Daily Devotion Saturday 14th September 2024

Genesis 12:1-5

The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.

“I will make you into a great nation,
    and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
    and you will be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you,
    and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
    will be blessed through you.”

So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran. He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Harran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there.

Reflection

As a (young) university chaplain I remember a colleague saying the role was to celebrate and cheer for students.  As principal of the Scottish College, I am – when I take the time to reflect on it – deeply inspired by our students –  a diverse group with different genders, ages, temperaments, sexualities, cultures and outlooks, though skewed towards the middle aged!

The story of Abram resonates powerfully. At retirement age Abram felt called by God to venture into the unknown.  We see that God demanded a radical openness, and a transformation of meaning and circumstance that Abram could not have imagined or expected. It involved upheaval for many others along with him; they too would be changed.

Many of our students begin with the expectation that they are training for a new role anticipating gaining knowledge and skills to serve. However, what they always find is that the primary transformation occurs within themselves. This deep personal change can be unexpected and unanticipated. It is a joy to accompany students who travel this journey as it reshapes their character and faith in unimagined ways.  

From Abram – and from ordinands – I see that the heroic life of faith is a call that brings us beyond the expectations of age and society.  Students can leave behind established careers, comfortable routines, and even their communities. Sometimes they need to integrate existing commitments into a new life of self-supporting ministry.  But formation – whether expected or not – always requires ordinands to embrace a new identity with determination and faith.

I find that the quiet heroism of our students challenges me to continuously seek personal growth and transformation in response to God’s call. The heroism of ministry (and of all discipleship) lies in the readiness to undergo deep personal transformation. From those who aspire to walk this risky road I am reminded that true ministry and discipleship is seen in the willingness to be transformed and to transform the world around us, even in unanticipated ways. Always open to the future, always seeking the Kingdom.

Prayer

Help us, O God,
to live lives of imagination
to find encouragement in our fellow disciples
and in community.
Form us in our deepest selves
in ways that are authentic to us and open to your Spirit.
Let our dreams of the Kingdom, and for the Church,
always make us open to change and to life. Amen.
 

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