Here's a little secret - this was the second complete sermon I wrote this week!
Vicar Brett Wilson – Pentecost 11C – Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16 – Christ Lutheran - 8/8/10
I like to wake up early, but I find I am often a grumpy morning person. But I really enjoy that time, at the start of the day, on the threshold of everything and anything that might happen. I like the silence and I really enjoy the devotion of praying morning prayer, which is in the LBW. One of Martin Luther's prayers I pray often for morning prayer is on page 137, and it starts -
Lord, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, by perils unknown.
A big part of my own sinfulness, and maybe you can relate, is that I really like to know where I am going. It's not that I don't like a nice surprise now and then, but I like to be on time, I like to be in control of my path, and know what dangers lie ahead. So praying this prayer some mornings I take a begrudging sigh - “O God, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, perils unknown.” So reading today's text from Genesis and Hebrews, I wonder what Abraham would have thought about this prayer. He could certainly relate. Hebrews reads “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.”
Like many of the characters in the gospel reading for today, Abraham (and Sarah too!) were right on the threshold of big steps that would take them down paths unknown. Perhaps in recent days you have felt like Abraham and Sarah. This doesn't mean you can relate to taking a big journey, moving hundreds of miles without a set plan or idea, though maybe you can. Maybe you feel like you're standing on the threshold in a relationship, in your career, with your health, and you can't really see what's on the path ahead. When I pray this prayer sometimes it hits me in very practical ways – that these unknown paths might be – how I am going to make it through this next week and get everything done? How am I going to pay my next bill? How I am going to care for my parents when they are sick? What classes should I take – for that matter, what am I supposed to do with my life? In some ways these are hard words to hear and pray – that God calls us on these ventures where we don't know what is coming up ahead.
Often when I am reading the bible and something doesn't make sense or I come across a confusing parable, I have learned to ask myself – well who is God in this, and who are we? As we read together two weeks ago, Abraham often refers to himself as God's servant. So God is master, and we are, like Abraham and Sarah, servants, just like in the form of this prayer. “Lord, you have called your servants.” Now there's a lot of baggage that we attach with this idea of servitude, and even more when we are honest that every time it says “servant” in the bible it actually means “slave.” But ultimately, in every way, this relationship, God as master and us as servants – no – slaves, is a blessing, and it is our word of comfort for those paths unknown. Because in this relationship, who is in charge? The master. And the master is none other than the God who created you, who as promised to Abraham, is your shield, who is the architect of a heavenly city for you. This is the same master who in Luke's parable, returns home not to scold or command the slaves but instead to surprise them, reverse the roles, and stoop to serve them, just as Christ does on the cross that we may be forgiven.
Yes, God calls you to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, but the blessing here is – God calls you. God has called you and will call you and because this is the relationship, God will be with you on every step of that path, no matter how dark and unclear the road ahead might be or how many perils unfairly litter your life.
As the prayer continues, “Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go, but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us,
Faith is trust. The assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. But it also means that as we look out from where we stand, even if we cannot see what lies ahead, we know that by faith, the world is prepared, shaped, framed, by God's word. God's word, in Christ, in scriptures, in God's action in our lives every day shapes the world around us, shapes our path ahead, and how we perceive it. God gives you faith, and God gives you eyes to see little glimpses of how God's promises are surely fulfilled. In glimpses like children offering and showing their faith in prayer at a dinner table, or snack table at VBS, in the glimpse of God's kingdom of people being fed, friends forgiving each other, families coming together, even in crisis.
God gives faith, and God gives you eyes to see that even though the path ahead cannot be mapped out with any certainty, God gives a feeling of assurance, a trust in God's presence because the promise is not that the road will be easy, as it wasn't for Abraham, but that there is no turning back. That God is not ashamed to be called your God, indeed, God has prepared a heavenly city for you. Ultimately, because there is no turning back, this is where your path leads from baptism through Christ to eternal life, and this is the sure promise, along with right now, God gives you faith to go out with good courage, like Abraham and Sarah, not knowing where you might go, but that God's hand is leading you and God's love is supporting you.
So will you pray with me. Lord, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, by perils unknown. Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go, but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us, Through Jesus Christ, our Lord, Amen.
Peace+
Vicar Brett
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