Sermon: "Nomads or Pilgrims?"

First in the "Nomads and Pilgrims" Series,
Delivered February 13, 2005 by Rev. John Schmidt.
Other sermons in this series - 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7

Theme: Nomads: Life is a journey. In that journey we encounter a God who demands a change in our direction in life. Repentance is the decision that we've been wrong in running our own lives, and deciding that in Jesus Christ, God is telling us the truth.

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Sermon Notes are at the end.

Well Andy pointed out we are starting a new series. So I want to begin the series with a definition, okay? Nomad, it's a noun. "Somebody who belongs to a group of people who move form place to place seasonally in search of pasture for their herds or food and water." The second definition for Nomad; "somebody who wanders from one place to another." Let me begin with a statistic about American society right now. According to the US census, every year 43 million Americans move from one place to another, every year. That means in a given year 16% of us or 1 out of every 6 of us has moved and often that move is outside of the city that we are living in at the moment. It's a phenomenal amount of turnover. We have an image of life in the United States that comes maybe from 90 years ago about people being in the homestead or in the home town and having all of these long and deep relationships, being stable and rooted. But in fact, we are in a society where there is an enormous amount of transition. We are nomads. We are somebody who wanders from one place to another. In fact, it is such an issue that in our church, Andy Gathman, part of his job description is to deal with the specific issues that come up in the lives of people who are in transition. It is such a big issue that we have to put a staff member behind dealing with those unique issues. We are in constant movement, constant transition. Why are we moving from one place to another?

The most common answer to that is that we are moving because of work; education or work. We live in a society that teaches us from an early age that we need to move ahead in life and a big part of moving ahead in life is getting the right education and the right job and getting the right job means that we have to be willing to move to take that job, and so we move around from place to place, job to job, seeking whatever it is our culture holds out in front of us as being the good life. Think about what that means in our lives.

Think about your last move. Almost everybody here has gone and moved recently, or at least recent enough to remember. And particularly if you are moving out of town, think of the issues that you have to deal with. First of all, you have to rummage through all your junk. That alone should give us pause, you know? It's you have moved three times already and there it is: that box of stuff you haven't opened in the last two times, but you open it up and you look through it and say "I can't get rid of this." And so you seal it up again and we carry it around with us. All the hassle of doing that, and then we leave a job we might be doing pretty well. In other words, one of the reasons we might be looking for a better job is we have done a good job at this place, we have good references, and so we are leaving a job that we do well. If we are married, we are asking our spouse to leave possibly their job, certainly leave their friends. We leave our own friends. If we have kids, we are asking them to leave schools. They might not be the best schools in the world, but they are schools where they do have friends and they know the teachers, they know the routine. We uproot ourselves from all of that and then we go to another place where we have to lay out a phenomenal amount of money to buy a new house, then we have all the insurance issues, tax issues, registering the car in the new state. After Maryland, I never want to face that again. I am going to drive this car forever. We go through all of this. We change our email addresses maybe. Certainly we have to change our snail mail address. All of this to move.

Now, we just said we are moving because of jobs and all, but what is it inside of us that makes us so willing to go through all of that hassle in order to make it to the next place? Do you know that they say in American society, the average person alive today will move 14 times in their lives. I have moved 13. I only have one more to go, okay? I have lived in 13 places, 13 different houses in six different cities in two different continents. And all of us are accumulating this list, just about all of us. So what is it inside of us that makes us willing to live this sort of lifestyle, moving from place to place? I think part of it is that we are looking for home. We are looking for the place where we really belong, where everything is going to work out just right and so there is always this hope deep down inside that the next place is going to be more fun. We are going to have less stress in the next place. We are going to have better friends. We are going to have more money, more happiness, and more security. This is going to be more like the real thing, where we really belong. And so we are on the move always expecting that at the next place, it's going to all turn out right for us. Now, either we are naïve, and we really believe that the next one is the place or maybe we have even given up on the fact that there will really be a great place, but we move anyway, because we are so deeply aware that the place where we are now does not fit. And so we are nomads and we move around from place to place.

Now this longing inside of us that moves us, that holds on to this hope is not bad. The longing is good. The longing tell us that deep down inside of us there is something that isn't being met and that's okay. We were created that way. There is something there that longs for something more. The longing isn't bad, what's bad are the lies that we listen to. Because we are surrounded in our culture with lies that tell us how we can fulfill this longing and this need in our lives. There are all kinds of lies out there. We don't have enough time to talk about them all. I want to just talk about a few big ones that we might listen to. The longing is not bad, but the lies are.

First lie. The first lie would say that this world really is our home and you can find the answers here. What you need is better education, better job, more money and if you have these things, then somewhere or another its really going to click exactly right for you and its going to be like a Norman Rockwell painting. It's going to be great. This sort of mindset means that it's out there somewhere and maybe you just don't have enough money to buy it yet. So things are going to get better when you get a better job, when you get a better car, when you get a better hair color. Okay? Things are going to get better.

