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United Church of Paducah
4600 Buckner Lane
Paducah, KY 42001
(270) 442-3722
Worship Times
Sunday Service: 10:00a
Refreshments &
Fellowship: 11:15a
Christian Education
For All Ages:
11:20a - Noon
Nursery Services Provided Handicap Accessible
All Are Welcome!
A Congregation Of The
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From August 12, 2007
Dressed For Action
Hebrews 11: 1-3, 8-16; Luke 12: 32-40
It's not always easy setting out for a place
we've never been. Thank heavens you and I can count on the
help that comes from friends, websites, and maps. But
sometimes, sometimes we have to gather ourselves up and just
go, just like Abraham and Sarah did.
God called them out, tradition tells us, said they were
going to be pioneers in the faith. Said they were going to a
foreign land, one God was giving as an inheritance. Said
their days without children were numbered, and one day, one
day, their offspring would be as numerous as stars.
God said "head'em up, move'em out." But God didn't give clue
one about what to take. Acting on faith, taking God at God's
word, all Abraham and Sarah could do was make their best
guesses; so they packed up their tents and a few clothes,
deciding to let God handle the rest. (The handling the rest
part, our tradition calls that faith.)
Carl Sandburg once remarked: "I'm an idealist - I don't know
where I'm going, but I'm on my way." From where I sit, I'd
say idealism only gets us so far; the same with optimism.
Of all the things Father Abraham put in his satchel,
nothing, nothing, nothing was more valuable than his faith.
And it wasn't just something he kept tucked in a corner
pocket and dug around for when everything else failed. Faith
was what Abraham wore every day; it was also his source of
transportation.
Faith is like water, a famous philosopher said once. It's
like an ocean, a mighty river; it holds us, it buoys us, it
moves us along. That is, if we relax into it, rather than
thrash and splash and fight against it. (Borg).
Faith is what Abraham took with him on his God-initiated
journey; it's what kept him afloat. Faith in God, faith that
God would direct him, faith that God would provide whatever
was needed along the way, faith that God would follow
through on God's seemingly fantastical promises.
Even if Abraham had no parchment itinerary, no idea where he
was going for sure or why exactly, he knew God did. Every
day Abraham got up, reached for his faith, and he put it on
like a favorite sweater. Every day, he set the boat of his
life into the head-heart-gut faith that God was journeying
with him, and he took off again toward God's future.
What is faith? The author of the Letter to the Hebrews sums
it up this way: "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped
for, the conviction of things not seen... By faith we
understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God,
so that what is seen was made from things that are not
visible."
I know an interim minister who, just as worship begins,
sings the same song no matter where he is. It goes something
like this: "We're going on a journey and we know not where
we go..."
Why does he sing it, even though he's off key and people
think he's being silly? He sings it because it's really,
really true. Even if our address stays the same for decades,
God does not allow us to stay put spiritually. God keeps
inviting us onward, onward to destinations that we can't
find with GPS units or described in travel books.
Let's be honest here. Spiritual adventurers aside, most of
us aren't too sure about this journeying thing. Though maybe
at the beginning we are. Setting sail, putting our feet on
the path can be heady and exhilarating at first.
But somewhere along the way, we find ourselves wondering
what this whole God-journey thing's about. We didn't know it
was going to be like this. That it would ask what it does of
us or that it would take so darned long.
It's a dangerous place to come to, this particular spot on
the journey. Right here is where we can find ourselves
muttering under our breaths, arguing amongst ourselves, and
asking each other if we're even on track at all. What's
worse, if we aren't careful, we can be tempted to bail.
That's pretty much what was happening to the church to whom
today's words were directed. They had begun their Christian
journey full of zeal. In fact, they were so passionate they
willingly underwent persecution. Why? Because they believed
with all their hearts that Christ was on the verge of
returning, something Jesus had told the previous generation
he would do.
But decades had passed and still there was no sign that
Christ was coming in glory any time soon. The church lost
its oomph. In fact, it lost serious steam and started to
sputter and die spiritually. To use a sailing term, this
community of Christians was in the doldrums, without even
the faintest hint of Spirit breezes to move their boat of
faith onward.
No one had helped them to pack for this part of the journey.
No one told them that there would be times when it might
feel like there was no movement, no current. No one told
them that when they got to this place in the journey,
succumbing to doubt and fear could easily drive them
aground.
Just when they were close to jumping ship, close to giving
up, they got a letter from a wise and loving Christian
leader. Maybe it was Paul, maybe not. No matter. The letter
meant to remind them that they weren't alone, that they
weren't the only ones to be asked to move forward without
knowing exactly where or when or how their faith journey
would be fulfilled.
