Dec. 4, 2011

Background Scripture: Genesis 12:1-9

Devotional Reading: Hebrews 6:13-20

Dec. 4 is the second Sunday in Advent. I realize while some churches observe Advent and other seasons of the church year, others do not, except for Christmas, Easter and perhaps Pentecost.

Regardless of whether you and your church observe Advent, most Christians are well aware we are in the season leading up to Christmas and the Incarnation. From my own observations, it appears far more churches observe Advent than when I went to my first pastorate 56 years ago.

So, as you are aware that Christians throughout the world are preparing in some way for Christmas, you may wonder why the book of Genesis was chosen by the Uniform Lesson Committee for the first three Sundays of December.

These chapters from Genesis are all about Abraham, who lived some 2,000 years before Jesus, and appears to contribute nothing to the Christmas narrative.

I cannot second-guess the ecumenical committee, but I have seen some convergences between them. For one thing, there is the strange and wonderful example of God picking two most unlikely people to accomplish His will. Jesus was from a peasant family and the obscure village of Nazareth. Further, he came into this life as a helpless infant, born as we all are, from the womb of human mother. On the other hand, Abraham is at the other end of the age scale, hardly coming on the scene until he reached an age when most people are retired and ready to fade into obscurity.

A possibly decrepit senior citizen and an obscure and helpless infant: Notice how God works in this world?

‘Nice stories’

What does that have to do with us? Well, though we may not be quite that “decrepit” or “helpless,” we tend to think of ourselves as obscure and detached from the great demands of the will of God.

We regard the stories as “nice stories,” but quite removed from our own places in the scheme of things.

William James, the father of American psychology, observed that many of us contract “the habit of inferiority to our true self,” and as a result, “the human individual thus lives usually far within his limits; he possesses powers of various sorts which he fails to use. He energizes below his maximum, and he behaves below his optimum.”

Could that possibly be you, or me? Seeing our true selves as basically inferior and therefore not objects of God’s call can be a rationalization, an excuse for turning a deaf ear to God’s call. Surely God could not be calling someone so insignificant, so ordinary, so lacking special gifts as Abraham!

God could not possibly have a job for this man who was “over the hill” and “behind the door” when the goodies were passed out. Mary, the mother of Jesus, certainly had no illusions about who she was, but instead of arguing the point, she said: “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word” (Lk.1:38).

Our stories?

The stories of Abraham and Jesus are not about just two exceptional people who God called to do His will, they are about us, for God calls each of us as surely as He called Abraham and Jesus.

The call of God comes to each of us, not just the sainted few. That means He has something for us to do and to be. It may not be as dramatic as that to which He called Abraham or as earth-shaking as the cross and vacant tomb to which He called Jesus, but he does call each and every one of us.

The Letter to the Hebrews says Abraham “looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God” (11:10).

But Abraham, though he readily answered God’s call, did not see God’s city before he died.

The Promised Land eluded him in this life, but Abraham, faithful to his call, kept on: “And Abraham journeyed on, still going toward Negeb” (12:9).

The Promised Land must always be our goal in this life, but our realization in the life beyond. What greater accolade could we wish than the recognition that as we leave this life, we are “still going on toward the Negeb?”

Advent, intended as an occasion for prayerful self-examination and preparation for the Incarnation, is a time when God is calling each of us, summoning us, like Abraham, toward a Promised Land. Despite the clutter and insane commercialization of this season, each of us needs to seek, hear and respond to that call to His Promised Land.

The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of Farm World. Readers with questions or comments for Rev. Althouse may write to him in care of this publication.