Rev. Patti Money
Cheriton/Travis Chapel
Genesis 22:1-17
July 1, 2012
“Leap of Faith: Faith of Leap”
Many of you may be familiar with the “Indiana Jones” movies starring Harrison Ford. The first three movies were set in the 1930s and the fourth movie was set in the 1950s. Indiana Jones is an archaeology professor who winds up going on these crazy adventures where he appears to singlehandedly save priceless artifacts from the Nazis or Soviets with extremely daring moves, while also romancing beautiful women. In the movie, “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade”, Indy is on a quest to recover the Holy Grail, known to be the cup that Jesus drank from at the last supper. He’s following a series of clues that are taking him deeper into a cavern and closer to the Grail. The stakes are even higher because his father, Indiana Jones Sr, has been shot, and only liquid from the Grail will be able to cure his wound and save his life.
One of the clues that Indiana is trying to decipher is, “only in the leap from the lion’s mouth will he prove his worth.” He emerges from a tunnel to find himself at the very edge of a precipice with a wide canyon in front of him. It’s impossible to jump it. We see him panic, then begin to think it through, until he says, “leap of faith”. He jumps out...and finds himself supported by a previously invisible bridge spanning the entire canyon. It was only by stepping out...or by leaping out...into what appeared to be empty space that Indiana was able to find a way to get across that canyon and to the Holy Grail. It took a leap of faith.
We’re all familiar with the term “leap of faith”, the act of believing in something or someone without experience or observation or sight to back up our beliefs, and acting based on that belief. When we take a leap of faith, we are stepping into the unknown, without any assurance of the outcome…we don’t know for sure that everything will be fine or that everything will turn out OK. We simply don’t know what will happen…all we are doing is taking a leap, a step into the future, and hoping and trusting with all our heart that we are hearing God’s voice, that we are doing God’s will, and that God is holding us and taking care of us through it all.
However, in order to take that leap, in order to step into the unknown and into the future without any assurance of the outcome, we need to first have faith. We need to have a solid enough relationship with God that we know how to recognize God’s voice and have the faith and strength to trust that God will take care of us. We need to have the confidence to, as a friend and mentor of mine keeps telling me, “do what God tells you to do and let the chips fall where they may.” In other words, before we take that leap of faith...we need to first have enough faith for the leap. We have to have enough faith that we can follow God’s voice even when what God is asking us to do just doesn’t make a lot of sense. Taking a leap of faith first requires faith for the leap.
If you’ve spent much time in the church, you’ve heard the story of Abraham many many times. Abraham and his wife Sarah were “very elderly”, to put it gently. They did not have children, and were way way past their childbearing years. But, God promised them a son…and promised Abraham that he would be fruitful, that he would be a father to many nations, that he would be blessed. And in time, Abraham and Sarah did have a son, and they named him Isaac. He was their joy, their hope, and their future. Isaac was the way that God would fulfill God’s promise to Abraham to be a father of many nations. It all hinged on Isaac.
But then God spoke to Abraham and asked the unthinkable: he told Abraham to give Isaac up; to take him to the land of Moriah, to offer him as a burnt offering, as a sacrifice to God. And amazingly enough, Abraham followed God’s instructions...although God intervened before Abraham could actually kill Isaac.
God asked Abraham to give up the one thing, the one person, whose existence was instrumental in defining Abraham’s future…the one person through whom God would fulfill God’s promises to Abraham. It just didn’t make sense.
Imagine how Abraham felt…scared, angry, confused, hurt…, maybe he had had a big fight with Sarah about this whole thing, or maybe he hadn’t told her and was waiting to tell her when he returned without Isaac...but in spite of it all he obeyed God’s voice. He trusted God with the thing, the person, he valued most in this world…with the biggest blessing of his life. He was able to do that, he was able to make that leap of faith, because of the strength of his faith. Because of the relationship with God that he had grown and cultivated over the years. Abraham knew God’s voice and was willing to do what God told him to do, even when it appeared that he was giving up his future to do so. Abraham was willing to give God what was most important to him.
