Growing as Aliens -- By GOING

“Out of Sumer, civilized repository of the predictable, comes [Abram] 
who does not know where he is going but goes forth 
into the unknown wilderness under the prompting of his god...”  
                                                     --Thomas Cahill, The Gift of the Jews



Abram went. 


He 'wayyelekh' - Get up and Gone - as the Hebrew emphatically indicates.  And so this amazing story of trust and relationship and impossible provision begins. 

But there would be no story if Abram did not go.  Or as Chris Wright puts it, "Bluntly put, if Abraham had not got up and left for Canaan, the story would have ended right there, or with an endless recycling of the fate of Babel.  The Bible would be a very thin book indeed.”  (The Mission of God, p. 206 )

This disembodied voice flatly commands Abraham to go.  There is no introduction, no timeframe mentioned, and of course no actual direction listed.  All we know is Abraham has heard an offer he cannot refuse.  He goes. 

In what ways does a 6000 year old story speak to us today? 

Some posts I’ve read herald that “When Going Means Staying,” arguing that we need to examine our life and world and make sure we are not running from a responsibility and putting it on God.   Or “Going means sending others.”  I understand the point being made, that all of life can be lived in mission no matter the location, and I agree…mostly.

But Jesus commands us to “Go and make disciples of all the nations.”  Are we done yet?  2700 unreached peoples, 4.7 billion people who don’t know Jesus… I don’t think so. 

But Abraham heard a voice, and the apostles were sent directly by Jesus;  how could they say no?  Few of us probably have these credentials.    

I have not heard a disembodied voice.  I did not respond to a dream.  But my call to mission was just as insistent.  My Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship staff-worker invited me to go on a mission trip to Yucatan, Mexico.   Where?  A land God would have to show me, as I didn't know its location, didn't speak Spanish, did not have experience leading teams, nor doing children's ministry, as was planned. 

I did not want to go.  

I had my own plans.  I had my own friends.  The staff-worker told me it would be good for our student leader team if we all went together.  After a few talks, I said yes, but I was still unsure -- how would I be of any use when this land, culture, and language were so unfamiliar?  So far my most exotic travel had been a family trip to Vancouver BC, and one to Hawaii.  But life in rural Mexico, sleeping in a hammock in homes with no power or running water? 

My parents were also not excited.  Mom worried about my health.  They were also concerned because I would not be able to work that summer, and I would need to raise funds. 

 But I went.  I loved our host family, usurped the ladies from doing the dishes, watched them hang chickens outside our door each morning, taught the parables to the ninos, saw kids come alive to Jesus, cared for sick teammates, got sick and got cared for by teammates.  I found that I got out-served by my Mexican hosts, and I realized that God had not called me there because of my usefulness, but in order to show me His love through our hosts.  I got really sick, lost 25 pounds and turned a shade of green, I realized the experience of being in mission with Jesus was changing me and that

I was made for it. 

I returned twice to Mexico with teams, and ever since I have taking teams of university students on STM's all over the world. 

Why is going so important?  Why isn’t willingness enough?

Abraham’s own father Terah demonstrates why willingness is not enough.  Going to the land God reveals actually requires going.  Terah uprooted the family from UR, intending to go all the way to Canaan, but he stopped short and settled in Haran.  Why? Terah had even named one of his sons ‘Haran,’ but by the time they arrived in Haran this son had died. 

Was it the grief that stopped him, or the difficulty of leaving Ur and relocating with Sarah and Lot?   Or is it that Terah always intended to leave, but just never got around to it?  Years of intention finally gave way to the familiar, it just became harder and harder to uproot and leave again.

 Brenda Salter-McNeil spoke at the Urbana 09 Student Missions Conference about this story, summarizing the story of Terah, “Where you settle, there ya gonna die!”

The call of God to His mission involves a key response:  Our going.  It may be across the world, or it may be across town, the point is not accumulating frequent fliers in mission miles, but saying Yes to God’s invitation wherever He takes us.  We leave our familiar world and enter an unknown community, seeking to know and make known His gospel. 

Next post:  Growing our Alien Identity, Part 2:  God's purpose in Dislocating His people