Trinity 9
Readings: Genesis 15: 1-6; Psalm 33: 12-22; Hebrews 11: 1-3, 8-16; Luke 12: 32-40
08/08/04
There's an old saying that the journey is more important than the destination, and in a
sense it's true; you can be so focussed on where you want to be that you fail to notice
what's actually going on around you. But Jesus tells us to focus on the kingdom of heaven,
our ultimate destination. He doesn't mean that we should neglect this world, obviously
not, because he tells his disciples, in the previous sentence, to give alms, to care for
the poor. But our passion for Jesus and for the kingdom of heaven, which God has prepared
for us, should colour the way we live.
When Abraham travelled to the Promised Land with his wife, Sarah, he didn't really know
where he would end up or what would happen to them. But he trusted that the Lord would
fulfil his promise to provide him with an heir and land for him to inherit. His faith was
"reckoned to him as righteousness", as we heard this morning, and Abraham became
a hero of three major world faiths as a result. I bet he wasn't expecting that!
We need heroes. There's a great speech about it in the new Spiderman film: Spiderman's
aunt tells him so while he's having a crisis of confidence in himself. Heroes remind us
that there are people out there with the courage to do the right thing, she says, they
give us the courage to get up and face whatever difficulties are going on in our lives,
and they encourage us to believe that if they can achieve great things so can we. Back in
the 1980s Punk Rockers were claiming the exact opposite, "no more heroes". They
wanted to be their own heroes, but in the process many highly unlikely people became
heroes to the next generation of musicians. But there are other kinds of heroes too. What
about people who work in the emergency services? It might be their job, but they can still
be called on to do some heroic things. And then closer to home, children look up to their
parents, at least when they're young; families may deal with long-term illness of parents
or children or siblings; and that's a kind of heroism too. I've heard it said that heroes
are just ordinary people in extraordinary situations.
Heroes are very much tied up with journeys, in my mind at least. A hero has a mission or a
quest, it could be a rite of passage and self-discovery, or it could be saving a princess
from a dragon; one way or another, this is part of the mythology of most cultures. In
Europe, we can trace the stories from Arthur's Knights of the Round Table to Star Wars and
various points in between. It was part of Celtic mythology and became part of Celtic
Christian theology, embodied in the concept of what they called the White Martyrdom, which
author David Adam describes as "the call to leave all and follow Christ, to give up
all that [is] dear to [you], to abandon possessions and familiar surroundings for the
unknown."
This is what Jesus meant when he asked his disciples to sell their possessions and give
alms. He was asking them not to be too attached to their personal possessions, to avoid
being tied down by them. The treasures we accumulate on our journey in this life won't
last forever, just as we won't last forever in this part of our journey.
Not everyone is called to live this life so completely, many of us have mortgages and
other commitments. But there are things we can do to keep faith with God's promise of the
city in heaven.
Part of that will be a spiritual journey, learning to put God at the centre of our lives
in the way that Abraham did. Remembering that the Lord is "our help and our
shield", as stated in today's psalm and as God said to Abraham.
You might also want to make an actual pilgrimage, such as the one some of us went on to
Lindisfarne last year, and the one that's going to St Non's in Wales in September. A visit
to a holy place can sometimes help to give you a new perspective or just an opportunity to
relax and be refreshed spiritually.
Part of it will be practical in being "dressed for action", as Jesus put it in
today's gospel. For instance, in the letter to the Ephesians, you can read Paul's
description of the armour of God. We should also be looking for the good we can do in this
world in the time we have here, the poor, the sick, the hungry, and the outcast that we
can help, remembering that what we do for each them we do for Jesus.
Abraham was just one man who trusted God and became the father of a nation. Isn't it
amazing what God can accomplish with one person who trusts in him? Just think what he can
do with a whole church full. Just think what he's already done. For example, a few people
in this congregation had a vision of improvements to the church and its grounds, which
they shared with all of us. That vision was taken up, so that now we have a refurbished,
re-decorated church that looks beautiful on the inside and is surrounded by beautiful
grounds and gardens outside. Then more people got together to organise the celebration of
it. By God's grace, we did that and we can be proud of it. God has given us a beautiful
home in this place, and the making of it should continue to inspire us. This is a place
where we can be spiritually refreshed, inspired and strengthened to go out and do God's
work, and where we can welcome others in need of that same refreshment and inspiration.
It's a resting place on our journeys to the heavenly country, but it's also a working
place, where we're trying to create a piece of the kingdom of heaven here and God is
working to bring us closer to him.
Heroism comes in many shapes and sizes. Abraham became a hero by trusting God and setting
out on the quest he was given. We can all consider ourselves heroes, or
heroes-in-the-making, when we do the same. And who knows where God will take us, or what
more he can accomplish in and through each of us on our journeys?