Homily Lent 5 Yr. B Jeremiah
Whether we like it or not covenants of all different kinds are a critical part of our lives. When we get married, when we are employed, when we arrange for the purchase of goods and services, we are part of a covenant.
Our legal system too is based on a covenantal arrangement. Some covenants are made binding by oaths, or ceremonies.
Others are based simply on mutual agreement, trust and perhaps a handshake.
But in most covenants there is some reciprocal agreement. I’ve been talking a lot about covenant the last five weeks as we’ve progressed from Genesis to Exodus and now this week to the prophet Jeremiah.
God’s covenant with the people of Israel has been reframed several times. Abraham and the Israelites are promised the land of Canaan in Genesis 15. That promise is repeated to Moses in Exodus.
But some of the Israelites rebel against Moses while the people of Israel are still in the desert. God then turns what had been an unconditional promise into one which is conditional.
If you obey my laws, then you will live long in the land that I give you.
And God sends the ten commandments as a legal foundation for obedience of his covenant.
The trouble is the people of Israel have trouble living up to their end of the covenant even under the leadership of two great Kings, David and Solomon.
When the Assyians overrun Israel and drive the Hebrews into exile in Babylon the people of Israel are shattered. They weep. They mourn the loss of Jerusalem to the invaders.
It is in this context that Jeremiah, the prophet writes. When we think of Jeremiah, we probably are more likely to think of a grumpy, angry prophet, reminding the people of Israel of their failures, their sins, how they brought this punishment on themselves.
However, there is a section of Jeremiah’s writing from which today’s scripture is taken called the “Book of Consolation.”
Jeremiah offers people hope in what he calls a “new covenant” different than the past covenants with God that they broke.
This covenant, instead of being a matter of laws to be obeyed, will be written on their hearts. “I will be their God and they shall be my people.”
This new covenant also means God will forgive the sins of the people of Israel and no longer remember them.
In terms of the overall narrative of the Old Testament, this is a pivotal moment.
As Christians we can see it pointing towards Jesus, who is written on our hearts and promises forgiveness of our sins.
But we need to remember this covenant was proclaimed by Jeremiah about 600BC.
It comes at a particular time in the life of the people of Israel. God has seen the people scorn him again and again.
Yet God still cares for his people and wants to offer a new way forward, hope for the future, a chance to make things right.
One thing we should think about when considering the text is that in our society the heart is usually associated with emotions.
But for Jeremiah and the Hebrews the heart was the central organ, the mind.
In writing the covenant on our hearts, God is making the covenant part of our minds, allowing us to internalize it rather than relying on external law.
How do we internalize God’s covenant, God’s forgiveness, God’s care for us.
Biblical scholar Walter Bruggemann calls the new covenant “an invitation to deep breath and fresh generosity, and a move beyond petty and deep resentment towards the embrace of the other.”
Jesus put it simply: Love God, and Love Your Neighbour.
What would it look like if we actually were able to do that in our society. What would the impact be on poverty, homelessness, health care, relationships, education, employment.
In our culture today we don’t have enough humility, enough forgiveness, enough caring. Me first is far too prevalent. Anger, frustration and hatred corrode our common life.
But what Jeremiah was saying to the people of Israel is still true today.
It doesn’t have to be this way. We have to Let God write the covenant on our hearts and in our minds, so we can make a difference one person at a time.
That’s the only way change can come. One person at a time. If we think of changing the whole world it is overwhelming.
When I was watching the NDP convention yesterday I recalled how only a few years ago the NDP didn’t have a single member in Quebec. And the party was fourth party in the House of Commons.
Now the new NDP leader Thomas Mulcair, who is from Quebec, is leader of the opposition and leads a caucus including almost 60 members from Quebec. Mulcair was the only member NDP member from Quebec before the last election.
So what starts small can grow.
And the same thing applies in the life of the community of faith. That’s what gives us hope for the future. Like thepeople of Israel we don’t know what the way forward is. But God’s covenant, written on our hearts in Jesus, offers us a way forward.