Second lie. This lie promises that we can find home, the place where it all fits together for us, without God. That it is in us, it's within us, the capacity to connect enough with life and connect enough with other people that it's really going to work for us, and so we develop ourselves. There is even the developing spirituality within our culture. And then we figure its not only us, we have to have the right kind of people around us. So we seek the right kind of friends, maybe the right kind of spouse, maybe that right kind of spouse isn't the one that we have at the moment, but we feel like if we can only make this chemistry work just right, then its going to come together and come together without God. That is a lie too.

Another lie. Maybe we are not so inclined to believe those two lies, maybe the one that catches our attention is the lie that there really isn't a home for us in this life or the next. This lie tells us tha,t you know, all of these longings are just a result of millions of years of adaptation and it's longing for something that really does not exist. It helps us to survive, but it never makes us happy and so it is never going to come together for you, so just enjoy the ride as much as you can. This is a lie too.

We believe these lies and so we go around and we are always looking for what we ache for, looking for it in the next town, in the next job, with a new spouse or as we spend more money on ourselves, expecting that somehow when this is all added up together it is going to click and we will be home. The longing is okay. The longing is true. But we will never find the answers to this longing by looking to the world around us. We are made for more than this. The biblical picture is that we are made for God and that ultimately we will only find home as we find God. So we have a choice: we can continue to wander like we are doing now hoping that things will get better around the next corner, living a nomad kind of lifestyle, or we can make the choice to change that and instead of being a nomad to become a pilgrim.

Let me give you the definition of a pilgrim now. Pilgrim, a noun. "Somebody who goes on a journey to a holy place for a religious reason." Pilgrims are on the move as well, just like nomads are. But the difference is pilgrims know they are not at home and they know where their destination is. They are very clear about where they are heading. This Lenten season we are going to be focusing in on the idea of pilgrimage and we are using these Songs of ascent to help us reflect on what our destination is: to be with God forever; but also to reflect upon the fact that on this journey, God is here with us, and these Psalms are going to help us reflect on that theme all the way through Lent.

A wonderful thing about these Psalms is since they were used by Israel in this pilgrimage to Jerusalem, there is a very real likelihood that Jesus and his disciples, on that final time that they were going to Jerusalem when Jesus was going to face the cross, on that final time there is a very good likelihood that as they walked along the way they said these Psalms to one another. As they prepared their hearts, and as Jesus prepared his heart for what he was going to face that Passover. We begin with Psalm 120 and Psalm 120 shows us the critical difference between a Nomad and a Pilgrim. To become a pilgrim, we have to get fed up with the lies and false answers that surround us. Let me read to you from Psalm 120.

"I call on the Lord in my distress, and he answers me.
Save me, O Lord, from lying lips and from deceitful tongues.
What will he do to you, and what more besides, O deceitful tongue?
He will punish you with a warrior's sharp arrows, with burning coals of the broom tree.
Woe to me that I dwell in Meshech, that I live among the tents of Kedar!
Too long have I lived among those who hate peace.
I am a man of peace; but when I speak, they are for war."

Let's pray: God we thank you for this your word and pray that it will speak to us whatever we need to hear, for we ask this in Jesus name. Amen.

Okay this Psalm starts with this picture: with the words "in my distress." "I call on the Lord in my distress." It begins with that intense picture and it ends with the word in English, "war." It's not a very pretty poem. It's filled with this dissatisfaction with the way things are. The Psalmist feels surrounded. There is no safe place. Lies are everywhere. He talks about dwelling in Meshech and living among the tents of Kedar. These are two names for tribes. Meshech is as far north as any Israelite would have any conception, on the edge of Russia and then the other Kedar is a wandering tribe that would have been to the south and east of Israel. And so here the picture is, I am in the middle of a situation that geographically and culturally is totally alien to me and I don't belong here. There is something wrong. Here is a person who is sick of the lies, sick of the violence and sick of the hate. And so this writer rejects the environment around him.

But in doing that, he's also rejecting the influence of that environment on his own life. Now most of us have been around a campfire, even if we are not really campers and you know how it is when you sit around a campfire, one of the laws of physics says that it always blows in your face. It is absolutely impossible to prevent that from happening. Now if you leave the campfire and go home you will find that you have become part of the problem. You still smell like smoke because all of the campfire has permeated your clothing. It's on you. And that is how it is when we are affected by the world around us. The lies might begin outside of us, but it becomes part of us and we start to think that way and we start to act that way. So here where the Psalmist says, "Enough of this. It's got to end," he is also rejecting the influence that it has had in his own life. So the Psalmist gives a resounding "No!" to the world around him and that No is a Yes to God.

