Minister's message - Call of Abraham

- Submitted by Mary Anne Grand layperson from Raymore United Church

June 9, 2026

How would we feel at our age to be told, not asked, to leave everything that was familiar and dear to us: our immediate families, our relatives and our homes and go to a country we knew nothing about.

I am pretty sure there would be fear, doubt, concern and then loneliness. But that was the demand that Abraham received from God, but also the promise that God would make Abraham a great nation, would give him a great name, and to bring great blessings upon the earth through Abraham.

Now let us look at this man Abraham. Abraham was known to be the most important man in history; Christians held him up to be our forefather. Not necessarily as our physical descendant, but as our spiritual one, he is the father of faith. Abraham became a man of great faith because for many years he had little faith, and even in those times, God continued to keep his promises to Abraham.

Abraham was a man of faith, not because he never doubted, and not because he never failed. Abraham did lots of both. Abraham was a man of faith because when failed, when he fell flat on his face, he got up, brushed himself off, and started over again. A man of fear gives up. A man of fear stays on the ground. A man of fear stops trying. Not Abraham. And that is why he is the father of faith. It’s not that he has great faith, but that he has a great God. Abraham knows that even when he fails, God will not.

This was a lesson that Abraham learned over time, Abraham is blessed to be a blessing. The blessing is not for his sake, nor for the sake of his family; the blessing is for the sake of the whole world. Abraham and his descendants are to be the conduits of blessing for all the families of the earth. What ever is happening and has happened Abraham believes in God’s promises. He leaves his father’s household and his homeland and goes to the place that God shows him.

He believes in God’s promise of a son, he stands ready to sacrifice his son Isaac, the child of the promise. God’s promise to Abraham sustains Abraham and Sarah and their descendants in faith even when they don’t see its fulfillment. We may not be told to go to a foreign country, we may not be told to leave our families and friends, but we may be asked to step up for a friend, we may be asked to perform a task we feel uncomfortable doing, we may have to make choices that are not our choices, life throws many challenges at us. Throughout our journey of life our belief and faith in a loving encouraging God will sustain us. Just as Abraham’s faith in God sustained him. Faith as small as a mustard seed! God’s Blessing.