Think about what you value most in this world…who or what you would be most reluctant to give up forever. Think about what in your life gives you the most confidence for the future. Be honest, because this is just between you and God. Maybe it’s material possessions…your house, your pension, your bank account. Maybe it’s your family…your spouse, your kids, your parents. Maybe it’s your career or hobby…whatever brings you joy, fulfillment, and makes you feel useful. It’s different for all of us.
Think about what you value most about your church...what it is about this church that makes you feel the most secure, that gives you assurance for the future. This is just between you and God. Again, it’s going to be different for each church and each person. For some people it’s a particular ministry in which they are involved. For others it’s the building itself. Or maybe it’s the pastor, or the service format. What aspect of this church would you have the hardest time giving up?
We tend to elevate Biblical characters to a rather unrealistic level…like they were so much better than us. The reality is, they’re just like us…sinners in need of God’s love and grace, ordinary people who allowed God to work through them to do extraordinary things. Abraham is no exception. He was not superhuman: he just had a deep relationship with God and strong faith that was the result of that relationship. Abraham was able to take a gigantic leap of faith because he had enough faith to make the leap.
We are all in the process of making a leap of faith, with hopefully more leaps to come. You made a leap of faith by embracing change and accepting a new pastor, whom you know nothing about, to lead you into the future. I imagine that transition has been full of emotion...because you’re stepping into the unknown. I made a leap of faith by becoming a pastor again, for the first time in four years, by going back to full-time employment for the first time in three years, and by moving myself and my family here to the Eastern Shore. We made these leaps of faith based on what we heard God telling us to do. We made these leaps because we had faith that God would take care of us. And I don’t know about you, but I’m beginning to see confirmation that my leap of faith was indeed the right thing to do.
At the last possible moment, as Abraham’s knife was poised over his son, God intervened, spared Isaac’s life, and provided an alternate sacrifice for Abraham. Isaac grew up, got married, had children...and you know the rest of the story. From Abraham and Isaac grew the nation of Israel, God’s chosen people. And thousands of years after Abraham’s leap of faith, God sent his own son, Jesus, down here to be born, to live among us, to show us God’s love and God’s plans for us...and ultimately to die for us and be raised from the dead on the third day. God spared Abraham’s son, but God sacrificed his own son so that we could have our sins forgiven and experience a deeper relationship with God than any of the Old Testament characters did.
Through Jesus, we have experienced God’s love, God’s grace, and God’s power to make all things new in ways that Abraham could only dream of. We have an access to God that Abraham never did, and as a result our potential in partnering with God to change the world is greater than that of Abraham.
God is in the business of making all things new...God is in the business of transforming us from who we are and who we have become to who God wants us to be. In order for that to happen, we have to trust God with everything we have. We have to have faith in God, faith that God will take care of us, and even faith in ourselves and in our relationship with God, so that we know that we are indeed hearing God’s voice. It’s hard, but it’s very worth it. Madeleine L’Engle, the author of A Wrinkle in Time and many other books, is a Christian and once said this, “We have to be braver than we think we can be, because God is constantly calling us to be more than we are.”
In order to make leaps of faith...in order to be braver than we think we can be...we need to have put our faith and hope and trust in the God who created us, who loves us, who always fulfills his promises to us. We need to have faith in the God who spared Abraham’s son but gave up his own so that we may experience God’s love and grace in amazing ways and have new life as a result. So that with God’s help, we can answer God’s call to be more than we are now, and become who God is calling us to be.
Travis Chapel/Cheriton, we’ve made separate leaps of faith to arrive at today, the beginning of our journey in ministry together. Let’s continue to deepen our faith in God and in each other, so that we can boldly take leaps of faith and become who God is calling us to be, as individuals and as a community of faith.
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