When God Calls Us to Follow the Way Reflection for Lent II

Reflection for Lent II: “When God Calls Us to Follow the Way”
Abraham and Nicodemus: Genesis 12:1-4a; John 3:1-171 
Krista Moore for Churchill Gilford United Churches 

Sunday, March 5, 2023 

Introduction to the Scriptures:  

Today we hear about the call of Abram who becomes Abraham, a  devoted man of God who leaves his homeland. and Nicodemus, a Jewish  religious leader and seeker of God through Christ. As we hear these  stories, let’s imagine what they might be thinking, what led to their  calling, or caused them to seek a new way. And what the Jesus, and the  Spirit might be saying to us today. 

I: Abram  

Abram stood in his father’s booth. His father, Terah sold idols,  statues of wood and stone. The people believed these idols were gods.  They prayed to them, worshipped them. His father believed in them too,  or so Abram thought. 

1 Story of Abram’s father, from “Terah, Priest of Idolatry,” Jubilees 11:16, 12:1-3, 6-7, and  Genesis Rabba 38:13, in The Bible As it Was, James Kugel, pp.137-8

But as Abram stood there, he questioned these things in his heart: How could these man-made objects be gods? 

He watched as one idol fall to the ground and its head fell off. His  father gasped and rushed to fix it, and a few hours later there it stood  again. 

Abram worried: How could something so fragile be a god? – something made with trembling hands like my father’s? When he questioned his father, his father told him Be Quiet! If he  spoke such things, the Chaldeans, the people of the land, might kill him. Abram left his father’s shop and walked out in the open air. He  gazed up at the darkening sky and marvelled at the stars, wondering who  placed them there? 

Then a life-changing thought came: Could an unseen hand, the  great Maker of all things, the earth and sky, be the only true God? The  One who made me?

II: Nicodemus 

Nicodemus also had a lot on his mind. He had heard rumblings  across Judea about a man preaching and performing miracles in  synagogues, out in the open countryside, and now even in Jerusalem. He  had just seen Jesus the miracle-worker at the Temple, overthrowing the  tables of the money-changers and driving out all the people and animals.  This man spoke with such authority, so filled with God… like no one  before. Could this man truly have come from God? The One we have  been waiting for? 

III. When God Calls  

When God breaks into our life, it can feel quite unsettling. Like  things were one way, and now something has changed. You could be  going along, like everything is just fine, when suddenly a thought, or a  person, or a situation comes into your awareness and shifts your  thinking. 

For Abraham, that something might have been that he grew up in a  land devoted to idol worship. And something stirred in Abram,  something deep in his heart that questioned the way things were. That  stirring some say resulted in God calling Abram out of the land of his  ancestors to a new land, to follow the one true God.  

Nicodemus was a rich, powerful man. A religious leader. He  studied the law of Moses and made judgements on the people who did  not follow it to the letter. This Jesus suddenly appeared and challenged  all that. Caused him a crisis of conscience, to fear, what if we are  wrong?
What if this Jesus really is from God?  

Both men had a lot to lose.  

When we question the world or seek a higher path, we too have a  lot to lose.  

It isn’t easy to hear God’s call and follow a whole new way. Change is hard, new ideas and thoughts can be scary when we are  holding on to what has given us meaning. 

IV. Personal Story 

When I first stepped on the spiritual path, I too began to question.  Like the people around Abraham, I was following idols. I wanted  answers, so I would seek them wherever I could – in tarot cards,  psychics, astrology, and other esoteric books. I was seeking God, but  often found the answers inconsistent, confusing, or even negative or  wrong. 

One day I felt this inner nudge. I had been praying and asking God  for direction. Then I heard these words in my heart:  

“You will no longer need these physical things. You will connect  directly to God.”  

You can imagine, I was quite alarmed. But I also felt this huge  relief. 

I began to connect to God more and more in prayer, and  particularly Jesus. I would often hear the words of Jesus and because I  liked to write, I would write everything down like a private conversation. 

Then one day, Jesus said, “You will no longer just write things down. You will speak them so others can hear.”  

That was even more unsettling. How could I speak the words of  God? People will think I’m crazy!  

But Jesus kept nudging me onto this path, urging me to follow and  trust him.  

That wasn’t easy.  

First, I would have to abandon my old ways and follow His  guidance. I had to let go of some people who didn’t want to walk this  new path with me. I had to throw away useless idols and clean house so  I could get ready for God. (I gave away a lot of books to Value Village!) 

I did not go without some resistance, fear, self-doubt, and delays.  I still struggle to listen and follow Christ, to share the words that  come. It is not easy to follow the way of God. Like Nicodemus, I  hesitated. It took me a long time to trust God and be courageous, to step  out and share the words of Christ. 

