The Call of Abraham During the weeks leading up to Lent we will spend several Sundays reflecting on particular Old Testament stories taken from the book of Genesis. This will cause us to dwell on events surrounding prominent figures like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. We begin in the early verses of chapter 12, the story of Abraham's call.
The Bible, of course, begins with the sweeping tale of the earth's beginnings, the idyllic world as it should be. But then, quickly, deviousness enters, then murder, and soon utter destruction. But alongside comes an accompanying theme of God's grace and care, extended to all.
The curtain falls on this ``pre-history'' section of Genesis (chapters 1-11) with the familiar tale of the Tower of Babel. Then the curtain lifts on a particular man, with a particular wife, in a particular place, in a particular time. This is Abram, who would become Abraham, and of whom many people could later saypeople of different faith persuasionsthat a ``wandering Aramean was my father.'' (Dt. 26:5)
When I read this call narrative a couple of things stand out to me. The first is this word from the Lord to Abraham that ``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.'' Especially the phrase ``I will make your name great.''
We hear in it an echo of what came just before this section, back in chapter 11. I know these are two completely different genres but in the tower of Babel story the people are imagined building a great building, a great tower. They are piling bricks up higher and higher. They say to each other, come on, let's make this great city with a tower reaching to the heavens. And thus, let's ``make a name for ourselves.''
It's an interesting juxtaposition between chapter 11 and chapter 12. The ``let's do it ourselves and in our own way'' spirit of chapter 11. And the ``give oneself to God and let God make of us what God will'' spirit of chapter 12. The lesson we might learn from this is obvious. We ought to give ourselves, submit ourselves, to God, and let God make of us what he will. This, rather than a proud spirit of I'll only do things my own way.
I'm for a buoyant, optimistic, forward-looking, strong sense of oneself. I don't think this is advocating for an abdication of self for a vacuous and meaningless ``whatever God wills'' approach, that amounts to doing nothing. But certainly we can be critical of the kind of arrogance that believes the world revolves around me and my friends. God calls us to be far more humble than that. God desires that we, as we sing, lean heavily upon the Lord.
A second point which stands out to me is this: Abraham is willing to pack his bags, grab a tent, and go. He trades in a more settled existence in Haran to the north for the rigors of nomadic life heading south.
Abraham's tent is a powerful symbol. It seems to symbolize a willingness to live more vulnerably, to be more agile It displays an acceptance of a less settled, a far less established life, a readiness to let go and trust a deep-down sense that what God has in mind is for the good. It conjures up the sense that you don't know what tomorrow may bring, you might have to move on quickly, you can't make too many assumptions about where you are right now. It symbolizes a willingness to change.
These two strands strand out as virtues in this call narrative. Trust God and not yourself. Be willing to pick up your tent and move on.
The idea of ``call'' There are many ``call'' stories in the Bible. Prophets, kings, and disciples were called to get up and go. Sometimes the call comes in a vision, other times someone calls out another person for an assignment.
I know this. In my life I have not always been real comfortable around the notion of ``call.'' How does one really know? I've never heard the audible voice of the Lord in my entire life. When you just read it in the matter-of-fact way of the printed page it can overwhelm you, if you stop and think about it.
I had this sense that a call was reserved for extremely special people, and that it was an experience so rare and loud and important and Beethoven-like in scope that you would certainly know it. And clearly this could not be me.
But God's call upon any of us, I submit to you, can be much more common, far more ordinary. It can start as an ordinary inkling, a little sense within that ``I can do something,'' that ``I can do this.'' Eventually the sense grows into an active interest and the day comes where someone says, ``you know, you're pretty good at that.'' I'd say you are being challenged, you are being called.
My own sense of call to pastoral ministry was never loud or dramatic. I think my experience is more logical than dramatic. A few things combined together. Discovering in my 20s that the world of biblical studies was more exciting, depthless, and open-ended than I had presumed was one step. Experiencing Christian life in other places and sensing the beauty of that diversity, yet being drawn to my own particular Mennonite faith tradition. That was another. And then listening and watching a few pastors who seemed to lift me to another plane, this planted the thought, there is something here and maybe it has to do with me, too. In time, the internal nudges, the voices around me, the right timing, the internal sense that ``yes,'' this is meall added up to a call.
I do also believe that one's call will be linked to one's natural giftedness, what a person is naturally inclined to do rather well. Discerning that is part of a community's responsibility. Thus, words of affirmation, words of encouragement, expressions of thanks and a hearty ``well-done,'' these help to implant in us a sense of call. This is an important part of being a community, to affirm and thus, call out, people with gifts for service, business, music, prophetic tasks, making money, teaching, getting things to work, fixing things, ministry and more.
``Call'' and FMC We have to ask ourselves, what is God calling us to, both as individuals and as a congregation? We might test ourselves in a couple of ways. In the things I do, in the ways I conduct myself, is it finally about me? Am I really mostly concerned about my image, my views, and having it the way I think it ought to be. Is that the honest bottom line? Or can I say that, yes, I'm willing to give myself over to God and let go, and not cling to my ways.
Now you may think, oh, that's just talk, just some pious sounding gibberish. You have a point. I think we are talking about different shading within the heart. There's a gray area out there. But there is something, I believe, to the spirit of living this life not primarily concerned with enhancing my own reputation, but a way of living that consciously and unconsciously lives so as to enhance a Godly sense of justice and compassion.
A further test is to ask if we are willing to leave the securities of the home place for the insecurities of the vagabond, tent life. Can we let go? Take the metaphor and play with it in your own life. What does it mean?
Following a call means exploring change. What might it mean for us here at FMC?
With our Listening and Visioning process we are in the midst of thinking about our past, reflecting on the present, and imagining what might be before us. The meeting after church today is an important opportunity to contribute to the conversation, and to be part of the discerning of what God might be calling us to in these times.
But I can't resist the temptation to mention a few things where there is some stirring, or some restlessness, or a crying need, which leads to the suspicion that, surely, God is calling someone! To wit:
A practical one. You see in the bulletin the notice from the nominating committee about our treasurer's position. Does this stir something within?
We can't think of call without pondering opportunities for service. Certainly there are many of them. They range from the very local to the world-wide. They wander from the every now and then to the weekly to the few weeks a year to the life-time. But think about it. Right here in our town there are opportunities to volunteer through the MCC stores, Sierra View, getting involved at CYM, helping out at Street Light, taking a VORP mediator class.
There are service opportunities through our mission board and MCC. And there is always CPT. Wouldn't it be something to have some people from our church join the CPT reserve list?
There has been a little talk about establishing a Sunday school class for young married couples.
But all these things sort of call us out there. Maybe the call you feel is more inside. You feel the urge to go deeper within. To dedicate the next season to the more contemplative, to the inward spiritual journey, to draw closer to God. Maybe that is your call.
I hope that I have succeeded in at least asking yourself the question, what might God be calling me to? A call is certainly not limited to a few holy people, or to saints long ago, or to missionaries and pastors. We have to develop a much more fluid and open understanding of call.
Calls need some testing but when the burden has rested in your heart long enough, and the vision of what might become just burns too brightly within to resist any longer, I hope that you and we together will have the courage to say ``thank you Jesus,'' and then pack up our bags and pitch our tent a new place where we have never been before.
