Open

Photo by Linda Young Baker

Read Isaiah 35.
Open is hard. Last week, our home was broken into. A few electronics and jewelry that was mostly sentimental in value were stolen. We were lucky, really. No people or pets were hurt. Memories cannot be taken. Stuff can be replaced. What has really been taken is our sense of security. Our immediate response has been to batten down the hatches. Replace locks. Fortify doors. Beef up security. Our eyes are open, all right, but what we are looking for is danger. We fear for our lives.
In the spring of 2006, my mother captured this photo of baby redbirds nesting in a rose bush. They are so open! So trusting! So vulnerable! And that is what makes openness so very difficult. Open is vulnerable. Open is risky. Open can be downright dangerous. When we are open, anyone can come in. And, let’s face it, more than a few jackals, lions and ravenous beats prowl the streets. So it is no wonder that our natural inclination is to shut down. Close ranks. Slam the doors of our hearts and slide the deadbolts securely into place.
But, the irony is that, when we lock ourselves away, we are not open to anyone. Sure, we are not open to predators, but we are also not open to friends, lovers, or helpers. We are not open to the Savior.
This time of year we often sing, “Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus… from our fears and sins release us.” But, if the Savior is to come, we must be open to receive him. And that requires trust. And faith. And hope.
Have you ever watched children take communion? Many times they will stick their tongues into the little “shot” glasses to get every last drop of juice. I want to be like that. I want to be hungry for God, hungry for grace, hungry for truth, hungry for righteousness, hungry for Jesus. How about you?
Let us pray: Loving God, open us to the saving power of your Holy Spirit. Open our eyes to your truths and our hearts to our neighbors. Amen.

God Will Take Care of You

Don’t worry. God will take care of you.

Yeah, right. Don’t worry. Easy to say. It’s a lot harder to do. It can be easy to trust God when things are going well. When you have everything you have ever needed or wanted. But what happens to faith when someone you love is taken away? How easy is it to trust God when your child’s life is at risk? And what if the One who is threatening your child is God? What happens to faith then?!?

It would never happen, you say. God would never do that. God is loving and kind. And children are a gift from God. They are precious in God’s sight. God would never harm a child.

And yet, thousands die each year from disease, abuse and war. According to the US Department of Health and Human Services, 3 million cases of child abuse are reported in our country every year, and anywhere from four to seven children die every day due to abuse or neglect. God could stop it. God rescued Isaac. Why won’t God rescue these children?

I don’t think the problem is with God. I believe God desperately wants to save these children. I believe God wants to save each and every child. In fact, I believe that God is already at work, trying to save each and every child. The problem is not with God. It is with us.

Your Bible may refer to our text today as the sacrifice of Isaac, but our story is not one of sacrifice. It is a story of salvation. And our story depends upon Abraham. Will he obey God? Will he trust God? He has been faithful. Will he continue to do what God tells him to do?

Abraham had come a long way. He had traveled a great distance, lived many years, and experienced many things since God first spoke to him in Haran. The way was not easy, and Abraham had made his fair share of mistakes. Abraham was no paragon of faith, and no one would call his wife Sarah a model believer either. Despite the fact that Abraham obeyed God’s command to leave his country and home and relatives in Mesopotamia, Abraham did not initially believe it when God said Abraham would have a son. At first, Abraham contradicted god then he fell on his face and laughed.[i]

Abraham often questioned the Lord, and Sarah was always trying to out think God. So, at best, Abraham and Sarah were what preaching professor Elizabeth Achtemeier calls “sporadic believers.”[ii] They trust God sometimes.

Sometimes they are faithful. Sometimes they are not. Sometimes they obey without question, and sometimes they have A LOT of questions. Kind of like kids, right? Sometimes they do exactly what you tell them to do right when you tell them to do it. And sometimes they want to argue with you.

Happens a lot when kids get to be teenagers. You get your driver’s license and want to go to the mall or to a ballgame, but, instead, your mom sends you to the store for milk. That is a test. To see if you really ARE ready to take on more responsibility.

When it comes to faith, we are all children who are growing in our knowledge of God and trust in God. And, just as there are times when parents test their children, God tests Abraham. Which makes sense, ‘cuz, you know, a lot depends on Abraham. “God’s promise of blessing for the world rides on the faith and obedience of Abraham….”[iii]

Have you ever thought about that? The fate of the WORLD depends on Abraham. Will he do what God has told him to do? Even if it does not make sense to him? Even if he does not like what God is telling him to do? Does Abraham trust God? If so, how much?