Sunday 25 March 2012
Monday 19 March 2012
Facing Our Fears
Homily St. Patrick/Mothering Sunday Lent 4 Yr. B
In our reading from the Book of Numbers today we heard the story of God sending poisonous snakes among the grumbling Hebrew people.
The people ask Moses to pray to God for relief and God tells him to set a snake on top of a pole, and anyone who is bitten and looks on the pole will live.
Snakes have always been an object of fear, ever since the role of the snake as tempter in the Garden of Eden.
One of St. Patrick’s legendary claims to fame---and I had to mention this the day after St. Patrick’s day—is that he banished the snakes from Ireland by chasing them into the sea after they interrupted him taking a forty day fast on top of a hill.
This legend probably draws from the Old Testament mention of snakes in Exodus when Moses and Aaron use their staffs in battles against the Egyptian sorcerers, and both sides’ staffs turn into snakes.
The reason I say legend is not to diminish St. Patrick’s accomplishments but to report that there is no scientific evidence Ireland ever had snakes. “So there was nothing for St. Patrick to banish,” says naturalist Nigel Monaghan, keeper of natural history at the National Museum of Ireland in Dublin.
The story from Numbers is equally hard to fathom, if taken literally. It is hard for me to conceive of God deliberately sending poisonous snakes to hurt or kill the Hebrew people who have survived the Exodus from Egypt.
So what’s behind this story, which is also mentioned in our Gospel reading, with Jesus being raised up on a Cross, just as a the serpent is raised on a pole, for the people of God to look on.
The time in the wilderness was a difficult time for the Hebrew. They had escaped slavery and degradation in Egypt. But they were not in the promised land.
Instead they were in the desert. And they are very unhappy about the conditions. So they start to angry. Moses, their leader, and God, who helped them get this far, are their targets.
Why, they wonder, are they struggling to exist in this desolate land—with no food, no water, and what food they do get is miserable.
So God sends poisonous snakes to punish them….or did he?
Maybe this story is a second or third hand account based on a memory of one of the ancient Hebrews finding their camp infested with snakes, and someone had died of a bite.
Maybe they had tried an old Egyptian magical remedy, capturing a snake and putting its head on a pole to try and forestall panic.
Or maybe the people were infected with parasitic worms, know as fiery snakes, which could cause infection or death.
In any case, as humans we have a built in fear of snakes. This crosses all cultural boundaries.
Perhaps this story is teaching us that we have to face our fears, and conquer them, rather than giving in to them.
The story of the Hebrews grumbling in the desert reminds me of how negativity, dissatisfaction, and disgruntlement seem to creep through our lives—in our local communities, in our nation, in our world, and even in our church.
Things aren’t what they used to be. Remember the 50’s and the 60’s when the church was full, and we had lots of young people, and the hall echoes to the sounds of the Sunday school, and the scouts and guides.
Remember when we sang the old songs. Used the old books all the time. We were the hub of the community.
The trouble is we end up like the ancient Hebrews who complained to Moses and God that they were eating better in Egypt.
We get stuck by those fiery snakes---negativity, doubt, anger, fear of the future.
And change becomes more difficult. We are stuck thinking about what was good in the past, and not allowing ourselves to think about something new and exciting in the future.
We don’t confront our collective fears, but rather hope they will go away.
What is the cure? The Gospel of John identifies the snake on the pole with the crucified Christ.
By looking at the Cross we are confronted with the suffering of Jesus, with our own suffering and the sin and suffering of the world.
During Lent we as Christians need to examine ourselves, and put things into perspective.
We need to learn from our sin, our pain, our suffering, our inadequacies, and those of the world, and then, and only then turn towards the Easter message that in death, Jesus overcomes death, and that Easter is the beginning of new life, of transformation, of renewal.
May this coming Easter be a time of renewal and new life for all of us.
In our reading from the Book of Numbers today we heard the story of God sending poisonous snakes among the grumbling Hebrew people.
The people ask Moses to pray to God for relief and God tells him to set a snake on top of a pole, and anyone who is bitten and looks on the pole will live.