V. Our Calling 

We may struggle to listen to God’s call and follow a new path.  Perhaps we are afraid of change. Or feel overwhelmed by the challenges  of our time. We may hear the voice of God speaking to us, but it’s very  faint amidst the noise. 

But I believe God is calling us now. God sent Abraham from the  land of his father and ancestors to follow the one true God. Maybe we  are being sent too – not to a physical place, but a mental or spiritual one.  A place filled with promise and Hope. A land flowing with milk and  honey – new ideas, people, purpose, possibilities.  

Maybe it includes people we haven’t met yet – or people yet to be born. Children and teens looking for purpose and a safe place to become  who they were meant to be. To find God in a secular world that still  worships idols. Maybe it looks like connecting with organizations and  charities like we do at Churchill Gilford, learning where God is calling  us now, to be a blessing to a new generation, a new world.  

I believe the church is being called for such a time as this. I feel  that call. And I see that call at Churchill Gilford. To follow God where we haven’t gone before. To move past our comfort zones, like  Nicodemus, and be open to the ways of the Spirit. 

It’s not easy. It’s not comfortable. We might have to leave  something behind. We might have to go without knowing exactly where  we’re going.  

But God is calling us if we will listen. God knows the way if we will trust and follow.  

VI. Abram’s Call 

Abram went home that night, but he couldn’t sleep. He felt restless  like he didn’t belong to his own people. He went outside and stood again  under the stars, and he knelt down and wept. 

Then he heard the voice of the LORD say to him,  

Go from this land.  

Leave your father’s house.  

I will make you a great nation.  

I will bless you, and make your name great,  

and you will be a blessing. 

and all the peoples on earth will be blessed  

through you.  

Abram eventually left his father’s house and went and followed  God toward the land God told him in Canaan. He built altars to God  along the way, so everyone would know that God was there. God was  with Abraham.  

It is comforting to think Abraham felt this close connection to God.  He was able to leave everything behind and go. Some say God saved  him from the Chaldeans who would have persecuted him for believing in  only one God. But we don’t know. We only know by his actions that he  left, and he followed God. God blessed him at an old age with many  children, despite his wife being childless for so many years. Out of him  came many nations, many people, as many as the sands of the earth and the stars of the sky.  

VII. Nicodemus’ Call 

Nicodemus left Jesus that night feeling perplexed. They had  spoken under cover of night. He heard such words, such beautiful words. But now nothing made sense. How could he carry on as if  nothing had happened? He couldn’t give up everything to follow this  roaming preacher, who talks so mysteriously of the Spirit. But His words …  

Just then a gust of wind whipped up around him and he startled.  What God? What do you want from me!? he demanded. He closed his eyes tightly and prayed to God to help him discern.  Just then, he heard the words of Jesus speaking to him in his mind,  just as Jesus still speaks to us today:  

Hear me, I am with you,  

Hear my words 

Follow me 

You are my devoted follower  

You hear my voice calling 

Take heed and listen to my voice  

I am with you in the Spirit  

Go where I go 

Follow me  

Nicodemus opened his eyes and rushed home. He didn’t speak a  word to anyone.  

We don’t really know what happened to Nicodemus that night. But  I imagine it was life changing. We do know in Gospel of John he shows up three times: first in this private meeting with Jesus; then later he  defended Jesus to his people who wanted to persecute him; and finally,  Nicodemus brought expensive myrrh and spices to give to Joseph of  Arimathea, to bury Jesus with honour after the crucifixion.  

Nicodemus was ever changed by Christ. He heard the call but struggled to follow. Like many of us, he responded in his own way, even  if he couldn’t leave everything he knew. 

VIII. Our Call  

These stories tell us how much God still wants to reach us.  God calls us to startling new revelation.  

It may not fit where we were before.  

It may look absurd to folks who don’t want to know or follow. But God doesn’t give up on us. God calls us to a new creation.  Jesus speaks of heavenly things on earth to a world that is hurting and in need of our care and compassion. 

We need God more than ever, to help us discern which way to  turn, to hear the call and follow the way. 

Let us pray: 

God of Abraham who created the heavens and the earth, Jesus our miracle worker and teacher,  

Spirit of God who moves us in unexpected ways:  

Permeate our sadness, and despair and move in a new direction.  Forgive us when we persist in our ways, or turn away from You Pretending not to hear you call or hiding because we are afraid. Embolden and equip us to follow You  

Knowing things will be different. 

Awaken in us a renewing Spirit of purpose and possibility, Break from us these chains of resistance to change  and raise our courage to step forward,  

that we might heed Your call and be a Blessing 

to help bring God’s reign of love, justice, and peace – all that is good, holy, and true,  

On earth as it is in heaven.  

Amen.