“Walking with God, Part 1: Abraham and Sarah” by the Rev. Don Wahlig, March 5, 2023, Year A / Lent 2 – Genesis 12:1-4a • Psalm 121 • Romans 4:1-5, 13-17 • John 3:1-17 or Matthew 17:1-9

THEME: God calls us to participate in his mission which is the purpose of our lives. He keeps his promise to never leave us as he blesses us and blesses others through us.

One of the blessings of the Doctor of Ministry program in which I am studiously plugging away has been getting to know the Scottish pastors who are part of the program. Despite the differences, we have a lot in common. That was never more clear than this past January when we were together in Pittsburgh. In addition to all the pastoral similarities, we also discovered that we share a deep love of humor.

One of their favorite Scottish comedians is someone named Billy Connolly. He’s been around since the 1970s and he’s famous worldwide. And, of the many funny things he has said, this one took the cake. He said, “Before you judge a man, walk a mile in his shoes. After that, who cares? He's a mile away and you've got his shoes!” 

It is a twist on an old saying that we all recognize as fundamentally true. Do not judge someone until you have walked a mile in their shoes. This morning, you and I are going to put ourselves in the shoes of Abraham and Sarah. And not just for one mile, but for 1200 miles. 

Here we go. Please close your eyes and imagine this. You live in Ur, a city on the banks of the Euphrates River in what is today southern Iraq. You have 2 brothers, an extended family, and a wife, Sarah. At first, your life together is good, but then, as inevitably happens, adversity strikes. First, you discover through painful experience that you and Sarah cannot conceive. It is a major source of shame and embarrassment. People begin to talk. They wonder whether this is some sort of divine judgment on you and your family. 

Then, one of your two brothers dies suddenly and prematurely. You are heart-broken, but not as much as his son, Lot, your nephew. Then, one day not long after, your father, Terah, is talking to some traders. They tell him about a land they’ve seen called Canaan. It’s a good and pleasant place to live, they say. So, your father, Terah, decides to relocate the family there. You, your wife Sarah, and your nephew Lot decide to go with him. You think, maybe this is the new start we all need.

But after you’ve traveled 600 miles up the trade route that runs along the Euphrates River, with all your flocks and all your belongings, you reach a town called Harran near the border of modern-day Turkey and Syria. You realize two things. First, you are only halfway. It’s another 600 miles by camel to Canaan. And not only is your camel uncomfortable, it smells, and it’s developed an attitude, too.

Second, you look around. You realize life is pretty good right where you are. Lots of good land, plenty of fresh water, crops growing, good grazing for the animals. And, so, you decide to stay put and put down roots. You, your father, your wife Sarah, your nephew Lot, and the others with you make a new life for yourselves in Harran.

But then tragedy strikes again. Just when life is going as well as it can go, when you are settled and prosperous, your beloved father dies. It’s not entirely unexpected. After all, he is 205 years old. But it makes you think. Although you are 75 years old, in Biblical terms, you are middle-aged. With both your parents now dead, you feel like an orphan, like your life no longer has an anchor. You think about the direction of your life, and what you should do with the rest of it. In short, you are having a mid-life crisis. 

Then one night, you are outside your tent sitting by the dying embers of the fire. Sarah is calling you to come to bed, but you don’t really hear. You are lost in your thoughts, gazing up at the stars. 

Then suddenly, you hear a voice, a voice that can only be from God. Now, the place you’ve come from has lots of different gods with little statues to worship. But none of them have ever spoken to you. Clearly, this is the God above all other gods. God’s voice says, “Abram, I want you to leave Harran and your father’s house and go to the land that I will show you.” You are stunned. You’ve made a good life for yourself in Harran, and here God is telling you to pick up sticks and go somewhere else. 

How do you feel? Maybe you’re afraid? This is a big change, and you’re not sure you want to do this. You’ve already uprooted your family once and taken them far from home. Now God wants you to do it again? Down deep you’re asking yourself another question. It is the really big question. Just what exactly is this God like? And can I trust him?

Then God answers your question for you. This God loves his people, all people, and he wants to bless them – through you and Sarah. He promises, “I will make of you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great. You will be a blessing to all peoples and all nations.” Then comes the biggest surprise of all. The land where God wants you to go is the very same place you and your family set out for when you left Ur. That seems like a lifetime ago. And maybe it was. Because now you have a new mission, a new purpose, and a new life stands in front of you.

Now, please open your eyes.  Friends, that is how it is when God calls us. He seeks us out and asks us to leave our comfort zone in order to engage in his mission. His mission becomes the purpose of our life. That begs a question. What is your part in God’s mission? What is your purpose? Have you ever asked yourself that question? More importantly, have you ever asked God that question? 

I am part of a small group that Beth Biery is leading. It’s called Jesus All Day Long. Some of us in this group are asking this very question – what is my purpose? Beth is giving us some wonderful tools to listen to God better in order to discern our purpose, and walk with him more closely. One of the things that has become abundantly clear is that God calls us in all stages of our lives. Whether you are a student, a young adult, young family, empty nester or grandparent or great grandparent, God has a mission for you and a purpose for your life.

No one else can tell you what God’s purpose is for you. It’s something we have to discern for ourselves. There is no better time to do that than right now in Lent. And Abraham and Sarah can teach us what happens when we do. The first thing they teach us is what God is like. Ever since the earliest chapters of Genesis when God created humankind and a beautiful, bountiful world where they could thrive, humanity has dashed God’s intentions time and time again. Adam and Eve eat the apple. Cain murders Abel. Human violence spreads throughout the earth. 

It gets so bad that God decides to wipe everything out and begin again with Noah and his family. But it’s not long before human pride spoils it all. Humanity build a tower reaching up into the heavens. So God has to confuse their language and scatter them. 

But still, God does not stop loving his people. Instead, he changes strategy. He decides to focus on this one family – Abraham and Sarah – and, in them and their descendants, he will bless every family on earth. 

So, he makes a covenant with Abraham and Sarah. He renews his covenant with each successive generation. To each one, he promises, “I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go … I will not leave you.”

Friends, God is relentless. He will never stop pursuing us. He will never leave us alone, and he always keeps his promise. He wants us to thrive, just like Abraham and Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. It is simply God’s nature. This is the first and most important lesson we can learn from Abraham and Sarah.

The second is this. Just like Abraham and Sarah discovered, God will seek us out along the path we are already traveling. They were already on a journey when God called them to go to Canaan. What God did was to give them a new purpose for the journey. They were to be vessels of his blessing. That became the purpose of their lives. No matter where God calls us, that will be true for you and me, too. God will bless us to be a blessing to all. That is the second lesson.

Third, even when we deviate from his path, when we fail God, God does not cast us aside. Look at Abraham. In both the Old and the New Testament, Abraham is held up as a paragon of faithfulness. But along the way, Abraham sells his own wife to save his skin – and he does it twice! As flawed as he is, God still uses him for God’s purpose.

What about you and me? What journey are you on right now? What purpose might God have for you as you live the rest of your life? Whatever that is, friends, you can be sure of this. God will bless you and he will bless others through you. We just have to listen and obey. 

 

May it be so.