Blessed to bless others?

    

Sacrifice of Isaac, Marc Chaggall

The story for this week has always troubled me.  It is the portion of The Story which talks about Abraham - the surprising man through whom God chose to build a nation of people - people who would eventually bring about God's salvation for the world.  Now most of Abraham is a great story of faith, miracles, human missteps, and imperfect miracles. 
     God chooses two people in their 90s who are unable to have children to have a child from whom would come a nation as numerous as the stars in the sky or the grains of sand on the ground.  These two people don't entirely believe God, and so plot to help God by providing a surrogate mother for Abraham's offspring, a son born to Sarai's servant (and likely Abraham's second wife).  Yet God assures them that the son to be born will truly belong to Sarah and Abraham - and now God has to 'clean up' the mess that Abraham made.  God promises that this first son born to Abraham, Ishmael, will also grow into a great nation.  It is commonly believed that Ishmael's line is the line that eventually founds Islam. 
     And so finally, approximately 20 years after the promise, Sarah becomes pregnant and gives birth to a son, and Abraham names him Isaac.  Abraham and Sarah celebrate and take joy in this miraculous son - giving praise that God has blessed them in this way.  And then the story seems to take a wrong turn.
     Genesis 22 is the story of God testing Abraham.  God comes to Abraham and says, "Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I will show you."  The thing that surprises me each time I read this story is that after this request from God, the text simply continues, "So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey..."  From Scripture it seems as if Abraham blindly follows.  There is no arguing with God, no pleading for Isaac's life, no questioning, he just gets up early the next morning and goes.
     As I've heard people talk about this story, a few themes usually emerge: Abraham is to be exemplified for his deep faith in God and trusting that God knows best; this is a foreshadow to God's own sacrifice of the 'one and only son'; we can learn from Abraham about sacrificial giving, and willingness to give up what it important.
     None of these are bad.  In fact, they are each a good attribute of faith, and of being willing to let the Spirit lead and guide into situations that may be uncomfortable because God might be up to something new.

     But I have to tell you that I wouldn't have done it.

The thought of tying up my Frankie with the intent to sacrifice her is horrifying and brings tears to my eyes.  Granted we are far removed from the culture of animal and child sacrifice (archaeological studies have proven that child sacrifice was a common ritual in that area and period of history).  Granted I've never heard God's voice asking me to do anything, let alone move to a new place and kill my child.  Granted I am not Abraham.  Because if I was, the story would have gone differently.
     If I was Abraham, I would have choked on my beverage (for whatever reason whenever God talks to me in my imagination we are doing so over a cup of coffee or tea), eyes bugged out, and the arguing would have ensued:

But God!  You promised me this son!  You said that we would be a great nation!  I love this kid!  NO. WAY.

Last week as a group of colleagues was talking about this text, we actually pondered if the real test was not if Abraham would do what God asked, but if Abraham would question God's seemingly irrational request to kill Isaac.  What if God really wanted to see what Abraham was made of?  After all, Abraham did have another son, even if the text calls Isaac his 'one and only.'  Ishmael was off in the desert somewhere, and if Isaac died Abraham could always have gone looking.
     What if God was waiting for Abraham to come to his senses and NOT do what God asked?  And then, when Abraham was on the mountain, had Isaac bound, and was lifting the knife, it was God who choked on the beverage-of-choice, and had to scramble and make a ram appear in the thicket so that Abraham wouldn't do it?
     It could have been this cosmic game of chicken - who would back down first?  God?  Or Abraham?  In the end, it was God who ended up backing down, and I can imagine God saying, "I really didn't think it would get this out of hand."
     Maybe all of this is my attempt at rationalizing the irrational.  Maybe I am as faithless as Abraham was faithful.  Maybe I am uncomfortable with a God who asks us to sacrifice our children just to 'test' us. 
     So what do we do with this story?  Abraham through the Biblical narrative is a hero of faith, for his willingness to do what God asked of him, and I cannot discount that, or take away from Abraham this honor.  I also cannot applaud God for asking the death of a child.  What I can do is contemplate the mystery of my faith. 

• What would I be unwilling to 'sacrifice' to God?  
• Why?  
• Is that, in the end, an idol I have made for myself?

And even after those questions, there is the bigger question of Abraham's story.  God promised to bless Abraham in order to be a blessing to others.  It is, according to the story, because of Abraham's great faith that 'all the nations of the earth gain blessings for themselves.'  Apparently, I am an indirect recipient of the blessing of Abraham's faith.  Which leads to an even deeper and greater mystery:
Isaac and child sacrifice aside, how am I using my blessing to continue to bless others?

