Genesis
12
Romans 4
John 14
Several years ago, I went on a
field trip with a group of friends to walk a labyrinth; it was interesting to do that personal spiritual
practice alongside a spiritual community. We all started in the same place, of
course, but we began at different times and progressed at different rates so we
never were in the same place at the same time. We were all in various places,
but we were all on the same path.
When you walk a labyrinth, at
first it feels a bit like a maze with a pathway that twists and turns. But
unlike a maze, in a labyrinth, there is never a dead end; there is always a way
forward. Sometimes we would be oh so near the center and then the way would
spiral back until we found ourselves almost to where we had started.
Sometimes
there would be a long trek on a straight, steady path and then, unexpectedly,
everything turned and our orientation would be completely readjusted.
The Christian practice of
walking a prayer labyrinth developed centuries ago as a mini-experience of holy
pilgrimage with Jerusalem as its center. These days, many Christians who engage
in this spiritual practice understand the center not as a place but as an
awareness of God. In the practice of a labyrinth, first prayer takes us inward
and we have time to ponder who we are; who we are with God; how we are doing;
what all this means. Our first prayer takes us inward, toward our Center. And
then we step into the Center and there we rest, envisioning ourselves at rest
in the very heart of God. And then, after resting, the path turns outward
again. The way of our pilgrim prayer moves us back into our world
where we live in the love we have met and we follow Christ’s command to
love one another.
Walkers of this way understand that all of us journeyers invariably are in varied places at the same time, encountering different experiences and gaining different insights. We embrace all these differences as we love one another.
And walkers of this way understand that our “center” is not one location that we move in and out of; rather this whole labyrinth - our entire life and journey of faith and everything in all creation - is embraced within THE Center, the Ground of all being; all is enveloped within the One who is Love.
Walkers of this way understand that all of us journeyers invariably are in varied places at the same time, encountering different experiences and gaining different insights. We embrace all these differences as we love one another.
And walkers of this way understand that our “center” is not one location that we move in and out of; rather this whole labyrinth - our entire life and journey of faith and everything in all creation - is embraced within THE Center, the Ground of all being; all is enveloped within the One who is Love.
When we read the Genesis
stories, we hear God’s call for Abram to “go;” to enter the pilgrim’s life; to
leave everything familiar and comfortable; to walk away from land and home and
family and to walk toward a totally unknown future in this labyrinthine way
with God.
(That’s impressive to me in a profoundly spiritual sense, but also in
a very practical way because when archeologists’ describe Abram’s hometown in
Ur of the Chaldees, they say Abram may well have had running water and indoor
toilets! Walking away from indoor plumbing in order to live as a nomad in a
tent is more faithfulness than I could probably muster!)
Abraham’s faith and faithfulness
is legendary and has become the foundation of the religious faith of most of
the people on our planet. He is the founding father of Jews, Christians and
Muslims – the “father of many nations” – and his example of faith gives us a
touchstone while we figure out how we too might be a blessing to the nations of
the earth in which we live.
But the Abraham narratives also show us how often he stumbled in his
walk with God. We read about his misstep of fear when he told local kings that
his wife was his sister and he let them take her into their harems. We read
about Abram being tripped up by Sarah’s manipulations to have a son by using
and abusing the slave woman Hagar. Abraham’s journey in faith happened stage by stage
and step by step; his walk with God was in fits and starts and twists and
turns. When we actually read these stories for ourselves instead of hearing
them yet again in their children’s version, we can recognize what a mixed bag
our Bible heroes really are. But even with Abram’s imperfect
faith, we see in him a stubborn faithfulness that helps all of us mixed bag followers to hope against hope that God is more faithful than we can ever be.
In our New Testament, Abraham was a pivotal a figure for the apostle Paul as Paul read and re-read the ancient stories and reinterpreted the historic faith of Judaism in light of the Christ event. In the letter to the Romans, Paul draws extensively from the story of Abraham as he argues his point that – even though God has done a whole new thing in the universe in the event of Jesus Christ – still God’s work of making things right in the world, of making people right with God has been going on for a very long time.
"Hoping against hope"
(Paul says), "Abraham believed that he would become 'the father of many
nations,' according to what was said: 'So numerous shall your descendants
be.' He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was
already as good as dead (for he was about a hundred years old), or when he
considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. No distrust made him waver
concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory
to God, being fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.
Therefore his faith 'was reckoned to him as righteousness.' "
(Romans 4:18-22)
New Testament scholars and
pastors Gene Boring and Fred Craddock consider what this means. Here is part of
their reflection: “Paul’s own faith is centered on the God who raised Jesus
from the dead, the God who generates hope when there is no hope, the same God
who acted in the ‘dead’ bodies of Abraham and Sarah to give new life…For Paul,
all those such as Abraham who trust in God’s impossible promises have
resurrection faith – even though they may never have heard of Jesus” (479).
