Let it Go

 

Based on Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16

            Last week, we talked about God’s covenant with Noah and all the air-breathing creatures. This is an everlasting covenant, meaning it is still in effect. And it is a one-way covenant in that God is the only one who has any obligations. God’s only obligation is to never destroy the earth again. We as a species may wipe ourselves out but God is not in the annihilation business. We can trust that God is committed to preserving life.

            So, I asked you to consider during this Lenten season how you can partner with God in preserving life. As we make our way through this season, how might the decisions we make and the actions we take support preserving life? How might our use of the three traditional practices of Lent, fasting, praying, serving, all be means to preserve life?

            This week, we consider God’s covenant with Abraham. This covenant and the covenant with Noah have a few similarities. In both, God is the one who initiates the covenant. Neither Noah or Abraham sought out God or wanted God to do anything special for them. God chose to establish these covenants. And both covenants are expansive. Noah’s covenant included his offspring but also all humanity and all air-breathing creatures. Abraham’s covenant includes his offspring but also a multitude of nations. It is not limited to his direct descendants.

            This is the basis for that children’s song you may have been taught growing up, “Father Abraham.”

 

Father Abraham had many sons

Many sons had Father Abraham

I am one of them, and so are you

So, let’s just praise the Lord

 

             This is a cute little song but may have been confusing to the girls. How are they sons? At any rate, a classic Sunday school song.

            One other similarity between Noah’s covenant and Abraham’s covenant is that they are everlasting. They are still in effect and always will be. But there are a few differences between these two covenants. We are going to take a look at those differences and see how they perhaps shed light on our own relationship with God and our experience of life.

            The first is that God begins the covenant speech by telling Abraham to walk with God and be blameless. Where in the Noah covenant, no one has to do anything, only God has a responsibility, in this covenant God right off the bat gives Abraham a responsibility. It is a conditional covenant. This covenant would only go into effect if Abraham walked with God and was blameless. Thankfully, Abraham kept that responsibility because the covenant is currently in effect.

            What does it mean to walk with God and be blameless? First of all, walking requires movement. And unless you are walking on a treadmill, you are moving in a direction. Either way, you are not standing still or sitting down. So, walking with God has something to do with moving through life with God. Walking with God also has something to do with being loyal. If you are walking with God that means you have not ditched God or said to God, “You know what, you go your way and I’ll go mine.” To walk with God means doing life with God in the ups and downs.

            But what about being blameless? This seems impossible. Who is blameless? Nobody. So, blameless can’t mean the same thing as sinless. We all sin. So, what are we talking about here? Maybe to be blameless means to be faithful. We are going to mess up. We are not always going to be our best selves. But our intentions are good. In spite of our flaws, we are not exiting God out of our life. We are trying to remain faithful in spite of our tendencies to sin. And that’s why I think these two obligations God gave Abraham, to walk with God and be blameless, actually fit together. If we walk with God, that is, be loyal to God, then we naturally are blameless, that is, we are being faithful. Loyalty and faithfulness go together.

            This is a helpful word for us. Faithfulness rather than sinlessness is a reasonable obligation. Every year at clergy session, we work through a series of questions that pertain to various relationships with the annual conference. We address questions like: “who is retiring this year?” “Who is on sabbatical or family leave?” “Who is being recommended for provisional membership?” Who is being recommended for full membership and ordination?” The bishop also askes the dean of the cabinet this question, “Are all the clergy under appointment in good standing and blameless in their conduct?” This question always gets a few snickers. The dean then responds with something along the lines of how each of us are on the road to perfection, acknowledge that we are not perfect but are sinners, yet we are blameless. It’s about faithfulness, not perfection or sinlessness.

            In our lives, we can wander off track. We can go down some rough roads, poorly lit alleys and dead ends. That’s part of the journey of life. We don’t always walk the straight and narrow. But there is grace. God is always with us. We may not always acknowledge God’s presence. And often we don’t sense God’s presence. But God is with us. And Lent gives us an opportunity to check which road we are on, to ask ourselves, “Where am I? Which direction am I headed?” We can assess and if necessary commit ourselves to get back on track walking where God is trying to take us.

            The first thing about this covenant is that Abraham was given the obligation to walk with God and be blameless. As it turned out, Abraham was loyal to God. He was faithful. So, this made it possible for him to be the recipient of the incredible promises of God: a new homeland, a son in his old age, and to become a patriarch of many nations. By being loyal and faithful, Abraham would have a homeland and a lineage. What more do you really need? That is a future with promise.

            This leads to the second point I want to make. Abraham needed that loyalty or trust in God because if we notice, every time God spoke a promise into Abraham’s life, he had to give up something, and not just anything but something core to his identity. Back in Gen. 12, when God first speaks to Abraham, who was still going by the name of Abram, God told him to leave his homeland and his kin and follow God to the land that God will show him. Right off the bat, the very first words out of God’s mouth, is for Abram to let go of his ancestral land and his kinfolk. This is something that only people who were forced off their land or chose to flee from their land to live in exile can resonate with. To leave behind, to let go of your ancestral land and your kinfolk, which is core to your identity, is a big ask. And in today’s reading, God exchanges Abram’s name for a new one. The name his father gave him is to be set aside. He will now be called Abraham. Again, just sit with that. For Abraham to receive these incredible promises from God he had to let go of his ancestral land, his kinfolk, and even his name. This is no little thing. And yet, Abraham was loyal and faithful, trusting that this God of the mountain, El Shaddai, would fulfill the promise of a new homeland and a lineage that encompassed multiple nations and more offspring than the sand on the beach or the stars in the heavens.

            Does this not speak to our own lives? Of course, we do not receive the promise that God made to Abraham. But our lives are an ongoing process of letting go so that we can grow and mature, so that we can become all God intends for us to be. We leave behind our childhood home. We let go of parts of ourselves that served us well when we were young but now don’t serve much purpose. We let go of career ambitions, striving for status, hopes and dreams we once had for our lives. Our life journey is full of letting go and leaving behind what used to be so important, even necessary, to making us who we are. We let all that go so that we can expand who we are, develop our identity. And let’s be honest, it is pretty off putting to witness someone in their 70s trying to act like they are living in their 30s. For us to grow and mature and become who God wants us to become, we have to let some things go.

            Lent can be a time when we reflect on what we need to let go of. I’m talking about something much more significant that letting go of eating meat or chocolate for a few weeks. What do you need to let go of that has helped shape your identity? What do you need to move away from so that you are able to receive what it is God is promising to give you? These are Lent questions.

            Now, we probably don’t have a clear idea on how to answer these questions. Abraham was blessed. He had a few moments in his long, long life where he did get a clear word from God. God made it plain to Abraham what he needed to let go of and what he and the generations after him would gain as a result of that sacrifice. For us, we sometimes get a moment of clarity. That still small voice can speak into us now and then in our lives. But for the most part, like Abraham, we are just walking with God as we navigate the process of maturity. We sort of pick up clues or insights, promptings, that suggest what we need to let go of and what we can potentially become.

            So, my invitation is for you to sit with these questions. What am I being asked to let go of so I can grow in my divine purpose? What is God promising to give me and those who come after me? If there are no clear answers, commit yourself to be willing to let go when you get that clarity and to keep trusting in the goodness and the promised blessings God has for you in the days to come, as you continue to walk with God.