Recklessness

The following is a sermon I preached on Genesis 22:1-14. Click here to read the scripture passage before reading the sermon.

Recklessness

Today’s scripture lesson is an uncomfortable one for many people for a variety of reasons. This past week as I thought about this scripture passage there was this song that kept coming to mind. It is a song by Jars of Clay called Like a Child and I’d like to read a few of the lyrics to you. The song goes something like this:

They say that I can move the mountains

And send them falling into the sea

They say that I can walk on water

If only I would follow and believe

With faith like a child.

Sometimes when I feel miles away

And my eyes can’t see your face

I wonder if I’ve grown to lose the recklessness

I walked in light of you.

Let me reread those last two lines:

I wonder if I’ve grown to lose the recklessness

I walked in light of you.

What a powerful image that song leaves with me, the image of one walking recklessly in light of God. It is what kept coming to my mind this past week because the recklessness this song talks about having lost, is exactly the way Abraham responds to God in the scripture passage for today.

To most people even the thought of sacrificing their child seems reckless and I’m sure it did to Abraham too. We can tell just from the way God commands Abraham that this is something difficult and painful. If you don’t mind, grab the pew bible in front of you and flip to pg 19. Let’s look again at what God says to Abraham. Genesis 22:2 reads

Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.”

As God gives Abraham his instructions, God almost seems to be dwelling on the difficult and the negative. God doesn’t just tell Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, God tells Abraham to sacrifice his son, his only son, whom he loves. Each phrase God uses to describe Isaac becomes more intense and, I would imagine, more difficult for Abraham to hear.

It is indeed a painful command to hear. After all, this is the son that Abraham and Sarah have been waiting their whole lives for. This is the son, the heir, that God promised Abraham. This is the son that was too good to be true, that was too ridiculous to believe possible that both Abraham and Sarah laughed at God’s promise to give them a son. This was the son through whom God had promised to make Abraham a great nation. Isaac was the fulfillment of God’s promise, the sign of God’s faithfulness, and the opening into the future God had promised.

Now God was asking Abraham to give all of that up. God was asking Abraham to recklessly follow God, even when it seemed like it would undo all of God’s promises. And on top of that God wants Abraham to go to a distant mountain but doesn’t even tell him which specific mountain to go to! Instead God essentially points Abraham in the right direction and says, “I’ll point it out when you get there.”

I can’t imagine how difficult those words must have been for Abraham to hear. But as difficult as it is for me to imagine how Abraham must have felt, it’s even more difficult for me to imagine Abraham’s response. Abraham doesn’t say anything. Not a word. A few chapters ago Abraham was willing to negotiate with God. He’s willing to challenge God on the justice of God’s actions towards complete strangers. But when faced with the sacrifice of his son, Abraham is silent! He doesn’t try to bargain. He doesn’t whine or make excuses either. Instead his response isn’t a response of words at all but a response of trust-filled action.

Verse three of the passage says that early the next morning Abraham got all of the necessary things together, loaded them on a donkey, and then set out with Isaac and two young men in the direction God had told him. Abraham doesn’t waste any time. He gets up early the next morning and sets about the task God’s given him. The only thing we are told about the journey is that it took three days. Three days. How long must that journey have seemed to Abraham? How often must he have been given the opportunity to doubt? Those three days must have been long and difficult for him, yet he never loses faith and he doesn’t turn back.

On the third day, Abraham and his son go on alone to the place God had shown Abraham. He tells the men with him that both he and Isaac will return after they have worshipped God. And Isaac, noticing there was no lamb for the burnt offering asks his father about it. Abraham’s response is simple, “God will provide.” Even in the very midst of something that seemed entirely reckless Abraham’s response is one of trust and faith in God. Abraham trusted God would not lead him in the wrong direction.

Abraham even went so far as to bind Isaac and put him on the alter. Abraham trusted God right up to the end and, in the end, God does exactly what Abraham said. God provides Abraham with a ram to sacrifice instead of Isaac.

Abraham was able to follow God even when it seemed reckless to others. But I think Abraham realized something most of us often forget. What God was asking Abraham to do seemed reckless in our limited human perspective but Abraham trusted that God would be true to God’s promises and that ultimately God’s purposes would be fulfilled. Abraham trusted even when he was being led into places that were really uncomfortable.

