Count the Stars

Genesis 15:1-7

May 19, 2019 • Mount Pleasant UMC

My son, Christopher, loves video games, and when he was younger, I would often tell him about the Atari I used to play with when I was his age. I got excited when the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago advertised a “History of Video Games” exhibit, so we made plans to go there and see this Atari that I spoke of. Long story short: he was unimpressed. He looked at “Pong” for about three seconds and said, “Hmm.” Then he moved on to the other games, things he was more familiar with. The message was clear: the video games I enjoyed as a child were just not that impressive. I think he breathed a silent prayer of thanks that he was born in the era of high resolution graphics and intricate storylines rather than…Pong.

Video games have been part of our lives for a long, long time. The Atari we had was released in 1972—that’s an eternity ago in terms of technology! That’s a year before the first call was made on a cellular phone and five years before the first home computers were released (the TRS-80 and Apple II). Can you imagine such a world? Since then, graphic capabilities, portability and the ability to interact all around the world have all become standard and “Pong” seems a long time ago. But no matter how much the games themselves change, the basic premise behind every game has stayed the same. To defeat the foe, you have to keep winning and to keep winning you have to do whatever is necessary to power up. Without power, in whatever form that comes in each particular game, you cannot win.

This year, in just a few weeks, we will have our annual Vacation Bible School (or VBS) and the theme this year is vintage video games (like Pong) under the theme of “Power Up: Raise Your Game.” VBS is always an important week of the year for me; when I was in fifth grade, I gave my life to Jesus during a week of VBS. So I always look forward to VBS. But last year about this time, I got to thinking how it isn’t fair that the kids get to have all the fun. Why couldn’t we (older kids) share some of that? I was actually inspired in that thinking by another church who took the themes of their VBS and used them in a sermon series. So guess what? That’s what we’re going to do. For the next five weeks, leading up to the actual week of VBS, we’re going to look at the stories the kids will be learning during VBS and seeing what how those stories can help us “power up” in life so we “win” God’s way. Along the way, you’re also going to be invited to participate in some VBS-style activities like games, snacks and crafts. And these are meant to be intergenerational; in other words, you’re never too old to make a craft or play a game. So parents and grandparents, get in there and help! Play! Laugh—it’s okay to have fun in church! There are stations set up today for you to make a craft that will be used in decorating for VBS. You’re going to make stars, and we need a lot of them because in this morning’s story, God gave his friend Abram an impossible task: count the stars!

The first eleven chapters of the book of Genesis tell a “grand sweep” sort of story. The verses and chapters there cover huge periods of time and go more for the overall theme rather than the intricate details. Then, at the end of chapter 11 and into chapter 12, the story slows down and narrows. Focuses, you might say. Suddenly, God, who has been dealing with the whole of humanity, begins to work in the midst of one family. God zeroes in on a man named Abram, and he calls Abram to leave behind everything he knows in order to find some sort of undefined blessing. Now, that’s a big calling but Abram was seventy-five years old when God called him. He had lived in the same town, surrounded by family and the familiar, for seventy-five years. We barely stay put any place for seventy-five minutes these days, but Abram had never traveled very far from the place he was born. Now, this God whom he has never heard from before calls him to go. And the amazing thing is that Abram goes. He uproots his own family, leaves behind his fame and some of his fortune, and heads toward a promise that he had no real reason to believe in.

So Abram is originally from a place called Ur in an area called Sumer. For some reason, perhaps economic or perhaps political, Abram’s father, Terah, moves their family from Ur to a place called Haran, but he stops there. Some think Terah was the one who originally heard the call from God, but he got to Haran and lost interest. He wore out. It is important to note that both Ur and Haran were, in ancient times, centers for worship of the moon god, so when they got to Haran, it probably felt like home. So they settled down. They stopped. Whatever motivated Terah to move his family this far was forgotten along the way, until after Terah’s death when God calls to his son, Abram (cf. Kidner, Genesis (Tyndale OT), pg. 111).