And that's what repentance is. Repentance is a No to the world that is a Yes to God. It's not an emotion. This Psalm is filled with emotion, but repentance is not that emotion. Repentance is a decision. It's a decision to turn and live differently. It's deciding we are wrong in believing that we could live a life on our own, and be our own God. It's deciding that that is not going to work. It's deciding that we just can't make it better just by getting a better education or a job. It's a decision. It's deciding that what we really want from life and what God wants from our lives is not going to come by us continuing to think the same nomad thoughts and living out the same nomad type lifestyle, that something has to change. And its deciding that we are going to believe what God says about Jesus Christ. Repentance is a decision. It's a practical word. It's got both feet solidly planted on the ground. It's more than emotion. It's more than confession, because in confession we agree that there is something wrong and we name it, but it doesn't necessarily mean that we have fully turned from doing it again. It's more than confession. Confession is included in it, but repentance is more. It's also more than feeling sorry. You can have all kinds of grief that what you have done has brought a certain result, and still not be resolved to live a new life. So repentance is a strong word and that's what is happening in the life of this person that is starting this pilgrimage. It's turning around, to think differently, to do things differently, and to live differently. That is what repentance means. And repentance is the first step in the journey of the pilgrim. It says here, "Woe to me that I dwell in Meshech and that I live among the tents of Kedar. Too long have I lived among those who hate peace." Too long. This is enough. It's got to change, and one of the things that we have to do to being our pilgrimage is to recognize we don't have to live this way any longer.

So here at the start of this season, I want to invite you on a journey. Now some of you are already on this journey, and so I want to invite you to reflect upon your faith, upon your walk, upon your obedience and to see God for what needs to happen for that to deepen, for us to deepen in our faith and obedience to Jesus Christ, to follow him more nearly. But for some of you, you have never taken the first step of that and I want to invite you right now to take the first step of this journey. Now, I have got to say a few things about the truth about this. On this journey, I can't say it is going to be easy for you. To say that the Christian life and to follow Jesus is going to make it all easy and work out, that's another one of the lies. So I invite you on this journey, but it won't be easy. I also have to tell you that if you come on this journey you won't get it all in this life. It's not like if we follow Jesus then somehow a little chemistry happens and then after three years of sincerely following Jesus it blossoms and everything is right, all the time, every day. No. It does not happen. I can't make that promise either. But what we can promise, is that you will find home; that home is real. There is a place where you belong; you really belong. A place where you are fully accepted, a place where you are free, fulfilled, and at peace, a place made for you, kept for you, a place with your name on it, an eternal place made by God, an eternal place with God. Jesus said, "I go to make a place for you."

So we can promise that there is a home, there is a place, but we also have a promise along the journey as we get there, because the promise is that it's not just home in the future after death, pie in the sky, but home is right now as well, in relationship. It's imperfect and incomplete, but it's very real. It's an experience we can experience right now in relationship: to know we are accepted, loved, and at peace with God right now. A taste in advance of something that is going to blossom into an incredible fullness in the future. It's real. It's no lie. God has forgiven you because of Jesus Christ. That's true. God can remake your life now and forever. You can know the love of God right now and Scripture tells us that we can even be so bold as to say, you can know God in a real way right now. I invite you to come on a journey, a journey of Jesus Christ, a journey with the God who created you, a journey with a God who has paid all the cost to reconcile you with himself. Repent and believe the good news.

Let's pray. God we thank you for being with us right now on the journey. We thank you that we are created for something more than this, that this gives us hope, and that not only are we created for more, but what we have in the future is far beyond anything we can ask or ever imagine. And yet you are with us now and we thank you for that. Lord I pray for those who have been walking with you for years, that this will be a time of deepening in commitment, of clarifying a sense of what it means to follow Jesus at this stage of life. I pray for those who are newly following you that you will encourage them and grant them perseverance to press through the difficulties and challenges that come our way and I pray for those who are making a first step to follow Jesus. I pray for them that they will have the faith to take the risk, that they will believe the truth of what you have said about Jesus Christ and about their hearts and lives, and that you will give to them the joy that comes from being able to taste just a bit of what it means to know you now in this life. So help us wherever we are on the journey, help us to take the very next step. For we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.

Sermon Outline Notes:

• definition of nomad
  1. somebody who belongs to a group of people who move from place to place seasonally in search of pasture for their herds or food and water
  2. somebody who wanders from one place to another
• definition of pilgrim
  1. somebody who goes on a journey to a holy place for religious reasons
• Encarta World English Dictionary (c) 1999 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
• The Songs of Ascent - Songs that were used by Jewish pilgrims as they made their way to Jerusalem for the three annual festivals of the Jewish year.
• Repentance - A resounding "no" to the world that is a "yes" to God
  • Not an emotion
  • A decision

© 2005, Rev. John Schmidt.
Central Presbyterian Church, Baltimore, MD 21204 410/823-6145
www.centralpc.org