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"Now the Lord said to Abram,

THE SACRED JOURNEY
L_Adventure
John M. Buchanan
Fourth Presbyterian Church, Chicago
Scripture

John 3:1-17
Genesis 12:1-9

went,.,.Journeyed on,..." -Genesis 12:1, 4, 9 (RSV)
Can you imagine the day when Abraham and
eg aS my
Sarah tried to explain it to their ngighbors?
Ab 15 Abraham is seventy-five. \ sarah is at least that
old. \ They have no children.. \ what they have, of
Sem ey
vv cl, laren course, is each other, and the comfortable routines
Wau eact4 of Fifty years or so of life tosothor Since the
Creede. day longer_ago than they can remember, the day when
re™ % Abraham's father Terah moved the whole family to

Haran, they had lived in one place.\ Abrat Abraham and
Sarah wer€ settledtyestablished, comfortable.
_ a |

There's something nice about that.\. something good

about knowing you don't have to move anymore, that

i- 1

‘Go from your country and your kindred and
your father’s house to the land that I will show you..." So Abram

fn

this is the place you can expect to live out your
te dal

There is something @6mf ing about the

days.

ly routine

l

ritual by which time is measured:
eee

up at 7:00;\ coffee and newspaper at 7:30; | walk the

dog at 8:00;\ 1unch, cocktails, dinner, and TV until
ene am =e

bed times the ffet at the clu Thursdays: (not
oy

exciting, but iges7 ho problems. | Abraham
Peo etal

| ae!

and Sarah aracSett led, Dsubstantial, mature people.
a SERENE 2

Can you imagine the day when they tell the

Lae

Sie Feel

neighbors they ar€ selling their place having a

(Sarage sie, | thdrawing their money from the bank,
Bere a

and leaving? @'Where are yOu going, Abraham? Pre a

retirement village, navte?”" ) (Wet actually not.

Actually, we don't know exactly where we're going.
oe We a,

We're headed for the promised land, but we really

don't know where it is. \ So, we're trusting God to
iy
show us the way, and to provide for usl(andy- we
er el

cme

hate to mention it - but we're expecting that
ii ey

sometime soon Sarah's going to be preanant. | So

we'll be parents, not just of a child, but aavdaiie
=

_——

new nation. _ a whole other story! |e
meet -- ey ‘a :

t

f= 9
We're ovk of - here |

—— Can't you_imagine the neighbors first trying

to talk them out of it? "Don't leave home! { Enioy!

You've worked hard and done wet1. \ You're home

SARE eg
Miia ee meee

safe. \ Don't throw it all away for a wild dream.

You don't know what you're getting into. | trinas
will never be the same again.” ) (6ee-Getne-Here,

Robest-Reines—p-—22 DAs Abraham and Sarah

continue packing, can't you see the neighbors

rolling their eyesAt this peculiar pair of old

eccentrics about to do something if not_absolutely

crazy than terribly unlikely and inappropriate...
— 7—ee ee
and frightenins!
Call

» We do know a little about moving.} In fact,

we argfiore mobil than anybody before us. \ The

average American will move from place to place
eR |

Va proves C thirteen times during his or her tect 9
Pe Laie 2
times as an adult. | The proportion of the

———— ——

population which lives in one place only is n 3%.

mee

ry) wove _ Every year 17% of us move... Pepeiatiomemche “P=

Vail «

generation ago} many people never moved at all, or

gp ‘
what moving they did was down the street, oP acioss
——-.

town. \ In the gld country, generations lived in the
same house. \ We have visited the farm where they
a (el

all lived for centuries.\\ <r parents lived within
ee
a several square mile area all their lives|(He,~

have packed up and nov five ti mes, and that's

fairly stable. | Contemporaries of mine have moved
fee et eer

twelve, fifteen, twenty times. \ IBM) I've been

EE

told ruefully by a sequence of friends who have

Sh,

passed through my life, stands for "I've Been

We Kte@y’ about separation anxiety and the
— Re ee

psychological dynamics of Toss and that moving is

—————g
Tike losing something precious which in fact it is,

and how we can anticipate the occurrence of the

Gas numbness. depression, guilt and
3 \

arOer. TRtseuincaseet pv ing from place to place

a

leaves us with sgge emotional fragility and maybe

ea)
even poverty in addition to exhilaration and
a

energy. \We also know that when Genesis 12 says a

Ges” ——

{/- 4

settled seventy-five year old couple hear God

telling them to move and promising them a child,

eat Minin

and they actually do it actuary trust the voice
—————ap Ses

and move, \the Bible is saying something either very

Giay or very G portant.
—" es

This story of Abraham and Sarah is arguably

the most important story in the Bibie.\ In the

Abraham saga the Bible makes it4 first and most

a ee es
reathtak ing assertions about the one God. | In the

first two chapters of Genesis there are stories of
a Neier aaa eh

creation,|a great flood,Ja high tower and people

SS eq,

unable to communicate with one another. | There is

nothing unique about the theological assertion that
Leeman hihaedh tase

eee a,

God ig creator \nor that there are perimeters
within which the creatures must Vive,\and that
er

there are severe consequences when these boundaries

Cp WV a re crossed. ( What starts to emerge in the 12th

chapter of Genesis is an utterly @itferent idea of

God. [mis 4s a God who is not content with the way
OM G veople, a
things are jer-dreastor’ and so makes{a people, a

