Journey and Stages
a sermon based on Genesis 12:1-9
by Rev. Randy Quinn   

We like to think of ourselves as being fairly stable.  Unlike Abram in our text, we like to think that most people stay in a community for a long time.

            The truth is that we are a society of people who move.

            I don’t have the exact figures because I couldn’t find them.  What I found may surprise most of you, though.  I looked in the census data for 2000.  There is a statistic there that gives us a clue about how often people move.  The statistical reference point is how many people lived in the same house that they lived in five years earlier.

I only looked up Bow in the census data, so I only have Bow’s information.  Less than 60% of the people lived in the same house for five years. I don’t know how many lived in the same house for 10 years or more, but my guess is that about half of the people in our county have moved in the past ten years.

But even those who haven’t moved understand the concept of moving.  We’ve had family members move.  We’ve seen neighbors move.  We’ve watched our children grow up and move out of our homes.

We understand the concept of moving.  We are, after all, a nation of immigrants; and all immigrants are people who have left one home for another.  Moving is a part of our culture, whether we like it or not.

We also have a general understanding of why people move.  For some it’s the prospect of a better job or a better life.  For some it’s a matter of physical health.  For some it’s a matter of emotional health.  For some it’s the pursuit of an education.  For some it’s the desire to get away from someone or some thing.

Each of us has had our own reasons for moving.

So we understand the concept of moving and we understand a variety of reasons for moving.

The story of Abram speaks about a man who leaves his family and moves to a place he’s never seen.  He moves because of a yearning to grow in his faith.  It’s a spiritual quest.

And in his story we have portrayed for us the primary Biblical metaphor of life:  the journey.  It’s a journey of faith.  It starts with the call of God.  The call may be made over and over again.  But the real journey begins when there is a response of faith.

Jesus called the Disciples.  They followed.  God spoke to Moses through the burning bush.  He responded.  And in our text for today, Abram hears God speaking and then responds by taking his family and leaving his home.

            But the journey doesn’t happen all in one day.  It always begins with the call of God and the response of a faithful servant.  But it still includes stopping points along the way.

First, Abram and Sarai leave Ur.  They arrive at Haran.  Then they leave Haran.  They arrive in Canaan.  And still the journey continues.  “He journeyed by stages toward the Negeb” (Gen 12:9).

For the Disciples, there were stops in the synagogues and cities and gardens.  There was a stop when Jesus died.  And there was a stop when he was raised from the dead.  But the journey continued.  The book of Acts is, in many ways, the story of that continuing journey.

For Moses, the journey also continued.  From Midian to Egypt to the Red Sea to Sinai and on through the wilderness to Mount Nebo.

            We, as Americans, have a hard time with the journey.  We tend to be more focussed on the destination, the arrival, than we are on the journey itself.  We have a hard time grasping the importance of the journey of faith.

            We tend to think of Sunday School, for instance, as the journey that leads to Confirmation.  We look at Confirmation as a sort of “end of the road” experience where faith development ends.

            But in truth, our faith is never fully developed.  There is still more to learn, more to understand, more to experience.  God continues to call us to new adventures in our journey of faith.

            And God continues to wait for our faithful response.  Whether that be the faithful response of a new Sunday School teacher or a volunteer with Circulo de Manos or the willingness to take a leadership role in the church.  God continues to call.  God may even have called you.

            Today we are intentionally recognizing graduates among us.  Some graduated from High School, some from college, some are being promoted into High School.  We tend to look at these points as transition points in life, when we have arrived at one point and begin another portion of our journey.

            We tend to think of it as if we were journeying by stages.

            Abram and Sarai continue their journey even after they have arrived in the Promised Land.  It’s a journey that never ends.

            The life of faith does not stop growing once you have arrived at a certain place.  John Wesley’s understanding is that we are going on to perfection.  He hoped to reach it in his own life, but he still felt that life was a journey toward that point.  It was never an arrival.

            In life, in faith, we are all on a journey.  We have not yet arrived.

            Today is just one stopping point along the way.

            The journey continues.

            Thanks be to God.  Amen.

 

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