Snakes have always been an object of fear, ever since the role of the snake as tempter in the Garden of Eden.
One of St. Patrick’s legendary claims to fame---and I had to mention this the day after St. Patrick’s day—is that he banished the snakes from Ireland by chasing them into the sea after they interrupted him taking a forty day fast on top of a hill.
This legend probably draws from the Old Testament mention of snakes in Exodus when Moses and Aaron use their staffs in battles against the Egyptian sorcerers, and both sides’ staffs turn into snakes.
The reason I say legend is not to diminish St. Patrick’s accomplishments but to report that there is no scientific evidence Ireland ever had snakes. “So there was nothing for St. Patrick to banish,” says naturalist Nigel Monaghan, keeper of natural history at the National Museum of Ireland in Dublin.
The story from Numbers is equally hard to fathom, if taken literally. It is hard for me to conceive of God deliberately sending poisonous snakes to hurt or kill the Hebrew people who have survived the Exodus from Egypt.
So what’s behind this story, which is also mentioned in our Gospel reading, with Jesus being raised up on a Cross, just as a the serpent is raised on a pole, for the people of God to look on.
The time in the wilderness was a difficult time for the Hebrew. They had escaped slavery and degradation in Egypt. But they were not in the promised land.
Instead they were in the desert. And they are very unhappy about the conditions. So they start to angry. Moses, their leader, and God, who helped them get this far, are their targets.
Why, they wonder, are they struggling to exist in this desolate land—with no food, no water, and what food they do get is miserable.
So God sends poisonous snakes to punish them….or did he?
Maybe this story is a second or third hand account based on a memory of one of the ancient Hebrews finding their camp infested with snakes, and someone had died of a bite.
Maybe they had tried an old Egyptian magical remedy, capturing a snake and putting its head on a pole to try and forestall panic.
Or maybe the people were infected with parasitic worms, know as fiery snakes, which could cause infection or death.
In any case, as humans we have a built in fear of snakes. This crosses all cultural boundaries.
Perhaps this story is teaching us that we have to face our fears, and conquer them, rather than giving in to them.
The story of the Hebrews grumbling in the desert reminds me of how negativity, dissatisfaction, and disgruntlement seem to creep through our lives—in our local communities, in our nation, in our world, and even in our church.
Things aren’t what they used to be. Remember the 50’s and the 60’s when the church was full, and we had lots of young people, and the hall echoes to the sounds of the Sunday school, and the scouts and guides.
Remember when we sang the old songs. Used the old books all the time. We were the hub of the community.
The trouble is we end up like the ancient Hebrews who complained to Moses and God that they were eating better in Egypt.
We get stuck by those fiery snakes---negativity, doubt, anger, fear of the future.
And change becomes more difficult. We are stuck thinking about what was good in the past, and not allowing ourselves to think about something new and exciting in the future.
We don’t confront our collective fears, but rather hope they will go away.
What is the cure? The Gospel of John identifies the snake on the pole with the crucified Christ.
By looking at the Cross we are confronted with the suffering of Jesus, with our own suffering and the sin and suffering of the world.
During Lent we as Christians need to examine ourselves, and put things into perspective.
We need to learn from our sin, our pain, our suffering, our inadequacies, and those of the world, and then, and only then turn towards the Easter message that in death, Jesus overcomes death, and that Easter is the beginning of new life, of transformation, of renewal.
May this coming Easter be a time of renewal and new life for all of us.
Sunday 11 March 2012
Turning Thou Shalt not into Thou Shalt
Homily, The Ten Commandments
In the Bible "the Ten Commandments don't begin with 'Here are ten commandments, learn them by rote,' or 'Here are ten commandments, obey them.'
Instead, they begin one of the times they are repeated in the Book of Exodus with a sweeping announcement of freedom: 'I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery' (Exodus 20:2).
We will probably always think of the declarations that follow as the Ten Commandments. But we could, and probably should, think of them as invitations to God's liberation.
