Marching Orders

We read about God's call to Abraham to leave his home for a place that he didn't know anything about, and we think, "Wow! I'm glad that doesn't happen to us today!" But I think that it DOES happen to us today, maybe more frequently than we realize! My sermon today considers some reactions of church folks when they realize that God is calling them to move ahead in mission. You may even have experienced this yourself...

I have become convinced that there are only two kinds of travelers in the world; and that everyone fits into one group or the other. Whether they’re traveling across the country, to the next town, or just going to the grocery store, these two groups are as different as oil and water. The first group of travelers are the planners. Planners like to know what’s going to happen at every step of the journey. Before they begin, they want to know where they are going, how long it’s going to get there, and where they will stop along the way. These folks leave home armed with maps, hotel recommendations, and AAA travel books (or with multiple directional and restaurant apps on their cell phones). You planners know who you are. The second group of travelers is very different. They are the adventurers. Adventurers don’t really care exactly how they’ll get to their destination. In fact, sometimes, they don’t even care what that destination is! For adventurers, the journey is half the fun! They’re always ready to leave at a moment’s notice with no particular plans in mind. Hotel? We’ll find one. Restaurant? We’ll stop when we’re hungry. Destination? “That place looks like fun,” says the adventurer, “but then again, so does that one over there! I’ll know where I’m going when I get there.”

I’ve always thought that Abraham (or Abram, which was his name before God changed it) must have been an adventurer. In just the first four verses of his story in the book of Genesis (12:1-4), he responds to God’s call to go… well, somewhere; he wasn’t sure exactly where. God wasn’t terribly specific! All God told Abraham was that he should go somewhere – God would show him where – and that if he did, God would make him a blessing to all the people of the earth. That’s not exactly a detailed travel itinerary! But Abraham did what God told him to do. He had a garage sale in his side yard to get rid of all the stuff that he had accumulated – the leather sofa, the maple highboy, and the complete set of china that he and Sarah had been given as a wedding gift. Then he sold their house, too, and he bought a great big Winnebago motor home. He traded in their white Cadillac for a little tiny blue car that just holds a couple of people and maybe a bag of groceries; and off they went in their new Winnebago, towing that little blue car behind them. Yes, Abraham was an adventurer, all right. He didn’t get detailed plans when God told him to get up and go. But he got up and went, anyway.

Our church is in a situation that’s very similar to Abraham’s right now. We’re bringing our New Beginnings conversations to a close, and God is calling us to go out and do some new things. Now, please don’t misunderstand me! God has not ordered us to sell the china, buy a church bus, and go on a road trip! But God has given us marching orders: we are to go out into the community and serve them in the name of Jesus Christ. After all the New Beginnings conversations are completed; after we’ve put together all the thoughts and opinions and feelings of all the people in all the conversation groups; and after everyone in the congregation has had a chance to give their input, we’re going to step out in faith. But… what exactly are we going to be doing? Like Abraham, we’re not really sure yet. We don’t have many details. All that we know right now is that we’re going to try to meet the needs of the people around us. We can do that in lots of different ways; and we’ll have to try some things to see not only what meets community needs, but also what fits us as a congregation. And just like adventurers who start a journey without a detailed map, we’ll know where we’re going when we get there.

During the last month or so, I’ve been preaching sermons that were designed to get you thinking about this journey that we’re beginning together. I began by telling you that God is doing something new; and that God’s creativity might call for some new responses from us as we follow God into the future. While I was on vacation, Pastor Janice described how different people with different gifts and different experiences can work together in different ways to minister to the very same needs. In the same way, our congregation has unique gifts and experiences that will help us to minister to people in a way that no other congregation can! On All Saints’ Sunday, I reminded you that this congregation has a rich heritage of taking bold steps to meet challenges, and to serve the people around them. Oh, those steps weren’t taken without discussion, and sometimes even controversy. But in the end, they made us the vital, faithful church that we are today. And just last week, I described how God can breathe life into even a valley of dry, parched, bleached bones. I even suggested that those bones might look a little bit different when God raises them up into a new ministry.

As we move ahead on our journey together, I know that there will be some disagreements. That’s not because we’re not faithful Christians. It’s because we are faithful Christians; and faithful Christians approach decisions like these differently from one another! The planners that I talked about are going to want to know where we’re going and how we’re going to get there before we even start off. “Let’s not do something that we’ll regret later,” they’ll say. And those are voices of reason. But the adventurers among us are voices of passion, and it is to our benefit to listen to them, too! They’re going to want us to get started right away and live our way into our mission. “We don’t exactly know where we’re going,” they’ll say, “but we’ll know it when we get there!” And, believe it or not, both you planners and you adventurers are right!

If you were in worship last Sunday, I hope that you listened to the choir's anthem:

“This is a day of new beginnings; time to remember and move on;
Time to believe what love is bringing, laying to rest the past that’s gone.

Then let us, with the Spirit’s daring, step from the past and leave behind

Our disappointment, guilt, and grieving, seeking new paths and sure to find!
This is a day of new beginnings! Our God is making all things new!”

This is a time of new beginnings for us! We are about to step out in faith as Abraham did so long ago, not knowing exactly where we’re going. And we are doing it not so that God will be happy with us. God is already happy with us. We are doing it not so that we will be praised by the community. Community praise really isn’t important. We are stepping out in faith because we want to be a blessing to others, as Abraham became a blessing to all nations. You may remember Krissy’s beautiful solo from last week. The words to the chorus reminded us that we will be an example to our children and to our children’s children.
“Oh, may all who come behind us find us faithful. May the fire of our devotion light their way.
May the footprints that we leave lead them to believe, and the lives we live inspire them to obey. Oh, may all who come behind us find us faithful!”

“Go to the land that I will show you,” said God to Abraham. “Go do the mission that I will show you,” says God to us today. OK, God, we’ve got the Winnebago full of gas, and we’re ready to hit the road! Now show us where you want us to go.