(Graphic is "Icon of Abraham, Sarah, and Moses"; ca 2000, Dmitry Shkolnik; St. Paul Orthodox Church; Dayton, Ohio)
Lectionary Scripture Focus - Gensis 17:1-7,15-16 NRSV
When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless. And I will make my covenant between me and you, and will make you exceedingly numerous.”
Then Abram fell on his face; and God said to him, “As for me, this is my covenant with you: You shall be the ancestor of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you the ancestor of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. I will establish my covenant between me and you, and your offspring after you throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you.”
God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall give rise to nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.”
Reflection on the Scripture:
I ran into a question for the above scripture. The question asks preachers to speak to the following this coming Sunday:
- Have you received God’s call and if so how has it changed your life?
- What gift has God offered you and how did you receive it and then share it?
I don’t know about you, but I think that God’s calling for you is one of God’s most important gifts. So what do you think? If you think “yes”, then there’s probably another question or two to consider, such as, “Have you found the faith needed for living out God’s gift? And if you have, where is God trying to lead you with it?”
Having asked such questions, I fervently hope you will take some time this week to consider truly unencumbered unfettered responses. Please get your head outside of your normal routine. Get it outside your usual frame of thinking, particularly as it relates to the ways that organized religion governs us. Let your mind and spirit be truly free from those encumbrances. Let God get you outside of the God-management system you installed in your life some time ago. Ask yourself, “Am I genuinely open to what God needs me to be and where God needs me working – especially in light of God’s calling and gifts to me? If so, am I willing to let all that change me in the ways that it will sacrificially require?” All I can say is that if you’re going to let God be God, then it will be crucial to realize how fantastic a job we humans have done domesticating God and minimizing God’s influence over our lives.
Having asked such questions, I fervently hope you will take some time this week to consider truly unencumbered unfettered responses. Please get your head outside of your normal routine. Get it outside your usual frame of thinking, particularly as it relates to the ways that organized religion governs us. Let your mind and spirit be truly free from those encumbrances. Let God get you outside of the God-management system you installed in your life some time ago. Ask yourself, “Am I genuinely open to what God needs me to be and where God needs me working – especially in light of God’s calling and gifts to me? If so, am I willing to let all that change me in the ways that it will sacrificially require?” All I can say is that if you’re going to let God be God, then it will be crucial to realize how fantastic a job we humans have done domesticating God and minimizing God’s influence over our lives.
Abraham is actually a great example to look at for such things. If you’ll come to the truth of who Abraham was, you’ll discover that by the age of 99, he was a complete and utter jerk. He thought of himself before he thought of others. He lived a paranoid life. He didn’t trust anyone. His God-management system (a term from author, Samir Selmanovic) involved not trusting God at all. In fact, it took quite a few times of God directly and dramatically stepping into Abraham’s life before he started trusting God in the slightest. Abraham even put his wife in danger to protect himself! Now if that doesn’t say something in terms of how foolish and detestable the man was, then I don’t know what will. Straight and simple, Abraham gladly deceived others. Lying, for Abraham, was a perfectly acceptable art-form.
As I listened this week to a podcast of Luther Seminary professors talking about the deeply flawed character of Abraham, they said things that struck me as quite important. One is that our God-management systems have domesticated us so thoroughly that most of us in the developed world have very little understanding or appreciation of what it means to live out our faith in a manner that genuinely and sacrificially lets God be God. For example, our weekly gatherings of our God-management systems have mostly evolved into a form of a social club. Our faith communities often make this choice rather than gathering for the purpose of decidedly determining what our next step will be in the coming week toward transforming the world into a just and peaceable place – at least our little corner of it.
As I listened this week to a podcast of Luther Seminary professors talking about the deeply flawed character of Abraham, they said things that struck me as quite important. One is that our God-management systems have domesticated us so thoroughly that most of us in the developed world have very little understanding or appreciation of what it means to live out our faith in a manner that genuinely and sacrificially lets God be God. For example, our weekly gatherings of our God-management systems have mostly evolved into a form of a social club. Our faith communities often make this choice rather than gathering for the purpose of decidedly determining what our next step will be in the coming week toward transforming the world into a just and peaceable place – at least our little corner of it.
