Advent 1 – Abraham

Welcome to Advent. In this season, we remember what it’s like to wait for the Christ Child to be born, to anticipate the coming of the Light of the World in the midst of the longest, deepest darkness.

This year, we will spend our waiting time getting to know some of Jesus’ foremothers and forefathers, the ones waiting for the coming of the Messiah and the ones simply getting on with life, the ones Matthew lists in his genealogy (Matthew 1:1-17).

We’ll be asking ourselves:

What about them is surprising?
Where do we see God’s grace at work in their lives?
How does their story connect with ours?

Matthew starts with Abraham. Abraham is revered as the father of the faithful in the world’s three largest monotheistic religions, Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. The adherents of these belief systems make up about 55% of people on the planet today.Even my three-year-old daughter and one-year-old son know the Cedarmont Kids version of “Father Abraham.” You may remember it as the somewhat annoying song that goes on and on and, in the last verse, leaves you turning round and round with your chin, arms, legs, and tongue going up and down. “Father Abraham, had many sons, many sons had Father Abraham. I am one of them, and so are you. So let’s just praise the Lord.”

What is it about Abraham that causes so many to trace their lineage of faith back to him? He certainly wasn’t perfect. When his name was still Abram, he told his wife, Sarai, to tell the Egyptians she was his sister. When the truth came out, Pharaoh insisted they leave. Years later, Abraham leads the same misinformation campaign against King Abimelech of the Philistines, assuming there was “no fear of God in that place.”

Abraham didn’t always get it right. He often took matters into his own hands and landed in a mess. But we revere him as father of the faithful because when God said go he went.

At the age of 75, he packed up all his people and animals (he had a lot) and he answered God’s call. It was a call to step into the unknown, to leave behind his homeland, and go to a new place. To trust the One who said, “I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing” (Genesis 12:2).

I’ve stepped into the unknown with this One too. I became a theology major with no guarantee that anyone would hire a female as a pastor, and decided it was best not to have a back-up plan to be pigeonholed into.

At 18, I packed up my Geo Tracker and drove from Michigan to California, not realizing I was leaving home for good and would one day, 20 years later, be an Associate Pastor at the La Sierra University Church.

I haven’t always gotten it right. I too have taken things into my own hands. But the One who called me into the unknown has been faithful at every misstep.

May you and I be spiritual sons and daughters of Abraham. May we step into the unknown, into the darkness before dawn. And may we trust the One who calls.