Because the Lord is your God, you are free to not need any other gods. You are free from the tyranny of lifeless idols. You are free to rest on the Sabbath. You are free to enjoy your parents as long as they live. You are set free from murder, stealing, and covetousness as ways to establish yourself in the land."
I am indebted to a minister friend from south of the border for that insight.
I’ll admit I’ve sometimes had trouble with the ten commandments. First of all—why these ten out of all the more than 600 laws in the Old Testament.
Also the ten commandments—while still applying to our lives—seem much in need of updating—at least on the surface.
And that negative tone. Thou shalt not…. It seems to put too much emphasis on what we shouldn’t do, then on what we should do to serve our God.
But there are positive ways of looking at the ten commandments. Here is another list of the ten—put in a more positive way, which I think helps us move forward.
1) Love the Lord God whom more than any "thing" in the universe.
2) Honor God's image in others by avoiding the name of God to lie, curse, or justify an unjust bias.
3) Give yourself adequate time for rest, community, and spirituality.
4) Respect your elders.
5) Respect human life.
6) Honor your commitments and your God given sexuality.
7) Be honest.
8) Respect the property of others.
9) Rejoice in the good fortune of others.
10. Speak the truth in love.
Let’s put the ten commandments or the Decalogue in their Biblical context.
Exodus is the story of the people of Israel from a small nomadic band who settled among foreigners who despised them to being a people God would dwell with and lead on a journey to a new land.
It is the story of a people who are first enslaved, but miraculously are freed to follow God. The journey from slavery to freedom is also a journey from following the commands of human taskmasters- the Egyptians, to following God.
We can look at the receiving of the ten commandments as a pivotal moment in the journey of the people of Israel.
One of the key understandings we gain from this passage and its place in the journey of the Hebrew people is that God’s act of grace—in the Exodus—or deliverance from the Egyptians, precedes the law.
The law reminds us of God’s grace freely given, and our grateful response.
By dwelling on the “thou shalt not” aspect of the ten commandments we miss the truth--- that the laws are for our benefit, as a way to a better life.
Or we can fall into the trap of legalism. That is—-we obey the law only because we fear judgment, and hope to escape punishment by God. Or we obey the law to gain God’s favour.
Both those approaches are wrong.
The law is a law of liberation, as my friend Joe says, freeing us to a life living in harmony with God and our fellow human beings.
That’s why the writer of today’s psalm says: “the precepts of the Lord are right and give joy to the heart. The commandment of the Lord is pure and gives light to the eyes.”
The commandments have had an enormous impact on Judaism and Christianity. They remain an important part of our Biblical and liturgical record.
It is helpful to think of the commandments broken down into four groups.
The first three demand worship of God alone, and prohibit idolatry and taking the Lord’s name in vain.
The next two support a weekly Sabbath, or pause day, and ask for honour for parents.
The next three commandments focus on the individual and the family, calling for the sanctity of human life, marriage and sexuality.
The final two commandments are a reminder of the necessity for truthfulness in public society, and the need to avoid being corrupted by desire for the possessions of others.
When we think of the ten commandments in this way, it offers us a whole new way of thinking of how they could apply to us—particularly during this Lenten time of self-examination.
There are lots of questions we could ask ourselves arising from these ancient laws:
• How do I show my appreciation for God’s care from me as creator, redeemer and sustainer?
• Do I honour my commitments to God, to myself to others?
• Do I honour God in my speech?
• Do I care for my parents, and for elders, deepening relationships, and attending to their wisdom?
• Do I harbour anger and hostility which separates me from others, and from God?
• Do I give in to materialism—desire for things over a desire for better relationships with others and with God?
• Do I tell the truth about who I am to myself and others?
On a surface level the ten commandments may seem simple. But when we ask questions like these, you can see they challenge all of us to think about our lives, our relationships, and how we can do better.
In the Bible "the Ten Commandments don't begin with 'Here are ten commandments, learn them by rote,' or 'Here are ten commandments, obey them.'
Instead, they begin one of the times they are repeated in the Book of Exodus with a sweeping announcement of freedom: 'I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery' (Exodus 20:2).
