I grew up in Appalachia in a village of 750 people. My parents’ families have lived in the same place for 225 years. The village was, and is, closely-knit. There was no one in town that I did not know and vice versa. They knew my sister, my parents, aunts and uncles, grandparents, and on and on. 

At a young age, I cashed in my piggy bank to buy a treasure trove of candy at the local Rexall. Unfortunately, the owner was my mother’s math teacher when she was in high school, and he felt absolutely no dishonor in calling Mom to rat me out.

All of us in the community were connected through invisible lines of relationship. 

I haven’t lived in Knoxville, Pennsylvania since 1982. Yet, even now, when I visit the area, they’re glad I’m “home” they ask about my life in Texas, and the work that I am doing in the church. Some of them are more up to date on my life than many of my Texas friends.

By my birthright, I will always be a citizen of that community.

But it is not my only citizenship.

Last week, I had a lot of driving time.  And so I began listening to an audio book that St. Christopher’s reading group will discuss in a couple of weeks.  The book is titled, “How We Learn To Be Brave: Decisive Moments in Life and Faith”. 

In chapter one, the author reflected on a decisive moment in Abram’s life.  She quoted verse 6 from today’s Genesis reading,  “… [Abram] believed the Lord…and the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness.” 

The more I thought about it, the more I realized…righteousness is an undercurrent in today’s readings.  Righteousness means to be in right relationship with God—both in the way we live in this world and in our personal walk with God.

Abram’s walk with God spans 15 chapters in Genesis. 

The story began when Yahweh first called Abram: Leave your homeland and go to a land that I will show you.[1]   Abram was 75 years old when Yahweh called him. He did not know where he was going. There was no forwarding address for his stuff. But he packed everything and began to walk.     

According to Google, Abram, Sarai, and all their livestock and servants walked at least 1,500 miles before God settled them near Hebron.[2] There, Abram built an altar to the Lord and gave thanks.

Every time Yahweh called Abram to move, he went.

Along the way, we learned about Abram’s way of being.  At one point, his nephew Lot was taken into captivity. Abram led a force that freed Lot. And, when the King of Sodom offered Abram money for coincidentally freeing him as well, Abram declined. He had taken an oath with God: he would not take anything belonging to the King of Sodom.

Instead, Abram gave a tithe of his own possessions to God in thanksgiving. Abram lived in a violent, broken world. His path led him to cross borders into foreign and sometimes hostile countries. Throughout the adventures, he dealt with others justly and fairly. And he believed God.

Paul issued the clarion message in our readings:  For those who believe God, our citizenship is in heaven. He did not say, “We will have citizenship in heaven”. He put it in the present tense, meaning, we are citizens of heaven…here…and now. 

And we are also citizens of our own physical geography.

Like Abram, we are called to live in a violent, broken world. Every day, we are faced with a hard question: Do we believe in God? (Which costs us nothing). Or do we believe God? Do we believe God’s words that we are called to love others as God loves us?  It’s a hard question because believing that we are called to love others as God loves us is costly.

One of the many benefits of being in a congregation is that everyone knows when you break the piggy bank to make a candy run. Said differently, we are accountable to one another, and we support one another. Trust is deeply embedded in a loving community.  We are connected through visible and invisible lines of relationship…they bind us together in the Body of Christ.

We need the Body of Christ to help us navigate living in this world, while trying to lean into right relationship with God. It isn’t something we do solo. We do it faithfully and together.

On Ash Wednesday, we began our Lenten journey by preparing a bit of soil---we weeded, we pulled out rocks. We planted seeds. We watered the seeds. On the first Sunday in Lent, just three or four days later, we had tons of seedlings. Now, it is time to thin the seedlings so that the best seeds will flourish.

The best seeds are the ones that come from God…the ones that help us live into our Heavenly citizenship….the ones that help us believe God…and live God’s dream for Creation.

  [1] Gen 12:1

[2] https://www.biblecartoons.co.uk/maps/map-of-middle-east-abram-abraham-s-journey-from-ur-to-canaan#:~:text=Bible%20Reference%20%26%20Map%20Description,show%20the%20route%20he%20took