When God called Abraham, he responded not by making excuses, and not even by trying to bargain with God as he had before. Instead Abraham’s response is not one of words at all but one of trust and willingness to walk recklessly in the light of God.

Just like Abraham, we are called to have faith like a child in God, even when it seems reckless, perhaps especially when it seems reckless. I think that’s the real reason that this passage is so uncomfortable for so many of us. It’s not Abraham’s silent obedience that’s uncomfortable; it’s the still audible voice of God. For the God who called Abraham, who makes profound promises, and who asks Abraham to walk so recklessly, is still speaking today. Perhaps what is most uncomfortable is that God asks us too to walk recklessly in the light of God.

As the church, the community trying to live in faithful relationship to God, God is always calling us to grow. Often that growth is difficult and at times, it seems like God is asking us to do something seemingly reckless. To many people, doubling the number of people Calvary serves in the next ten years is reckless. It seems like a huge and daunting task but it is what God is calling us to do. God is calling us to recklessly reach out, that other might come to know God more fully.

God also calls us individually to different things. Are you one of the people God is calling to ordained ministry? If so, it can feel like a really reckless thing to do. Maybe you haven’t even made it out of high school yet and accepting a call to ministry feels like such a huge task. Maybe you’re already actively at work in another career, and it feels reckless to take a pay cut and go back to school. But if God is calling you to it, God will provide even when things seem reckless. Are you one of the people God is calling to ministry?

Or is God calling you to recklessly risk your popularity at school by befriending the uncool kid? Maybe God’s calling you to reach out to the person at work who’s going through a divorce, or the person who always eats lunch alone. Maybe it’s your popularity God’s calling you to risk.

God is calling all of us, individually and collectively to so fully trust in God that we are willing to walk recklessly in the light of God. God called Abraham to walk recklessly in the light of God, and calls all of us to the same type of recklessness. Just as God provided for Abraham, so too God will provide for us when we recklessly follow God.

But the really amazing part is that we worship a God who not only calls us to walk recklessly in light of God, but we worship a God who loves us recklessly. God loves us so recklessly that God sent God’s son to be with us and ultimately to die for us. God sacrificed God’s son, God’s only son Jesus, whom God loves, for us. Imagine how recklessly God would need to love us to be willing to do something like that. God loves us recklessly and calls each of us to walk recklessly in the light of God. If God loves us so recklessly as to die for us, then certainly we can recklessly trust in God.

How is God calling you to recklessly walk in light of God?

Vacation

In just a few hours we will be leaving for our vacation in the Grand Canyon. We will be gone for a week so I probably will not have an opportunity to blog. But I will try to at least send some pictures to the blog.

Simplicity

Read Mark 1:1-8 before reading the rest of this.

Did you read it? No really, read Mark 1:1-8 before going on. If you don't have a bible handy click here.

One of the things that strikes me about this passage is the simplicity of it. Mark gives us a lot of details about what John the Baptist is wearing. But even in the details there is a bare simplicity about the presentation of the Gospel message. Mark tells us of an old prophecy, of a little water, of basic clothing, and of a simple diet. The message is simple, clear, concise. And all the more powerful because of it's simplicity. We don't get distracted with extras in the story. Just the basics.

Perhaps this is so striking to me because of the difference between the way the gospel message is presented in the gospel of Mark, and the way it is so often presented in today's world. We live in a society of excess, where most of us feel like our houses, and more often than not, our lives, are cluttered by needless things. Sometimes clutter is in the form of random material things that fill our houses and preoccupy our thoughts. Sometimes clutter is in the form of mounting to-do lists that distract us from focusing on God.

We live in a cluttered world and yet God speaks to us a simple, profound message. God tells us of God's love for us, of God's desire to be in relationship with us. How does the Gospel message become cluttered for you? How does your life clutter the gospel message?

Made it through customs in

Made it through customs in miami

We have landed in miami

We have landed in miami

We r at the gate

We r at the gate in santo damingo

Friday in the D.R.