( family, a nation to reflect the true intent of the
= a

—_e

J- 5

creatios \This is a God who enters into
le a

conversation with peopte,\has a relationship with

ee a ey,

them. [mis is an altogether different God who is

always making new and unlikely things happen and

who expects people to not be too sett ed,\to live

nal

Toosely\\ to be mobile enough to respond to the new

Binet

things God is doing. \This is a God who prefers a

tent to a buitding; Ja God who is suspicious of
——_ ee Se

temples and the trappings of reniateri/a God who

a.

tikes to be on the way - in the wilderness - with

BE

the people, TracsmitendalpScalilli Oe Oeedielicniim a aenmne

fs ee er a
(ecm encepremsntnteemmeertereer om \ this

is a God to trust when God calls people to be on a

ee

journey of faith,\a God who makes of our lives a

Wig

Sacred Journey.

It is a very old story in terms of

Viterature,| older than the stories of creat ion. | It

=a

is, some believe, the first and fundamental Bible

ove

pecrocrereey.) And what this story says with

sweeping literary beauty is that in all the human

i ay

history before, things have not gone well. \Peorte

have rebelled against the basic rules of creation
eel i ne
and the result has been alienation, separation,
nore | acnieiiiiamitiiedd ea
viotence.\ mis particular family, of which Abraham
eT el toieeas S
4g the last member, is itself at a dead end..\ Old

eet

Abraham and his old wife, in their barrenness, are
ee epee a ee

EEE,
a metaphor for the human condition. \They_live
a — fie
@ithout hope. \iney live without (passion ané love. ~

They tive in their settled stability, [Putting in

time until they die, waiting day in and day out for

their lives simply to play out.

ees

And it is in their barrenness and

hopelessness that they hear the voice calling them
Wide.

|

to move and promising them a future - as unlikely a

promise as anyone ever heard((unless you count

nee

something Gabriel said to a young Jewish gir] 1,500

|

|

years later, about her illegitimate child being the

savior of the ward) It is an outlandish, almost

preposterous, promise. \ sa: Abraham and Sarah

Ce ll

Gi be
believe “wv, trust w. \ney pick up and go.

It's important because of what it says about
lees

(ee

God and about faith and about the world and our own

Journeys.

It says, first, that the reality of God is

not located in the past, but in the future. \ It
ie

says that the power and energy of God is not so
Sa

much pushing us from betyind, [out of our memories

i ee

and traditions,\ but pulling us from ahead, out of
our have, \ It says that we do not live in a static,

settled world, but one full of possibility because

of the activity of Ate is, says Walter
ee en

i a
Bruggemann, an eloquent Old Testament scholar, @ Wo anqomsaid
mere

nema? against the notion that we live in a
Ce a Y Saas

sett led state\a static situation in which
Fetal

everything that can be,already is. \ That posture,

Ce a

which is thecérid world view of secularism, is
feos Sie

essentially atheistic.

potential to change things, [tc create new
a, sues Se

possibilities, but exists only as a memory, it is
—

ae

reasonable to question whether that God exists in

= Es

j~ 2

any meaningful way and consequent ly whether

worshipping that God is anything other than an

exercise in nostalgia or wishful thinking.
(fie

Af the simple fact is that change is

happening ot throughout the world. {| We are
cents 5

gurwes, — oer We ero
in the midd] mn and where it will het es

end, even our best and brightest don't know. | I was yoy nt

intrigued to read one commentator's observation

that things begin to ferment spiritually for a

generation or so before there is major change at a
| smhiuaeeneeaniianiemnanti cd

ae |

political tevel.\ so what we have witnessed |got yee

Soe

toasgEgming in Eastern Europe has been a suinming

of the human spirit for decades \ a stirring we know

=
has been occurring in the arts, and 11 Pésbakgaem lu. clu
ae, a Oe Soop

long before it was expressed in the streets and the

mS
halls of goverppent, a stirring this Abraham
—— ap
material suggests, is surely the activity of this
eo, Se
amazing God of the future.

eee.

