Genesis 12: 1-4

Danville St. James UMC—August 16, 2026

J. Michael Smith, preacher

In the Bible, the story of who we are as human beings begins with Adam and Eve.  But the story of who we are as people of faith begins with Abraham and Sarah.  

Abraham and Sarah came from the land of Ur—probably a swampy place, like southern Florida. (Or like central Illinois this week with all the rain.) Abraham and his family didn’t quite fit in there, we’re not sure why.  We do know that one of Abraham’s brothers died there. And for whatever reason the whole bunch of them (including Abraham’s father) ended up migrating northwest, headed to the land of Canaan, which was about 700 miles away.  

They made it 650 miles—that’s roughly the distance between Danville and the Colorado border—traveling by foot. But they quit before making all the way to Canaan. They stopped short—and settled in the village of Haran—a Hebrew word which means “death.”  They only 50 more miles to their destiny, but they stopped and settled down. While they were in Haran, Abraham’s father died.  And while they were in Haran, Abraham and Sarah grew old, they became my age—and they were ready to abandon the quest that had occupied them for so long and just let the clock—run out.  

But God had other plans.  God wanted them to go to Canaan.  It turns out that God was writing a story in human history, and God’s story demanded a pivotal chapter at that point—appointing Abraham and Sarah to be the pivotal characters in this pivotal chapter.  But if Abraham and Sarah had stayed where they had settled, the pivotal chapter wouldn’t take place. God was determined that Abraham and Sarah continue their journey on to Canaan—and told them so.  It was time for them to move on.

There were two different ways that Abraham and Sarah could have moved on.  They could have moved on geographically—which they did.  Instead of being hunkered down in Haran—they obeyed and journeyed beyond the town limits.  Like Abraham and Sarah, churches can get stuck hunkering down, inside their own buildings, their own programs—never getting into a real relationship with anyone not familiar or comfortable to them.

Abraham and Sarah also needed to move on mentally.  They had reached a point where their minds weren’t thinking ahead.  Mentally, they were dwelling in the laurels of their past.  Mentally, they had grown comfortable with the status quo of the present.  It was time to step outside the mental fortress of their own thinking.  It was time to start thinking in a new direction—toward the future, time to move on.  

And God’s plan was this:  God would bless Abraham and Sarah in new ways—abundantly—in order that they might become a blessing to others.

Now, for the rest of the sermon, I want to talk about solar panels.  (Are you still with me?)  Where we live we get a lot of door to door solicitors: peddling everything from lawn care to windows to political candidates to solar panels.  I’m very cautious about door to door peddlers.  My wife is less cautious.  And one day, before I knew it, she had let the solar panel people in the house.  Long story short, we now have ten solar panels on top of our house.

Whenever something doesn’t go my way, I eventually come around to reckoning that maybe I can at least get a good story out of it.  Something I can use in a sermon or a book or a post.  So I started learning a little bit about solar panels, and by a little bit I mean a very little bit—so anything I say about solar panels you should check out for yourself before you start quoting me.  After learning a thing or two about solar panels, I came to the conclusion that Abraham and Sarah were human solar panels.  They were blessed in order to be a blessing to others.

A solar panel is blessed with sunlight.  We put solar panels where sun will shine on them, where they will be blessed by the sun’s photons.  The sun’s photons travel 93 million miles, hit my solar panels, and trigger an electro-magnetic process that results in somebody I’ve never met being able to use their electric can opener.  Photons are responsible for everything from photosynthesis in plants, to our warming our bodies when the sun comes up, to getting a nice suntan.  And with the help of a solar panel—photons are transformed into electricity.  Solar panels are blessed with a heavenly light—in order to be a blessing—a blessing of electricity for anyone who needs to plug something in.  Blessed to be a blessing.

Abraham and Sarah were the proto-type human solar panels.  They were blessed by God’s light, God’s grace, God’s love—in order to bless other people.  

But here’s a key thing about solar panels (human or silicon):  a solar panel doesn’t work if it’s tucked away in the shadows.  If a tree or a building is blocking your solar panel, the photons can’t do their work.  Likewise, human solar panels don’t produce any good if a person is stuck in the shadows of grievance or selfishness or sadness or chaos.  We can’t be a blessing to others if God’s light isn’t getting through to us.

To be a blessing to others requires that we continually position ourselves to be in God’s light. 

