Sermons

"Faith in the Future"

Pastor Russell Norris
Fourth Sunday after Pentecost
June 8, 2008

The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say.

Some of you may have seen the story in the paper, or heard it on the news, about a secret study that was done using cell phone records to track the movements of people. Over 100,000 people were secretly tracked through their cell phones. Now the people who were being tracked didn't know anyone was watching them - checking their movements, seeing where they went. The study was done without their permission. Of course, that raises all kinds of ethical questions about the right to privacy. But the study was done in another country; because by law you can't do that in the United States.

Aside from the ethical implications, the study found some interesting things. They found, for example, that most people don't move around very much. Almost 75 percent of the people who were tracked in this study - that's 75,000 people - rarely traveled more than 10 miles from home! In fact, half of all the people in the study - about 50,000 people - never went more than 3 miles from home!

A small percentage travelled outside the immediate area. But the study found that most people don't like to travel - they like to stay close to home.

Well, as I said, the study was done in another country. But I don't have any reason to think they wouldn't get the same result if they tracked people in this country. We are - most of us - a bunch of homebodies! At least I know I am. I don't like to travel. Gas is too expensive. Airplanes are too crowded. The trains don't run on time. I'd rather just stay home.

Which is kind of surprising when you stop to think about it. After all, America was founded by pilgrims. The people who landed at Plymouth Rock travelled thousands of miles under the worst of conditions, to a land they knew practically nothing about. The Swedes who founded this church left behind family and friends and home to come to a new and strange land. They too were pilgrims. Unless you're a native American, or your ancestors were brought here as slaves, almost all of us are descended from pilgrims - from people who left behind the comforts of home and struck out to a new and unfamiliar land.

And that's the reason I chose to use the alternative reading for the First Lesson this morning - the story of Abraham; because we are - spiritually - all children of Abraham. God promised Abraham he would be the father of many nations. And so he was. All those who, like Abraham, leave behind family and friends, hearth and home, the familiar and the comfortable, and travel toward a new land, a new life, a new beginning, with nothing but a promise to go on - they are truly the children of Abraham.

Ah, but you say, "Pastor! That's not me! I'm no traveler! I'm no pilgrim! I've lived here all my life - in Brockton, or Bridgewater, or wherever you are. Granted. But you know, there are many journeys in life, and not all of them involve great distances. Life itself is the greatest journey. The 18th century poet, Oliver Goldsmith, said that "Life is journey that must be travelled, no matter how bad the roads and the accommodations." We are, in a very real sense, all pilgrims on the road of life. We are, all of us, children of Abraham.

The words are actually a song by the British author J. R. R. Tolkien. Tolkien, you know, wrote The Lord of the Rings. And this song, this little song about the Road of life, is in that book. It's sung by a hobbit - a little, three foot tall hobbit by the name of Bilbo Baggins. It was Bilbo's nephew, Frodo, remember, who became the hero of The Lord of the Rings. Somewhere in those 1400 pages, Frodo remembers Bilbo's song. And this is what he says:

"[Bilbo] often used to say there was only one Road; that it was like a great river: its springs were at every doorstep, and every path was its tributary. 'It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out of your door,' he used to say. 'You step into the Road, and if you don't keep your feet, there is no knowing where you might be swept off to.'."

Abraham certain found that to be true. "Now the Lord said to Abram, 'Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing… and by you all the families of the earth shall bless themselves.' So Abram went, as the Lord had told him."

Can you imagine, packing up and striking out for a whole new life, at the ripe old age of 75 - an age when most of us would rather be collecting social security? And what did he have to go on, this Abraham? Nothing but a lick and a promise. Think about it. What did God say? On the one hand, God's invitation was very specific. Abram was told in no uncertain terms what he would be leaving behind: his country, his relatives, his home.

On the other hand, God's promise to Abram was kind of vague: "the land that I will show you." Not much detail there! In the New Testament, the book of Hebrews puts it this way: "…he went out, not knowing where he was going." I think most of us have had that experience! Abram had nothing to go on - nothing but faith in the promises of God - the God, as Paul says, "who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist."

Well, what does all this have to do with us? Just this: We are, all of us, children of Abraham. We too are on a journey. Like Abraham, God has called us to be pilgrims. Life, they say, is a journey, not a destination. That's true! Like Abraham, we travel through this life by faith, looking forward to that City whose builder and maker is God. We are all pilgrims.

It reminds me of a story I read, about a traveler to the Middle East many years ago. The traveler had heard of a very wise man, a old rabbi, who had spent his entire life studying the Word of God. And so the traveler comes to sit at the rabbi's feet and hear what he has to say. But when he goes into the rabbi's house, the place is empty except for a mattress, a table and a chair. He says to the rabbi, "But where is your furniture?" The rabbi answers, "Where is yours?" The traveler says, "I don't have any. I'm just passing through here."

"So am I" says the rabbi. So am I.

We are all just passing through. We are all pilgrims. We are all children of Abraham. We may not know what the future holds, but we trust in the One who holds the future. Like Abraham, we may not know what tomorrow will bring. We live today by faith in the promises of God.

Sometimes that's kind of scarey. God doesn't give us a road map for life, where every turn, every pothole is clearly marked. God's Word is more like a compass than a map. We know the general direction. But for the most part, we walk by faith and not by sight. Maybe at the end - maybe at the end of the road, looking back, we'll see how God's hand was guiding us along the way. But for now, like Abraham, we live by faith in the promises of God.

It's God who calls us. It's God who guides us. It's God who will lead us home. And what's true for each of us, as individuals, is just as true for the church. We are not just pilgrims - isolated individuals pursuing our separate ways. We are a pilgrim people. That's who we are. First Lutheran Church is a pilgrim people - walking together, in faith, toward a future which is sometimes not very clear.

We know the challenges. This is an aging congregation, in a changing neighborhood, struggling to be faithful to God's call. And God hasn't given us a road map of what to do. But like Abraham, God is calling this church to walk in faith toward that new future that God is preparing for First Lutheran Church.

I don't know what tomorrow will bring. God knows. But I do know that whatever tomorrow brings, God will be there. And God will see you through. God will guide you in your pilgrimage of faith - the same faith that brought those first Swedish immigrants here 140 years ago - the same faith that led them to build this church, and support it all those years - the same faith that inspired you to purchase the Fruth Center, and to use it in service to the people of Brockton.

When the first pilgrims came to this land nearly 400 years ago, they had no idea what they would find - but they struck out, knowing that God had promised to be with them no matter what. When those first Swedes came to Brockton 140 years ago, they came to a new land with new challenges and new opportunities - but they knew that God would be here to meet them. When First Lutheran bought the old parish hall from St. Margaret's, you had no idea what God could do with that building. Now we see it becoming a center for ministry to children and youth - but at the time, who knew what God could do with your faith and your commitment?

We are a pilgrim people. We walk by faith and not by sight. But God continues to call us today, even as he called those who came before us. Like Abraham, we don't have a road map. We don't have a clear idea exactly where God is leading. We don't know what tomorrow holds. But we do know that God has promised to be with us along the way, and that when we reach our final destination, we will find God waiting for us.