Abram and the In Between

Image by Steven Thomason
http://www.stevethomason.net/2016/09/16/visual-guide-abrahams-story-genesis-12-15/ 

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Genesis 15:1-6
After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, “Do not be afraid, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.”
But Abram said, “O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” And Abram said, “You have given me no offspring, and so a slave born in my house is to be my heir.” But the word of the Lord came to him, “This man shall not be your heir; no one but your very own issue shall be your heir.” He brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” And he believed the Lord; and the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness.

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.
Grace to you and peace from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Last week we began the Narrative Lectionary, the series of Bible stories that we will tell each Sunday that tell the Sacred Story from Genesis to Jesus.  It’s a good chance for us to reconsider anything we think we know about these old stories and characters.  Maybe the last time you heard from them was in Sunday School as a child, or maybe you have picked up a bit here and there, but never considered how they build on each other and why these are the stories God chose to tell us.  Why these are our Sacred Stories we have kept for generations upon generations.

Well, today we get to consider Abram.  Abram/Abraham is the man whom we share with the two other major faiths of the world: Islam and Judaism.  He is our common ancestor.  You probably have heard of him as Abraham.  God gives him that name a bit later in the story, one of the many times that God reassures Abram that, yes, indeed, God is good for his promises.

And it’s no wonder Abram asks the question, he and his wife, Sarai/Sarah, are old already, and have not yet had one child, much less many.

[ppt by Steve Thomasen]

Abram’s story points us to those times in our own lives when we are standing, looking up at the sky, asking God, Why?

Why must the world be so broken?  Why must our politicians be so disappointing?  Why must there be wars and refugees and abused children?  Why must our children die violently?  Why must we be brother against brother? Why is my body failing me?  Why can’t I have the child I so hoped for?
We stand, our arms raised toward heaven, asking God to answer us.

And in the questioning, the disappointment, the hurt… is there not a deep-seated belief in us that the world could be, and in fact, should be, different?

When we stand before God demanding an answer… do we expose the hope that we have for a world that is more whole and more loving?

“What do we do with that?  How are we called to live in the gap between the promise and the fulfillment?”[1]

What is our part to play?

This Sacred Story we have begun is hurtling through time at a rapid pace, from the story of creation last week, past Noah and Babel and straight to Abram today, next week we will leap over Jacob who becomes Israel, straight to his 11th son of 12, Joseph.  Each Sacred Story pointing to God working in this broken world to bring glimmers of wholeness and healing.  Each story pointing the way to a God who, over and over again, has No Reservations when it comes to us.  The One God who has claimed us as stars in the sky; has named us as beloved children of Abraham through baptism.  Our God who promises us we are blessed to be a blessing.

What is our part to play?

What vision has God cast for us, as God showed Abram in those stars?

What does the God of No Reservations intend us to do with this hope we have revealed in the questioning, and the crying out, and the doubt we have expressed to him? Between the hope and the doubt, we live, between the promise and the fulfillment.

Standing in the between together we seek God’s vision for us as a community.  We have already expressed it in our mission, vision and values – printed on the back cover of the liturgy booklet.  We are getting a Strategy ready for you to see on Oct 2nd to give us action steps to move further into God’s vision for us.  And all of this is a discernment process – where you are needed.  With your questions and your crying out and your doubts.

For as those things reveal our hope for a better world.  Our addressing them to God reals our trust in the God who made us.  So that, like Adam and Eve last week, though we too often choose our own will over God’s will, there is a seed planted deep within us.  A seed of hope that comes from knowing God’s future for us will look much different than what we can do for ourselves.

May we question, cry out, doubt, and trust that future together. For this is the Faith God gave to Abraham.  And, by God’s mercy, to us.

Amen.

[1] From POP resources on Narrative Lectionary Holly Welch, Facebook group: Narrative Lectionary.