Baby Steps

“Baby Steps”  Text: Genesis 12:1-8
Elpis Christian Church
September 20, 2009

 There’s a sci-fi movie, made back in 1997, which stars Jodie Foster and Matthew McConaughey.  It’s called CONTACT.  When I first saw it I thought it was going to be pretty typical thriller about spacemen encountering giant squids on some ocean covered planet somewhere or something like that.   It proved to be a lot more.  It tells the story of Dr. Eleanor “Ellie” Arroway.  One writer offers this plot summary:
“Dr. Eleanor Arroway has spent her life searching for truth in the study of radio astronomy. Palmer Joss has spent his searching for truth through faith in God. When Ellie discovers a stunning message from an extraterrestrial intelligence, they and everyone on Earth will be forced to challenge their own assumptions. In the inevitable first contact, will humankind be able to find a compromise between science and belief?”

Now that’s my kind of movie.

I won’t spoil the story for you in case you want to go rent the video – but there’s one scene where Ellie encounters her father or at least an image of her father, long after his death.  And in a brief conversation about all the possibilities out there in the universe – and all our exploration of them – he reminds her it’s important to experience and grow in the same way that someone using a telescope scans the universe.  Making a reference to how, when Ellie was a child, he had taught her to use such a scope and scan the heavens, he tells her this: “Small moves, Ellie, small moves.”

In other words – there’s so much out there, so much about life we desperately want to understand – but just can’t – we have to be content to make “small moves” and take in what we can bit by bit.  And, as we do, each important piece of information is set into the great puzzle in its proper place.  We comprehend as we can, and perhaps as God intends us to, a little bit at a time.  Otherwise we might be overwhelmed, or be armed with some information that – not properly used – might prove dangerous to us all.  But, if we are willing to make those careful, patient, slow, small moves – the very mysteries of the universe and the God who created it – unfold before us.

I couldn’t help but think of that movie as I turned this week to the story of Abram.  His journey – which proves to be a journey that affects all humanity – begins with “small moves.”  Small in the sense that one aging man, packing up his family on a seeming whim, and moving them to a new home, well, on the surface there doesn’t seem to be much there.  Restless people had been moving around for thousands of years.  What was so different, or special, about this move?  What was so special – so different about this move – was that it was initiated by God for a very special reason.

The Lord said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people, and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you,” and, though seventy-five years old, Abram does just that.

I don’t know his families or his friend’s initial reaction to Abram’s decision.  The scripture is silent on that.    But I can guess – can’t you?  I can imagine that they thought the old man, to use a kind word, was crazy.  He was well off – moving his family and possessions would not be an easy task – what was we up to anyway.  Especially since he now seemed to be hearing voices.  What had gotten in to him anyway? 
God had gotten into him, that’s what.  And there would be no deterring him now.

And so, the scripture teases us – not unlike a good sci-fi movie – with the possibility that this first step of faith will bring adventure and danger and possibility – not just to Abram and his family – but to generations and generations and generations to come.  And that is exactly what happened.

Like the astronomer, moving the telescope ever so slightly, yet realizing that through the tiny lens he is getting a glimpse of stars that have exploded millions of years ago; of comets or satellites that are streaking across the expanse even now.  He shifts his focal point ever so slightly, and turns the knob just a smidge, and planets and black holes and galaxies come into view, staggering his imagination.

A small child, in perfect trust of her father, reaches up and takes his hand, and follows him by flashlight from the comfort of their home to the edge of the woods, so that they can discover a spider weaving her beautiful web by night – or hear the call of the coyote – and wonder what else is out there in the wilderness.

An old man prays and feels God’s touch in his heart – makes a move –re-locates his family - and a nation that will bless all nations – and a people that will bless all people – is born.  And one day, from that same nation, and that same people, comes the one who will save the world itself.

These are the journeys that change everything and open God’s world up to us in new and exciting ways.  And what is most exciting of all is that you and I, like Abram and Sarai, are each called to make our own small but critically important moves, so that we can meet our destiny as well.

How tempting it is, though, to just stay at home.  How tempting it is to convince ourselves that there’s nothing worth seeing out there anyway.  Or that the dark is dangerous, and that when armed only with a flashlight, it’s better to stay inside – in the artificial but comforting lamp light – where we can see everything we own, believe everything we believe, and nothing has to change.

But – aren’t we armed with far more than a flashlight?  Remember the father’s hand.  Remember the father’s loving presence and wisdom and guidance.  That makes all the difference doesn’t it?  That lets us step out in faith – and begin the journey.  We need not know where it will lead – He does.  And so the adventure begins.

We’re not long into the journey with Abram before we find what?  That God speaks to him again.  He doesn’t say, “Leave your country – and good luck.”  He goes with Abram.  And when we speaks again, as Abram first makes contact with the Canaanites in this new, unfamiliar territory, God says, “To your offspring I will give this land.”  And what is Abram’s response?  He builds an altar and worships.  He believes – and he worships – and he gives thanks for the promise that won’t even be fulfilled for generations to come.  And as he goes on, and on, and keeps pitching his tent in each new location, he builds an altar and worships.  He keeps his hand tightly in the hand of the father who lovingly and surely guides him, even though he doesn’t know exactly where they are going.  “Small moves, Ellie, small moves.”

As a people of faith, as a church, as children, and teenagers, and young adults, and young married couples, and old married couples, and widows and widowers – we are on this same journey, unsure of where we are going exactly, but moving just the same, in perfect trust, with our Father in Heaven.

Isn’t that exciting?

• It means that the phone call you got last week which might open some new possibilities for you and your family could be important.
• It means the doctor’s report or the surgery you have pending may be more than just the next bill you have to pay.  It could be a life-style change, or an experience of some sort, which has important consequence for your future.
• It means the job offer, or the trip you have planned, or the letter you have been thinking about writing, or the television show you saw last night, or that newspaper article you read this morning – maybe – just maybe – God has a plan and a part in it.  What do you think?

“Small moves, Ellie, small moves.”  Shift your focus, adjust the lens, and think it through, pray.  Ask God what, if anything, it means.  The universe might just expand a bit.

But whatever you do – don’t strike out on the journey alone.  You can’t really, anyway.   The steps you take, the decisions you make, are made in community – whether you like it or not.  And God, well, the scripture assures us, whether we like it or not, we are always under God’s watchful eye.  So – like Abram and Sarai – from Ur of the Chaldeans, to Haran, to Egypt, to Canaan, to Galilee, to Jerusalem, to Golgotha, to the empty tomb, to the kingdom come – we are on the journey – step by step.  And where you fit, and the steps you take, and the decisions you make, are all as important as the ones Abram made four thousand years ago.

That’s amazing – and frightening –and inspiring.  And it might just make a difference in how you view the week ahead, or even the next twenty-four hours.

The universe is wide, and vast, and dangerous, and beautiful beyond description.   And it is ours to grasp and experience.

In another favorite scene from the movie CONTACT – Dr. Eleanor Arroway, now traveling in space, always the thoughtful, introspective, analytical scientist – looks out on the vast array of the beautiful cosmos – and cannot contain herself.  She exclaims, “They should’ve sent a poet – they should’ve sent a poet.”  Because all the wonder of what God has created, and all the wonder of the journey we are on with God, is better described at times by the poet than by the scientist.

Don’t be afraid of the journey.  Don’t be afraid of making those next small moves that can make such a huge difference.  Like Abram, take the baby steps that may just turn into a saga of the greatest meaning and purpose.   For you – and for everyone you meet – along the way.  “Small moves, Ellie, small moves.”