[Mcgregorpage] McGregorPage #612, Pentecost 4, 6/8/08

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Pentecost 4 – June 8, 2008




Genesis 12:1 9

Psalm 33:1 12 

Romans 4:13 25

Matthew 9:9 13, 18 26




On The Beam But Off The Map




Abraham, the model for faith, had no religion.  The son of an idol maker, he ran away from home at age seventy-five to live as an alien in the land God had promised him.  He had no Bible. He had no church or temple.  He had no priest except for a single encounter with Melchizedek.  There was no law of God.  There was no church doctrine.  There was no Gospel of Jesus Christ.  There was only the direct invitation of God to follow.  There was only his unqualified trust in God.  There was only his dialog with God.  There was only his tithe.  Yet, he is the paradigm of faith linking the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament.  




Abraham was a pilot.  He was like a pilot with a navigational beam to follow.  He flew above the religious terrain and took the pictures from which the maps were later made by scribes -- and worshiped by Pharisees.  Later pilots endeavored to rise above the maps and see again by the beam.   Hosea heard God describe the beam this way:  "For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings."  (Hosea 6:6)  When the Pharisees complained that Jesus was off the map, he tried to put them on the beam by referring back to Hosea: "And as he sat at dinner in the house, many tax collectors and sinners came and were       sitting with him and his disciples.  When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, 'Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?'  But when he heard this, he said, 'Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.  Go and learn what this means, "I desire mercy, not sacrifice." For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.'"  (Matthew 9:10-13)




Jesus once said, "No one comes to the Father except by me."  Was he saying that he is the beam?  He was the one who called Abraham out of Haran?  No mater what map you may have, he is only beam you have?  He has no other name than "I" and "You"?




To be map minded is surely helpful, to have your own name for God and paint that name on a mountain somewhere, but to have a pronoun relationship with God is to be on the beam. " I call you."  "I respond to you."  "I protect you."  "I trust you."  "You belong to me."  "I give my tithe to you."  A “I-You” relationship is what Abraham had with God and God with Abraham.  The same was true of Jesus and the disciples, of Jesus and Paul.  God needs no name except for third person accounts, except for map making and needs no gender.




Those who follow a map, walk by sight, but those on the beam walk by faith.  It was on the beam that the woman in the crowd reached out to touch Jesus' garment.  It was on the beam that a leader of the synagogue came to Jesus on behalf of his daughter.  It was on the beam that tax collectors and sinners called God "you" in the presence of Jesus, the beam of hope and the beam of promise.  No map led them there.  They were off the map but on the beam.







May these thoughts strengthen you. 

 


An Open Letter to Fellow Pastors 

>From Roland McGregor, United Methodist Pastor 

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