Read the following, if you can, as a kind of chant or segment of liturgy:
God said to Abraham and Sarah,
“Leave the familiar.
Go to the place I will show you.”
Setting out and navigating by God’s occasional
guidance,
Sarah and Abraham journeyed by stages
for the rest of their lives.
Come back, when you might need to, and
chant/pray/declare it again later.
It's so easy to read the story of Abraham and Sarah and misunderstand it. We tend to think God promised the old couple a new home; and
then, trusting God, they packed their bags, set off, and arrived.
The reality is that from the very beginning to the
very end Sarah and Abraham were wanderers. Explorers. Pilgrims. Strangers in a
strange land. And being strangers in a strange land is how they got to know
God. It is where the knowing happened--on the way.
Jesus invited the same kind of journey. Leave your
work, your families, your stuff...and follow me.
There is no such thing as a spiritual journey without
journeying. And in order to have a spiritual journey we have to leave a
familiar country.
This is what letting go is all about, what letting go
is. Letting go is finding trust and chutzpah enough to leave what we
already know in order to discover what we yet don't know.
This is spiritual growth. It's the same every day. We journey by stages.
In a profound way, Abraham and Sarah were in the
Promised Land the moment they left home. Every time they trusted the promise
and opened their minds and hearts to what God was calling them to explore, they
were already there.
When we leave the familiar we will often feel lost.
Lost is the name of the place where we learn to love, take and value
direction.
Lost? Scared? Confused?
Reoriented? Grateful? Confident?
These are place names on the way. Part of the map
we've filled in as we've traveled. These maps show us where we've been and give
us confidence for all the stages of the journey that remain.
