Genesis 22:1-14
Proper 8 / Year A
When
I have preached on today’s Old Testament reading in the past I have pondered the
challenges it presents. This morning I
want to focus on something in the story we might want to adopt in our own life
and practice. I find it in Abraham’s
response to his son’s question as they ascend the mountain: “Father, we have
fire and we have wood, but where are we going to get a lamb?” Abraham replies, “God himself will provide
the lamb for a sacrifice.”
God
will provide. This reflects a deep
disposition which manifests itself as a calm faith, the ability to be at peace
in moments of stress or anxiety. It is
not foolishness, like putting your entire life savings on Red 36 and trusting
God will make the ball drop in your slot.
It is not recklessness, because, as Jesus says, “Do not put the Lord
your God to the test.” And it certainly
is not a sentiment born of self-reliance: “Where is the lamb? You know I’ll figure out something.” Abraham’s posture is one of waiting. He models patience. He knows God will do something, will act,
will provide, and when this happens, Abraham will ready and he will respond.
We
observed our parish’s 375th anniversary back to 2017. It was no small effort. We worked and planned for at least two years
and the actual celebration on Pentecost Sunday was the culmination of a several
projects and ventures. I remember saying
to Bishop Holly at the time, “We have worked so hard to get to this day and I
don’t have a clue what to do next. I
think our parish and I need to sit back and catch our breath over the
summer.” His response: “Well, that is
one strategy, I guess.”
I
think he, like most of my colleagues, assumes parish leaders keep the pedal to
the metal all the time, without letup or pause.
It is not at all normative to have a priest say, “I don’t know what to
do next.” But by August, just two months
after my conversation with the bishop, five families with young children moved
into the area and began attending our church.
What had been unclear – what to do next – became very clear – find a
Christian Education Director and figure out how to start a couple of new Sunday
School classes.
For
me, that was an aha moment. I realized
you can spend a lot of time and energy trying to produce a particular outcome
or you can wait to see what God is going to do next and then respond. You can go with your idea, your plan, your
scheme or you can take the posture God will provide and live day-to-day with a
calm expectancy someday, something will happen because God is going to provide.
Abraham
held on to this belief with every step as he and his son climbed higher and
higher. But this wasn’t always his approach. You recall how God told him to pack up his
wife and his belongs and leave his home for a land God would reveal to him once
he got there. Abraham does this and in
so doing demonstrates great faith and trust.
At the same time, God tells Abraham one day he will become the father of
many nations. Now this is more
problematic to believe because he and his wife are old and childless. You recall from last week’s reading how the
couple takes matters into their own hands when Sarah offers her handmaiden to
her husband, carving their own path rather than waiting for God to act. The result of Abraham’s own efforts is
problematic, to say the least. Yet, experience
has a way of giving birth to wisdom and Abraham learns the value of being
patient and trusting God to provide.
Now
I am not advocating for passivity.
Sometimes you have to grab the reigns and go, trusting God will be with
you as you do everything in your power to confront a situation. Kent and Norma Spain have been great models
of this. I so admire how, when Kent was
diagnosed with cancer, they both took it on with every resource and ounce of
energy at their disposal. I have witnessed
many of you face your challenges with steel and grit, which are the fruits of
faith, and I have marveled at your determination.
When
I think of Abraham and the lesson we can draw from him, I am thinking of circumstances
different from that, situations where pausing opens the door to God’s activity;
something like what Nathaniel Hawthorne hints at through this quote:
“Happiness is like a butterfly which, when pursued, is always
beyond our grasp, but if you sit down quietly, may alight upon you.”
It
is possible to go through life scrambling so tenaciously God can barely find a
space to step in, to work feverishly to achieve something, never once imagining
God may have something else in store.
But if you pause, if you wait, God will find a way and a place to touch
you. God will provide. And then, like Abraham who named that mountain
Yahweh Yireh, which means “The Lord will provide”, you will be able to
cite a time and place when and where you waited and God acted.