We will probably always think of the declarations that follow as the Ten Commandments. But we could, and probably should, think of them as invitations to God's liberation.
Because the Lord is your God, you are free to not need any other gods. You are free from the tyranny of lifeless idols. You are free to rest on the Sabbath. You are free to enjoy your parents as long as they live. You are set free from murder, stealing, and covetousness as ways to establish yourself in the land."
I am indebted to a minister friend from south of the border for that insight.
I’ll admit I’ve sometimes had trouble with the ten commandments. First of all—why these ten out of all the more than 600 laws in the Old Testament.
Also the ten commandments—while still applying to our lives—seem much in need of updating—at least on the surface.
And that negative tone. Thou shalt not…. It seems to put too much emphasis on what we shouldn’t do, then on what we should do to serve our God.
But there are positive ways of looking at the ten commandments. Here is another list of the ten—put in a more positive way, which I think helps us move forward.
1) Love the Lord God whom more than any "thing" in the universe.
2) Honor God's image in others by avoiding the name of God to lie, curse, or justify an unjust bias.
3) Give yourself adequate time for rest, community, and spirituality.
4) Respect your elders.
5) Respect human life.
6) Honor your commitments and your God given sexuality.
7) Be honest.
8) Respect the property of others.
9) Rejoice in the good fortune of others.
10. Speak the truth in love.
Let’s put the ten commandments or the Decalogue in their Biblical context.
Exodus is the story of the people of Israel from a small nomadic band who settled among foreigners who despised them to being a people God would dwell with and lead on a journey to a new land.
It is the story of a people who are first enslaved, but miraculously are freed to follow God. The journey from slavery to freedom is also a journey from following the commands of human taskmasters- the Egyptians, to following God.
We can look at the receiving of the ten commandments as a pivotal moment in the journey of the people of Israel.
One of the key understandings we gain from this passage and its place in the journey of the Hebrew people is that God’s act of grace—in the Exodus—or deliverance from the Egyptians, precedes the law.
The law reminds us of God’s grace freely given, and our grateful response.
By dwelling on the “thou shalt not” aspect of the ten commandments we miss the truth--- that the laws are for our benefit, as a way to a better life.
Or we can fall into the trap of legalism. That is—-we obey the law only because we fear judgment, and hope to escape punishment by God. Or we obey the law to gain God’s favour.
Both those approaches are wrong.
The law is a law of liberation, as my friend Joe says, freeing us to a life living in harmony with God and our fellow human beings.
That’s why the writer of today’s psalm says: “the precepts of the Lord are right and give joy to the heart. The commandment of the Lord is pure and gives light to the eyes.”
The commandments have had an enormous impact on Judaism and Christianity. They remain an important part of our Biblical and liturgical record.
It is helpful to think of the commandments broken down into four groups.
The first three demand worship of God alone, and prohibit idolatry and taking the Lord’s name in vain.
The next two support a weekly Sabbath, or pause day, and ask for honour for parents.
The next three commandments focus on the individual and the family, calling for the sanctity of human life, marriage and sexuality.
The final two commandments are a reminder of the necessity for truthfulness in public society, and the need to avoid being corrupted by desire for the possessions of others.
When we think of the ten commandments in this way, it offers us a whole new way of thinking of how they could apply to us—particularly during this Lenten time of self-examination.
There are lots of questions we could ask ourselves arising from these ancient laws:
• How do I show my appreciation for God’s care from me as creator, redeemer and sustainer?
• Do I honour my commitments to God, to myself to others?
• Do I honour God in my speech?
• Do I care for my parents, and for elders, deepening relationships, and attending to their wisdom?
• Do I harbour anger and hostility which separates me from others, and from God?
• Do I give in to materialism—desire for things over a desire for better relationships with others and with God?
• Do I tell the truth about who I am to myself and others?
On a surface level the ten commandments may seem simple. But when we ask questions like these, you can see they challenge all of us to think about our lives, our relationships, and how we can do better.