If you read the promises God makes to Abram, they’re pretty vague. I'm not sure today we would make life-altering decisions based on these promises. In fact, I’m pretty sure we wouldn’t. Back in chapter 12, the promises are that he will become “a great nation,” that he will be “blessed,” and that “all peoples on earth will be blessed through you” (12:2-3). I think I’d say, “I’m going to need a little more. How big is a ‘great’ nation? And what, exactly, do you mean by ‘blessed’?” Then, in chapter 15, when the promise is reaffirmed, it’s even more vague: “I am your shield, your very great reward” (15:1). Well, that’s great, God, but by chapter 15, Abram has had some time to think about this, and somewhere along the way he’s realized there is one huge obstacle to becoming a great nation: he and his wife, Sarai, are childless. They have no heirs. It’s really hard to become a great nation if your family ends with you. So, this time, when God is once again making vague promises, Abram brings this problem up with God. “How’s this going to work, God, since I am childless and the person who is going to inherit my estate is a servant? Do you have a plan I am unaware of, God?”

This is the first time Abram talks back to God; he’s getting more comfortable with this mysterious God. It also tells us that this inheritance thing is a huge issue for Abram. Today, inheritance often boils down to money and material possessions, but in the ancient world, it was a much more important thing. It was about passing on the name, the family traditions, carrying on the lineage. It was also about burial. In Abram’s world, if a couple was childless, they would adopt a son, usually someone who was already a slave to them, who would become their son. This “son” would serve them throughout their lifetime and then mourn them when they die. The “son” would also guarantee to give them a good burial in return for inheriting whatever fortune the couple might have had. Adoption was both an economic as well as a familial arrangement. It was about people and property. It was about having someone who would care when you were gone (cf. Kidner 123; Hamilton, The Book of Genesis, Chapters 1-17 [NICOT], pg. 420). This seems to be the arrangement Abram has made with one of his servants, Eliezar of Damascus, a man who while faithful isn’t even from the same town as Abram. While I have no doubt Abram cares for Eliezar, he’s wondering if this is really the plan this promise-making God has for turning his family into a great nation.

To reassure him, and to give him a visual reminder of the promise, God takes Abram outside and he tells him to look up. Count the stars, if you can. I like that sort of challenging language. Count the stars—if you can. With our current technology, astronomers can see about 73 sextillion stars. That’s 73 with 21 zeros following it. That’s a lot! In the clear Middle Eastern sky without the aid of technology, Abraham would have probably been able to see a thousand stars or so (cf. Goldingay, Genesis for Everyone, Part One, pg. 170), but the number isn’t really the point. The point is that God is reassuring Abram that he is good for the promise, and after this every time Abram stepped outside of his tent at night, every time he saw the stars shining in the dark sky, he would remember the promise and he would be reminded of the God who made the promise.

It’s a promise, by the way, that will take six more chapters and twenty-five years to come to pass (Kidner 122). It will happen, but there is a lot more grief and difficulty to come. Somehow, in the message of the stars, Abram is assured and his faith in God deepens. I love what the author says in verse 6: “Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.” That’s a key we need to take away this morning, what our VBS calls the “bottom line.” You see, Abram didn’t wait to believe God until he got what he wanted. This relationship is not about getting anything. It’s about learning to trust the God who has called him. More than receiving land or a child or even a great name, Abram is learning to know God, and that’s our bottom line this week: God wants Abram—and you—to know him.

I sort of wonder (although the Bible is silent on this) if that’s why it takes twenty-five more years for Abram to receive the son he is promised. In that time, Abram is not just sitting around waiting. He’s not just twiddling his thumbs. In that time, he is getting to know God better. We seem to think that Abram and God were best buddies from beginning, but that’s simply not true. Abram had to learn to trust this God he could not see. He had to learn to trust this God no one else seemed to know. He had to come to learn what God’s character was like. Before Abram could be trusted with an heir, he needed to know that he could trust God.

