Journey of a Lifetime
Genesis 12:1-4
March 27, 2011 Lent
Let us journey with Abram this morning. Let us companion this hero of faith as he embarks on a journey of a lifetime that we may reorient ourselves in order to be more faithful on our own paths, more responsive to God’s call to each of us.
Abram has indeed been a blessing and an inspiration to countless numbers of people. He has become not only the father of a nation but the father of three major world religions: Judaism, Islam and Christianity. His faith has been an inspiration on humankind’s perpetual quest for a “place”…somewhere that is not here, somewhere that holds promises; a place at which we have not arrived but toward which we are drawn by the promise of God.
While Abram has inspired us to leave our own places of security and follow, often blindly, the call of God; while he has given us a bold image of faithful obedience we may have missed the greatest part of Abram’s call, the very foundation of God’s purpose for Abram. I believe that the journey to which Abram was called may have alluded his descendants and even Abram himself. It is a journey that yet alludes us today. I see the ultimate journey of Abram to be a journey to move from a self-regarding heart curved in on itself to an other-regarding openness to love God, others and all of creation. This is Abram’s ultimate journey. It is our ultimate journey. It is the journey of a lifetime.
In the call of Abram he is promised the blessing of God; he is called to be a blessing to all people and he is promised a land. Let us focus on the elements of the call that concern Abram’s being a blessing and the promise of a land. These, as we shall see, are not two separate elements but are actually one intertwined concept.
To get to an understanding of this and to apply the concept to our own spiritual journey let us survey the book of Genesis in a broad perspective. Walter Brueggemann has divided the book of Genesis into two movements. The first is chapters 1-11 which pertains to a people rooted in a place who presume upon the land and as a consequence lose it, from Adam to Cain to Noah’s generation to the people of Babel. The second movement is chapters 12-48 in which we find a people without a land but always on the way toward a land, empowered by the promise of God that it was a place at which they would ultimately arrive.
The resulting story is a perpetual quest for a place to belong. The concept of land in this unfolding story alternates between a literal geographic place and a metaphorical image of an arena of wholeness and well-being; a place of social coherence, personal ease, prosperity, security and freedom. Remember the laws the people of Israel received as a pilgrim people? These were laws that had to do with how they were to live when they reached the promised land. They were commands on how to not presume upon the land—not abuse it but how to be faithful tillers and preservers of the land. The commandments were about how to also be keepers and preservers of the lowly, needy and oppressed among them. The laws the people of Israel received depended in large part on their being in the land in order observe the laws. They were given laws on how to treat the oppressed while they themselves were a migrating band of refugees. The clear message of God was that having been an oppressed people they would be set at liberty and blessed but that when that happened they were to remember who they had been, who they had become and to be a blessing to those who rose up to meet them. They were not to presume upon the land but were to be keepers and preservers of it and all that was a part of it. This was the journey to which Abram and his descendants were called. It is the journey to which we are called. It is the journey of a lifetime. It is a journey of a lifetime in that it will not be a once-for-all activity. Like tilling and keeping itself, this journey of being a blessing is an ongoing and perpetual process. Abram’s call and our call is to remember the oppression from which God has set us at liberty and be mindful of the needs of those who remain in places of need and oppression in our midst. Ours is a journey that continues with each new day and in each new place in which we find ourselves. Ours is a journey of being a blessing to all who rise up to meet us where we are.
With the call of Abram was instilled an insatiable desire for that place, that land. Too often along the way those of us who have followed Abram have been to literally minded and missed the metaphorical message of the call. We have become perpetual pilgrims on our way to God only knows where. We, too, have presumed upon the land and upon others to get to where we think we are supposed to be. We have found the promise of blessing allusive because we have focused on the lesser journey. We are always on the move toward some place but we forget that that place is to be an arena in which we become a blessing to all and everything which rises up to meet us there.
As difficult and frightening as it may be, we would rather follow Abram on the journey to the unknown than this journey. The journey of being a blessing. The journey of turning ourselves from self-regarding hearts curved in on themselves to other-regarding openness to love God, others and creation. Yet, this was Abram’s journey. It is our journey. It is a journey not just for the Lenten season; it is a journey of a lifetime.
To be faithful the call of this journey we must become more than wanderers seeking a distant promised land. We must take root in the place we find ourselves and become a blessing to those who rise up to meet us. We are called to become keepers and preservers, watching intently, listening carefully, with dirt on our hands. We are called to become responsible fellow dwellers with all who share this place with us. We must not presume upon this place in time. We must be caretakers and tenders of this place, utilizing it as an arena in which to foster justice and freedom. We must make this place a safe haven and sanctuary for the dispossessed: the young, the poor, the helpless who are denied power, place or voice.
In this Lenten season let us be restored to the land; restored to our created purpose and call. Let us be keepers of what our Lord called the kingdom of God. A place where all live by kingdom principles. We are given a vocation of establishing the place where we find ourselves as a land of security and liberty for all creation. Let us go into the land God has given us and be a blessing. This is our journey. Come, let us go and be a blessing.
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