Dan Hans Daniel T. Hans
Second Presbyterian Church
Sermons: April 13, 2008

"Marching Off the Map"

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Today we begin a journey together leading to an unknown future. For us the mysterious future is a vast wilderness like that into which Daniel Boone plunged that was later named Kentucky and a remote region like that where William McConnell set up camp in June, 1775 on a site that was later named Lexington. What lies ahead carries an element of mystery that can evoke fear. What better way to commence our journey toward the unknown tomorrow than with the passage where Abraham, the father of biblical faith, is called by God to go on a long journey to he-knows-not-where.

Scripture Readings:
Genesis 12: 1-9; Hebrews 11: 1-3, 8-12

Genesis 12: 1-9
Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."

So Abram went, as the LORD had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. Abram took his wife Sarai and his brother's son Lot, and all the possessions that they had gathered, and the persons whom they had acquired in Haran; and they set forth to go to the land of Canaan. When they had come to the land of Canaan, Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land.

Then the LORD appeared to Abram, and said, "To your offspring I will give this land." So he built there an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him. From there he moved on to the hill country on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; and there he built an altar to the LORD and invoked the name of the LORD. And Abram journeyed on by stages toward the Negeb.

Hebrews 11: 1-3, 8-12
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Indeed, by faith our ancestors received approval. By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible.
...

By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to set out for a place that he was to receive as an inheritance; and he set out, not knowing where he was going.

By faith he stayed for a time in the land he had been promised, as in a foreign land, living in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he looked forward to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.

By faith he received power of procreation, even though he was too old -- and Sarah herself was barren -- because he considered him faithful who had promised.

Therefore from one person, and this one as good as dead, descendants were born, "as many as the stars of heaven and as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore." (NRSV)

I

Abraham’s appearance marks a new phase in the book of Genesis. From the two creation poems through the fall and flood to the Tower of Babel, we see stories not about specific people but about all people, accounts that are not historical but are trans-historical. In Genesis 1 – 11, we see how human sin, the willful rejection of God’s ways, shatters the human condition and scatters the human community in all times and all places and among all people. Then, with the call to Abraham, a unity and purpose emerge. As Old Testament scholar and former Pace-Warren lecturer Walter Brueggemann put it: "The one who calls the worlds into being now makes a second call. This call is specific. Its object is identifiable in history." (Genesis, p. 105)

The call to Abraham on the heels of the fall and flood stories confirms that regardless of what happens to us or what we do as a community or as individuals, God never gives up on us. In Abraham and his wife Sarah, we see a faith that does not stop but is ever moving forward from something to something in response to God’s call. This is the faith that you and I, as congregation and pastor, need in order to move forward toward whatever it is that God has in store for us. This active faith, always in motion, has three distinct features.

　II

First, faith requires moving beyond the comfortable and familiar. Abraham’s exodus from big city life in Ur (in southern Iraq) to rural life in Canaan (modern Israel) was not particularly unique in 1900 B.C. There are documented population relocations throughout the Middle East at that time due to natural disaster and political unrest. The uniqueness of Abraham’s journey arises from its motivation. In a deeply personal way, which only those who listen will hear, God spoke to Abraham with a simple command: "Go! Go from your country and your kindred to the land I will show you. Go from the comfortable and familiar into the unknown."

I don’t get a chance to read much fiction but one of my favorite fiction writers is Jack London whose stories, like The Call of the Wild, are set in the wilderness of Canada and Alaska. London opens one of his short stories entitled "In a Far Country" with words that must have filled Abraham’s mind: "When a man journeys into a far country, he must be prepared to forget many of the things he has learned … he must abandon the old ideals and the old gods and reverse the very codes by which his conduct has hitherto been shaped." (To Build a Fire and Other Stories, p. 21)

Abraham left the comfortable and familiar surroundings of his established life to go somewhere where he could further explore and respond to a new faith that was awakening within him. Abraham did not suddenly find religion. He had religion all of his life. His hometown of Ur was one of the most religious places on the planet with its thousands of gods directing every aspect of life. Abraham left his familiar religion centered on its many small gods to pursue an unknown faith in one mighty and mysterious God.

In the call to Abraham and Sarah, John Calvin saw God’s call to all of us to let go of the familiar in order to give ourselves to God. How willing are we to do that? How open are we to set aside old notions of religion and old ways of "doing church" so that God can speak to us today in a new way?

That question is as unnerving to me as it is to you. And yet, it is in letting go of the familiar and reaching for the new that we draw closer to God. If you are anything like me, the times when you have feel closest to God are those times when events are beyond your control and you have to open up to the future - unknown though that future is.

I don’t think I have ever felt closer to God’s presence than on that afternoon early in my senior year of college as I walked out of the office of Dr. Sam Shaff, the professional school advisor. After having met with Dr. Shaff for three years discussing entrance into medical school, that afternoon I announced I was pursuing a new calling in my life to go into the ministry. Despite three years of preparation being set aside, God was never closer to me. Faith requires us at times to move beyond the comfortable and familiar.