We are impatient. The promises that have been made to us, the things we are hoping for, the dreams we have—we want it all right now. When we order things, we want to get them immediately. Two-day shipping is no longer fast enough; Amazon is upping their Prime service to one-day shipping in some areas, and probably eventually everywhere. We have things that, apparently, absolutely positively have to be here overnight. And I know I find myself frustrated when the internet slows down and I can’t upload or download or watch video on demand the way I want. We are an impatient people; nothing happens fast enough. When I was in Florence, Italy, about ten years ago, we toured the magnificent (and huge) Florence Cathedral, and I remember our guide telling us that the people who began the work on building that cathedral did not live to see it completed; that’s how long it took—longer than their lifetimes. And I thought to myself how we don’t have that kind of vision—or patience. We want it (whatever “it” is) right now. And that’s why, I believe, we struggle so often in the spiritual life, in getting to know God. Let me just speak for myself and invite you to agree with me if you want: that’s why I struggle in the spiritual life, in getting to know God, because I’m impatient. I want it all right now, but the Christian journey, this walk with God, is (as Eugene Peterson put it many years ago) “a long obedience in the same direction.” It’s waiting twenty-five years for the fulfillment of a promise. It’s patiently believing even when we don’t see. It’s holding on until a blessing comes (cf. Genesis 32:26). It’s wresting with this book year in and year out. It’s spending long nights in prayer even when we don’t seem to get a response. It’s counting the stars, if we can, and trusting that God is as good as his word. Because, in the end, the goal is not the promise. In the end, the hope is not in things or stuff or inheritances. In the end, God wants you to know him, because he is enough.

So, then, let’s be very practical: how do we get to know God? Day in and day out, Abram walked with God. He did what you always do to get to know someone: he spent time with God, he spoke with and listened to God. In practical terms, that can happen in a wide variety of ways for us. It can happen in worship. It can happen in your LifeGroup. It can happen in quiet and solitude. It can happen anywhere you are, and in a lot of ways, but this morning I want to focus on one of the primary practices we use to come to know God: prayer.

There are a lot of folks for whom prayer is scary, mystical. They don’t know the right words, they don’t know how to do it, and they’re really afraid to pray out loud! I’m probably describing a lot of you here. In my own life, I’ve found there is great benefit in hanging out with someone who has walked with and talked with God for a long time, so this morning I want you to hear from one of our long-time members, someone who prays. Many of you know Mary Catherine Couchman, but some of you might not. Either way, Cathy and I sat down with Mary Catherine this week and asked her to share about her experience in prayer. Take a listen.

VIDEO: Mary Catherine Couchman

Mary Catherine is 91 and when I grow up, I want to be like her. I told her she’s going to go viral and be the next YouTube sensation. We get prayer all messed up when we treat it as a way to manipulate God. We might not phrase it that way, but when we think we have to get “so many” people to pray for God to answer our request, or when we believe that “more is better, bigger is best” when it comes to numbers of people praying, manipulation is our motive, whether we realize it or not. Every time we share those prayer requests (for people we don’t even know) on Facebook, every time we think we have to share our concerns with as many people as possible, we’re trying to impress God with numbers so he’ll have to do what we ask. But, friends, God is not a politician. He does not respond to public opinion polls. One of the places Cathy and I visited last week is the massive Mayan religious complex at a place called Chichen Itza. These massive buildings that have survived are architectural and engineering marvels, but their original purpose was not to impress visitors in the 21st century. The purpose of this religious complex was to manipulate the gods. If they did the ritual right, if they offered the right sacrifice, if they prayed the right prayers in the right place facing the right way, got enough people to pray, the gods would have to respond. That’s what they believed, and that’s honestly what a lot of people believe today. But that’s not Biblical prayer. The primary purpose of prayer, in the story of Abram and in the larger Biblical story, is getting to know God. It’s about relationship. And yes, we are told to share our concerns, but that is never about manipulating God. That’s about building community, bearing one another’s burdens, bringing healing to one another.

