Barbara Moyer Lehman: New adventure, new life, new birth

February 17, 2008
Genesis 12:1-4a, John 3:1-17

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What was Abram thinking?!! In Genesis we read, now the Lord said to Abram, “leave it all....your country, your family and your father’s home, leave it all, for a land that I will show you.”

Did Abram have any questions about that? Sounds a bit vague to me, not very much security in that information...... “leave everything, go from your country and all that is familiar, to the land that I will show you.” Sounds, not only vague, but very risky!

Would Abram and Sarai leave all that they knew to start fresh in a new place when they were already over 75 years old? They knew who they were and where they had come from. Would they be obedient, follow God’s call and embark on this new adventure, not knowing where they were going, a pilgrimage into unknown territory?

There are many people here in our city who have left their country, family, loved ones, parental home, familiar culture and language to come to America. Are some here because they are running away from pain, brokenness, poverty in the country of their birth? Have they come to our shores, looking for something more, seeking refuge from the violence and oppression, to find jobs, obtain a better education? And what happens when they arrive? Is our country seen as the land of opportunity, land of promise and the land of new beginnings....a place to start over? What calls people to leave it all, to step out in faith?

I wonder why John Valentine Kratz, at 20 years old, left the east side of the Rhine, near the Palatinate, left his family, his land, his culture, and in 1727 boarded the ship called, “Friendship”, to become the first Kratz pioneer in America and one of my ancestors.

I wonder why Hans Meyer left his native land of Germany (or Switzerland) in 1708, bringing with him his 1 year old son, Henry, who became my great, great, great, great, great, grandfather. It is noted that young Henry learned to walk while on board the ship, crossing the Atlantic Ocean. What called them to settle on the south slope of the west branch of the Perkiomen river in Penn’s woods, or Pennsylvania?

I wonder why Rev. Peter Meyer left his beloved Switzerland in the mid 1700's, settled in Bucks County, PA, bought land and became one of the early ministers in the Mennonite Church of that area. His daughter, Barbara, became my great, great, great, great, great, grandma.

Why do people pick up, leave everything, sometimes severing ties with the past, and step out in faith? Probably many reasons.
-some people need new challenges, new adventure,...they are free spirits, never staying too long in one place.
-some people are never happy, comfortable with present reality, but always believe the ‘grass is greener’ some place else.
-some people flee desperate situations, seeking safety and protection.
-some people are forced to relocate because of war, natural disasters
-some people leave the safe, familiar, comfortable because they feel ‘called’, or ‘led’ by the Spirit to another place, another setting for some special reason.
-some people are lured to new places based on promises made that aren’t always kept by countries, family members, businesses, even friends.

Abram and Sarai hear God’s call, but the call is more than to leave their country for a new land. It is a call that includes the promise of a future. For Abram and Sarai, that is HUGE. The Lord says, “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.”

God speaks these incredibly powerful words of hope into a hopeless situation. Abram and Sarai in their ripe old age of mid 70's had no children, no heirs, no hope of any, no future. They were barren, empty. But words of hope come into the empty spaces of their life. The speech of God summons them, calls them, promises them, assures them that, indeed, they will have a future!!! God will make of them a great nation!

The barren one is moved. The barren one will give life. Indeed, the future will be a new adventure, new life, and yes, eventually that includes new birth. To refuse the call, and to remain in Haran, the place of their birth, the place of safety, would have meant to remain barren and empty. For Abram and Sarai they heard the call, accepted/believed the promise, stepped out in obedience and trusted God into the unknown. That unknown was filled with HOPE!

And so Abram, in response to the promise of land and ‘seed’ or descendants, set out for a land not his own, with a wife who was barren.

It would be good for all of us, pilgrims on the journey, long time settlers, recent refugees, sojourners, to step back, to reflect on the story cycle of our lives, to recall when God called us, and how we responded.....to revisit times when we stepped out into foreign territory that involved some danger and risks, that included some unplanned and maybe strange resting spots and unknown destinations. How do we remember God’s promises and leadings? How do we remember when God rescued us or revealed something to us in strange and maybe unexpected ways?

It is too easy when reading scripture to dismiss stories and familiar passages, thinking those are stories only of biblical times and not relevant for us. But Abram and Sarai became biblical models of faith, of trust in God no matter what they would face in that new land. As they left behind the familiar, they would become strangers in a foreign culture with no rights, privileges or protection. We see how God called them and how they responded. We need to ask ourselves what is God asking of us and how are we responding?

