WHY...?

June 26, 2011
Pentecost 2
Matthew 10:40-42
Genesis 22:1-14

(prayer)

To me, the story I just read from Genesis chapter 22 is one of the challenging in all of scripture. Not ‘challenging’ in the sense that it is hard to understand – it is quite straight forward, I think. It is challenging because it is a disturbing story – a father willing to murder his son as a seeming act of faith; and (more so) that God demanded this action as a test of faith.  It seems against what we expect from parents and what we expect from God!

I worry it opens a door that (to me) feels like it should be nailed shut; is this the slippery slope of using religiosity as a justification for violence and murder?

The challenge (for me) is that even if that is what the text says, can I preach in support of that message? This passage from Genesis is the suggested Hebrew Bible reading for this 2nd Sunday after Pentecost in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary (This lectionary suggests four passages for each Sunday over a three year cycle: one from the Hebrew Bible (OT), a psalm, a NT letter and a gospel reading). I was tempted to use my discretion to stray away from the lectionary or (since my usually pattern is to pick two of the suggested readings to focus on for a given Sunday) to simply not use the Genesis one. And yet, the challenge is before me and avoiding it doesn’t make it go away.

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So, let’s begin by stepping back and understanding the context that brought Abraham to that mountain top.

 The first stories in Genesis are sometimes called pre-history. They are very old and aren’t easily slotted into an historic date or time period (there are genealogies and people’s ages, which you can add up, but most biblical scholars don’t rely on these to date when Noah may lived or when the world was created). And they tend to be stories that set the world we know into context: legends or myths that explain why the world is the way it obviously is: the origins of the earth and the life it contains, the growth of the human population, the eventual diversity of culture and language among people.

 When we get to chapter 12 in Genesis, we seem to find ourselves within a recognizable historical period. Scholars are able to do that because from chapter 12 through the rest of the book of Genesis is really one continuous story that melds history and theology. If fact, the next book in the Bible (Exodus) picks up the story and carries on. It is fair to say that (taking the books of Leviticus and Deuteronomy out of the equation [books of worship rules and laws] Genesis 12+, Exodus, Numbers, 1st and 2nd Samuel and 1st and 2nd Kings are basically in historical order!

 So, in a way, the story of Abraham is the beginning of the story of the Hebrew people.

 [slide] Abraham (originally known as Abram) is one of the sons of Terah; the family lived in the Sumerian city of Ur near the mouth of the Euphrates River.

 At some point, Terah made the decision to move the family from Ur to the land of Canaan. But when they made it as far as Haran, the plan changed and they settled there. Haran was located near the head waters of one of the source tributaries of the Euphrates River. Terah lived out the rest of his life in Haran.

 It was while living Haran, Abram and God came to agreement. God asks for Abram’s unwavering trust. God asks Abram to just pack up and move to (as God says) “the land I will show you.” Abram was asked to trust God without knowing where God was leading him. In exchange God made a promise to Abram: “I will make of you a great nation.” Abram faithfully followed this call – the land God showed him was Canaan (modern Israel): “to your offspring, I will give this land.” Later this covenant would be summed up by God saying “I will be your God and you shall be my people.” (Lev 26:12)

 Abram had traveled with his nephew, Lot, but sometime after they-all arrived in Canaan, they went their separate ways. The problem with God’s promise was that...with Lot and his family gone and Abram being childless (his wife Sarah [originally called Sarai] was assumed to be barren and Abram was already 75 years old when he left Haran), the possibility of a great nation coming from him or any offspring being given the land was very unlikely. Sure, they had followed God’s directions, but “why?”, for what purpose; [slide] Abram was not going to have any descendants from his own bloodline to live in this land!

 Eventually (and there are lots of interesting details I am skipping over here), when Sarah (age 91) and Abraham (age 100) did have a son, whom they named ‘Isaac’. Nothing short of a miracle.

 Isaac was the practical and theological proof of God’s faithfulness to the promise that “of [Abram will be] a great nation.”

 So, Abram had to believe that God was living up to God’s end of the bargain. Today’s passage from Genesis 22 (in a way) is a check on whether Abram was still living up to his end – does he trust in God’s guidance; will he go where God tells him to go?

 Isaac was still a young boy, perhaps as old as 10 or 11. Obviously, he had not matured enough to give Abram grandchildren. Isaac was the one and only child of the promise.

 God wanted to know how firm Abram was in his faith. Would he still trust in God’s promise of eventual nationhood, even if Isaac’s part in that was threatened?

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You heard the story. Abram passed the test. It appears that God never intended for any harm to come to Isaac: either Abram would refuse to do the deed (and fail God’s test) or he would be willing to sacrifice Isaac and God would stop it before it went too far.

