God's call to Abram

Scripture: Genesis 12: 1-12: The LORD had said to Abram, "Go from your country, your people and your father's household to the land I will show you. "I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.  I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you." So Abram went, as the LORD had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran.  He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Harran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there.  Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the great tree of Moreh at Shechem. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. The LORD appeared to Abram and said, "To your offspring I will give this land." So he built an altar there to the LORD, who had appeared to him. From there he went on toward the hills east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the LORD and called on the name of the LORD. Then Abram set out and continued toward the Negev. Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while because the famine was severe.  As he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, "I know what a beautiful woman you are. When the Egyptians see you, they will say, 'This is his wife.' Then they will kill me but will let you live.

            One of the sure signs of fall at our house is the change in our TV watching patterns - and not just on Game Day (Go Big Red!) No, another sure sign of fall is that magical month of September, when Steve researches the new TV shows, picks out some that he would like, that I would like, and that we would like together. For several weeks, we give new shows a try, always making sure to record at least two episodes (pilots rarely make us want to watch more). It's a system that's worked for us, and we've ended up with some wonderful shows. But our favorite shows are really just old shows told in new ways.

            It's true. We like the "revival" shows like Hawaii Five-O, with it's opening shot throwback to the original. I wasn't so sure about watching it, until Steve convinced me that it would also remind me of the long past days of Lost. It's filmed in the same place, Hawaii, and it's got several of the characters. Another one of our favorites is Elementary, a modern day adaptation of Sherlock Homes and Dr. Watson. Set in New York City, the Holmes character is a quirky, obsessive, rehabilitated drug addict who works as a contract detective with NYPD. Dr. Watson is excellently played by Lucy Liu, who gives the story a strong female lead, a former medical doctor turned private drug rehab caretaker. And, of course, when we learned McGyver would be making a comeback appearance, we were ready to set our DVR. After all, McGyver is a character whose name has been officially turned into a verb and admitted to the Oxford English Dictionary!

            John Buchanan, former editor of the Christian Century wrote about our love of old stories turned new in a 2008 editorial. "Students of Shakespeare know that the bard didn't create his material solely out of his own imagination," he wrote, "but instead masterfully recrafted stories that were centuries old. And Shakespeare's own dramas have been repeatedly reimagined in contemporary settings. Two novels receiving critical attention these days are both based on Hamlet: Lin Enger's Undiscovered Country is set in small-town Minnesota, and David Wroblewski's The Story of Edgar Sawtelle takes place on a Wisconsin farm. When an NPR book reviewer asked the two authors why novelists keep returning to these old stories, the two agreed that it's because the stories are so good. Enger added, "'Shakespeare is particularly adaptable because the conflicts he chronicles-between vengeance and justice, and vengeance and forgiveness-are . . . the oldest moral dilemmas that human beings face.'" Buchanan continues, "I was reminded of the power of old stories in another way recently when I read the Shakespearean tragedy/comedy/ morality tale story found in the book of Genesis. There is romance, deception, theft and, if you read between the lines, eros. And, not unlike a Shakespeare play, all this happens in one family."

            It's an old story, our scripture text for today. It is one of the most well known and studied texts in the Bible. What didn't appear in the write up in the Lamp is that this Scripture was the focus of Ross Whiston's first sermon. Which made me smile, because it was mine, too. Which made Thomas smile, because it was his, too. As it turns out, when I shared that information with clergy friends from all different denominations who are now in various parts of the country and world, most of them preached their first sermon on this text.

            Why? Well, as Ross points out, this story is comforting to us as we travel this journey of life. It's again one of those stories that is well known to us, at least four verse of it, and connects the first 11 chapters of Genesis with the rest of the story, with our story today. The Call of Abram and Sarai is the fulcrum, foundational text of the Bible. It moves us from the story of creation, or, actually, two accounts of the story of creation through Cain and Abel and Noah, and the Tower of Babel. If there is a message of the first 11 Chapters of Genesis, it's that humanity keeps tainting this creation God has made. Cain and Abel turn to violence, Noah has to build an ark because there is only evil continually in the people, and the people build a tower in order to "make a name for ourselves." The first 11 Chapters show us a picture of humanity that is at direct odds with God making us in his image and declaring us good. Nine generations after the tower of Babel, the time is right for God to change his way with humanity. No longer a God that deals first with punishment and discipline, God chooses to be a God of call, promise, and blessing.

            "Now the Lord said to Abram, "Go." Perhaps one of the reasons this call story resonates with so many of us is because it lacks so many details. We do not know where Abram is, what he is doing. There is no story here of fishing, or hiding in a tree, or meeting Jesus at a well. There is simply a direction, "Go."

            Or, actually, for the English teachers among us, we should note that the call comes in the form of an imperative. "Go." My children know that there is a difference between when we ask them to do something with a "Phoebe would you please..." and the short, clipped direction with both a subject and object that are understood. "Go."