Remember Abraham, their love-letter writer asked. Remember
Sarah? Remember how they had to move along, counting on God
for everything? Remember? They were never sure how long
their journey would be or if they would even arrive at God's
destination.
Remember how they relied upon something greater than reason,
on something more real than what their eyes could see?
Remember how Abraham's strong faith carried them along?
When Abraham got weary, when he wasn't sure, what did he do?
Did he turn the boat around and head home again? He could
have. But he chose to do something else instead.
From his spot in the middle of nowhere, our writer reminded
his faith-faltering brethren, Abraham squinted hard, harder,
hardest with the eyes of his faith until at last he could
see the faint outline of God's promises on the horizon.
With his feet firmly planted right where he was, Abraham
peered into the journey ahead until at last he caught sight
of it--not some optimistic illusion, not some idealistic
mirage out there - but truly "the city that has foundations,
whose architect and builder is God."
And those who traveled with Abraham? They had to have faith,
too. Faith that what Abraham perceived was of God. Faith
that it was God moving them - whether or not they could
discern it - toward the fulfillment of God's promises.
The need to summon faith on the journey, faith in the
journey, isn't unique to those second-generation Christians,
nor to Abraham and his entourage. It's also central to the
Exodus and the Exile and is woven throughout Jesus'
wandering ministry.
Indeed, in our lectionary reading from Luke, Jesus is
grappling with this same issue as he teaches his disciples
that they are part of something far greater than they
imagine.
And even though they are unable to see exactly how God is
putting the pieces together, even as they are not privy to
God's timetable, as disciples their task is to get
themselves on deck and be ready for whatever might come
their way.
"Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit," Jesus says
to followers who aren't sure what that means exactly except
that aren't given license to hang out on the deck of the
cruise ship playing gin rummy and shuffleboard.
Just as the disciples didn't know ahead of time all of the
journey's ins and outs, all the whens and hows , neither do
we.
When this gets you down, recall that not even Jesus, God's
own, was given a complete picture or an accurate timetable.
This was the tension he lived with; knowing he needed to be
ready at any moment to respond to what came his way. Which
meant being ready, sometimes, well ahead of time.
Just as those second-generation folks had to struggle with
what it meant to live their lives floating somewhere in the
in-between, somewhere between the no-longer and the not-yet,
so do we who come together here.
I know it's hard on us sometimes, this getting ready for
those who haven't found their way to us yet. I know it's a
drag sometimes to slow things down with a committee meeting
when everything could be easily settled with a quick
conversation in the parking lot. I know we want to have some
clear sense that we're soon to arrive at our destination,
which is to be a church brimming with folks eager to carry
the church forward into the next generation, able once more
to fully sustain itself rather than having to rely on
endowments and memorial funds to supplement our budget.
Although I'm no Abraham, not by a long shot, I have caught
glimpses of God's promises for us and so have sought to
challenge us to prepare for a day that isn't here yet.
Although I'm no Jesus, in my own way I've repeated his
directive: "Dress for action. Have your lamps lit."
This is why, for example, from the beginning I've encouraged
our leadership to shift from their more informal,
spontaneous ways of moving us forward to methods that rely
upon and build strength in the structures we have in place:
committees and boards and the Council, itself.
This isn't sexy, I know. And it can feel stilted and awkward
at times. But we'll be grateful for this support structure
when we're twice our present size and are feeling the added
fullness of our new family.
What we do and say today needs to happen with an eye to a
day that is not yet ours.
Jesus asks us to be dressed for action, to have our lamps
lit.
Next week in worship, Ann Nagel will be suggesting one way
we can make ourselves ready for God's bright new tomorrow.
It's not simply a good idea but a Godly one. Please do not
miss what the Spirit is giving her to share.
Although there's no church like us, no other congregational
journey quite like ours, we have company. We do. Abraham and
Sarah, Moses and the Hebrew children, God's people moving in
and out of exile, Jesus and his always-on-the-move
disciples, as well as churches in every age who also
wondered what God was up to and what was being asked of
them.
Churches must always do more than look to each other for
encouragement and guidance, although that's a good thing.
We must rely on something far greater, far more enduring
than that: the God who gives us every reason to trust the
journey, to have faith in it. At this point in our journey,
particularly, we must have faith in the God who has called
us to this sometimes exhilarating, sometimes unnerving,
sometimes confusing, and always amazing journey. Amen.
© Rev. Karen Winkel
United Church of Paducah (UCC) I am grateful
for Marcus Borg's comments on faith, especially his mention
of how faith is like floating in a deep ocean (an idea that
came from Kierkegaard). You'll find this in The Heart of
Christianity, p. 31.) |
"Never place a period where God has placed a comma." - Gracie
Allen
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