Now that’s a hopeful
interpretation! If Abraham is the father of the faithful, then surely ALL
people whose faith points them to the one true God – no matter what they might
call the One who is beyond all names, no matter what they might understand
about how that hope has been accomplished – surely still this is
faith that God honors and claims and reckons.
“All who trust in God’s
impossible promises have resurrection faith – even though they may never have
heard of Jesus.”
No matter where we are on our
labyrinthine journey of faith, at all our different stages and places, any
faith that holds on to God’s impossible possibilities and leads us toward The
Center, any faith that leads us to love one another, I believe, is faith that God ‘reckons as righteousness.’
Boring and Craddock observe
something else helpful in this Christian reflection of the Abraham story.
Consider their explanation of this idea of “reckoning:”
"Paul’s term 'reckoned,
counted as righteous' has legal connotations, but it does not mean that a judge
treats the accused 'as if' they are not guilty. Rather, in Paul’s argument,
God’s pronouncement of 'righteous' is performative language that creates the
reality it pronounces. Those who trust in God are declared righteous - and
so they are (478).
·
A minister pronounces: “You are husband and wife…” and something real happens.
Performative language.
·
An umpire calls: “Strike!” ... and so it is. Performative language.
·
Paul proclaims that - because of the work of God and the Word of God made visible
in Jesus Christ - the guilty are "right" and sinners are
"righteous" ... and so we are. Performative language.
In God’s work of justification
and reckoning, an alternative reality comes into existence without our aid; it
is God's work. And any faith that hopes against hope in God’s impossible possibilities, any faith that leads us toward The Center is faith that God will ‘reckon as righteous.’
In the Gospel of John, we also find that the Abraham story has special
significance for John’s Jesus. “Before Abraham was, I AM,” he claims (8:56). “I
AM the Way, the Truth, the Life” (14:6). For the Christians in John’s
community, following Christ “in the way” meant their lives were immersed in The
Way of God that has been unfolding throughout history - even before Abraham. And
yet here, in this one Jesus the Christ who is the Way of God, all our journeys
of faith are included. Like a cosmic labyrinth, God’s Christ encompasses all
creation: every beginning, every ending and every step in between. “Even though
they may never have heard of Jesus” – Boring and Craddock remind us.
Journey is and
has always been the way of the people of God, but when we see ourselves as a settled
people, we become set in our ways, even stuck. That’s why our intentional disciplined faith
journey is crucial: seeing ourselves walking as Abraham walked, step by
step and stage by stage. Even when we journey in fits
and starts; even when we don’t know where we’re going or what we’re doing; even
when we make mistakes or refuse what God is unfolding before us – even so we,
like Abraham, can hope against hope that all this is going somewhere – somewhere
good and right.
Like Abraham, who saw the fulfillment of God’s promise not with human eyes but with the eyes of hope and confidence, we too entrust ourselves to the One who is our Eternal Center, the One who generates all hope. That’s a good reason why we need each other, why we need spiritual community – to encourage and remind each other, to embody hope for one another throughout this journey.
Whenever we see ourselves journeying with Abraham, on the move with Paul, following Christ in the Way – then we can live with confidence that in this journey of understanding, of thought, of theology, of practice, of life, we are going somewhere. Even though we may feel sometimes like we’re going around in circles, maybe what we really are doing is progressing through the spiraling path of a cosmic labyrinth that God is unfolding before us.
Like Abraham, who saw the fulfillment of God’s promise not with human eyes but with the eyes of hope and confidence, we too entrust ourselves to the One who is our Eternal Center, the One who generates all hope. That’s a good reason why we need each other, why we need spiritual community – to encourage and remind each other, to embody hope for one another throughout this journey.
Whenever we see ourselves journeying with Abraham, on the move with Paul, following Christ in the Way – then we can live with confidence that in this journey of understanding, of thought, of theology, of practice, of life, we are going somewhere. Even though we may feel sometimes like we’re going around in circles, maybe what we really are doing is progressing through the spiraling path of a cosmic labyrinth that God is unfolding before us.
Where is all this going? I
wonder: is that really ours to know? When we live our lives in God’s labyrinth,
we simply follow the path that opens up before us. We are called to take the next step and then the
next step after that. We are called to faithfulness.
Charlotte Vaughan Coyle 2014
M. Eugene Boring and
Fred B. Craddock, The People’s New Testament Commentary (Louisville: Westminster John Knox
Press, 2004).
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