Sunday 4 March 2012
We are Children of Abraham
Homily Lent 2 Yr. B Genesis
One man stands out among all the characters in Genesis, the first book of the Bible. Yet Abram, renamed Abraham by God, is not a king like David, not adopted royalty, like Moses, not a prophet, like Elijah.
Abraham was instead a nomadic herder, or possibly a caravan merchant, born in Haran, on what is called the fertile crescent of Mesopotamia.
Yet in our great Biblical narrative Abraham stands out as the inheritor of the covenant that God made with Noah, as well as God’s blessing and promise that he will be the father of nations.
All this must have seemed so unlikely to Abram. He and his wife Sarah were well past child bearing age. And indeed when Abraham had a son Ishmael with Hagar, the Egyptian, God still promises Sarah, Abram’s barren wife, a child.
She laughs. But the last laugh is on her when she is with child, and Isaac is born. Hagar and Ishmael are expelled from the household, but go on to found descendants of Abram who would be Arabs.
Now Abraham is regarded as father of three great religious traditions: Christianity, Islam and Judaism.
All this from a nomadic patriarch who trusts God, and takes a leap of faith to follow God, and accept his blessing and the promise of a land for his people.
Perhaps the reason this reading is part of our Lenten series from Genesis is that we, like Abraham, are being prepared for a leap of faith, each Lenten season as we follow Jesus to the cross.
Our story of salvation starts with Abraham, after humanity has failed to live up to God's intention for us---first in the Garden of Eden, and then in the disobedience which led to the great flood.
God makes a covenant with Abraham, and demands obedience in the covenantal act of circumcision.
Paul says Abraham's faith is what made the covenantal relationship with God different. Abraham responded to God's call in faith.
Abram was a descendant of Noah's son, Shem. In Genesis 12 God summons Abram to leave his home in Haran, promising that he will be blessed as part of a great nation, and that his name will be great. "I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you," God says.
So God is calling on Abram to trust him. God will reveal where he is to live. God will be the source of his blessing and his success.
Abram's salvation will be in following God. This may sound simple. But it required great trust.
The society Abram lived in thousands of years ago was often dangerous and violent.
People lived in a time of peril, of doubt, of loss. It wasn't easy to have faith. It wasn't particularly comforting.
Unlike Moses Abram had no burning bushes. No ten commendaments from the top of the mountain.
God demanded obedience from Abram. He had to leave behind his family, his homeland and all that was familiar.
All this for the vague promise of journeying to the "Land I will show you."
One thing we can see from the account in Genesis is that Abraham doesn't evolve any kind of theology, or set of beliefs about God.
His faith is rooted in journeying with God, in obedience rather than settling down.
Sometimes it was hard to see the promise realized. His wife Sarah was barren for many years. The Canaanites inhabited the promised land and it wasn't fertile yet.
So faith wasn't easy. That's why God repeated the promise, the blessing and the covenant, as in today's reading.
Another thing worth thinking about. Abraham was not particularly a man of virtue. As well as fathering Ishmael with Hagar, Sarah's servant, he flees to Egypt to avoid famine and pretends Sarah is his sister. Saran is taken into Pharoah's household and Abraham is given sheep, oxen, donkeys, camels and slaves.
Pharoah finds out Sarah's true identity, but Abraham still leaves a rich man.
What does Abraham's story, Abraham's covenant with God mean to us as Christians thousands of years later.
Perhaps one of the things is should mean, but doesn't, is that we as Christians recognize we share a common heritage with Jews and Muslims. We are all children of Abraham.
Yet in our world today Christianity, Islam and Judaism often live in tension. There is a lack of understanding of our common story, our common holy places and our common beliefs.
Somehow we have drawn further apart, rather than closer together as believers in the one God. We all claim Abraham, but have allowed ourselves to divide into many factions--even within our own faith traditions.
God offers us a vision of harmony, of a blessing which is available to all Abraham's children.
In Lent maybe we can start to let go of our prejudices, and our egos, and seek to discern what God is calling us to do to claim God's blessing, to honour the covenant which Noah and Abraham made with him.
