This week's Bible reflection (99) provided the beginning of this morning's candidating sermon at St. Paul's United Church of Christ in Downers Grove, Illinois. After the worship service the congregation voted to call me as their new pastor. I'll begin serving in Downers Grove after April 15. It's been a great day. I'm looking forward to many happy years in Downers Grove!
This morning's Bible reading was from Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16.
"Everlasting" podcast
99.
That’s how old Abram was when God reminded him of a little conversation they’d had 24 years earlier. You will be the ancestor of a multitude of nations.
The waiting wasn’t easy. 24 years of waiting for a promise to come true might leave a person doubting if it was ever going to happen.
And during those 24 years, Abram was not perfect. He waited. He and Sarai traveled. It wasn’t vacation traveling. It was a journey. And on the journey there were stops. Here’s one:
Abram gave his wife away, as his sister, to Pharaoh in Egypt. Abram got lots of stuff. Pharaoh got sick. Pharaoh found out that Abram had lied about Sarai. So Pharaoh ‘gave her back’ (that sounds so awful today!) and let Abram keep all the stuff.
Not one of Abram’s finer moments. But by the time he was 99 he had definitely learned not to make the same mistake again.
Well – maybe just once.
After the events of today’s reading, the changed-name Abraham did it again. This time he told King Abimelech that the changed-name Sarah was his sister. And the King took her as his wife. In the end, Abraham had Sarah and a whole bunch of stuff from the King with him as he left town.
Abram and Sarai were by no means perfect. They really were imperfect people trying their best to do good. At 99, Abram had tried to get it right. Sometimes he didn’t. Sometimes he did.
Thirteen years earlier, both Abram and Sarai were sure that this “You will be the ancestor of a multitude” stuff was not going to happen. So Sarai told Abram have a baby with Hagar, Sarai’s slave girl (that sounds so offensive, too!) Ishmael was born.
And through whatever happened during this imperfect journey, God was faithful. “I will establish my covenant between me and you, and your offspring after you throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you.”
Everlasting doesn’t mean, “If you do everything right, or if your ancestors all agree with each other.” It means God said, "I will be with you and your ancestors forever. No matter what.”
Did you notice that this morning’s Bible reading skipped several verses?
Yes – it’s the circumcision verses:
(Genesis 17:8-14 NRSV) And I will give to you, and to your offspring after you, the land where you are now an alien, all the land of Canaan, for a perpetual holding; and I will be their God." {9} God said to Abraham, "As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations. {10} This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised. {11} You shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you. {12} Throughout your generations every male among you shall be circumcised when he is eight days old, including the slave born in your house and the one bought with your money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring. {13} Both the slave born in your house and the one bought with your money must be circumcised. So shall my covenant be in your flesh an everlasting covenant. {14} Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant."
Something like that could be distracting from a message of God’s promise to Abraham’s ancestors no matter what.
But it is part of the story. And it is not a “how to keep people out” kind of story. “Keeping people out” really doesn’t fit with the overall narrative of the Bible. Here’s what the overall narrative is:
God creates. Humanity messes up. God finds a way to make things good. Humanity messes up. God does good . . .
Egyptian and Canaanite male children were circumcised – but for them it happened at puberty. (Ishmael, Abraham’s first son, the one I just mentioned, was circumcised at puberty.) Infant circumcision was something new – a sign that a person wasn’t just someone to reproduce other people, but valuable no matter what. And later, circumcision was very important to Israel in exile. They were cut off from their identity, but they also remembered the ‘cutting of the covenant’ through something that wasn’t visible on the outside. This part of the story isn’t about keeping people out. It’s about the value of every person.
If ever someone takes a symbol or an action meant to be inclusive or empowering to a people who were excluded or powerless and then turns it into something that excludes or makes a person or group of people powerless, they miss what God is about. It’s important to remember the overall narrative of the Bible. And it is also important to measure everything from the Bible by the two most important rules – identified in both the Old Testament and by Jesus in the New Testament.
“I will establish my covenant between me and you, and your offspring after you throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you.”Abraham’s first son, Ishmael, had twelve sons. They settled all over the lands between Egypt and Assyria. The lands are commonly called Arabia. Muhammad, prophet of Islam, considered himself to be a descendent of Ishmael, as do the people of Arabia today. In fact, both Jewish and Islamic traditions consider Ishmael as the ancestor of Arab people. Muslim believers worship Allah. Allah is the Arabic word for God. And God’s promise to Ishmael’s father, Abraham, applies to all of his descendants:
Isaac, Abraham’s son with Sarah, is considered the ancestor of the Hebrew people – of Israel. And God’s promise to Isaac’s father, Abraham, applies to all of his descendants.
“I will establish my covenant between me and you, and your offspring after you throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you.”When Sarah died, Abraham remarried. He had 6 children with Keturah. Abraham’s children with Keturah don’t fit into any neat religious or ethnic description -- but some were considered enemies of Israel and would have been considered by the name “gentile” because they were not of Israel.
One of Abraham and Keturah’s sons was Midian. The Midianites and the Hebrews became enemies and fought each other. Later, Moses, as a shepherd, married Zipporah, a Midianite.
“I will establish my covenant between me and you, and your offspring after you throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you.”Abraham and Sarah are lifted up as symbols of faith and patience. They were imperfect. Most would say deeply flawed, but they were and are important to the story of God’s unconditional and continuing love for all of humanity.
Three historically linked religions – always fighting with each other – Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. Three Biblically linked religions – still fighting with each other – Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. We can and must have hope for greater respect and conversations with our cousins.
And here we are today. You have before you a perfect person as a candidate to be your pastor. Here we have perfect congregation ready to call a new pastor. . . No – an imperfect person as a candidate - an imperfect congregation ready to call a new pastor. . .
The promise God made to Abraham is still here.
“I will establish my covenant between me and you, and your offspring after you throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you.”Will we be a perfect congregation with a perfect pastor going forward? No. What we will be – what we are – are people seeking to live out the mission of our congregation:
In response to God's Love in Jesus Christ, we seek a right relationship with God and other people through service in a caring community of fellowship, acceptance, and inspiration.So let’s do that together. And let’s move forward in our faith, trusting in the covenant – the one God calls everlasting.
Amen.