If we are stuck in the wilderness, living empty or barren lives, how are we hearing God’s call? God calls the hopeless ones into a community with a future. God calls those living complacent lives to risk, to relinquish, to leave behind securities, the familiar, the safe and predictable life and, to step forward, “with closed eyes” , trusting that God will lead all the way.

How difficult it can be to trust..., to trust God, to let go!!! Would we rather remain in our state of emptiness/barrenness, if the cost is too great?

Frederick Buechner wrote of a time when he was sitting parked by the roadside, terribly depressed and worried about his daughter’s illness and other family concerns, when out of nowhere a car drove past him with a license plate with one word, TRUST. Of all the words in the dictionary that it could have been, that was the one word he needed to see at that time. He wrote, what do you call moments like that....a coincidence, a bizarre joke, an epiphany. Maybe a bit of each. The owner of the car, as it turned out, happened to be a trust officer in the local bank. Buechner wrote an account of this incident. It was eventually read by the owner of the car, who, one day shows up at Buechner’s home and presents him with the license plate. It took a prominent place on his bookshelf, rusty and a little battered, nevertheless a holy relic.

Abram heard God’s call, was receptive to it. He accepted it and embraced it. Abraham stepped out in obedience. He went. He believed the promise. He asked no questions. He trusted God into the unknown.

I also remember when I had to learn a painful lesson in trust. Early in November of 1997, our son Ben, who was a junior in college, came to us asking if he could go on a mini cross-cultural experience to Israel/Palestine. Normally we would have encouraged and supported him in doing something like this, but this was only 2 months after our son, Andy’s, sudden death at 22 years of age. Every fiber of my body wanted to say no you can not do this. I couldn’t imagine him going on a plane and leaving for this place only two months after Andy’s death, but I also knew this meant so much to him. He knew it would be hard for us, but he also felt very strongly that he was to do this. I had to learn to trust. I knew I could still love deeply, this son of mine, but I also had to hold him lightly and to “let go”. To let him do this which he felt called to do.

Psalm 121 is a familiar and beloved psalm for many of us. As the pilgrims came to the temple in Jerusalem for the great festivals, they experienced some anxiety and fears as they traveled the roads, through some dangerous and difficult mountainous passes. This psalm was used as a farewell liturgy, as a prayer of blessing as they departed and headed home from Jerusalem. It was a reminder to them that the Lord keeps the pilgrim, protects them day and night and watches over them and all of life.

We, too, need to hear that prayer of blessing, to remember that whatever we are called to do and wherever we are called to go, that God will guard our life. It is a psalm for travelers, for sojourners, for pilgrims. Our “help” comes from the Lord, help to face the evil. Even though the extravagant claim is made that the Lord will keep us from all evil, we know there are calamities and dangers along the way.

It is a psalm for the Abrahams and the Sarahs who are called to step out, to take risks, to leave behind the old and familiar, to follow the Spirit to who knows where. For as we read in John 3. “The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

This week it has felt that the Spirit has led us into new places here at Park View. As we opened our doors and provided a warm and safe place to sleep for those persons on a journey in our community, for people struggling, for people passing through, for people looking for jobs, for people looking for community and safety, indeed a fresh Spirit entered these rooms. As we juggled space all week long with the Early Learning Center, Generations Crossing, Mennofolk concert, coffeehouse, numerous music groups practicing, dance classes, Taize service, Sunday worship, I wasn’t sure some days whether I was coming or going. One day when I was feeling overwhelmed, Jeanette Suter appeared at my door with a bouquet of red carnations from Generations Crossing, thanking me and all of us staff persons for all that we do for them, and others in this community. She expressed with much passion how impressed she is with how much our congregation does and our willingness to open our facility to them and many others. Suddenly I was overwhelmed in a new way. What she said was a gift to me. True, our building was used to the maximum. We were “doing” many things, and are doing many good things, but more importantly than the doing, I saw people being the hands and feet of Christ, welcoming the stranger, feeding the hungry, extending hospitality. We offered what we could, we did it in the name of Christ, we trusted God in the unknown.

And so I offer the words from the last verse of Psalm 121, The Message translation, as a blessing, as a reminder to all of us, including the guests we hosted this week, “God guards you when you leave and when you return, God guards you now, God guards you always.”



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