When Abraham was 75 years old, God called on him to basically start his life over. God said to Abraham, “Leave your land, your family, and your father’s household, and go to the land that I will show you.”
God called on Abraham to be an immigrant.
So Abraham packed everything up, and set out for the land of Canaan.
Just like that.
And started over.
Starting over is hard. People do it. Many of you have done it. But it’s hard.
And to start over at the age of 75… I don’t know about you, but I’d be more inclined to just stay put. I’d be tempted to say to God, “No, thanks. I’ll just stay here. I’ve got my routines down, my daily routines, my weekly routines, I know my way to the grocery store and the bank, I’ve got my doctors here, and the people at my favorite restaurants know me by name. So if it’s all the same to you, God, I’ll just stay here.”
We do like our routines.
Last week, I challenged you to change your routine by carving ten minutes out of your day, every day, to pray. It was your first task in our Spiritual Boot Camp that we are experiencing in this season of Lent.
If spending time in prayer was not already a part of your routine, then I’m guessing this was a difficult challenge for you.
Maybe you spent time in prayer one or two or three days, but on the other days, time slipped away.
Maybe you only thought about praying this week. Maybe every day you thought, “I should pray today,” but it just never happened.
Changing our routine is hard.
If you thought about praying, well, I’m glad you at least thought about it.
But just thinking about it isn’t going to help you grow in faith. If Abraham only thought about moving to Canaan, but didn’t actually go, the Bible would be a very different book.
I assume you want to grow in faith, but just thinking about it, just wishing that you could grow in faith, isn’t going to give you the results you want. If you want to grow in faith, you need to practice. You need to engage in the spiritual disciplines. You have to participate. You won’t accomplish anything with a program of “just thinking about it.”
Remember, when it comes to prayer, you don’t have to use words. You can sit in silence. If you like, you can meditate on a single word, like “compassion,” “kindness,” or “thankful.”
You can go for a walk, pondering what it means to walk with Christ.
Some people pray while they knit, or while coloring. Coloring books for adults are growing in popularity. Chalice Press, the publishing company affiliated with our church, even publishes a Lenten coloring book for adults. An activity like that helps one remove the clutter and distractions from one’s mind that so often get in the way of prayer and meditation.
But still, starting a new routine like prayer if you’re not used to it is a challenge. We like our routines. It’s hard to change our routines. Our brains get addicted to routines - literally.
I’m not a scientist or doctor, so my technical language might not be correct here, but when you learn or do something new, new neural pathways in the brain are created. That’s a physical response. The brain actually creates these new connections.
When I first started learning how to play guitar, I could almost feel this happening inside my brain. Same thing when I started trying to learn a second language. Learning how to play an instrument or learning a second language is not easy. Not in the least. That’s why it takes lots and lots of practice. You are wiring your brain to think in new ways.
It’s so much easier to just do things you’ve done before. Stick to your routines. Stick with what you know. Your brain takes comfort in what is familiar. You can almost do these things without thinking. Have you ever driven down the freeway and gotten off at the offramp you always get off at, only to remember that, this time, that wasn’t where you wanted to go? For a moment, you forgot where you were going, and your brain just took you to where it always takes you.
Old habits die hard.
Doing something new, going a different route, changing up your routine - these things make your brain work harder. They really do. So, yes, something as simple as inserting ten minutes of prayer into your daily routine can be a challenge. It’s not going to happen unless you plan it out, set the time in advance, with some kind of reminder, and make it happen.
When Abraham was an old man, God called on him to do a lot more than change how he spent ten minutes of his day. God called on Abraham to start over. Completely.
Abraham was 75 years old when God called him to start over.
Our church is almost as old as Abraham was, and we’re starting to wonder, some of us, if God isn’t calling us to start over in some new way. It’s kind of scary to think about, because, as I said, starting over is not easy. But if that’s what God is calling us to do, what can we do but follow?