Can you imagine how hard it was for Abraham? He had waited his whole life for a son. And, finally, God blesses him with a child, and, now, God is asking Abraham to sacrifice that child. So what will he do? Will Abraham cling to the gift God has given him? Or will Abraham trust the one who gave him the gift?

I’m gonna be honest with you. The idea that God tests us is not one that I like a whole lot. I don’t like the idea that God might “set us up” somehow. The whole scenario is so unpleasant that we might be tempted to explain away this story, saying that Abraham MISTAKENLY believed that God wanted him to sacrifice Isaac.[iv] But scripture clearly states that God tests Abraham by commanding him to use Isaac as a burnt offering.

This is not a game. God wants to know if Abraham trusts God COMPLETELY. Old Testament scholar Walter Brueggemann says that, at this point in the story, God genuinely does not know what Abraham will do, just as Abraham does not know what God will do.[v]

Luckily, Abraham passes the test. Abraham does EXACTLY what God tells him to do, even though everything in him must have been screaming out, “Don’t make me do this!” Abraham obeys God. Abraham obeys God because Abraham trusts God. Abraham believes that God will provide. Abraham has no clue HOW God will provide. He has no earthly idea what God is about to do! But Abraham believes, beyond any shadow of doubt, that the God who is able to give life to an old man and a barren woman is able to take terrible tragedy and, somehow, bring about new life. Abraham believes in God. Abraham believes in the goodness of God. Abraham believes that, somehow, God will provide. Abraham believes because God made a promise, and God has always kept that promise.

So Abraham sets out to do what God has told him to do. He builds an altar, places the wood on it, and ties up his son, his only son, his only hope. Abraham places Isaac on the altar and takes out a knife and prepares to give God everything.

And God says, “Stop. Don’t do it.”

And Abraham stops. Abraham listens to the voice of God. He heeds God’s call. And that, my friends, is the word for us today. Will we do what God calls us to do?

When we read this passage now and hear God ask for a human sacrifice, everything in us rebels. We know that God does not do that. But ABRAHAM did not know that. The sacrifice of children was a common religious practice in that time and place. There was no reason for Abraham to think that YHWH might be any different from any of those other so-called gods. This is Genesis. We are at the very beginning of the story. Abraham was just finding out what God is like and what God will do. Other religions claimed that God requires human sacrifice, but this terrifying story proves that YWHW is different.

“If anybody is going to be sacrificed,” God proclaims, “it will be me.” And, friends, that is the good news. God provides. God provides the sacrifice. God IS the sacrifice. God loves us so much that God would rather die himself than see even one child suffer.

But there is more to our story today than another affirmation that God is our liberator. This story calls us to action. It calls us to listen. It calls us to trust.

Like Abraham, we have come this far in our journey by faith. We have trusted God. Maybe we have not always been faithful, but, to some degree, we have trusted God. We have trusted God, and God has led us to this point where we are right now. Maybe it isn’t where we thought we would be. Maybe it isn’t where we want to be. But this is where we are.

The question is will we trust God to lead us from here? Will we do whatever God tells us to do next? Even if we don’t understand it? Even if we don’t like it? Even if it means sacrifice? Are we willing to give up everything for God?

God gave up everything for you.

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[i] Elizabeth Achtemeier. Preaching the Hard Texts of the Old Testament. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1998. 19.

[ii] Achtemeier, 19.

[iii] Achtemeier, 20.

[iv] Achtemeier, 17.

[v] Walter Brueggemann. Interpretation: Genesis. Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1982. 187.

What stops us from praying?

It seems like we can find all kinds of reasons NOT to pray: We don't feel like it. We don't know how. It does no good. We don't have time. Maybe the real obstacle to prayer is that we do not understand what it is. Prayer is not a genie-in-a-bottle make-3-wishes-and-all-your-dreams-come-true solution to all the problems of life. Prayer is not magic. It is a conversation with God. And one of the cool things about God is that you can talk to God any time, anywhere, and any way you know how.

