Abraham and Sarah on A Train (and in a Tent)

Brendan Murphy on June 21, 2023

June 18, 2023

One of the questions that we should invite to the table when wondering with stories like Abraham and Sarah’s, one of the questions we should hold in view is why do we have this? These are primordial epics. These stories handed down by word of mouth for a very very long time long before they ever flowed through ink and onto parchment. There are countless other stories of nameless faithful, beloved beautiful imperfect persons loved by God whose stories weren’t repeated. Tales that didn’t come down through the ages. Why did these? This is a founding story, the mothers and father of three significant world religions. Yet that was not in view for the first hundred re-tellers.

Raising these stories up, handing them down, repeating this version of what we might call history is intended to set our story in a wider scope and purpose, to remind us that our lostness and our confusion, our delights and our surprises are rooted in patterns that are not of our own making. Sometimes these patterns they’re straightforward and sometimes a bit more mysterious. If you know about family systems from counseling, you know some of the idea that is also applicable to a congregational size. Christ Church, its history begins in a train station. Isn’t it curious that so many of you are avid travelers. The cornerstone was first laid on the other side of the tracks, but then hearts and minds changed and it was moved to where we now flourish. Yet we still practice ministry on that property through our friendship with the White Luttrell Funeral Home. This congregation initiated many of our neighboring congregations some that still exist and some that have returned to dust. What is our call, what is our duty, what is in your DNA of relatedness to our neighboring locations? Especially on this Father’s day weekend, what is our call here? And does all the motion and new directions, not that long ago in the cosmic scale of time, does it suggest a future that is not settled yet? I believe the way forward in faithfulness to Jesus and duty to our neighbors is more creative, more mutual, more open-ended and fluid, like the a tent we meet Abraham and Sarah in today.

Abraham is a bit of a successful screw-up. (Please read more than the children’s bible parts.) Raising up these stories every month for thousands of years reminds us that even when we get it wrong, God is with us – we are beloved. Abraham and Sarah and Hagar are repeated because we are never far from our history. These are not stories about big religions, but instead about community and relationship with God. So what does Abraham and Sarah’s story tell us about spirituality, emotional wellness, and belonging? It says that we are people who are so close to God that we entertain his messengers unaware. It says that even when we don’t seem to be getting on the right train, somehow God will work with that and bring us to our destination.

The lectionary readings that we will be going through this summer were set by a multi-church committee over 20 years ago, mostly based on a set that is over one hundred years old. And something I’ve seen happen before, and I’m sure I will see happen again, is that tiptoeing through Genesis and Exodus are very good holy stories for the time of transition that we’re all in. I hope you’ll give yourself to learning a bit more about these, diving in more truly this summer. If you’re a reader I’ve got suggestions*. if you’re an audible or podcast listener I’ve got suggestions*. if you’re a DvD or YouTube video watcher I’ve got suggestions*. If your first response is none of the above, I will remind most of you that you have promised in the name of Jesus to be a lifelong learner (That is what the baptismal promise to ‘continue in the apostles teachings’ means). Times of transition are a beautiful opportunity to ask why you are here, what God is calling out of you, and how you can you be a tent of belongingness with God in ways that our founders never imagined?

God has loved you from before the beginning began, God has forgiven you all your mistakes. God has promised that we are never alone and that you will be good news for the neighborhood – even if that feels like a LOL at first utterance. Abraham and Sarah’s story tell us that there are paths that we retread generation after generation, the bigger picture may change, the names of the geography, the titles of the rulers, the shape and scope of the challenges evolve, but so does the magnitude of the blessings. Others have ridden this train before, people who carried these stories in their hearts, lugged fragile heavy scrolls across hot sands, snd have given them to us to draw us closer to God. And more deeply into God’s dream for creation.