Honey, We’re Moving\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Genesis 12:1-9; November 22 2020\u00a0
\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Abram and Sarah are moving. \u00a0That\u2019s what the story is about which we just read in Genesis 12. \u00a0He walks into their tent one day and says, \u201cHoney, we\u2019re moving.\u201d\u00a0
\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u201cWho says?\u201d she replies. \u00a0
\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Pointing skyward he answers, \u201cThe Boss.\u201d \u00a0Here\u2019s the text: \u201cNow the Lord said to Abrahm, \u201cGo from your country and your father\u2019s house to a land which I will show you.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0
\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0And this move by a bedouin family sets into motion a series of events which will change Abram and Sarah forever, not to mention change the course of human history. \u00a0
\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Barbara and I are in the process of getting ready to move. \u00a0So this passage from Genesis 12 resonates with me in many ways. \u00a0I realize that soon all the familiar moorings of my life will \u00a0be taken away. \u00a0All that has given my life coherence is about to be thrown into a centrifuge and spun out in different pieces.\u00a0
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0We are never told how Sarah felt, although we can imagine the welter of emotions that coursed through her as they packed up all their belongings, loaded them on camels and donkeys and headed for the land of Canaan. \u00a0She was angry and frightened and a \u00a0little disoriented. \u00a0\u00a0
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0I can remember a day when we first moved from Illinois to Charlotte, NC and there I was \u00a0sitting in a room full of boxes to be unpacked and there was so much to do that I literally felt paralyzed knowing where to start. \u00a0It was overwhelming even to one who usually is confident\u00a0
and decisive. \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0
\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Moving is hard for any of us. \u00a0There’s something within us that wants to stay put, build a nest, and roost there forever. \u00a0We don’t like to give up what’s known and familiar. \u00a0\u00a0
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0However, there’s an unseen cost is staying put. \u00a0There is the danger of damage to the psyche and soul in staying put. \u00a0A great sailing ship was never meant to sit in port, but to sail out to sea. \u00a0\u00a0
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0So there is a benefit and an opportunity in moving, or moving on. \u00a0It isn’t necessarily a benefit and opportunity that we relish. \u00a0But it is a benefit nevertheless–the benefit of being stretched, the benefit of finding new depth and goals as a human being, the benefit of knowing that, finally, in this life that nothing is certain except the constancy of God’s love for us.\u00a0
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0And this is precisely what Abram and Sarah discover. \u00a0The first thing they do when they come to Canaan is to build an altar to God. \u00a0They are reminded of the real source of their strength and courage, so they build an altar to God. \u00a0Whenever they feel anxious in this new place, whenever they waver about the rightness of their decision to move, they look at that altar and\u00a0
remember that God has called them to a new place in their lives.\u00a0
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Judith Viorst has written a wonderful book that I commend to all of you. \u00a0It’s called “Necessary Losses,” and subtitled “The loves, illusions, dependencies and impossible expectations that all of us have to give up in order to grow.” \u00a0Viorst has listed the inevitable, lifelong losses that each of us must face. \u00a0Her list includes life’s inescapable facts: \u00a0
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0–that our mother is going to leave us , and we will leave\u00a0
her;\u00a0
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0–that our mother’s love can never be ours alone;\u00a0
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0–that what hurts us cannot always be kissed and made\u00a0
better;\u00a0
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0–that we are essentially out here on our own;\u00a0
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0–that we will have to accept–in other people and\u00a0
ourselves–the mingling of love with hate, of the good with the\u00a0
bad;\u00a0
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0–that our options are constricted by anatomy…\u00a0
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0–that there are flaws in every human connection;\u00a0
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0–that our status of this planet is implacably impermanent\u00a0
and that we are utterly powerless to offer ourselves or those we love protection–protecting from danger and pain, from the inroads of time, from the coming of age, from the coming of\u00a0
death; protection from our necessary losses.\u00a0
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0These losses, Judith Viorst claims, are part of life– universal, unavoidable, inexorable. \u00a0And these losses are necessary because we always have to give something up in order to grow.\u00a0
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Abram and Sarah experienced pain and a sense of dislocation as they moved from one place to another. \u00a0That’s the way it always is. \u00a0But our willingness to move to one stage in life to another is a sign of our willingness to accept the abundant life God offers us. \u00a0If we don’t change, we don’t grow. \u00a0I remember the epitaph of a man that read: “Born a man, he died a grocer.”\u00a0
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Whenever change comes upon us, whether we have chosen it or not always means \u00a0surrender of security. \u00a0It may mean giving up \u00a0
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0–familiar, but limiting patterns,\u00a0
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0–safe but unrewarding work,\u00a0
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0–values no longer believed in,\u00a0
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0–relationships that have lost their meaning, \u00a0
As Dostoevski put it, “Taking a new step, uttering a new word is what people fear most.” \u00a0
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 There was a middle aged woman married to a successful newspaper publisher. \u00a0She was painfully shy and uncertain of herself, and her life revolved around her dynamic husband, her home and family. \u00a0Then her husband committed suicide, and she didn’t know what to do and where to turn. \u00a0Since she had no business experience and no business sense, she turned her husband’s newspaper over to other managers. \u00a0Slowly, she gathered the force of her own dormant talents and decided to run the paper herself. \u00a0She was astonished to learn that she had the right stuff. \u00a0She became one of the most \u00a0powerful and respected women in this country. \u00a0She is Katherine Graham, publisher of the “Washington Post.” from 1962-2001. \u00a0 \u00a0
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Sometimes life forces change and movement upon us, as is the case of Katherine Graham. \u00a0And sometimes an inner restlessness prompts change and movement. \u00a0Whatever it is, we know that we cannot stay where we are, and must move on.\u00a0
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0We may resist that knowledge, but the voice keeps speaking to us, “You must move on.” \u00a0
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0We must move on because we feel less and less satisfied with the daily routines of our lives that leave us increasingly empty;\u00a0
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0We must move on because we have a belief system that has lost its meaning for us;\u00a0
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0We must move on because we have an occupation that has more minuses and pluses.\u00a0
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0We know that we must move on, but frankly, we don’t know whether we have the courage or energy or money to make the change. \u00a0On many occasions, we knew we should move on, but we have stayed back there in Haran rather than venturing out to Canaan, the promised land.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0
\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0I am at the same time apprehensive and expectant about our move. As I look back Barbara and I have moved a grand total of 10 times across the years. \u00a0In every case but one these turned out to be positive, soul-stretching experiences.
\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Every time we move I look at a poster we have placed on the door of our refrigerator, the place we put important sayings and family photos. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0The poster is a picture of a red wood forest, and a path wandering through the forest and disappearing out into the distance. \u00a0The caption reads: \u201cWe can trust an unknown future to a known God.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Honey, We’re Moving\u00a0 Genesis 12:1-9; November 22 2020\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Abram and Sarah are moving. \u00a0That\u2019s what the story is about which […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-430","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-weekly-sermon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/peoriapresbyterianchurch.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/peoriapresbyterianchurch.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/peoriapresbyterianchurch.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peoriapresbyterianchurch.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peoriapresbyterianchurch.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=430"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/peoriapresbyterianchurch.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":431,"href":"https:\/\/peoriapresbyterianchurch.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430\/revisions\/431"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/peoriapresbyterianchurch.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peoriapresbyterianchurch.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peoriapresbyterianchurch.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}