Sermon: “Heading in the Right Direction?” This really high one on the right, for along time, used to annoy me. For a long time it advertised the new liquor store which opened up, just diagonal to us. It would read, “just ahead, on Right” – which also was our location here. It was bright yellow – just awful. I wanted it to be Presbyterian blue, and say “Beulah Presbyterian Church” – just ahead, on right. More recently the sign was a harsh pink, advertising, of all things, the Gun Show – Feb 2 and 3. “Come and buy some guns” – just what we do not need, given the level of gun violence in our country, as we have all witnessed this past week. Now, thankfully, it reads “Meet our Heroes” – and it features our fire-fighters – offering a most deserved thank you to these local heroes. I hope this is a sign of good things to come. The one on the left – I’ve usually liked it more. No guns or liquor advertising - but instead educational institutions, learning opportunities, sometimes a local realtor. And now, for could of weeks now you will see these words, in large print: “Heading in the right direction?” The quick answer is “yes” – I am heading south on Bardstown Road, to my place of employment – here. But of course the question is actually deeper than that. When you are driving south on Bardstown Road, if you slow down enough - and are safe enough to glance to the left and read the smaller print at the bottom of the bill board, you’ll read about “getting your GED” – a Graduate Equivalency Degree – which you can earn if you didn’t graduate from high school. This is certainly a worthy goal and achievement for anyone – and life can be rather difficult in our society without a high school diploma. So the Kentucky department of education is doing a good thing here, with this advertising campaign. But again, the question can be much deeper than that. This can be a question about your life direction, the journey, the path you are on at the moment. It is the right one? Is it a path that leads toward fulfillment and purpose, a journey toward enlightenment and joy? Or is it a path leading to despair and darkness. It’s a question worthy of consideration from time to time – especially in this season of Lent - a season of slowing down, hopefully long enough to reflect on our faith, the status of our walk with God in Jesus Christ, our openness to the Holy Spirit in our lives. The question in effect came to one man – one we read about today in Genesis, chapter 12. And whatever direction his life happened to be going at the time, God had some other direction in mind to him. Prior to this point in Genesis we read about the creation and Noah and the flood and the tower of Babel – very ancient stories, traditional stories about the beginnings of all things. But then in Genesis 12 there is a shift in focus, from these ancient stories to a focus on one particular person and one family – in whom the three major religions of the world have some blood relatives – Jews, Muslims, and Christians – we all have something of our start right here, in Genesis 12 – and the call from God to Abram. This call was for Abram was to head off in a new direction, to set off on a new journey: “Abram, go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing…and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." God asks much of Abram – to leave the family and the familiar – to head off in a new direction - with no map, no AAA Triptik, no On Star, no Global positioning technology – just go, - go only with a promise – a promise that God will show the way. And go with blessing yet to be realized - that Abram, an old man, married, but no children – that he will become a great nation, and by him all the families of the earth will be blessed. It is a promise of well being yet to come, a future well-being without any visible evidence. He is being asked to risk what is in hand for what is yet to be given – given by this intrusive speaker, who calls Abram to get up and go. Now such a call required some kind of response from Abram. It was not something Abram could easily ignore. I wonder if this call from God may have come to Abram as a recurring dream – coming each night, night after night – interrupting his sleep. I suppose he could have responded differently – like you or I might respond to such a call to leave what is familiar and comfortable to us, and to move to some unknown place. Abram could have said like I might say, “Well, thanks anyway, God, but I am quite comfortable where I am – I am happy with the direction my life is heading right now. Thanks for the call – but no thanks.” But that’s not what happened. Maybe he talked it over with his wife Sarai or his nephew Lot. Maybe he talked it over with his friends – we are not told. All we are told is that Abram went – just as he was told to go. This immediate response is what we call “faith.” That’s what Paul calls it in our reading from Romans – “For this reason is depends of faith” Paul says, this response to God in the form of a fundamental trust in God - “who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.” Abram responded in faith. He placed his trust in the One who called him to head out in this new, yet unknown direction. He trusted, and so he went. “So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.” Such a call to go in a new direction in our lives can be rather scary. The known present situation, even if is not the best thing for us, is often still more comfortable than the unknown future. It may surprise us, but we know that in domestic violence situations, often an abused person will stay with the abuser, rather than risk moving out and getting help. This is a complex matter, but part of the reluctance to move out is the fear of the unknown future. We see this call to head in a new direction coming with the typical transitions in life – and still these can be scary. Graduating high school – then what? College? A new job? Turning 18 can be a new, scary direction – when your parents can no longer rescue in ways like they could when you were younger. Taking a new job – moving to a new place – taking up new responsibilities in the company. Getting serious in a relationship – getting married? Having children? Facing an illness, a surgery, or a disability. Transitioning from work to retirement – facing the death of a loved one - - Life is full of these transitions which call us to move in new or unfamiliar directions. They are, as one of my favorite prayers reads, they are all “new ventures – of which we cannot see the ending, and we travel in these new ventures “by paths yet untrodden, through perils unknown.” As we do head in these new directions, and as we want these directions to be the right ones for us, we too as called to trust in the one who calls – to be like Abram, and place our faith in the one who has been and who will be faithful to us, along our journeys, wherever they may lead. If you remember this morning our call to worship was Psalm 121 – a favorite of mine and many of you. If you noticed in that Psalm it begins with a question and answer - asked and answered in the first person: “I lift up my eyes to the hills, from where will my help come? (and then the answer) My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.” Then – we notice that the voice shifts – no longer first person, but second person. “He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber….” What scholars see in this Psalm is a traveler, beginning a journey, looking up to this hills – not able to see what is beyond them – but trusting in the one who is calling him to climb. The hills are the hills around Jerusalem – and the LORD God is there there, dwelling in the Temple in the city. So the traveler sets out – lifting up his eyes to the hills, knowing and trusting in whom he will find help – for it comes in the name of the Lord. And as the traveler begins to walk, there are some folks who stay behind – the family, the friends, the local pastor, the church choir – and together they begin to whisper words of encouragement – words which will sustain the traveler on the journey: Remember, you who travel, you who are embarking in a new direction, “the Lord will not let your foot be moved – you won’t trip up - and he who keeps you will not slumber – even as you take a break and rest along the way. Remember The LORD is your keeper…. The sun shall not smite you by day… There may be danger on the journey, but remember, The LORD will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. The LORD will keep your going out – now as you journey – and the LORD will keep your coming in from this time on and forevermore. Are we heading in the right direction? That journey, wherever it leads, will be the right one – as long as it is the direction God wants us to be going. And along the way, we can trust in the one who calls – knowing that God’s hand is leading us, and God’s love is supporting us, all the way. And all God’s people said. Amen.
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