            Lectionary texts typically omit the last part of chapter 11, but it's got some pretty necessary context for the story of Abram. It's here that we are told that Abram is one of three brothers of Terah, and that their story begins in the city of Ur of the Chaldeans. One of Terah's son's, Haran, dies in Ur, Abram and his wife Sarai are childless and so are raising Haran's son Lot as their own child, and Nahor, the third son, is married and has two children. As a group, their father, Terah moves the whole family from the city of Ur with the intention of settling in Canaan. God calls us to something that began long before we were aware of it even happening.

            But along the way, the stop just 600 miles east of Ur, in the town of Haran and settle there. God calls us mid journey.

            "Now the Lord says, 'Go from.'" God calls us out of our current circumstances. Wilma Ann Bailey, Mennonite Theologian points out, "Interestingly enough, Abram is not promised that life will be better in Canaan. He is told that his name will become great, that he will be made into a great people (goy) and that he will be a blessing, but not that he will be materially better off. Actually it's almost guaranteed that at first-when he's left behind his known language of communication, his reputation, his kin network, his knowledge of a place and how to survive in it-life will be worse."

            God's promise to Abram is a one day, future promise, that will be lived out not through Abram, but is a promise for his descendants, for his family. God will show him the land, so he will see the land, but the promise will not be fully realized through others.

            No action here to agreed upon terms, but the promise of what will happen - there's no debating of the terms and conditions, in fact, there's no conditions. Abram goes. That's what he does. He takes Sarai and Lot, and everything they have acquired in Haran. There's no if you, then I. This is a promise that rests fully on God's commitment to the promise, to Abram and his family. They travel 400 miles, to the land God has promised, and it is there that Abram first builds an altar in the world. It is there that Abram worships God. "Ab[ram] will repeat this pattern over and over through his journey... he'll get so far, or realize he's made a mistake, or sometimes not even realize he made a mess- and we'll see him, (and his descendants after him), stop, take a breath, go back and seek God again... or God sometimes just shows up at the right time... but as an affirmation of God showing up, Abram builds an altar."[1] And no matter what, as we will see time after time, God keeps his promise to Abram...

            And that is the pivot for the Biblical narrative. The rest of the story is God living out God's promises, even though Abram and his descendants prove to be...not perfect. It's the very next story, beginning in verse 10, when Abram lies about his relationship to Sarai. It's the first in a long line of stories about humanity trying to live out the promise in less than ideal circumstances, and not doing the right thing.

            God blesses us. This word bless is key to our understanding of who we are and what we have. This is its first appearance in the book of Genesis, but not the last. It appears 88 times in Genesis alone.

            It's a word that's thrown around in circles of the faithful, "You're a blessing," "I've been blessed," "I have so many blessings." It is key to our understanding of how we are to journey through life. God's call, promise, and blessing are intensely personal and intimate - for us individually. As we map out our journey, we are called to identify and celebrate God's blessings, thankful for what we have received. We are called to be a glass half full people, not because we have rose colored glasses and are out of touch with the world. But because we have reason to believe that God makes good on his promises. Especially in the Reformed tradition, we understand that we respond to God's promises by acknowledging our blessings and returning them to God. We respond to God's promises by returning our blessings to God.

            And then we share them. Those promises aren't just for us. It's a key phrase and belief - blessed to be a blessing. We receive good news and share good news with others. It's a vital part of what we believe, especially as Christians. Part of our imperative is to share the story with others. And so while the call is intensely personal, "The Lord said to Abram, 'Go,'" the promise and blessing is to be shared wildly. The blessing is to be extended to others, so that they might know their (they're) blessings, too.

            Maggi Dawn, Theologian and Dean of Yale University Chapel "...what we can see is that God's call to Abram isn't something he's never imagined before. It's a call to resume a journey he has already begun years earlier, but for some reason has forgotten or given up on. The call of God can be as simple as a reminder of something we used to do and have somehow stopped, something we started and never finished. The call of God might be quite the opposite of mysterious: it may be a question that asks why we've settled down, or why we've given up, and that gently prods us to start again"

            God is a God of call, promise and blessing, to you. In this passage God moves from the God who desires relationship with humanity to a God who initiated relationship with humanity. Where does God's call find you today? Are you mid-way on a journey that you began years ago, needing a "go" to keep you moving? Or perhaps you've arrived at the destination of your calling and are watching the blessing live on through your children and grandchildren, God's call, promise and blessing to all generations. Maybe you're just at the beginning of exploring that call, and where it means you're meant to go. Or, you've just unloaded the moving truck and now have to build a life in this place of promise. Or, maybe, just maybe, you're unsure about it all, and whether or not God really is calling you. For all of us, this story is true. God's calling is a calling of promise and blessing, no matter where we are on our journey. Amen.

Melodie Jones-Pointon

[1] Rev. Linda Pepe, Moorestown, NJ.