1 St. James United Church Genesis 12: 1-2; 15: 3-6; 21: 1-4; 22: 8-12 Sunday September 27, 2015

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Cuthbert Reed
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1 1 Prayer: Let the words of my mouth, and the meditations of all our hearts, be inspired by you and acceptable to you, O Lord, for you are our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen (Psalm 19:14) Sermon: Previously, in The Story, chapter 1: Creation. In 6 days God created everything, proclaimed it all good, even us, and on the 7 th day he rested delighting in all that he made. Made in God s image we are created for God s glory; for his good pleasure. Then came the Fall; Adam and Eve disobeyed God, ate fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good & Evil, their relationship with God was broken, and they were expelled from garden Then there was Noah. Through him God washes the slate clean, forgives humankind, and we begin again to learn how to live in loving, trusting relationship with God and one another. Chapter 2 in the story begins, Once upon a time there was a man named Abram. Abram lived in Haran (actually years before his family had moved there from Ur). Abram and his wife Sarai were very old. Life s journeys & adventures lay behind them, they thought. Life was quiet and peaceful. They were content. God was good. They d been blessed, even though they had no children. If anyone had dared tell Abram that the best was yet to be, he would have said, No! Can t be! Abram was about to learn that his God, the one true God, was a God of Yes! Call of Abram: Abram s story begins like this; (Read 12:1-2) Abram is 75 years old when he hears God call him. 75, not an easy age to start over. But Abram and Sarai (Lot too, his nephew) they pack up; leave home (Haran) and family, to follow God to a new land God will show them. It s a journey not mapped out in days or weeks or miles, but in prayers. Along the way each time Abram heard God s voice he would stop and build an altar to the Lord, to mark the place of presence of the Lord. Wouldn t it be beautiful if the landscapes we travelled, all the places we went, roads we travelled were dotted with altars; signs of God s presence? Maybe they are.

2 2 Anyway, after walking for a really long time, they get to Canaan and guess what they find there? This new land is not so new. It s already full of people (Canaanites). What? This is it? No! says Abram. Yes! says God. (12:7) This is it. To your offspring I will give this land. But then there s a famine, so they go to Egypt, live there for while, get into trouble with Pharoah, pass Sarai off as Abram s sister, thinking her such Pharoah marries her, and when the deception is revealed they are thrown out of Egypt. Back to Canaan they go. Lot moves to Sodom (only bad things happen there). Lot gets kidnapped. Abram has to rescue him. Abram receives the High-Priest s (Melchizedek s) blessing for his efforts. God never said getting to the Promised Land would be easy. Covenant: Finally, life settles down. Peace and quiet at last, or so they think. When Abram has a vision. Don t be afraid says God. I am your shield. Your reward shall be great. (15;1) Reward? Hah! What reward? War. Famine. And still I have no children. No! says Abram. Yes! says God. Look up. Look to heaven. Count the stars. See them, says God. So shall your descendants be. (15:5) As a sign of my promise to you I give you a new name. No longer will you be Abram, but Abraham (mng Father of many ). This shall be as a sign of the covenant between us. Sarah laughs: Then one day the Lord appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre as he sat in the door of his tent. Abraham looked up and saw 3 visitors passing by. Seeing them, Abraham ran to meet them. Come, let us offer you something to eat, a little drink, and a place to rest. While Abraham sat and visited with the men, Sarah worked preparing the meal. Then one of the visitors (angels actually) said something shocking, When we return this way again your wife will have a son.

3 3 Now Sarah, who was well past the age for children, overheard them. What, shall I who am old, and whose husband is old, still have pleasure? She began to laugh. No! said Sarah. Yes! said God. But, God is good. In due course Sarah gave Abraham a son, and they called him Isaac (mng laughter) (21:1). And so happy was Sarah, so filled with joy, she hoped everyone who could hear would laugh with her (18:14), Is anything too wonderful for the Lord? she giggled. Sacrifice of Isaac: After a few years God decided to test Abraham. Take Isaac, whom you love, God said, take him up into the mountains, and there offer him as burnt offering. (22:2) So Abraham saddled up the donkey, took Isaac & 2 young men with him, cut the wood for the fire, and went to the place God showed him. Confused by this, Isaac asked, Father, you have the fire and the wood, but the where is the lamb? Abraham answered, (I imagine with tears in his eyes), God will provide, he said. Reaching the place, Abraham built an altar, bound Isaac, and set him on the wood, and raised his knife to make the sacrifice. No! No! say we (to violence and death) Yes! Yes! says God to life, to faithfulness, to love. At the last second God intervenes and Isaac is spared. God says to Abraham, by your offspring shall all nations of the earth be blessed, for you have obeyed my voice. (22:17) There will be time for sacrifice, but not now. In the years to come it will Jesus, God s own son, who will die a cross, so that we might be saved. Isaac, Jacob & Esau, Joseph & brothers: To the end God is faithful, true to his word; there s land, a name, offspring, blessing. All these God gives to Abraham just as he promised. Life was never without its trials(isaac had 2 sons Jacob and Esau, Jacob betrayed his father and stole his brother s birthright for a bowl of stew; Jacob had 12 sons, Joseph (his favourite) was thrown in a pit, carried of to Egypt in chains, rose in Pharaoh s ranks, and saved the family who d turned against him. Always there was hardship, then blessing, more hardship, then another blessing, but God was faithful through it all, echoing the promise, I will make you a blessing! Our God is a God of Yes!

