February 17, 2008 - "God is Calling"

Title: “God is Calling”
Text: Genesis 12:1-4a
Day: Lent 2A
Date: February 14, 2008

This morning, we heard the call story of Abram (or Abraham), which made me realize that I have not yet shared my call story with all of you, and I guess it’s about time. So, here it goes…

Most of you know that I grew up in suburban Detroit, where I was raised in the Roman Catholic Church. I was always very active in our parish singing in choirs, participating in youth group activities, even joining the parish council for a while. But then I went away to college. I left my homeland of Detroit and went to school in Flagstaff, Arizona.

Now, being so far away from family had its ups and downs. On the one hand, I was completely on my own. I had to be sure to get enough to eat. I had to learn to do my own laundry. I didn’t have my parents around anymore to drive me where I needed to go. On the other hand, I was completely on my own. I didn’t need to obey any kind of curfew. I didn’t need to check with my parents if I wanted to go to someone’s house for dinner. And…I didn’t have my parents around making sure that I went to church. So, I didn’t.

Actually, I didn’t make my way back to church again for several months. What was it that got me to come back to church again, you ask? Well…it was a girl. (Not Eryn!)

I had been interested in dating this girl for a long time, and one day she came up to me and said, “Hey, Tim. If you come to church with me, maybe we can get some dinner together afterwards.” What I heard was: “Blah blah blah blah blah…dinner!” And so I eagerly and excitedly said YES! She brought me to the Lutheran Campus Ministry where she introduced me to the Pastor. I attended worship (which I really enjoyed!) and we went to dinner (which I really REALLY enjoyed!).

The next week this girl asked me to do the same thing. I agreed, and so we went to the Campus Ministry center for worship. I walked in the door and the Pastor remembered my name. And that simple gesture was enough to hook me into the church once again.

In the following years I became more and more involved in the Campus Ministry programs and leadership. And eventually, I started getting this funny feeling that I might be a good pastor myself. But I snuffed those ideas out because I was already well on my way to earning my degree in German. I was going to be a German professor, not a pastor. And I thought that if I wanted to be a pastor, that would mean that I would have to change my degree to Religious Studies or something. So, I just put that idea out of my mind and went along with business as usual.

But a few weeks later, I went to have lunch with the campus pastor. I sat down and without any small-talk or anything he just said, “So, Tim, I want to know why you’re not going to seminary.” I was floored! How could he have known? So, I started rattling off excuses, and for every reason that I gave for why I didn’t want to go, he gave me one reason for why I should. And in the weeks to follow, more and more people started approaching me and affirming my gifts for ministry. Eventually, I realized that God apparently doesn’t speak to us by dropping huge neon signs to earth saying “TIM, GO TO SEMINARY!” Instead, God speaks to us through others.

So, I got myself all set on the track to go through seminary. But I have to admit, I was scared. It all seemed to happen so fast. I kept doubting my call, thinking that I really didn’t have the gifts to be a pastor. I knew that I was being called to something new, but it was scary to leave behind what was comfortable.

Now, Abram’s call story that we heard in the Old Testament reading today is maybe not so detailed. There is no mention of a rebellious teenager named Abe who wanders away from God only to be brought back by some beautiful woman. Instead, we have an already weathered old man married to a barren woman named Sarai. They were already well established in Haran. They had family all around them. They were comfortable. They were happy. They were just chillin’.

But God suddenly approaches Abram one day and tells him to GO! Go away from all of this. Go away from your comfortable country. Go away from your kind kindred. Go away from your happy house, and instead go to the land I will show you. Just go!

Now, I’m all for following God’s commands, but this one strikes me as pretty risky. He tells Abram to leave everything behind, all the things that he would have held most dear, and instead to go. But notice that God is not so specific yet about where this “land I will show you” is! It’s like God is telling Abram to uproot himself and just start walking. Just go!

Well, maybe it’s just me, but that just sounds stupid! Who would do that? Who would simply leave everything behind – friends, family, possessions – and just start walking, trusting that God would guide them? Who would take that kind of a risk? Who would do that?

Not surprisingly, we find numerous stories throughout the Bible in which people do just that. Of course we have Abraham, but also Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, Samuel, David, Solomon, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, the disciples, Paul, and…let’s see…who else…oh yeah…JESUS!

The Bible provides numerous examples of call stories that sound just like this one. And if we think about it, call stories today sound remarkably similar. Usually they involve God calling a person or a group of people out of the comfortable, known world in which they live, and into the unknown, perhaps uncomfortable and unfamiliar “world out there.”

Yesterday, the elected leaders of this congregation and I spent several hours at our first annual Council Retreat. The purpose of this retreat was for us to get to know one another better on a personal level, but also (and maybe more importantly) for us to begin discerning where God is calling us as a congregation. I asked them to keep their ears open to hear the whisperings of the Holy Spirit. I asked them to keep their eyes open to the workings of God in our midst. I asked them to keep their minds open to the possibilities that are before us as a congregation. This, of course, is just the beginning of the conversation. It will take a long time for us to discern how and where God is calling us, but it is a faithful task, a holy process that we should be eager to do.

But, boy, is it scary!

I think that phrase must have been going through Abram’s mind as he took that first step. But he trusted that God would not forsake him. He trusted that God would be right there with him. He trusted that God would somehow, some way provide for him. This trust in God must have flowed from the promises that God made to Abram just after he told him to GO. “I will make of you a great nation,” God said, “and I will bless you, so that you will be a blessing.”

Note what God DOESN’T say here: God does not promise a gain in wealth or possessions. God does not promise that Abram would be well-liked wherever he goes. God does not promise that he would always be successful. Instead, God promises that Abram would be BLESSED. That other stuff might come along with being blessed, but that is certainly not the focus. Being blessed is simply about being in a right relationship with God.

So, Abram took the first step. He began what was certainly a daring, risky, some might even say naïve journey into the unknown. But he started this journey with the full confidence that God would be with him. He did it knowing that God would not forsake him. He did it trusting that God was faithful to his word.

And I don’t know about you, but that gives me some motivation to take a few daring steps of my own. It gives me the courage to really start listening and discerning God’s call to me and to this congregation. It gives me the faith to know that God will be with us, through thick and thin, in joy and sorrow, in success and failure, in trust and doubt.

So, I invite you to join me. Open your eyes, ears and minds to the call of God for yourself and for this congregation. And once you have discerned that call, let us follow Abram’s example and enter boldly into the unknown, uncertain, uncomfortable future together. Let us be bold in taking that first, scary step.

Amen.