Be flexible in thought and deed
JOE MILLER JR.
Genesis 12:1-5 John 3:1-17

Joe Miller Jr. is pastor of First United Methodist Church in Newton.

Imagine what the world would be without hinges. Without hinges there would be no doors… how inconvenient. No going in or coming out. No looking back at our history and no looking forward to the future. No doors of opportunity to open or to ignore.

Without hinges our bodies would be extremely stiff. We could not bend our arms to handle a knife and fork, we could not bend over to tie our shoes, and we could not hold a pencil. Our inflexibility would keep us from being able to accommodate change in the weather, culture, environment, or knowledge.

If we were totally inflexible we would refuse to use cell phones, computers, television, electric lights, indoor plumbing, and so forth. After all, if we were unable to be flexible enough to change, we would want to keep things just as they are! If it was good enough whenever, it is good enough today!

Fortunately, we do have hinges in our world. They have been around a long time in various forms. Sometimes people can be hinges. I had a 7th grade teacher who changed my life. He was a hinge point for me. He had the audacity to have higher expectations for me that I did for myself.

It was a very painful year, but I am a better person as a result. Maybe you had a teacher like that once upon a time. I think Ms. Fay Campbell was a hinge point in the lives of many students in Newton. Are you a better person because someone in your past was a hinge point for you?

This scripture about Abraham describes a divine hinge point. Abraham was living in Haran with his aged father and extended family. Abraham's brother had died leaving a son (Lot) to be raised. Abraham's wife Sarah was barren, which was big deal in that culture and time.

In a nomadic, animal raising culture, one needs a big family to tend the sheep and goats and to provide for old age security. God calls Abraham to a totally new life in a place that requires leaving his family and current life behind. God promises to make of Abraham a great nation and provide special blessings, but He also reveals the responsibility that goes with that blessing. All the peoples of the world will be blessed in Abraham; hence, the song entitled Father Abraham.

Most interpreters expound on Abraham's faith in collecting his worldly goods and people and heading for wherever God leads him. It is truly incredible that Abraham has no words in this narrative. God does all the talking. Abraham does not ask where he is going, how he will get there, what he will eat, or what he will find when he gets there. He just goes; hence, the term; blind faith.

However, notice this important hinge point in Abraham's life. What an important and significant change, and not just for him but for the history of the world. What if he had said no? No Israelites, no King David, no prophets, no Judeans, no Samaritans, no Pharisees… no Bible, no Jesus, no nothing.

This is one of the great divine hinge points of the scripture. They all remind us to be ever attentive to God's call for change in our lives. To be inflexible to God's call is to turn our back on the divine hinges on the divine door of salvation. After all, the ultimate divine hinge point is the cross and the empty tomb. That hinge point can become a hinge point in our lives we are flexible enough to accommodate it. Please pass the hinges.