August 10, 2014 The National Presbyterian Church Abraham: But You Promised Me Genesis 18:1-15 Dr. David Renwick In our sermons through the month of August we are thinking together about the life and faith of a man who lived 3,500 – 4,000 years ago – a long, long time ago – a man whose name was Abraham, and part of whose story we just heard in our scripture reading. Abraham stands at the foundation of each of the three great monotheistic world religions: at the foundation of our own Christian faith; and at the foundation of Judaism; and at the foundation of Islam as well. So here is this solitary individual who has impacted billions (yes, literally billions) of human lives. We find him mentioned in various scriptures and supplementary writings of the different faiths. In the pages of our Bible, for example, in God’s Holy Word . We find him mentioned in the Old Testament, in the books of the major prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel, and in the book of Psalms; We find him mentioned in the New Testament in the letter to the Hebrews and then Paul’s letters to the Galatians and to the Romans; as well as in each of our four gospel accounts of Jesus; And, primarily, we find his story spelled out for us in one section of scripture, at the heart of the first book of the Old Testament, the book of Genesis, in Chapters 11 through 25 – where we read not only of Abraham’s story and of Abraham’s life but where we read and learn about the God of Abraham: the God in whom he came to trust more and more. What we know about Abraham’s God from Genesis and (to bring us up to date in our series) what we’ve talked about so far in the series is this: That Abraham believed in a God who speaks. We may take that for granted and say “so what else is new?” Except, there’s no reason to take this understanding for granted! The fact of the matter is that when the Biblical prophets and psalmists condemn idolatry, it is often the fact that those idols are silent and cannot save or speak that they react most strongly (Psalm 115:5; 135:13; Jer.10:13-15; 51:14-17) They are dead. They are inanimate. But the God in whom we believe is personal and speaks to ordinary human beings – and we see this most clearly in the life of Abraham. To be sure, we also see this in the stories of Adam and Eve, and in the life of Noah, but in the life of Abraham this becomes explicit and powerful. This God is a God who speaks and not only speaks but calls ordinary individuals like you and me into his service and wants to direct the course of our lives. 1 The call and direction of God in Abraham’s life. This is essential to the story of Abraham. God speaking and calling and directing Abraham . to leave his home town, a place called Ur in what is now modern day Iraq . and head out on a journey, with no clue as to what or where his destination might be. This was a journey which was both physical and spiritual; external and internal; geographic (across the face of the Earth) and a journey of faith. So that Abraham physically/geographically, for example, moved from what is now modern day Iraq up to the border of Syria and Turkey: to a place called Haran. From there he traveled south to what is modern day Lebanon and Israel, all the way down to Egypt and then back north again to what is now the modern day West Bank. He settled first of all in a place just north of where the Palestinian Authority is based, a town called Ramallah. He settled north of there and then moved south to Hebron, where there’s presently great contention between Jewish settlers and the Palestinian people. So geographically in real time and space Abraham set out on a journey. But this journey was not just geographical or physical it was spiritual as well. In moving geographically, Abraham was also moving spiritually. His life was changing. His home town of Ur of the Chaldees, we know from archeology, was a wealthy place. It was a cultural center. But it was also a place of great idolatry. And God called Abraham out of the old environment in order to give him a new life of faith. One of the statements which guides much of youth ministry these days (and I think it’s true of adults as well as of youth) is that more work can be accomplished in one week of summer camp or mission than in the whole year of youth group meetings – because you take the youth out of their present environment and you place them somewhere else, and they begin to see and think about their lives in a completely different way. So you’ve got this interface between the geographic journey and the spiritual journey which people take, and just as it happens with youth, it happened with Abraham. God moved him geographically but the journey was also spiritual. And the movement, the journey, was not just Abraham’s alone, but God’s too: In a sense, God took a journey into Abraham’s life. So, to begin with, God could be seen to be on the periphery of Abraham’s life. But in and through this journey, there is no question, God moved from the periphery into the center of Abraham’s life, so that God was not just the outside, “there for Abraham,” (with Abraham calling the shots to God), but God moved to center stage, directing Abraham’s life. Or to use another analogy, God moved from the passenger seat in the Abraham’s life, to the driver’s seat. And that is a powerful and a radical shift – one that God wants to make in our lives as well. Perhaps we could put it like this: that when this God-journey happens, your whole world revolves around a different center, quite different from before. One of my favorite authors is Robert Coles, and some years ago now he wrote a book called The Secular Mind. In this book he interviewed different people. One of them was a friend of 2 his, Carlos Williams, who, in turn, interviewed an Italian immigrant – an old lady who came to this country when she was 15. The interview goes like this -- she says “ “it’s become different here going to church here in the United States than it was when I was in Italy or when I first came here. I used to sit there and talk to God and try to figure out what God wanted and tried to please God. Now I mostly think about what is going on in my life and my kids’ lives and I ask God to make it better. It used to be that I prayed to God that I would learn what God wanted from me and how God wanted me to behave. I wanted God’s help to be that kind of person, the kind God wanted. But now I pray to God that God help us with this problem or that as if it’s me talking to myself and I’m only asking God to help out with things.” I don’t know if you hear what she’s saying, but what I hear her say is this: that the spiritual journey she has taken in moving geographically from her old country to this country was, sadly, the reverse journey of Abraham’s spiritual journey! God had been at the center, but now was at the periphery. Life was so busy. God was there but on the outside: “This is my life now, bless my life.” Whereas with Abraham, it is “This is my life” and God says “Oh, no. Your life is no longer your own. I’m going to call the shots in your life: GO!” God moving absolutely to the center as if Abraham’s life was caught up in a drama, a divine drama, an eternal drama that was bigger than his life, and that gave meaning and significance to who he was. A bigger drama, in which our life finds its part and its place. Rather like Frodo and Sam being caught up in the drama of Middle Earth, in The Lord of the Rings: whether they wanted to or not! There’s something going on in the world, and you can live off on the side, not quite in it – but they choose not to; they choose to “Go!” into it, and that drama now begins to define their lives, give them meaning and significance, and create of their lives something that wasn’t there before. In the same way, it’s true for Susan and Edmond and Lucy in the Chronicles of Narnia. They step through a wardrobe into another world, and things begin to happen over which they now have very little control. Well they do, they can make choices. But the drama is different, and their lives now have an entirely new significance. Or, slightly more up to date it’s the same thing with Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games books and movies. Katniss is caught up in something she would rather not be caught up in: a game that is not a game! In this case something evil, and yet even there, as some people find with war, she finds her life in that larger drama: meaning and significance that was not there when she was just a solitary private individual.