Making the Journey

Scripture: Genesis 24, Selected Verses

 

Preached 07/13/2014

She spent the first two days hiding out in the nurse’s station, but you can only feign headaches for so long. The first bits of the light began to filter through the trees on that third morning, and she wondered how she had even ended up there in the first place.  She blamed her parents.  It was their idea.  They filled out the form, attached the check, and sent the envelope in.  And now she was the one stuck at this camp.  For some reason unknown to her, her parents had checked the box for the cycling camp.  And she wasn’t a cycler.  And this camp used the 20 mile rides as warm-ups and trainings for the longer rides the group was supposed to complete together by the end of camp. 

Since she had basically missed the first two days of camp, she didn’t really know any of the other girls in her cabin, and she was shy.  As she lay there silently fuming about her parents’ decision, the counselor’s alarm went off, and the group of girls made the journey to the bathrooms to get ready for the day.  Kayla, we’ll call her, took her time getting ready, in hopes that the group would just assume she wasn’t coming, and would leave without her.  But as she made her leisurely way back to the cabins, she realized that her hopes were not coming to fruition.  The group was indeed ready without her, but they were standing there, waiting for her, and she was stuck having to face them.  They had one simple question for her- will you come with us today? Please?

Kayla didn’t know what to do.  Part of her wanted to run and hide.  And another part of her wanted to jump on a bike and see what happened.  So she stood there, silently for a moment, as she contemplated her answer.  It was a big moment for Kayla.  It was the moment when she decided if she was open to the exertion, the challenge, the adventure, and all the unknown this bike journey offered her.

I wonder if Abraham’s servant felt much the same way.  Our reading picks up after Abraham asks the servant to set out and find a wife for Isaac, but I’ll fill you all in a little more than the introduction to the scripture reading does.  The servant doesn’t actually get a name in our text, but his traditional name is Eleazor, so I’m going to call him that.  Abraham is talking to Eleazor, who is not just any servant, but the servant in charge of Abraham’s house, and all the other servants.  And Abraham asks Eleazor to swear an oath to him that he- Eleazor- will go back to Abraham’s ancestral homeland, and there convince a woman to come back with him to be Isaac’s wife.  It’s no easy task Abraham asks Eleazor to swear he will complete.

And much like Kayla contemplating her long bike trip, Eleazor is naturally a little hesitant.  First, it’s important to know that not only is Eleazor Abraham’s most trusted servant, he is also the oldest servant.  And this is no easy journey Abraham is asking him to make.  It’s not 100% clear exactly where Abraham is at this point in the story, but the journey back to Nahor could easily be hundreds of miles.  This would be a desert journey, with the hot and cold of the desert weather, the lack of water, the lack of shade, and the lack of shelter and safety that went along with it.  Eleazor would be walking and on camels, and anyone who has ever ridden a camel knows that even that isn’t very easy.

And then there’s the actual getting a wife for Isaac part of the oath Abraham asks Eleazor to swear.  He’s supposed to go into this land, and convince some woman he doesn’t know, and who doesn’t know him, to come back with him across this same journey and marry some man she’s never met.  Eleazor is hesitant, and understandably so.  But, whether out of love of Abraham, trust in God, a sense of obligation or a sense of adventure, he swears the oath and sets out on the journey.

As we have already heard him relate in our scripture reading, his journey was successful.  He makes it back to Nahor, prays to God for help in knowing which woman is the right one, and right away his prayers are answered in Rebekah.  Again, as we heard she is made known to him through her act of extravagant kindness and generosity- offering water for his camels.  It might not sound like much, but a thirsty camel can drink up to 30 gallons of water, and remember, there were 10 camels with Eleazor.  It was no easy task to draw each bucket, and the hundreds of gallons of water drawn for this stranger and his camels had to have been exhausting.  But Rebekah draws for them anyway.  Then Eleazor gives Rebekah a nose ring and bracelets and prays aloud thanking God for making his journey successful.  Rebekah had to think he was kind of nuts at this point, as she runs away, back to her mother’s house.  Her brother Laban, hearing the story and seeing the jewelry, then heads out to meet this strange man his sister is talking about.

And so our scripture reading picks up and Eleazor tells the story and Laban listens and then the real invitation to a journey to the unknown is given.  Rebekah, who has only just met this man, is asked whether she wants to leave everything she has behind and travel with him, to be the wife of a man she has never met.  The scripture gives us no clues about her feeling.  She may have been excited, or she may have been terrified.  She may have been ready to leave her homeland at the first opportunity, or she may have wanted to cling there to her family for as long as possible.  The pause before her answer must have been a very pregnant one, as she decided whether or not she would risk the exertion, the danger, the excitement, and the possibility that this journey offered her.You know what happened next.  Rebekah responds to the invitation to go with this man with a simple two word answer.  “I will.”

Like Eleazor and Rebekah, Kayla decided to go on the journey her fellow campers and counselors invited her on as well.  It wasn’t easy.  In fact it was really, really hard.  Her legs ached, she had to walk her bike up some hills, and at one point she ran out of water and thought she was going to pass out.  But the journey was also wonderful.  She saw beautiful things.  She had great conversations when the group stopped to rest and talk.  And when she made it to the destination at the end of the day she was both exhilarated and exhausted.  But, she was glad she had gone, and she joined with the group every day after that, upping her miles, her adventure, and her personal growth.

We don’t hear much about Rebekah’s actual journey.  We just know she made it to Negeb, the destination, and that her adventure didn’t stop there.  She meets Isaac, marries him, and as we’re told, is loved by him.  It’s really just the start of another big adventure, another journey into the unknown, for Rebekah and for Isaac.

There is a purpose to all these stories of journeys into the unknown.  Because we, too, have been asked to take a journey into the unknown.  God has been asking us all this from the very beginning of our lives, but we can feel it acutely here this morning.  Jim shared with us about the New Beginnings report and decision to move in a new direction as a congregation.  Our leaders have discerned that God is asking us to leave the comfort and familiarity of our homeland- in this case, our regular seat in our regular pew- and to go somewhere and do something new.

We don’t necessarily have as far to go as Eleazor, Rebekah, or even Kayla, as what our leaders have discerned from your input and from the Spirit’s whispers and nudges is that we are called to begin our journey into the unknown right here, in this neighborhood.  All those people- biblical or not- found and gained incredible blessings on their journey.  Eleazor’s prayers were answered, and he was thrilled by the kindness and strength of an unknown and faithful woman.  Rebekah gained an adventure, and a loving husband.  And even Kayla was able to experience a newfound strength, as well as friendship and beauty, on her journey. 

So as God asks us to go on a journey of our own, it’s important to remember it’s not just about the hard stuff- the effort, the risk, and the unknown.  It’s about the possibility.  And the journey into this place around us, seeking to fill some of the needs we encounter, is full of possibility.  It’s full of the possibility of new relationships, of encountering people of incredible strength with powerful stories and great faith.  It’s full of the possibility of spiritual growth, of answered prayers.  It’s full of the possibility of beauty that we’ve never experienced.  And most importantly, it’s ripe with the possibility that we as a community will live into Christ’s calling to love and serve our neighbor, to join with him on the Way, the adventure as we seek to journey together towards God’s intentions being born again all around us.  Amen.