Packing... Yuck!

“So Abram went, as the LORD had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran. He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Harran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there.” Genesis 12:4-5

Packing...Yuck!

My family started in earnest last week in what is, for me, the worst part of moving: packing I don’t mind the moving part. And getting to know new people, places, and faces is really quite fun. But there’s something really humbling about taking out everything you’ve stored in closets and basements for years, sorting through it, and deciding what you need and what you don’t need. It makes you feel rather burdened by all the stuff of life.

That’s why it’s nice to remember that, even Abram, that touchstone of faith in Scripture, had possessions that he moved. In fact, Abram doesn’t even “go through” his possessions. There is no downsizing for him. No sorting. Instead, Genesis tells us, he took his wife, his nephew and “all the possessions they had accumulated...” Not only that, but he also took “all the people they had acquired in Haran” which means that all of THEM had to move with all of THEIR possessions too.

Can you imagine the size of their moving truck? Can you imagine Abram telling his people that they need to pick up stakes and move...with everything they have... because GOD told him too?

Abram is the first, I believe, real mover in the Bible. He’s the first one who goes from where he was(in Ur) to where God is calling him to be(Canaan) and goes there with everything in his household. The worst part of all is... HE DOESN’T EVEN GET TO STAY IN CANAAN! That’s right. Once he gets to this promised land God is promising him, God shows him it from a distance...and then Abram settles somewhere else. Near Sodom to be exact. And we know what happens to him in Sodom...right?

But here at the beginning of his adventure Abram is seen packing all his possessions to get there.

We too are called to go where God calls us...with our without all our possessions. Some will go with very little on their backs. A pastor from eastern Montana, Joshua Magyar, went to Tanzania with very little possessions. Others of us(my family for instance) will be packing nearly 10,000 pounds worth of possessions as we follow God’s call.

But however many possessions we do, or do not, have. God’s call remains. And our faithfulness is measured, not in how we pack our things or even how much stuff get go with, but in how we respond to that call of God in our lives. Let us not let our possessions stand in the way of our higher calling. For when God comes knocking...we should be ready for action, no matter where he he calling us. Amen.

Faithful God, you call us on paths uncertain and in ways yet untrodden. Teach us to manage our earthly possessions so that we may follow your call, wherever you are leading us, through Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.