Let's start at the very beginning

     And so it begins.  Our journey through 'The Story' has officially kicked off and we are ready to dive into chapter 1 this coming Sunday.  As I read the chapter and its corresponding Scripture from Genesis 1-4 and 6-9, I think of the song from The Sound of Music when Fraulein Maria teaches the children about music.  She sings:

Let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start.
When you read, you begin with A-B-C,
When you sing, you begin with do-re-mi

 When it comes to Scripture, a good place to start is the very beginning.  In the beginning...  God's infinitude is so incredibly difficult to comprehend I have a hard time with it, and if I try to think about it too much my head starts to hurt.  God has always been.  Always.  And at some point God created.  Now there is much debate about this part.
     How did God create?  When did God create?  While it is not as notable in the news like it was a few years ago, the creation v evolution debate runs rampant and while we don't debate the issue here at St. John there are people on all sides of that coin.  And at the heart of this debate is not about whether God spoke and POOF! the earth appeared or whether God spoke and BAM! a Big Bang started the slow evolution of our universe; at the heart of this debate is truth of scripture. 
     If the Bible says God created the earth in 6 days what do we do with scientific evidence of evolution, tectonic plate movement, carbon dating, etc?  If you believe in evolution does that mean you don't think the Bible is true?  If you believe the Bible's version of the creation story, does that mean you don't believe science is true?  How does one go about reading the Bible and using our God-given sense of reason?
   
It seems that while starting at the beginning is a good place to start, it is not necessarily simple.

     Personally, I believe that God's Word is truth in that it reveals to creation about God, the creator.  It is truth in that it shapes how we think about and live life.  It is truth in that in Scripture we find the Living Word who brings salvation to all creation.  And I believe in evolution, that the earth is 4.6 billion years old, and that God is God nonetheless.  I believe God created and continues to create today.  And I believe species and our planet continues to evolve and change.
     What is revealed to us in Genesis is that God created, and God created an AMAZING thing.  The following video from Hubble gives a glimpse into our universe:

Obviously the people who wrote these words weren't there.  And I also don't believe that God dictated scripture to people who wrote it down word-for-word.  Yet when you get through all the questions, through the absurdity of talking snakes (did the people sinning somehow make it that animals and people couldn't talk anymore?) a very simple truth is left:

God created and saw that God's creation was good.  God was in perfect harmony with God's creation until the humans (which God created with free will) rebelled against this relationship by doing what they wanted to rather than what God commanded which resulted in all sorts of unintended consequences.  Pure and simple.  That is the truth we know about the beginning.

And thankfully for us, it is a beginning that begins again and again, each breath a new creation and chance to live in relationship with our Creator.  As I go back to the beginning again, I am living the mystery of an ever-patient, all-forgiving God who is right there, waiting for me to come back to the beginning.  Again.

Words for nourishment?

     It begins! The Story will guide us through the next nine months of worship and education, and we will be transformed as individuals, families, and a whole congregation of people reading through Scripture together, learning how God's story and our story fit together, and learning to see God.  This Sunday we will introduce the story, talk about the whys and hows, and have a serious conversation about the place and role of scripture in our lives.
     If the annual poll by the American Bible Study can be believed, this year they reported that:

Americans overwhelming (77%) believe morals and values are declining in the U.S. The most-cited cause for the decline is a lack of Bible reading. As in previous years, the survey found that the Bible remains a highly valued, influential force in America. But beliefs about the Bible and its role in society are becoming increasingly polarized—particularly when the data is examined by age group.
  The research also uncovered a significant disconnect in belief versus behavior. While 66% of those surveyed agreed that the Bible contains everything a person needs to know to live a meaningful life, 58% say they don’t personally want wisdom and advice from the Bible and about the same amount (57%) read it fewer than five times per year.*

Lutherans have a unique way of reading and talking about scripture and the Word of God.  While the simple fact is that the Bible is 66 individual books divided into the Old Testament and the New Testament, "its meaning — and its significance to the Christian faith — is far more complex and profound. As Lutherans, ELCA members believe that the Bible is the written Word of God. It creates and nurtures faith through the work of the Holy Spirit and points us to Jesus Christ, the living Word and center of our faith. And in reading the Bible, we are invited into a relationship with God that both challenges us and promises us new life."**
     To help us think about Scripture and its role in our lives, we will examine Isaiah 55 this week.  This is part of Second Isaiah, the portion written to Israel while they were in captivity in Babylon.  Because of the triumph of Babylon and the exile of Israel as slaves, the people felt that God had forgotten them, that God was not near, and had little hope of returning to the promised land.  In this portion of Second Isaiah, the prophet is kindling hope, encouraging the Israelites to 'seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near.'  Not only is it a gentle reminder that God had not abandoned them, but it is a calling back to the core of who those people were.  They were covenant people, and God is faithful.  So faithful, in fact, that God's word happens.  Period. 
'For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven,
   and do not return there until they have watered the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
   giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
   it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
   and succeed in the thing for which I sent it.'
This promise to the exiled community of Israel is the same promise we hear today.  We may not be exiled, but maybe we feel lost, or alone, or confused, or let-down.  Maybe we don't feel any of that at all and feel content, or joyful, or thankful, or peaceful. Whatever it is we feel, we have God's promise that as sure as rain nourished the ground, so God's Word nourishes us.
      More than just a list of dos and don'ts, more than a how-to manual of life, more than good advice or the history of the world, this is God's Word and its purpose is to transform and to nourish.  It is revelation insofar as that it reveals to us the nature of God, and points to Christ. 
     Through reading scripture we are nourished, we are healed, we are transformed.  And this, all through words on a page.  (And a good measure of the Holy Spirit!)

*from: http://www.americanbible.org/state-bible
**https://www.elca.org/What-We-Believe/The-Bible.aspx