years old, this is what God did. Abram was assured by God of the promise, he was given the mission, the hope, the purpose, and he was given the promise that I will be with you. And listen so carefully because this is so important for us. We heard, read the story of the call of Abram, but God didn't stop calling with Abram. We are still being called this very day. God told Abram what God would do, and these were God's promises. Abram, I will show you. I will make of you a great nation. I will bless you." And then God even tells Abram why. So that you may be a blessing and then gives the how. In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. Now Abram is coming out of obscurity. There was no way he could imagine how this would happen, especially when God is saying basically all over the world. And you see that's what God does. God calls us to participate in ministry with God-sized dreams. It's true of God then and it's true of God now that when God gives a mission, God doesn't leave us to just have to figure it out all on our own. God doesn't leave us to have to worry about it. Now, I am a confessed worrier. I've told you all that before. I'm working on it. I decided to give it up for Lent. I've got a few more days. I'm still working on it. It's harder than Krispy Kreme doughnuts, I'm telling you, because I have taken it to an art form and I'm not proud of it. But you all are helping me without knowing. You're helping me work on that. So God gives the mission and says, be with you, Abram you don't have to figure it all out, you don't have to worry about it, I'm going to be present, ⁓ and I'm even going to give you the power to bring it to fruition and there is the good news for us. God's promised blessing to Abram who became Abraham and to us is the church. and is alive within us today, increasing and growing within this very congregation within you. Abram would not have known where a place called Merle's Inlet might ever be. but we are a part of the church. We are a part of that growth. We are a part of that strength. We are a part of the Christian movement. Abram went he went to parts unknown on a very scary sounding mission with very little information except he trusted God to prepare the way make the provisions and God did and God still does You see we are called by the very same God to be blessed and to be a blessing and like Abram God promises to be with us not to leave us you don't have to figure it out all by yourself and you don't have to worry because I will be with you. You see God has given us the greatest blessing of promise. The great reformer Martin Luther called this passage the gospel in miniature. Here is the gospel passage. John 3, 16 and 17. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. But don't miss the second part of the promise. For God sent his son into the world not to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved.