Genesis 12:1-4A
The LORD said
to Abram:“Go forth from the land of
your kinsfolk and from your father’s house to a land that I will show you. “I
will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name
great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you and
curse those who curse you. All the communities of the earth shall find blessing
in you.” Abram went as the LORD directed him.
One of my favorite childhood novels was “The Lord of the Rings” by
J.R.R. Tolkien. It’s about a humble
little hobbit named Frodo and how his whole life changes with an ominous
warning. His uncle Bilbo tells him:
“It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your front door. You step onto the road and if you don’t keep
your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to.” Like any good nephew, Frodo ignores his
uncle’s advice, steps out his front door, and is swept away on a wild adventure
facing dragons, Dark Lords and certain death.
Now, you should know that Frodo had every reason to stay put inside his
home: he was safe and comfortable, his world was predictable and he was
respected by everyone, even a hometown celebrity. Life only begins, however, when we step out
our front door into the wild world outside.
In a very different book, and on a much larger stage, Shakespeare put
these words on the lips of Brutus: “There is a tide in the affairs of men,
which taken at the flood, leads on to fortune.
Omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and
miseries.” Stepping out your front door
is indeed dangerous; life is safer inside, but that life is also
shallower. Outside lays greatness.
In the first reading today, God
invites Abram to step outside his front door, to take a step of faith. Listen to the famous call of Abram in Genesis
12 and see if you hear an echo of Bilbo’s avuncular advice: “The Lord said to
Abram, ‘Go forth from the land of your kinsfolk and from your father’s house to
a land that I will show you.’” God
sweetens the deal further by telling him that stepping away from safety also
means stepping closer to greatness. The
Lord continues, “I will make of you a great nation and I will bless you; I will
make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.” Abram took a great risk going out his front
door – it would have been easier and safer to stay home in Ur of the Chaldeans
– but that first step eventually led him to become the father of a great
nation, and ultimately the “Father of Faith.”
You see, it takes great faith to step out your front door.
I did a little going out my front door too this past week. What I found outside my front door was the
wild world of “social media.” Believe
me, it’s a lot easier to fight orcs and trolls and Dark Lords than to survive
the strange creatures crawling in cyber space!
I was visiting a family for supper and the 13 year old girl set me up
with an “instagram” account. My name is
“priestdude.” I have a grand total of 7
followers (all her friends). Someone
else told me I should get a blog. Not
knowing what that is, I said, “Eew! A
blog sounds gooey and sticky – the blog!”
Gross. You can access my blog
through the church website. I decided to
seek more friends on Facebook, so indiscriminately asked hundreds of people to
friend me. I got a nasty note from Mark
Zukerburg at Facbook saying, “If you do not slow down your friend requests, we
will have to block you!” I wrote back,
“Move over Zukerburg, this is the information superhighway!” So, now I’m blocked on Facebook and Mark
Zukerburg has un-friended me. You could
say I got pulled over on the information superhighway. All this techno-geek stuff is not my cup of
tea. I’m much more like a hobbit, who’d
rather sip a real cup of tea in front of a blazing fire, reading a good book
about Dark Lords and death-defying bravery.
But if we never leave the safe haven of our homes, like Brutus said,
“all our lives will be bound in shallows and miseries.” I’m not exactly the “father of faith” like
Abram, but I’ve learned that I can share the faith with thousands more through
Facebook than I ever could face to face.
The first step is always “the dangerous business of going out your front
door.”
My friends, God invites all of us to “go out our front door” and be
swept off to an unknown future. It’s
like the bumper sticker that says: “If God is your co-pilot, switch
places!” In other words, let God be your
pilot (not you!) and let him fly you to places you never dreamed. Every Lent we participate in a sermon series
with other Protestant pastors. On
Monday, Rev. Phil Blackburn will preach here at I.C. and later I will preach at
Central Presbyterian Church. Have you
ever stepped into a Protestant church and experienced their world of
worship? It’s a lot safer but also
shallower to always stay put in your home church. If you’re a Republican, I dare you to read
the speeches of Bill Clinton, they are quite good. If you’re a “yellow-dog Democrat” pick up the
pages of Ronald Reagan, the great communicator.
(A yellow-dog Democrat will vote for a yellow dog before he votes for a
Republican!) Many people never venture
outside their political home – it’s dangerous out there! I will forever be in awe of my parents who
not only walked out their front door, but out of their home country to an
unknown future. What great faith it
takes to leave your family and friends and especially Indian food (!) to start
a new life: talk about being a father and mother of faith! My parents have never read Shakespeare, but
they know better than Brutus that “there is a tide in the affairs of men, which
taken at the flood leads on to fortune.”
We three children have inherited that fortune. Many husbands and wives fight and argue and
sometimes divorce because neither one will step outside their front door,
outside their own perspective, and see things from their spouse’s point of
view. That could be dangerous. How many parents a
nd teenagers argue because
neither wants to step foot into the other’s wild world? If we choose safety, we also choose
shallowness. It takes a lot of faith to
step out your front door.
Bilbo wisely said: “It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your
front door.” Why is it dangerous? Because outside you will find orcs, and
trolls and Dark Lords, Democrats and Presbyterians, Instagram and Twitter. But only if we step out that door will we begin
the journey of faith, only then will we move over and let God be our pilot.
Praised be Jesus Christ!
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