4 4 Abraham s is a story of new beginnings. After creation, fall & flood, God is doing a new thing. This morning we will have (had) a meeting on the future of St. James. It is a chance to listen, to pray, and to discern God s new thing for SJUC, and everyone s input is needed. But what can we learn from Abraham? Abraham and Sarah thought they were too old. Abraham is 75 when he first hears God s speak to him. God uses unlikely people to accomplish his purpose. Why shouldn t it be so with us? We may think too old, too tired, too comfortable, too hard, too deep in debt, but these things don t stop God. When God has a plan he uses anyone he can (even us). Jeremiah was too young. David, too small. Ruth was a foreigner. Jesus, a baby. Saul/Paul the apostle (who persecuted Christians) was too mean. God uses anyone and everyone he can to further his plan for mending for the world, even us. Just look at the gifts, and talents, the love for God, the legacy of faith, and the beautiful creations of God (all of you) that are in this place. God has given you a gift to use for his glory, and with which to bless the world. That s why he made you. You may not think you can, may have every reason not to try, but God made you you for a reason. There s something he needs you to do. It may be hard, but remember after hardship always comes blessing. God uses unlikely people to accomplish his purposes. (pause ) The very 1 st time God speaks to Abram what does he say? (12:1 have someone read) God says Go! To get to a new place you ve got to move. Abraham left behind family and home to follow God to the land God would show him, a new land of promise and blessing. New beginnings mean leaving behind some things, carrying on with others. To go some place new, means like for Abraham, we gotta move. We don t hear much

5 5 (nothing actually) about the family Abraham leaves behind in Haran, those who stayed put. God s story is with those who move, with Abraham, as together they venture into the unknown. It may be hard, scary, strange beyond recognition (them be Canaanites here) but it is the grace of God that gets us there safely and together. How are we being called to move? Another thing that stands out about Abraham is this, he trusted God. Abraham s no was never about what God could/couldn t do. It was about what Abraham couldn t even imagine God doing. Land? No. Descendants more numerous and the grains of dust on the ground? (13:16) No! That Abraham would become a blessing to others? No! Abraham trusted God, even when he couldn t see or imagine what new thing God was doing, and God reckoned it to him as righteousness. (pause ) As we step into the future, vision together, listen to each other, make plans, we do so trusting because God is always faithful. Whatever steps we take, or direction we go, God is with us, and we put our whole trust in him. He will never let us down. Trust is hard. It s really hard! It means unleashing our grip on fear and doubt - like stepping off a cliff and trusting God will catch us, but God does this over and over again. That s God s promise to Abraham and to us in Jesus. I am with you always, says the Lord, and I will never let you go. God took an aging farmer and his barren wife and gave them a land, a new name, and descendants beyond number. Who could have ever imagined? But that s the thing with God; he isn t limited by the size of our imagination, the smallness of our dreams, or the extent of our resources. God takes the seemingly impossible, the utterly improbable, the hopeless, and turns it into reality and a sign of his blessing. (pause ) Imagine old Abraham standing there looking up toward heaven and seeing all those stars. It s not possible he thinks, there s so many.

6 6 That same wonder and awe and limitless sky full of potential is for us too. That star; a new mission opportunity. That star ; a new children s ministry. And that star; that s all God s people praising God. And that star over there; that star strangers welcomed, that star people rejoicing in the Lord, that s God s people working together, practicing forgiveness, welcoming strangers, loving one another, loving their enemies, praying for them, and that star the possibilities are as numerous as the stars in the sky. Oh yeah, and the brightest stars? The ones you don t see? Don t worry, says God, it s just I haven t shown them to you yet, but I will, and you will be amazed beyond belief. Nothing, absolutely nothing, is impossible with God. (Ask someone to read 12:1) Now, the Lord said to Abraham. What s the first word? NOW. What if right now, this very minute God ripped a great big hole in the ceiling, and with all of us sitting here gathered together for worship, we heard God s voice (actually what we come to church for), and what if God spoke, and he were to say to us the very words he said to Abraham so long ago, right here, right to us, right now, Go from here, this place, to a land that I will show you? Could we be like Abraham? Would we go? Nothing is impossible for God. Nothing is impossible with God; sky s the limit. With God the possibilities as endless as the heavens, and more numerous than the stars, so let s choose trust. Let s let our answer not be No! but rather be God s Yes! Then let us hold onto God and onto each other as we set out to see this new land God will show us. Amen.

Session 2: from Abram to Egypt Bible Study in Plain English

Session 2: from Abram to Egypt Bible Study in Plain English By Bill Huebsch Session Two: From Abraham to Egypt! Abraham & Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob, Esau and the road to Egypt Ancestors in Faith.