Genesis 12:1-8 - The Promised Land

 
v. 1 - GO:
Kansas City
Cairo
Austin
Germantown
Asheboro
Cary
St. Louis
Madrid
Roanoke
Philadelphia
Apex
Morrisville
Nicaragua
Durham
Raleigh
Grimesland
Chapel Hill

v. 4 - So Abram went.

v. 5 - And they arrived there.

They arrived there.  They arrived where God told them to go.  They reached the end of their journey.  They arrived.

This is unlike all those saints listed in Hebrews 11 who did not receive what was promised.  Abram and Sarai did arrive in the promised land.  And yet Hebrews 11:9 says they lived there as in a foreign land, which I suppose it was, actually, and lived in tents, which are not permanent dwelling places.  Abram arrived, but didn't make himself at home.  He arrived... and yet he didn't.  Hebrews 11:10 says that even from the promised land he still looked forward to the city of God, even in the promised land.  Even having arrived, he was still a sojourner, still a stranger.  He made his home in the promised land and yet stayed a foreigner, an outsider.  He arrived.  He got where God told him to go.  He made his home in transitional housing.  Sounds like he never really felt he belonged.  That home was Harran and temporary home was Canaan.  Except Canaan was The Promised Land.

Sounds like the story of Hispanic immigrants in the U.S.  The U.S. is The Promised Land.  So many of them arrive, they make it here through all kinds of perils and hardships.  And they make their homes here, their children are born here, like Isaac and Jacob and Esau.  And so many of them live in non-permanent dwelling places - trailers, rented apartments, with extended family members.  Some have houses, true.  But some also move around a lot.  They pitch their tents.  Their home is here and yet many of them remain sojourners and strangers.  Their home is here, they arrived in the promised land, and they're treated like outsiders.  "By faith Abram sojourned in the promised land as a foreigner... because he looked forward to the city of God" (paraphrase of Hebrews 11:9-10, RSV).  What does it look like to live in the promised land and yet stay a foreigner? Like the Hispanic immigrant experience in the U.S.  What would it look like for the rest of us to live in the promised land as foreigners?  Never truly home... because you're looking forward to the City of God.