We must prepare

Let us pray.

You have given all to me.

To you, Lord, I return it.

Everything is yours; do with it what you will.

Give me only your love and your grace,

that is enough for me.

Amen.

For a good number of years the kings Amraphel of Shinar, Arioch of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer of Elam, and King Tidal of Goiim, made war with Kings Bera of Sodom, Birsha of Gomorrah, Shinab of Admah,d Shemeber of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar)

This was a war of rebellion and the kings of the former were not doing well against the kings of the latter.

At one point, as Bera of Sodom and Brisha of Gomorrah fled, retreated, rather, some of their men and gear were lost as they fell into various bitumen pits.

And what are bitumen pits?

These are pits in the earth formed when oil seeps to the earths surface, dissipates, and all that is left is hole in the ground.

So we have soldiers and armaments stuck in the pits and we have another contingent that retreated from battle into the hill country where they were overtaken by the forces of Chedorlaomer.

Among those taken was Lot, the nephew of Abram.

Abram, had previously received God’s call earlier in the book of Genesis and had traveled from his old home to his new one just as God commanded.

And he traveled with Lot, among others.

So Abram is alerted to the fact that his brother’s son was taken by a soldier who escaped the clutches of Chedorlaomer.

Abram then gathered his household servants together, totaling 318, and pursues his enemy who holds his nephew captive.

And he and his forces routed the enemy and Abram then brings home Lot and all of the spoils of war that Chedorlaomer took.

Upon his arrival, Abram is blessed by King Melchizedek with the following words:

‘Blessed be Abram by God Most High,*

   maker of heaven and earth;

and blessed be God Most High,*

   who has delivered your enemies into your hand!’

And that’s where our reading begins this morning, with the words: “After these things.”

So if you were wondering what happened before these things, the answer is a lot.

After those things, God appeared to Abram in a vision and said, “Do not be afraid, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.”

And Abram replied, “O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus? You have given me no offspring, and so a slave born in my house is to be my heir.”

There is skepticism here.

“Gee, thanks, God. Thanks for the reward. What have you done for me so far?

“You called me out of my homeland to resettle.

“You called me to Egypt and now I’m back here. What of it?”

“Well, said God, this land is yours. All that you survey will be yours.”

And Abram’s response went something along the lines of “Yeah, well prove it.”

So God did.

God promised the land to Abram and his ancestors.

And still, what jumps out to me is the frustration felt by Abram.

Because in Abram’s mind he did everything God asked him to and still he has no true heir, which is important to Abram as a man of his times and can be important to people of our times.

It’s interesting though, because Abram’s frustration almost seems to be born of his expectation that he will get what he wants because he does all the right things.

He will say his prayers, eat his Wheaties, take his vitamins and all will go according to plan.

And that plan has not necessarily been fulfilled.

Yes, he was delivered from Egypt and escaped a famine.

Yes, he is rather successful and very rich.

But his plan, Abram’s imaginations for what his life is supposed to be and how it is supposed to turn out aren’t necessarily what is expected.

Abram desperately wants an heir of his own and child of his and his wife Sarai’s.

And yet, despite all of his success, all of his riches, Abram is disappointed.

And doesn’t that all sound familiar?

Doesn’t that sometimes sound like us?

Thank you, God, for all that you have given me, but what of the rest?

Have I not done what you have asked?

Have I not worshipped you?

Have I not prayed prayers of thanksgiving for you?

How, God, am I still missing that one great thing?

After all of my work, I have still not realized that promotion.

After all of my trying, I am still missing that one last thing.

And our prayers become muddled.

There are times when we become distracted from all of those things we do not have or cannot achieve and our prayers become distracted pleas.

Sometimes those prayers even turn transactional.

If God, you do this or that for me, I will go to church twice in August.

If God, my child gets into her first choice college, I will bring new coats to the winter coat drive at church.

And we begin to lose the plot a little bit.

Our unrealized wants can create feelings that match the frustration Abram is experiencing.

We become a pressure cooker, pressure building through the heat of disappointment and eventually threatening to boil over.

Our prayers, unanswered.

Our work lives, too busy.

Our home lives, distracted.

And we continue on and continue on and nothing seems to meet our expectations, the pressure builds.

Until we have an opportunity to pause.

And this is our opportunity.

In our services for these coming weeks, we are going to focus on silence and the space between words filled with quiet or Kathye playing on the piano.

Because we always talk about giving things up for Lent and I do enjoy that idea as a spiritual exercise, but what I’d also like to focus on is not just giving up, but giving ourselves space.

Space to breathe in the quiet.

Space to exhale our frustrations.

Space to breathe in a mind clearing breath.

Space to exhale our stresses, our angers, our hurts, our sadnesses if only for a little while.

In this time of Lent we will focus on emptying ourselves of that which distracts us, pushes aside the importance of our faith for more secular matters.

Empty ourselves so that we might realize the gifts God has given us.

Empty ourselves so that we might realizes the richness of God’s gift in each of us.

Empty ourselves so that we have the space to carry the love and understanding of Jesus Christ with us and into our everyday lives.

Because after Lent comes Easter and with Easter comes the end of lament for Christ’s love for all of us was so great, he overcame death and our sins were forgiven.

Yet to realize that miracle, we must prepare.

Yes, we need to be penitent for our shortcomings and repent for our sins, that is a part of all this, this season, this time of reflection.

Yet we repent by asking for forgiveness and not by continuing to carry those sins with us.

We pray by acknowledging the gifts given to us by God and though the human thing to do is to want more, this is a season to search not for more but to try and understand God’s love for all of us and the fact that God gave us God’s only son.

And we can do that only if we have the clarity to acknowledge such love and to seek out such love.

Clarity comes from pausing from our routine, closing our eyes, breathing, and giving to God that which is God’s, namely, our very selves.

In our very busy lives let us give ourselves and each other the gift of giving up our busyness if only for a spell.

And in that giving up, find yourself in the mystery of God’s love; not whether you deserve that love but ponder where in that love you will frolic, where in that love you will find joy when the resurrection comes and Easter arrives.

And in the quiet as we empty ourselves know that we are leaving room for the Spirit to stir our souls and Christ to touch our hearts.

And Abram, after he gave God the troubles placed on his heart, God filled that space with God’s love, God’s heir to Abram, and God’s people, Israel.

Try to give up the tensions placed on your heart to God; try to realize the dream God has for each of us.

Amen.