We live in the midst of incredible change,
eee |

not stability...\ Megatrends 2.000 details Pa

Vv
major changes in the human stain The opening
————

[~- 9 4

f

/

pick seen JORG
user the ae

_

sentences of the book set the pace -
"We stand at the dawn of a

| ee

new era. | Before us is the most

important decade in the history of

ae

civilization, a period of stunning

C) technological innovation, [unprecedented
sy ————
K ( economic opportunity, surprising
ee

9) political reform, and great cultural fH’ t
birth. | It will be a decade 1ik 5 FL
rebir St wi e a decade like none :

that has come before." —_—T { ot
rp. 11, John Naisbitt and Patricia Aburdene] Lt ee ye
—— In point of fact, [our oldest story about God it <

— oe
suggests that God is a God who Tikes change | stirs

up change,\ calls people to change, wants_people to
a ey

be free and unencumbered enough to engage
—— Ea Pr

creatively with a new world God is creating.

=_

And so the story says a lot about what it
eee SES, —

means to be faithful \ Somewhere we got_the idea /
eal /

that to have a religion is to Qbey2he religious /

| einai

rules and belies tertain ideas about God. | That

Ce arenes

is, religion is.gthicgs, negativelwdefined, and
theological ort XY defined by tradition, custom.

ee

for 10

%
Nit tet Gel wills fles

anh! omffiel>. bet pecise G
(Ce eee p
ae. stud Va
bd eke

However, here in our earliest story, | faith is a
AES Lee TY

matter of following the voice\\ trust‘ing the

promise, and courage to live without security,
er leiieeeencteiad

relying on God's providence. \ Abraham isn't much of
Me er | ie |

a theologian, lis not an abstract thinker | doesn't
( a,

say anything about the nature of God. | He simply

entrusts his future to God. | It's what_faith is in
the Bibte.\ precivon-beriring-toneninsoacbant( ¥C5/)/) 5 drus L
Crt the eee TIE ot reer reer S seal O ie Crypts

va " Faith surely doesn't mean saintliness if by
Pe

See

that word we mean the steadfast avoidance of the

moral ambiguities of life in the world.\ Read on.

As soon as Abraham is finished showing us what
Sea fess SE

faith means he ends up in Egypt looking for food

and because Sarah is an attractive woman and he
ee oS ee, ere

knows will catch the eye of the Egyptians,

eee

convinces her to pretend she is his sister instead
$e

eR Ay

of his wife ~ to save his own skin, which is what

hanpens.\\ Sarah ends up as one of Pharoh's

We

concubines for a while and Abraham gets rich
eS

== =...

J- 1

because of the arrangement... until Pharoh
Mine a te PS ee

discovers that she is actually Abraham's wife and

returns her promptly.\ It is an appalling story, a
——_

tale of moral ambiguity and human culpabitity.| And
ps ee Wmpwenres ee

it demonstrates that faith is not moral

ome TT

saint liness.

Abraham and Sarah also have a word to us

=

personal ly. \in Alvin Toffler's important book

pee

several years ago, Future Shock, he argued that the
we wit idc jin the world around

way cope h rap hange

us and the mobility that makes us feel like modern

nomads is by building into our lives what he called
per eas .

“personal stability zones"..s ene y OF
Lal a,

the rapid change to ih they are-subiscted some

people restore datepattemebiles,| wear Clothing

——

styles of earlier gras, |opbetfPigidly tgdated
routines. Likert tfansience and turnaver jeave most
thingS-e-Fep-gfabs, te“what do“people’ cling? \ At
the deepes2veT what ev or ing 2 is a 'god.""
[see Proclamétion 4. Lent, RobDert-tushes. ]

Ad ices: ail AER

meme 12

Ola \\ Woga mann

, takes
i

. Geo tthe trauents of fait te
+o

Te ave clingi®® 7 “nostalgic vision.

- a (vision of piety and church life as we knew it
Pee Sete te ep
or as we fancy others knew it.\ It is faith turned

a similar t

inward and backward...\ In purely personal terms,

eeeea EEE,

it may recollect that 'no spot is so dear to my
|

a

childhood as the little brown church in the dale,'«
the cherishing of familiar sentimental hymns, the

clinging to childhood images of faith and childhood
expressions of prayer." Jie. 12-13]

The fact is we are talking about_something
that is a very real_part of modern Tife. \ change is

frightening, threatening. \ut belongs to our
—— - ee

—

humanity to want and need security, not adventure
(RO SESS

F enieteiettnl

and when things outside get a little unstable, to

devisd "personal stability zones.) Religion often

Eee get

becomes one... an experience we can count on to not

eee a eee

need change. and to be full of reminders of a

eee *ee

. gentler, more stable past. x

es pla
yan ~ Fleery f sak of pte
we (icin gucta, eH olin
Pacer | Picdeetius of he Gptlyp 25°
wa} a steel 7l-# hd a fipr-