In a church our size, the place you are cared for and the place where people love you enough to pray for you is in your small groups, your LifeGroup, your Sunday School class or your recovery group. Let’s be real honest for a moment this morning: when we read prayer requests on Sunday morning, most of you have forgotten what was on the list by the time you get to the parking lot, probably before. I know a few of you are diligent to write concerns down, but most of us simply don’t. Now, if there’s someone we know, a name we connect with, we might remember that name, but honestly, sharing a long list of prayer concerns does not make us a community, even though we feel good about it. Where real community happens, in a church our size, is in the place where we can, as James put it, “confess [our] sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed” (James 5:16). That’s where we help each other in our prayer life and where we get to know God better—through the ones who are part of our community.

So I’ve been thinking about this for a while now, and our prayer team has been talking about how we can better develop a culture of prayer here at Mount Pleasant. You might have noticed (or you might not have) that a couple of months ago we discontinued the monthly Sunday evening prayer meetings. Largely, that was due to a lack of attendance, but we also recognize that the day and time may not have been the best for those who wanted to pray. So we began talking about how we can all become more like Abraham in knowing God better through prayer. We began talking about how we can better live out Paul’s command to “pray continually” (1 Thessalonians 5:17). And this morning I want to share some things we’re going to try a bit differently so that we can know God better.

The first thing you may have noticed this morning is the absence of the prayer lists at the welcome desks. Some of you may never have known that we had prayer lists! But, in trying to have a more Biblical focus of “praying for each other,” what we're going to do going forward is offer a place here at the steps where you can write a concern you have on a card and leave the card in the baskets. Then, during prayer time or after the service, I want to encourage you to take a card with you and pray this week for that person’s need. This is one way we can try, even in this large group, to better care for and pray for one another by focusing on one other person’s need rather than reading a long list that we all quickly forget. Don't worry; if not all the cards are taken, your staff and prayer team will make sure those are prayed for, but let me also encourage you to practice “leave one, take one.” If you write out a prayer request for yourself, why not take someone else’s request to pray for? It’s one way we can share each other's burdens.

The two other things we’re going to do to cultivate a culture of prayer are specifically focused on getting to know God better, to remember as Abram learned that God wants us to know him. First of all, this morning we’re debuting a brand new prayer guide, and it's designed to be a prayer walk you can do at any time. You can download it (the links are in the bulletin) or you can pick up a printed copy in the lobby any time you want to pray through it. This is a way of giving you some ideas and structure for coming into God's presence, which is what we were trying to do with the monthly prayer meetings. So, in a way, this guide becomes an ongoing prayer meeting. Do you have a few moments today? Or tomorrow? Or Thursday afternoon? Waiting on your kids at kids choir or youth group? How about investing that time toward getting to know the God who wants you to know him?

The other thing sort of ties into one of the suggestions Mary Catherine made, and that is praying for your church, this place where God has called you to worship and serve. When people join the church, as Blair has this morning and as our confirmands did a couple of weeks ago, one of the things we ask you to promise is your “prayers,” and actually that’s something we ask for anyone who connects with Mount Pleasant, whether in a formal “membership” relationship or not. You may have noticed that every Sunday, those who are leading worship gather in a circle in the front to pray for the service, and you are always welcome to join us in that circle, but we’re also going to start having a time of prayer in the Upper Room (the former choir room) before each service. About 15 minutes before the service begins, you are invited to meet with the prayer team in the Upper Room for a few moments of prayer and reflection, some quiet before everything kicks into high gear. So at 8:45 and again at 10:15, you’re invited to come to the chapel each week. Again, it’s about cultivating a culture of prayer, making space in our lives to get to know God because we serve a God who wants us to know him.

So, this morning, after the service, you’re invited as I said to join together and make stars that will be used during the week of VBS. I don’t think we will make 73 sextillion stars this morning, but we do need a lot, but here’s another thing you can do as you’re making those stars. Pray for the kids who will come to VBS. Pray that they will come to know the God who wants to know them. Pray that they, like Abram, will encounter the God who loves them more than they can imagine. Pray that they will get to know the God who has great plans for them and for all of us, the God who makes promises and keeps them. He wants you to know him, so remember that as you count the stars. Do you know him? Will you trust him as Abram did? Let’s pray.