One man stands out among all the characters in Genesis, the first book of the Bible. Yet Abram, renamed Abraham by God, is not a king like David, not adopted royalty, like Moses, not a prophet, like Elijah.
Abraham was instead a nomadic herder, or possibly a caravan merchant, born in Haran, on what is called the fertile crescent of Mesopotamia.
Yet in our great Biblical narrative Abraham stands out as the inheritor of the covenant that God made with Noah, as well as God’s blessing and promise that he will be the father of nations.
All this must have seemed so unlikely to Abram. He and his wife Sarah were well past child bearing age. And indeed when Abraham had a son Ishmael with Hagar, the Egyptian, God still promises Sarah, Abram’s barren wife, a child.
She laughs. But the last laugh is on her when she is with child, and Isaac is born. Hagar and Ishmael are expelled from the household, but go on to found descendants of Abram who would be Arabs.
Now Abraham is regarded as father of three great religious traditions: Christianity, Islam and Judaism.
All this from a nomadic patriarch who trusts God, and takes a leap of faith to follow God, and accept his blessing and the promise of a land for his people.
Perhaps the reason this reading is part of our Lenten series from Genesis is that we, like Abraham, are being prepared for a leap of faith, each Lenten season as we follow Jesus to the cross.
Our story of salvation starts with Abraham, after humanity has failed to live up to God's intention for us---first in the Garden of Eden, and then in the disobedience which led to the great flood.
God makes a covenant with Abraham, and demands obedience in the covenantal act of circumcision.
Paul says Abraham's faith is what made the covenantal relationship with God different. Abraham responded to God's call in faith.
Abram was a descendant of Noah's son, Shem. In Genesis 12 God summons Abram to leave his home in Haran, promising that he will be blessed as part of a great nation, and that his name will be great. "I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you," God says.
So God is calling on Abram to trust him. God will reveal where he is to live. God will be the source of his blessing and his success.
Abram's salvation will be in following God. This may sound simple. But it required great trust.
The society Abram lived in thousands of years ago was often dangerous and violent.
People lived in a time of peril, of doubt, of loss. It wasn't easy to have faith. It wasn't particularly comforting.
Unlike Moses Abram had no burning bushes. No ten commendaments from the top of the mountain.
God demanded obedience from Abram. He had to leave behind his family, his homeland and all that was familiar.
All this for the vague promise of journeying to the "Land I will show you."
One thing we can see from the account in Genesis is that Abraham doesn't evolve any kind of theology, or set of beliefs about God.
His faith is rooted in journeying with God, in obedience rather than settling down.
Sometimes it was hard to see the promise realized. His wife Sarah was barren for many years. The Canaanites inhabited the promised land and it wasn't fertile yet.
So faith wasn't easy. That's why God repeated the promise, the blessing and the covenant, as in today's reading.
Another thing worth thinking about. Abraham was not particularly a man of virtue. As well as fathering Ishmael with Hagar, Sarah's servant, he flees to Egypt to avoid famine and pretends Sarah is his sister. Saran is taken into Pharoah's household and Abraham is given sheep, oxen, donkeys, camels and slaves.
Pharoah finds out Sarah's true identity, but Abraham still leaves a rich man.
What does Abraham's story, Abraham's covenant with God mean to us as Christians thousands of years later.
Perhaps one of the things is should mean, but doesn't, is that we as Christians recognize we share a common heritage with Jews and Muslims. We are all children of Abraham.
Yet in our world today Christianity, Islam and Judaism often live in tension. There is a lack of understanding of our common story, our common holy places and our common beliefs.
Somehow we have drawn further apart, rather than closer together as believers in the one God. We all claim Abraham, but have allowed ourselves to divide into many factions--even within our own faith traditions.
God offers us a vision of harmony, of a blessing which is available to all Abraham's children.
In Lent maybe we can start to let go of our prejudices, and our egos, and seek to discern what God is calling us to do to claim God's blessing, to honour the covenant which Noah and Abraham made with him.
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