When I was in elementary school, I was probably one of the worst softball players ever to walk out on the field, so the coach would put me way, way out in the outfield, where I could do the least damage. It would get kind of dull out there by myself, so I would talk to God. Too many years have passed for me to remember what I might have said, but I do recall gazing up at clouds and listening to the wind and watching dandelions in great fascination. Stopping to admire God's handiwork is a great way to pray. It's always good to say, "Thank you."

An easy way to work prayer into your daily life is to pray wherever you are. If you are waiting to see the doctor, pray. Pray for the other patients in the waiting room. Pray for the doctor. Pray for medical researchers. Pray for those who cannot afford medical care. If you are waiting to pick up your kids at school, pray for students to make good choices. Pray that teachers will be kind and wise and alert. Pray for the kids who cannot afford school supplies. If you are standing in the checkout line at the grocery store, pray for the cashier. Pray for the safety of the stockroom boy. Pray that those folks whose faces are splashed across the covers of tabloid magazines will be good role models.

One of the things I have tried to teach myself to do is to pray about annoyances. When something irritates me and I start to complain about it, I tell myself to stop and pray. For example, instead of getting frustrated about a train making me late to a meeting, I can pray for the hard-working men and women who make the products that the freight cars are carrying.

If we consciously make prayer a priority, we can find countless reasons to pray every day. We can stop to smell the roses and offer prayers of gratitude to God for all the good things in our lives. We can cry out for help when the car won't start or the dog is lost or all of our teachers load us up with homework on the very first day of class.

If you really want to pray without ceasing, pay attention to anything that "grabs" you. If a commercial makes you cry, pause for a moment and ask yourself why. If you find yourself singing along to a song on the radio, stop for a moment and think it. What is it about that song that speaks to you? Pay attention to anything that moves you or angers you or confuses you or brings forth any strong reaction. You may discover that God is trying to get your attention.

Which, of course, only matters if you believe that God has something helpful to contribute to your situation. In Companions to Christ, Adele Gonzalez notes that most of us are pretty sure we've got things under control. We do not pray because, truth is, we really do not want anyone's help, not even God's. We would really rather do it ourselves. Because, if we do everything ourselves, then we can control the outcome. Or we think we can. And we desperately want to control the world around us. That is one of the reasons why prayer is such a challenge (Companions in Christ, 127).

"In prayer we are called to let go, to surrender ourselves to God who loves us and knows us in ways we cannot even begin to imagine. Letting go is difficult ... because we do not trust that God's answers to our prayers ... will be what we want them to be. As Christians, we sometimes claim that we trust completely in God's ways. Yet many of us try to tell God exactly what we want, as well as when and how we want it." (Companions in Christ, 127).

But that is not surrender. And surrendering to God's will is what God asks of all who seek to follow Jesus. It is not easy. It was not easy for Jesus either! On the night he was arrested, Jesus prayed. He knew what was coming. He understood EXACTLY what was about to happen. And he was not happy about it. Jesus did not want to die. He certainly did not want to die as a criminal. Who would? No sane person would. So Jesus begged God to find another way. Jesus cried out to God repeatedly. Jesus poured out his heart to God, but Jesus STILL did not get what he wanted. And sometimes we don't either. We cannot control God. Prayer is not some secret weapon we use to manipulate God into doing what we want. Sometimes, we pour out our hearts to God, and it may feel as if nothing has changed. Jesus was still arrested. My mom still had cancer. The love of your life may walk out the door.

But, when we spend time with God, we are reminded how much God loves us, how good God really is, and how faithful God has always been. And that makes it a little easier to follow Jesus and surrender.

Redeeming love

Photo by Jolinne Balentine-Downey

More of the flowers are opening. Are we also opening ourselves more and more to the redeeming love of God? To redeem is to make something that is flawed better. That's what God's love does for us. It makes us better people. More honest. More trusting. More wise. More strong. More patient. More forgiving. More like God. But it is a process. It takes time. These flowers did not bloom overnight. They did not appear full bloom in the world. They began as seeds and grew over time. Even now they are still growing into the fullness of what they can be. The same is true of people. We do not come into the world as fully realized human beings. We come as crying, perhaps even shrieking, children. And we grow over time. When we experience love, it helps us to let go of our defenses and open up more of our hearts. The purpose of life is to grow into our full potential, to become all that God created us to be. So what do we need to let go of so that we can grow into the glorious creations God intended us to be? And how can we encourage others to trust more of their hearts to God?