Calvary Friends and Family,

What a day! We got an early start and arrived at the work site about 8am. It was cooler which helped with the digging. We finished several more holes, and when we left at noon, about 10 of the 12 we were working were completed. Bob struck up a baseball game on the upper part of the lot using the bat and ball the Rec Ministry team provided. The kids (Bob and Dave) had a great time. The Dominican youngsters enjoyed it too. When we left the site for the last time, we got a great picture of the Calvary team standing in the bottom of one of the holes with the Dominicans standing around us. A load of rebar (steel reinforcing rods for the concrete) arrived and several Dominicans worked during the afternoon starting to cut and bend them for the concrete work that will begin right after we leave.

After lunch we had a little time off and Bob and Dave went with Nardo and Nieves to buy some rice. We bought 30 bags each 7 lbs. Then Jenn, Bob, Dave, Sarah, Ed, Katie, and Terri loaded up the rice in a pickup truck and rode out to the Bateys with Nardo, Salvador, and Flor. The Bateys are migrant worker camps outside of town, mostly populated by Haitian workers who cut sugar cane. The poverty is extreme in the Bateys. We passed out two bags of rice to each of the 15 families living there and at each house we heard a heartfelt "Bendiga", which means God Bless You. We were all fighting back tears. Dave however, was fighting just to stay in the back of the truck. While crossing the stream that cut through the dirt road leading to the camp, he nearly fell out of the truck trying to video tape the journey. No doubt since we were doing God´s work, He heard your prayers for our safety and gave Dave a gentle push on the tush back into the truck. Dave was then sternly ordered to sit in the bed of the truck for the rest of the trip.

On the ride back we stopped at Flor´s church in Calejone which we helped start in 2005. It was a very moving time for those of us who worked on it to see it now complete. We look forward to coming back some day and seeing the huge church Nieves is starting finally complete. We will know it is resting on foundations we helped dig, but the real foundation is the strong faith of the people in this community.

Meanwhile, while the rest of us were at the Bateys, Rachel and Anna were bonding with Nieves daughters who braided and beaded their hair. It was a 4 hour process. Jessy stayed behind to offer encouragement. The girls look beautiful, but they will need to refrain from sudden head motion. You´ll see.

After another great dinner, we went to the special church celebration the community had planned on our behalf. It was a joyous time that began with a high tempo set of praise songs that went on for over 25 minutes. Nonstop dancing, jumping, clapping and singing. The program was highlighted by several songs and dances that the young girls did for us. During one of the dances the CD player quit, but the congregation immediately started singing the song and the girls never missed a beat. It was a perfect metaphor for the way this community supports each other.

When it came to our turn to provide some music, Dave attempted to match their tempo and enthusiasm with "Joy" and "I´ll Fly Away-Will the Circle be Unbroken". The Circle was Unbroken, but one of his guitar strings was not. Injury to teammates from flying guitar strings was narrowly averted. Fortunately there was a spare guitar which he grabbed to close the set with the ever popular Open the Eyes of My Heart. This was also one of the songs the girls danced to for us!

The service ended a bit abruptly when the Lord decided it was a good time to begin a thunderstorm. Huge umbrellas appeared immediately (standard equipment when you hold church in the street) and the service continued as the rain alternated between light drizzle and some moderate rain. At the conclusion, blessings and gifts were exchanged, followed by hugs all around and ice cream was served. Then the skys opened up and it poured. We huddled in the small shed they use to store their equipment and chairs. We know the Dominicans were a little disappointed that the rain spoiled their party plans, but our spirits were not dampened a bit. It was sad to say goodbye to so many people who have become such good friends over this week.

We finally got back to the house after 11pm and when we opened the door to the stairway upstairs, a small lizard jumped down on Rachels head. There were screams and panic, but we finally calmed Ed down. (Insert smiley face here since Dave still can´t get the punctuation to work on this keyboard.) Turns out the lizard was only trying to save us 15% or more on our car insurance! (Dave has no email chaparone tonight and he is tired so you´ll have to deal with the cheap gags.)

Anyway, we leave tomorrow morning for the long trip back home. We are anxious to get back home, but leaving this wonderful community is hard. We heard a 100 times tonight "When will you come back!" We don´t know for sure when we´ll be back, but we all know a part of us will remain here forever. We could not have done this without the prayers and support from the Calvary community. Your presence was felt throughout this week and we look forward to sharing stories, photos, and video we took while down here. See you Sunday! We´ll be easy to spot with farmer´s tans and braided hair.

Bendiga!

Your Brothers and Sisters in Christ in Yaguate, DR

Written by Dave.