Now, I can hear annoyance from people already, but let’s be truthful. We only let God be God up to the point that it discomforts us. When that begins to happen, we humans are more often like Abraham. We immediately turn to looking after ourselves and protecting what makes us comfortable and secure. If need be, some of us will lie and plot and scheme and disguise our words and try to find refuge in the language of being a victim. We’ll even put others at risk. As a pastor and mental health professional, trying to be responsive to the leadings of God in my life and for the congregations I served and supported, I have seen this dynamic occur far too often. In one congregation, I couldn’t believe the number of times a small circle of seniors -- supposed persons of faith -- willingly engaged in lying and outright deceit in their efforts to derail the Spirit at work in their midst. They were not about to let God change their comfortable God-management system so their congregation’s resources could be put to better use for God’s just and peaceable reign. The sad difference between that congregation and Abraham is that Abraham finally came around to accepting God’s calling and God’s gifts to him – from there a multitude of nations resulted. Last I heard about the congregation, it’s numbers continue to dwindle. Likely it will die and close down or have to merge with some other dying or dwindling congregation given the declining attendance trends underway in most churches.
Who knows or can say what accepting the gift of God’s calling will entail. For Abraham and Sarah, their remaining years of life would be planting and nurturing the seed and children that would “give rise to nations.”
There will be no rise of nations from the ministry I do in the years ahead. I have no illusions about that, but I remain surprised at the uniquely different ways that God continues to bring me back to the calling and gift of calling that occurred May 26th of last year (see post “My Recent Journey"). In very direct and dramatic ways, as I encounter God at work in the lives of others, I don’t know what to make of all that God intends for ”a church free of the encumbrances of the world.” For instance, meeting with a good friend recently who for months has wanted to query me about my experience of May 26th, the person said that even before reading my experience, God impressed upon the individual that they would be called to help establish this “free of encumbrances” church. The person also said to me, “I don’t think you even know what this is going to become.” To which I said, “You’re right, I have no idea. I have no idea what this is going to look like or be. But I believe God is in the process of calling persons to that conversation and I sense that I should invite you to the discussion. And if nothing more happens than a small gathering of friends meeting in my home a couple of times a month and trying to accomplish social justice in the community, I am assured that such ministry will be a faithful response to the call.” My friend decided to give the matter further consideration for which I am very grateful.
If God is calling you to this conversation and you haven’t said anything to me yet, please do so. Please do so because the time for the conversation to begin is drawing closer and God, for some incredibly important reason, needs you outside and beyond your present God-management system. And it’s happening because the unique gifts and calling God has placed in you and your life have something uniquely important to contribute toward God’s coming and God’s just and peaceable reign over the world.
This week, the importance of momentum toward God’s just and peaceable reign was reinforced upon me again as I sat in a 25th floor conference room visiting with a senior engineer of a corporate engineering firm. While enjoying a phenomenal view of downtown Portland with the rainclouds hanging dramatically low and some clinging to the top of other tall buildings, the engineer began talking about a minister friend who walked with Martin Luther King, Jr. in the Selma to Montgomery marches in March 1965 for voting rights. He then mentioned how the minister’s church fired him for participating in the civil rights marches. The friend then left ministry to become a psychologist. The whole incident left the engineer with bad feelings toward organized religion. He then said to me, “You really remind me a lot of him.” Not knowing exactly how to respond to such kind words, I said, “I know and have experienced the sacrifices your friend made, for I too have had to move on from a faith community unable to embrace social justice the way it should have a very long time ago.” The engineer then shared how much our visit had meant and that he looked forward to further visits. I sensed in this man, another person whom God might be trying to reach and call to a church free of the encumbrances of the world.
With that, I will close with an adaptation of the lectionary scripture:
“As for me, this is my covenant with you: I have made you. I will make you exceedingly fruitful. I will establish my covenant between me and you, to be God to you and to offspring after you. Amen.”
God’s Peace be with you,
Brad
Brad Shumate, M.S., M.A., LMHC
Free of Encumbrance
Email: brshumate@freeofencumbrance.net
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