Abraham’s Footprints

I’m not fit to tie Abraham’s shoes, but I do know something about how he got them dirty.

He left behind everything he knew, a world where he was important and comfortable, and changed to a wholly different lifestyle. Eventually he was a wholly different man. He took with him only what God said he needed to serve Him. I’m there. I resolved to forsake my Western heritage and wander in a land I had never seen. It’s the Promised Land for me.

Having left it all behind, I’m still discovering things in my background that can’t follow me on this journey. So I keep discarding things that won’t make the trip. That includes a lot of things that once meant so very much to me, including my psychology education and training. It was a big part of my college years, along with a substantial library of books. Yesterday’s post and the attached comments could be mistaken for me just being difficult. That’s okay if that’s what you read there. I’m not telling anyone else they have to follow me; I’m telling where I feel called to go.

An awful lot of that stuff just does not belong in my new life. I’m not better than you or somehow more holy for making these hard decisions. You aren’t less holy for picking over my discards and salvaging things you can use. You have your own calling.

For the past few months, I’ve had a very heavy burden of care for all of you, and for a great many more to come. I am firmly convinced God intends to give us more souls. Many will simply join us here in our virtual parish. But a significant increase will come in the many little churches out there waiting to be born. I felt a powerful sense of duty to make sure I laid a good foundation for that second part of our growth. There are still some questions to answer on that, but I sense in my heart that things are now sustainable and I am at peace. In other words, I can now afford to give some attention to other things, things yet unseen.

But I need to deliver one more stone for that foundation. In the Ancient Near East, the male head of household was the default priest for his family. He was the moral covering and it was essential that he live by Biblical Law. Once the Lord had prospered him enough, he would seek someone qualified to separate out from the daily tasks and serve full time as the priest for the clan. It was that issue of separation to the task that made so much difference. That priest was to busy himself studying all the rituals and arcane knowledge, and build up the infrastructure for worship. It meant preparing a bunch of holy stuff that wasn’t used for anything else.

In the Covenant of Moses, God made an agreement to take the whole Tribe of Levi as His anointed and separated priesthood. Of course, most of that tribe didn’t wear the robes, but they could if needed. Only on rare occasions could anyone else touch anything involved in the Temple service. Keep this in mind as we face God’s hand in the coming days so you’ll understand what He requires of us all.

Into the foreseeable future, most of you will be blessed beyond measure if you can just get your immediate family to take seriously your commitment to Radix Fidem and our covenant. Nonetheless, with all solemnity, I tell you that many of you will become the anchor point for a “home cell group” — a house church. You’ll be the elder until the Lord raises up someone else. It’s entirely possible that a few of you will see explosive growth and will need a lot more guidance. That’s part of what we’ve been working on, but some of it has to wait until it’s needed. The most important step is that you are prepared in your heart.

I’ll assume that if you are reading this, you’ve already herd the call to leave your old life behind and travel toward the Promised Land. It won’t be the same as mine, nor anyone else’s calling. We are preparing to establish a new nation of folks who have all left behind their old life. We are trying to prepare a path for the destination they seek, a shared existence in a completely different world, one with its own culture and heritage.

We follow Abraham’s footsteps.