Well, here he goes again, leaving home and comfort and taking off on a journey into the unknown. Abraham seems to do this every three years or so. Or so the rotation of the lectionary goes. There he is in that comfortable city of Ur. He is quite wealthy, or as least upper middle class in today’s language. There is no indication that he is unhappy with his life. We are told Abraham’s age, but sometimes in is hard to equate Biblical age with our experience of years. We do know his wife Sara is beyond her childbearing years. So what possessed him? Was it a mid-life crisis? A lifelong dream that needed fulfillment?

Not so, we are told. He was called out by God to embark on this journey and to receive the blessing of this remarkable and unusual God. Blessing! He and Sara are to receive a blessing? They did not earn it. They did nothing to deserve it. Right! An undeserving barren couple is chosen for a special spiritual journey and a blessing. Sorry, you two, that is not the way the world works. Get over it! Forget the packing and the closing up and get on with your life here like the rest of us!

Well, good thing they did not listen to the "rest of us." Otherwise we would not have this pivotal story. It is pivotal, you see, because it actually changes the direction of the book of Genesis. Except for the first two chapters in which God creates the world and proclaims it good, the first 11 chapters deal primarily with the prevalence of evil in the world. It seems to be a narration of how the harmonious world of Genesis 1 and 2 is thrown out of balance by a series of falls. Dale preached on the initial fall last week in which humans trespass on the boundaries of creation by eating the forbidden fruit. Following this the world seems to blemish quickly almost like an ink stain on a cotton shirt. The curse leaves Eden and moves first to persons when Cain kills his brother Able. Evil becomes such a force that even God tries to wash it out with a flood, but this too is a failure. The floodwaters barely recede when Noah’s family has major problems and Noah curses Canaan.

This is the stage upon which the Genesis 12 drama begins. Just as we begin to understand that there is no end to the power of evil, humanity is given a new reality. The central message of these 4 little verses is blessing. That word occurs five times in three verses. These blessings are rooted in the blessings of creation, the goodness of creation and the charge to be fruitful and multiply. But here is a couple caught in barrenness. And here they stand before one of the most incredible announcements in the history of Israel. Barrenness is the way of human history. It is an effective metaphor for helplessness. It is a great description of the theme of the previous chapters. But, says Walter Brueggemann, barrenness is not only the condition of human hopelessness. The marvel of biblical faith is that barrenness is the arena of God’s life-giving action. That story plays itself out again and again for after Sarah there is Rebekah, Rachel, Hannah and even Israel itself in exile (Isa. 54:1 ff) This metaphor of barrenness is vital for it announces that this family begins its life in a situation of irreparable hopelessness. And that is the ground of the good news: God does not depend on any potentiality in the one addressed. "Barrenness" marks the deep futility of Israel. "Speech of God" asserts the freedom and power of God to work among the hopeless.

The speech of God to this barren family is a call to relinquishment, a call to embark on something new and difficult, and a heartrending departure from the comfortable and the traditional. But the summons is not a law or a discipline but a promise. It is promise of boundless blessings.

These days many of us are not comfortable with the idea that God speaks to anyone as in the story of Abraham. And the idea of the Transfiguration is very difficult for many modern readers. Yet whether historically accurate or not it is a powerful story, which stands well within the Biblical tradition. It was upon the mountain that Moses heard God speak, and experienced the presence of God. At the transfiguration, while the vision is powerful, the voice of God stating whom Jesus is, much like at the Baptism, is the significant part. The power is in the voice of God. The small group descends from the Mountain, charged with silence, for now. But they have been changed. They have experienced the mystery. I expect that from that time forward, they, as much as Abraham, set out on a new faith journey or a new venture of faith.

I also wonder at how often the faith journey coincides with a physical journey, or at least a major change of circumstances. So often it happens when we are away from the usual, are vulnerable in some way and have let go of things that were important or even pivotal in our lives. Through the years I have been deeply touched over and over again by the stories of people’s faith journeys. I remember one of my own such journeys. I was extremely afraid to leave, to set out. A very spiritual person looked at me very intently and loving. In a soft voice she said: "Have you ever thought God might be calling you to something else?" Of course I had not. And so I sat, dumbfounded. I could feel every fiber of my being begin to calm. And so, I took off. I packed up a few things, stored all my possessions, turned my home and cat over to a very scattered young adult, and took off. I found myself really alone in a new place. Some friends delivered me to my shabby quarters, and left. They called a few days later to say how hard it had been for them to leave me in that place. Some Help! I was totally alone. I knew no one. Home and family were at a great distance. Everything was new.

I had gone to this place to but my theological and artistic selves together. I felt I had kept them separate too long. I tentatively delved into Bible study, theology and my artwork. I met new people who seemed to have very strange ideas of who I was. That in itself was a revelation. As I became more deeply immersed in my work, I had some very powerful spiritual experiences. They were indeed blessings. This very unsure lonely person was swept up in a song assuring me that I was God’s beloved child. I came across some people from my past who brought love and assurance. And as I studied and painted I came to feel God’s presence in a new way. One day I was looking at someone’s work of art. I was extremely critical. That is not a work of art. It is someone’s playtime, a photographic paper angel, I thought. Then I realized that because it had glass in front of it, it reflected everything in the room. I sat down with my pencil and paper. Those who had been with me, went on with out me. I drew furiously for an hour or two, I really do not know. I began to see that what I had drawn was a depiction of how the Holy Spirit was with us every minute of every day no matter how insignificant the activity. I began to look back through some recent very painful times in my life and could clearly see the work of the Holy Spirit.

In a way, Abraham introduced the idea of the faith journey to us. He taught us about it. The New Testament thinks this was so important, it refers to Abraham and his faith journey over and over again.

We in the UCC are big time believers in faith journeys. We do not focus on a one-time conversion but on our experiences of faith during our lives. And as we look back on those experiences and share them with trusted friends we move to new levels of faithfulness.

I do not know about you, but I would like some special times to hear each other’s stories. And I hope we can find ways when we move back into our building to look at this time we have labeled the "wilderness" and identify God’s hand at work among us. For we have covenanted together to embark on all new ventures of faithfulness together. And that, my dear ones, is a real blessing. And there are yet more blessings. For God has promised.