— th
rf ‘tl pad
The Abraham and a story is a personal

summons to let go of #@as and to see our lives as a

ete (Ms

faith journey. It is a summons to think anew, to
nl =

entertain the truly Biblical notion that God is and
i Eo

has always been present in our own lives calling,

pushiing,\ prodding| enab1 ing, discreetly and

subtlety urging us into a new future \ work ing
rs —

against our tenagnsy to settle down and noun in

aur horizons and live with predictability but not

Dae

much hope.\ The story is an invitation to think of

your own past as a kind of Sacred Journey, but also

eee
your Future, ack Buasbnemrtren sr sao >

d time was

= pps
ce
8 fre invitation is to trust téa™® God with
=, ed

our future\ To let go of the securities and
ee

teenie 4
certainties we have come to depend on.\ To see that
MEE rr aie Pe ee

we have made gods of them ‘\our igvestments) our

our relat ionships,\ our pension plans.

"Whatever your heart clings to and relies

upon is your god,"/Martin Luther said. \ hig very
ees a _———.,.,,

ald story invites you to identify whatever that is
J

, cnn iidd canal

in your life and to let it go:\ to live without the

security and ego support it has provided you and to
cling to God.\ God of the future,| God of the
ae ey [ niianiianiaiian A

journey.

Se

Tris very old story reflects another story
So ee

actually. \ The story of a man who one day walked by

fishermen mending their nets and said, follow me," )
=e ey

and they laid down their nets and fol Toned: \ a

Ses

story of the one who calls us to discipleship which
= Toe

mR SS

always means trusting him aysglutely with our lives

ee ee oy

~ our futures - even our deaths, letting go of
Sano

ee
De

everything.
==.

The promise to Abraham was that there would

be a future \artanctranheimcene thereat torr to
eeiienst te

Abraham, of course, wasn't personally going to see

much of any of it.| So what Abraham gets for

trusting and following is God_- God's company,
ferewe oy —_— te

God's presence, \cod's promise) God's love.
‘Lo, I am with you always," Jesus said, "to
the very end of the age."

Even in the darkness “I am with you." | Even

on the bad days as well as the good days | the

ambiguous days, \he days of failure as well as

Pere Snes

success - on every day of your journey (‘I am wi th

you" which is why it is a Sacred Journey.
Seen, ”

When I was reading in preparation for this
qn
sermon I happened upon something that illustrates.
— pene
I was reading in Volume 1 of the Interpreter's
Bible, a ten volume commentary on the whole Bible,
ey eRe ay,

a slightly out-of-date, but still reliable standard

reference work. pa —. ten Vely ms
VO tHae=eet-—-—I happen to own because a dear
og See eae |

friend of mine left a note in her papers that if I
eT see TL oe,

j- 16

were stil] around when she died, she'd like for me

Ces | Coe

to have her set\ She was a widow - a woman for
a te Cece

whom the word “lady” is an appropriate description.

Bote

She was active in church and civic affairs.

For years she and a group of similar women met
eg Cie

weekly to read and talk about the Bible. / They were

emia

iterate and well-to-do enough that some of them

owned the whole Interpreter's Bible. |r impressed

me when I saw them on her shelves and I told her.

It was on that same occasion that she alluded to

the sadness and profound pain in her Tife:| how she

had had to think new thoughts and do things she
le ey Sate

never imagined she would have to do in order to
Sam See

maintain the most precious thing in her life, her

= tbr See

relationship with her only daughter. | She_reljated

ee

how very difficult it was for her,| both to keep

some semblance of a relationship alive but also to
ee

live without the grandchildren_and normal fami ly

Ly,

support she always assumed would give her comfort

and joy in old age...\ This little group of women,
Yen |

faithfully and quietly reading the Bible, had

J- 17

essmun“
p lbw ver

‘ L-.
sustained her for her very arduous journey. { And so
—a ad ee

I was touched when reading the commentary for
eceeneeetihaeiaiiied

eee

Genesis 12 and came upon a paragraph —- which my
in

friend Peggy under ined Il imagine, maybe on a day
al — a

when her own journey was particularly difficult.

"Faith is not the anchor but the hoisted sail, \ It is
BE i

not the ship in harbour but the ship that puts out To sea. (it is
=

ee .

not holding onto something that is, but exploration and adventure

a Sere _— ee

toward something vaster that lies ahead."
net,

[ lnterpreters-Bib le WOl 1 pe b681,
God called Abraham and Sarah.\ God promised
emma

them a future.

God calls you, \nherever you are, whoever you
Ee ffi

are.
God grant you and me - to hear the call,

faith to follow and courage for the adventure, {rhe
vi ne eee | —

Sacred Journey.
ia

# 8 86# #

You call us into the future, O God.. and you

ask us to trust our lives to you. We confess that
it is not easy todo. So in addition to your call,
we ask for courage to follow and strength for the
Journey. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

J/- 19