Our first step is to position ourselves and help position each other in places where we can be fully exposed to God’s blessings.  Therefore, we put in places where joy is flowing.  We hang around people who are full of empathy and compassion.  We hang around people who are wiser than we are—to take in the light.  We repent regularly, and by doing so invite the light of God’s forgiveness into our souls.    

We open our holy book and read it and wrestle with it and talk with others about it—and when we do that, the light of that holy book comes shining into our lives. 

We position ourselves in a worship service—and the light of God comes pouring upon us.  

We show up for times of Christian fellowship—and the light of God shines upon us.  

We take the time to humbly serve others who are in need, and the sheen of divine radiance breaks up our own inner darkness.  

A human solar panel doesn’t work well if we don’t come step outside of the little world we’ve built for ourselves—if we don’t come out into the full sunlight of God’s grace and goodness and generosity.  If we don’t join the pilgrimage to the places where the light of God shines, we have trouble being fully human, much less fully in communion with Christ.  

We receive God’s full light whenever we are engaged in the stories and songs of our faith, whenever we are in prayer, whenever we are showing hospitality to our neighbors, whenever we are counting our many blessings with an air of gratitude, whenever we are letting go of our grievances against others, whenever we are counting our blessings.  We are able to be much of a blessing to others until the light of God infiltrates whatever darkness we’ve settled into.  

But sunning ourselves in God’s light is only half the story God has in mind.  

Solar panels do no good if they are not connected to the power grid.  It is the power grid that takes our “blessed selves” and delivers power to those who need God’s help.  Without a power grid, the power of joy, peace, kindness, justice, wisdom, etc. will never fill the holes people have in their lives, nor relieve the burdens from their shoulders, nor comfort the troubles they carry in their hearts.  

The church is the primary power grid for delivering God’s blessing from our lives to the lives of our neighbors.  It is an essential component in loving our neighbors.  If solar power isn’t collected and reorganized and distributed to those who need electricity, then those solar panels are just a curiosity sitting on top of my house.  If the powerful blessings that God is pouring into human lives is not collected and organized, then thousands and thousands of people will be shorted, not because God was lacking in light, but because God’s church is disorganized.

A poorly organized, mismanaged church creates a bottleneck for the blessings God wants to give to the community—to the people both inside and outside the church.  How can we organize our own people to receive more of God’s light, God’s blessings in their lives?  How can we gather people from outside the church, not to become institutionalized members of St. James, like we are, but to simply themselves to receive more of God’s light in their own darknesses?  How can we organize people who have been blessed—whether they are officially members of our church or not—to work together to make a difference in the lives of people who have holes in their lives, burdens on the shoulders, too much darkness in their hearts?  

This is God’s plan revealed in Abraham and Sarah:  When the light of God is poured into our lives—we take some of that energy and plug it into what the church does.  We are blessed to be a blessing—and we in turn pour the energy of those blessings into our church, our family, our pets and livestock, our neighbors, our community, our country. God gives enough light that we can even bless our enemies.  

We are the power grid.  Our church, even with all its losses and declines, remains the most powerful, well-resourced spiritual organization in our community.  We are a power grid that no other spiritual organization in town can match.  We have the wherewithal to plug several thousand people into our power grid—to gather the energy of much divine blessing in people’s lives—and turn that energy loose to transform lives and systems in our community. 

A typical United Methodist Church should aim to be the power grid for 10% of its population.  This doesn’t mean that 10% need to join our church—but we aim for 10% of our population to partner with our church in some form—sharing the blessings God has given to them—in order to bless the neighbors we have been commissioned to love.  If we have too much focus on “membership,” we will lose the power God has poured into people’s lives.  And if we lose the chance to partner with “blessed” people in our ministries—we will lose the opportunities to help both them and us increase in faith.

There is a difference between a congregation that sees outsiders as potential “consumers” of our religious ministries—and a congregation that sees outsiders as blessed, powerful, and gifted—potential partners in sharing God’s love throughout the neighborhood.

I’d like to conclude with some questions.  Are you getting enough “son-light” (as in Son of God) in your own personal life?  Can I help encourage you to get more divine light in your life?  And—will you work with me to reform the power grid here at St. James so we can handle all the power of people both in our church and outside our church—and organize that power in such a way that we begin to heal the very core of our community?

God’s light shall never be extinguished.  And for ourselves and our church—God’s light will never be diminished.  Thanks be to God.

Hymns:  I Want to Walk As a Child of the Light; O Splendor of God’s Glory Bright