Possibilities through Impossibility, Mountain View United, Aurora, CO, by Rev Steven R Mitchell

Possibilities through Impossibility
By Rev Steven R Mitchell
Mountain View United, Aurora, CO 3/4/2012
Based on Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16; Romans 4:13-15; Mark 8:31-38


“1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty” Abram fell facedown, and God said to him, 6”I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you. 7 I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you, to be your God and the God of your descendants… As for Sarai your wife, her name will become Sarah. I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her.” “17 Abraham fell facedown; he laughed and said to himself, “Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?” Genesis 17:1-17 (portions of)
When God appears to you, you can be pretty assured that it’s not going to be your “usual Thursday”, but something above and beyond the ordinary is about to happen! It is a time where “Possibilities through Impossibility” occurs. Over the years I have grown to not only appreciate the stories of the early patriarchs of our faith, but have truly grown to love Abraham in particular. Abraham was a true pioneer. Several decades before this story, Abraham heard God’s calling to leave his family and community and travel to a new land that will be “home” for him, a location that was not immediately revealed to him. But in faith, he and his wife packed up their possession, said, “Good-bye” to family and friends and started out on a journey that still moves forward today!
I say that it still moves forward today, because it is in this particular segment of scripture that we learn about the commitment that God has made to “us” with the start of Abram and Sarai! God tells Abram that He is establishing His everlasting covenant with Abram and Sarai and all of their off-spring. Mark Husbands, associate Professor of Reformed Theology at Hope College, Holland, Michigan explains, “‘Covenant’ as promise, blessing, commandment, and freedom given to Israel by YHWH. YHWH binds himself to the history and well-being of Abraham and through this particular relation begins the restoration of humanity.” Feasting on the Word, Yr B Vol. 2, pg 51-52
Husbands offers a little clearer explanation about the significant of this “oneness of God” as seen against the back drop of the ancient Near East, in which deities were often tied to land, family, and inheritance. Having left his own country and kin, in faith, Abram sets aside the security of natural ties of kinship and the protection of national, territorial, and familial gods. Enclosed within God’s declaration to Abram, “I am God almighty,” is the requirement to turn away from all other gods.” Feasting on the Word, Yr B Bol. 2, pg 52
When I read the story that tells about Abram as he starts on this journey with God, I am reminded about my patriarch John Conrad Nossaman, who left the fellowship and support of his family in Germany in 1767, to come to the promise of a new life in the colonies which eventually became these United States. John Nossaman sold himself into indentured slavery in order to gain passage to the then new world. By the year 2000 AD, the count of direct descendants of this one man was 1,746 people. If I go back just four generations, the patriarch that I am most directly descended from accounts for 1,100 of this 1,746. I do not know what the figures are of the family a decade later, but I can attest that personally I have helped add through my three children, eighteen more to the clan.
If Professor Husbands is correct in this assessment of what this covenant means for the restoration of all humanity, this simple story about Abrams encounter with God is monumental, setting the scene for Jesus to continue in this story of restoration and of inclusion and reconciliation.
Does this restoration and forward movement come easily? Not by any stretch of the imagination. As we read in Mark this morning, even Jesus has a hard time in helping his most trusted disciples to understand what God is doing in history, as Peter tries to rebuke Jesus for saying that, “He must be killed by the religious leaders in order to continue God’s work of restoration with humanity.” In response we read, “But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. “Get behind me, Satan!” he said. “You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”
How easily Jesus’ rebuke of Peter could be directed toward me this past week or so, as I have been consumed with building my “new nest” so to speak, as I worked toward securing Paul’s and my new home, and of the physical move itself. In many respects, I think this week’s lectionary readings have been pre-ordained to speak about some of what I would be facing as I settle in as your new pastor.
I can directly relate to Abram and Peter. With my original call into ministry, I knew that I would have to leave the security of family and friends, as well as the familiarity of my childhood surroundings, not knowing where exactly God would have me serve. Has the journey been smooth? Not in the least, just as Abram and Sarai, had many trials and obstacles during their life, so have I. The most trying has been the move to Aurora!
What started out to be a very smooth process with my call to Mountain View United, the actual purchase of our home has been less than a smooth one, at times, even upsetting and most perplexing. At the onset of my call to Mountain View, Paul and I were able to find a house with little effort and secure an agreement to purchase. Working with the sellers was a joy and everything seemed to be moving smoothly. Smoothly that is until a certain appraiser came up with a value far less than what had been agreed on. With every trick in the book that could legally be done, we could not save this transaction.
This started a chain of events which has lead to my previewing over seventy-five houses and six more offers. The home that we actually just closed on this past Friday was purchased without Paul’s prior viewing, which showed tremendous faith, on his part, in my judgment. Without going into the entire saga, I was very much like Abram and chuckling to myself about the wisdom of God, bringing me here to Aurora! Like Peter, I was chastising Paul’s belief that we would be closing on time and have our furniture delivered directly to our new home.
Do we not all find ourselves at one time or another like Abram and Sarai or Peter, thinking on the level of the human level, even when we are face to face with God as God shares “the plan” with us? Basically telling God that the “Possibilities through Impossibility” are not possible? Not possible for us maybe, but very possible for God.
I have just started reading Diana Butler Bass’s new book, “Christianity After Religion”, and am finding affirmation in my observations and sense of change that I have been feeling since making my commitment to follow God. We are in the beginnings of a new great revival as humanity move away from what has been acceptable understanding of God’s relationship to us.
In her prolog she speaks about the 1970’s Jesus movement and how it seemed to become stalled and of the current effort by part of the “traditional” church, to return America to old-time religion and God’s righteous path. Their understanding of converting the heathen masses and restore biblical inerrancy, family values, social order, clerical authority, theological orthodoxy, sexual purity, free-market capitalism and Protestant piety.
Mss Bass has this to say: “But there is another way of looking at things. What if the 1970’s were not simply an evangelical revival like those of old, but the first stirrings of a new spiritual awakening, a vast interreligious movement toward individual, social, and cultural transformation? What if the awakening is not exclusively a Christian affair, but rather that a certain form of Christianity is playing a significant role in forming the contours of a new kind of faith beyond conventional religious boundaries? Is America living in the wake of a revival gone awry or a spiritual awakening that is finally taking concrete – albeit unexpected –shape?” Abram and Sarai were the start of the revival that took place through Jesus.
When God appears, we can pretty much bet that things will not go on as usual. As we enter into this season of Lent, of expectancy and of examination, let us reflect upon Abram and Sarai’s encounter with God. Reflect upon their lessons and see where God is speaking to us and help us to move into understanding the “Possible through Impossibilities!” Amen