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I was reading a Genesis commentary by renowned Old Testament scholar, Walter Brueggemann, this past week and he wrote that “If the story of Abraham had ended with the birth of Isaac, we would have a tale of origins. But in [Genesis 22], unexpected things happen. Only now do we see how serious faith is. This narrative shows that we do not have a tale of origins, but a story of anguished faith.” (Interpretation – Genesis, p185)

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In order for me to explore this passage with any integrity, I cannot see it as a story about God (willing to command the murder of a child) or a story about Abraham (willing to commit that murder) – especially on a baptism Sunday – but I must see it for what I think is truly is - a broader narrative that highlights the strength of the bond of faith that binds people and God. This is not just about Abraham and God, it’s about all of us! It’s not just the people being faithful to God, it also God being faithful to the people: “I will be your God and you shall be my people.” We are in relationship with our spirit-creator – and that affects who we are to each other. Jesus certainly thought that when he linked together two great commandments:

Love God with all your heart, mind and strength (Dt 6:5) and Love your neighbour as yourself (Lev 19:18). God, Neighbour and Self – we are bound together by a covenant faith.

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It is important for us to remember that (to the ancient Hebrews) who told and shared these stories of faith, God’s motives would never have been the issue. Genesis 22, like other passages hold messages about the people and how strongly they are able to hold to their faith, even in very trying times. Of course, to them, because God is the master of all things, even those trials would be seen as coming from God. In retrospect, God is always present in every good and bad moment in life. The message in Genesis 22 is about faithfulness to the covenant. Abraham comes away from this one looking pretty good!

Abraham is one of those biblical characters (like Job) whose level of personal faithfulness seems to far exceed what the average person may have, even the above average person. Thank goodness for nefarious characters like Moses or Samson or King David, who remind us that God does not give up on people; and that it is never too late for people to live up to their best potential!

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11 years ago, just before I came to St. David’s, this congregation took part in a ‘Welcoming Workshop’ led by the Yellowhead Presbytery. [slide] I remember when I was being interviewed for the vacant ministry position here, there was excitement about trying to live out the church’s (relatively new, at the time) mission statement and motto.

I have to admit that this apparent excitement was one of the reasons why I accepted the Call to be your minister.

I think in the last 15, 20 years churches have made a valuable shift in how they approach people who might venture through their doors. The old model was that people would come in and be expected to fit themselves into what was already here. In other words, a newcomer would feel like an outsider until they had time to figure out all of the ins and outs of the church.

[slide] In 2006 I was a commissioner to the United Church’s General Council meeting. One of things we approved on behalf of the church was a new program of invitation and welcoming for the United Church of Canada – this program was called “Emerging Spirit”. You may recall seeing UCC advertisements in major magazines that encouraged people to deepen relationships with each other through conversation, like they might if they were meeting at the local coffee shop. The main vehicle of this program was a website called WonderCafe.ca. Along with that, the national church provided workshops for congregational leaders – all about true and humble welcoming.

It was a goal of the Emerging Spirit campaign to foster, encourage and create welcoming churches as part of a way to grow as churches of the 21st century. I am pleased that this congregation picked up on much of the thrust of this movement.

This church and others have begun to figure out that (since we are all made in God’s image and we are all God’s people) there must be an equality that precedes any notion of length of involvement. When we are here, we are one: regardless of any boundaries or barriers that might apply in other aspects of life – in the words of the hymn that will end our service later, this house is “where all are named, their songs and visions heard and loved and treasured, taught and claimed as words within the Word.”

It’s about the three-fold relationship which Jesus espoused: God-Neighbour-Self bonded in deep love and compassion.

[slide] Why is welcoming so important? Because, I would suggest, in a way it is a test of our faith to see if we really are prepared to see the Christ in others – that holy ‘spark’ our baptism candle represents.

40‘Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me.’

This passage from Matthew is not saying things exactly as I am expressing here. The passage was part of Jesus commissioning his disciples to go out into the world. The exact context is ‘will people out there be open to what the disciples are saying?’ If they are they are not just welcoming these disciples, but Jesus as well – and even more basically, they are welcoming God.

Welcoming is not one way – it’s not just ‘will people accept you?’ but ‘will you accept them?’

**end**

Are we bound strong enough by faith (to each other and to our God) to endure the challenges that we face? God and Abraham entered into a covenant relationship that was based on each of them being stubbornly faithful to each other and the bond between them.

In the baptism today, we all made promises to support Isabella and her family and to support each other on this shared journey of faith we are on.

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Let us trust in God’s ability to bind; and let’s trust in our capacity to see the value in sharing deep and strong connections to each other.

Let’s pray...

Welcoming God, create in our community an openness to your presence and an openness to the holy spark in each other. In Jesus’ name and example we pray, AMEN.



#670VU “Precious Lord, Take My Hand’