　III

Second, faith is moving ahead with a sense of purpose. This purpose may be vague and its path pitted with risks; nevertheless, faith requires a purposeful movement forward. Without a sense of purpose life seems only to go in circles. It’s like going to Wal-Mart to buy a waste basket for your new home and having the sales clerk put the basket into a plastic bag. The when you get home you take the basket out of the bag and put the bag into the basket – unless you recycle, which you should do!

What I find most striking about Abraham and most threatening to me personally is Abraham’s response to God’s command: "Go. Go to the land that I will show you." Abraham is told nothing about this land to which he is to go. No Pastoral Nominating Committee gives him a heads up. He simply is told to go and later it says: "So Abraham went!"

A favorite story with all three of our kids was the Dr. Suess book Marvin K. Mooney. A decree-from-above is given to Marvin K. Mooney to "go". He is not told where he is to go or why. A series of methods of travel is given to Marvin in typical Suessian fashion. Then the voice concludes: "I don’t care how you go; just get!" The story ends with these three words: "So Marvin went!" Marvin K. Mooney was told to go, so Marvin went. Abraham was told to go, so Abraham went!

Do we trust the Voice enough to go when we hear the call to go or to stay when we hear the call to stay? Go to a new job or go into a new relationship or go in a new direction that can bring greater meaning and purpose for our lives. Or stay at an existing job or stay in a current relationship or stay on the same course and seek new meaning and purpose where we are. Is our faith willing to risk going or staying even though we are given no hint of the outcome? Is our faith listening to God’s call to us for our future?

Abraham is told to go so that God might bless him with many descendents who would be a blessing to all people everywhere. For Abraham and for us, being blessed by God is inseparable from being a blessing to others.

Abraham was blessed to be a blessing. Blessed to be a blessing is the theme of an in-depth Bible study course called the Bethel Bible Series that I have taught in two previous churches and that I hope to introduce here at Second.

In my church in Gettysburg, over 300 people have taken this two year course that covers the entire Bible. Those who have taken this purposeful course have been blessed with greater faith that has led them to become a blessing to others.

Having been told to go, Abraham went with an emerging faith grounded in God’s purpose for his life. Only with a sense of directing purpose can we dare to move ahead leaving behind the comfortable and familiar. I left the comfort and familiarity of a 20 year ministry in Gettysburg to come to Lexington because I believe that you and I together can do some great things to be a blessing to others. This is not to say that faith is easy. Faith is never easy since moving forward requires taking risks. And risks are within the realm of God’s purpose. Faith is moving beyond the comfortable and familiar and moving ahead with a sense of purpose despite the risks.

IV

Third, faith is moving toward the unknown as an act of obedience. Of Abraham the New Testament Letter to the Hebrews says: "By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to set out for a place that he was to receive as an inheritance; and he set out, not knowing where he was going." Abraham obeyed without knowing the specifics.

Faith is obedience to something that comes to us from beyond us and comes to us from the Someone who is greater than us, greater than all of us in our combined power and wisdom. Faith is obedience to God’s Word for our lives. And yet, that Word is not always clear and seldom, if ever, is the destination toward which that Word points fully known. God simply says: Go to where I will lead you. There are no maps or GPSes for this journey of faith.

That being said, I’ve never understood why it is that men seem less interested in faith than do women. If faith is a challenge to go forward without a specific map plotting the exact course to take, then shouldn’t we guys jump on faith because as we proceed forward the person sitting next to us can’t tell us to stop and ask directions!

In claiming that there is no specific map for the faith journey, I do not discount the value of the Scriptures for offering direction. Without the Bible, which shows us the life and teaching of Jesus, we have little knowledge of God and God’s will for our lives. But the Bible is more a compass pointing in a general direction than a map outlining the exact route. Part of our frustration with faith is we expect the Bible to be a map leading us to specific answers for life’s complex dilemmas. The Bible is no such map.

If it was we wouldn’t need faith, we wouldn’t need to trust in God. The Bible is a compass pointing toward the direction of God’s will, offering guidance even as we move ahead into unknown and confusing territory.

This compass needle pointing toward God’s ways can make a radical and necessary difference in our lives and in our church when we follow its lead.

So far, I have given several images of faith. The one I most hope you will take with you comes from an account of the life of Alexander the Great, the leader of Greece who had conquered the known world by the time of his death at age 33 in 323 B.C. The Greek army had followed Alexander across modern day Turkey and Iran into India. There they discovered they had marched completely off the map. Their Greek maps had nothing but blank space where eastern India and China exist. Marching off the map, moving toward the unknown, is God’s call. Fred Buechner said of faith: "It is not being sure where you’re going but going anyway…[being on] a journey without maps. (Wishful Thinking, p. 25)

How can we do that? How can we dare take even one step toward the unknown? We can do it because we do not go alone. The God who commands: "Go" also promises: "I will go with you." That is the promise needed by the family of little six-year-old Ellie Copeland with a brain tumor as they begin their journey toward the unknown. While the journey of faith takes us toward the unknown, we travel with the One who is known, who has made his love, his purpose, his will, and his Self all known to us through his Son Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.

So, march on even when we find ourselves beyond the comfort and familiarity of our old maps. March on even when the going seems risky.

March on because God has a purpose for our lives. March on because we are not alone. We are never alone. God goes with us toward whatever God has in store for us in the Promised Land called tomorrow.