Genesis 12:1-3
Today we begin the celebration of Advent, the time of getting ready for Christmas. It’s also the beginning of the church year calendar – so Happy New Year! Like any New Year’s celebration, it’s a good time to reflect on what’s been and what’s next. A time for taking stock, celebrating accomplishments, and setting goals. This year for Advent, I thought it might be fun to focus on the voices of angels. Angels play a big role as messengers from God in scripture. They help us put into perspective what’s happening in the world and how God is moving around us and through us.
There are plenty of angels in the Hebrew scriptures explaining how God’s people came to be. In the story of our ancestors Abraham and Sarah angels show up at key moments, often arriving in the form of visitors traveling thorough. They come to tell Abraham and Sarah that the promise of children is about to come true, even though they are so old they have given up on that one. They come to tell them that Sodom is about to be destroyed and perhaps they want to warn their nephew Lot to move on. Today’s scripture isn’t strictly spoken in an angel voice, but it’s a clear message from God. “Move on. It’s time for something new. You are to become a blessing for the whole world.”
Abraham and Sarah are part of what we call our “origin story.” They explain how God’s people became God’s people. In the ancient pre-history of the people of Israel, there were wandering tribes known as “Habiru” or “Hebrew” which moved across what is now Israel. They followed their herds, looking for pasture and water. Sometimes they moved into the neighborhood and stayed. Sometimes they moved on. In scripture we read, “A wandering Aramean was my father,” and we hear echoes of these wandering tribes. Often important stories aren’t so much remembered as they are written backwards. At a future point in time people will want to explain how their relationship with God works, and they will tell a story about how it might have come to be. This story says that Abram and Sarai were living with Abram’s father Tehra in Hebron, now in Iraq. They had many flocks and servants. God spoke to them and urged them to move to a new land, which turned out to be Canaan. God promised that if they went, they would become fabulously wealthy, but more importantly, they would become the ancestors of a great nation. “By you all the families of earth shall be blessed.”
A thousand years later, when God’s people were living in Canaan, they remembered that they came from wandering stock. And they understood that their relationship with God asked them to be a conduit of blessing – God to all people’s on earth. It all started with Abraham and Sarah, they said.
What is it that we learn from Abraham and Sarah? One important lesson is that they were willing to take a chance. “Go!” God said, and they did. As the poet reminds us, “That has made all the difference.” Way back before we can even imagine, some shepherds with hungry sheep decided to pack their tents and follow good pasture. A thousand years later when the story was told, the storytellers reminded people that when you strike out in faith, good things can happen. God can be in them.
In 1989 I moved my family to Seattle to pastor a smallish church in the north end. It was the beginning of the AIDS epidemic and a member of that church had started a hospice for those people dying of AIDS. That was the time when everyone died. The larger church in Seattle said homosexuality was a sin, but that woman showed me that people are people and everyone deserves respect care. What an important lesson that was. It would have taken much longer to learn if I hadn’t been in that place.
In 2019 you sent me to ask what was needed at LaGrave on First. Do you remember? We thought we could bake a few cookies! Then we served thousands of meals over 5 years and now the organization itself provides meals every night. That journey began with one question. Who knew we’d become the church that feeds people!?
As you reflect this Advent, I hope you will be able to identify moments in your own lives when you took a chance, did something unexpected, and changed everything. Maybe it was saying “yes” to a job or a person. Maybe it was staying put when life got hard, adjusting to new medical realities or financial circumstances. Maybe it was trying a new volunteer opportunity or learning a new skill. When you look back, where do you see angels pointing out new possibilities.
I also hope you’ll ask yourself how you have been a blessing to others. Abraham didn’t move just to make himself wealthy. Our ancestors were clear: God blesses us so we can bless all people. Where have you been a blessing? Who have you mentored or helped in other ways? Who has eaten? Or learned a new skill? Or known you to be a life-saving friend? Who has hope because of where you have been and who you are? Angels don’t just talk to people in the Bible in years past. Angels whisper in our ears. They show us new places to go and new ways to be. And they go with us, so we never go alone. I hope by the time we’ve walked this Advent journey, we see places where angels have blessed our lives, and helped us to bless others.