Abraham followed God’s call and started over. He was faithful. God promised Abraham that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky, as numerous as the grains of sand, and that all families on earth would be blessed because of Abraham and his faith.
And it happened. Today, three great religions trace their beginnings to Abraham: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
But only because he was willing to start over, start something new.
Nicodemus was another person who was challenged to start over. When Jesus said to Nicodemus, “You must be born anew,” Nicodemus thought Jesus was asking the impossible.
At first he took Jesus’s words literally. Do you know someone like that? Someone like Nicodemus? Someone like Drax - Drax the Destroyer - one of the Guardians of the Galaxy? Rocket Raccoon once complained that Drax was too literal,that he always took everything literally, and that metaphors always went over his head. Drax responded by saying, “Nothing goes over my head. My reflexes are too fast. I would catch it.”
Jesus told Nicodemus that one must be born anew. Nicodemus said, “How is that possible? It’s impossible for someone to enter their mother’s womb for a second time and be born again.”
But Jesus, of course, was talking about starting your life over in a different sort of way. Instead of living for yourself, you would start living for God. Instead of seeing yourself as separate from everyone and everything else, you would start allowing the Spirit of God to blow through you, and you would recognize your oneness with God and with all of life.
To start over like this - to start over in any significant way - means engaging in new practices and disciplines that will help you transition from your old life and your old way of thinking, to the new life and way of thinking that God is calling you to; and because it involves developing new routines, new ways of thinking… it’s not easy.
It requires practice. It requires discipline.
You ever wonder how some people who claim they are people of love and peace can be so mean and hurtful? I think most of these people really do want to be people of love and peace, and probably even think of themselves as people of love and peace, yet they haven’t been actively practicing the ways of love and peace.
Jesus once wept over Jerusalem, the city whose very name means, literally, “city of peace.” He wept over the city because the people who lived there did not know how to live lives of peace. The city that claimed to be a city of peace did not practice the ways of peace.
They thought about it, but the program of “thinking about it” didn’t get them anywhere.
You have to do more than “think about it.” You have to engage in practices and disciplines that will get you to where you want to be, and help make you the person you want to be.
I want to encourage you to pray ten minutes a day. At the very least, sit in silence for ten minutes a day. No phone. No TV or radio. This practice is an essential, ongoing part of the spiritual boot camp program.
I also want you to do something else this week. This second practice is just for this week. The praying is ongoing and should become a part of your permanent routine, but this new task is just for this week.
And that task is this: learn about or experience something new each day this week. It could be anything, as long as it gets you to do something new or learn something new.
You could talk to a friend or neighbor about their religion or culture, if it is different than yours.
You could try a new food or read an article about a culture that’s different than yours, or learn a few words in another language.
You could start learning how to play a musical instrument, or how to read music.
You could go grocery shopping at a store that isn’t the one you normally shop at. Not knowing where everything is will force your brain to work harder as it figures things out.
You could take a dance class, or any other kind of class in an activity or subject that is new to you.
You could research where your food comes from, and then change your diet so that the food you buy comes from responsible growers and distributors. Remember when we boycotted grapes because grape pickers were being treated unjustly? Find out which food and which restaurants exploit workers or the environment, and change your diet accordingly.
You could listen to a new piece of music. Don’t just have it on in the background; really listen to it, try to hear the individual instruments or voices.
And, of course, if you aren’t in the habit of praying every day, starting a habit of ten minutes of prayer would certainly count as doing something new.
The possibilities are endless, really. Almost anything that is new to you would count. Anything that shows it is possible for you to start over, and do something new, at least in something small.
And then, when God calls you to start over in a bigger, bolder way, you’ll be prepared to hear - and follow - that call.
The life of wholeness Nicodemus was seeking only comes to those who are willing to start over.
Like Abraham, we are called to leave behind the life we have known, and relocate ourselves to life in the kingdom of God.
But to do that, we need to prepare and practice and exercise those spiritual muscles. Day after day after day.
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