Proper 7 | Ordinary Time 12 - A
Cathy Venkatesh
In one of my former parishes, the wife of retired pastor led us in a Bible study of the book of Genesis. She was trained as a social worker and had previously led studies of Genesis in her work with prisoners. As we progressed through the stories, she told us how the complicated family relationships of the patriarchs prompted the incarcerated men in her Bible study to talk about their own families and the troubles so many of them had experienced growing up. Today's readings invite us to consider the families God has given us, how they may be sources both of wounding and grace, and how we are ultimately called to place our trust in God alone.
Genesis 21:8-21
Genesis 21:8-21
Mark Ellingsen
In accord with the overall theme of the Pentecost season, all the texts for this Sunday pertain to living the Christian life (sanctification), specifically with how Christian life is easy, for it is not our work but the result of God’s grace.
Genesis 21:8-21
The First Lesson reports the story of the relationship between Abraham’s sons, Isaac (a forefather of the people of Israel, Abraham’s heir) and Ishmael (who is said to be the forefather of the Arab people). This account is the product of the E strand of the Pentateuch, an 8th-century BC oral tradition so named for its designation of God as Elohim. It is also a strand that is not as inclined to emphasize that Abraham’s line of descent occurs solely through Isaac, perhaps a function...
Genesis 21:8-21
The First Lesson reports the story of the relationship between Abraham’s sons, Isaac (a forefather of the people of Israel, Abraham’s heir) and Ishmael (who is said to be the forefather of the Arab people). This account is the product of the E strand of the Pentateuch, an 8th-century BC oral tradition so named for its designation of God as Elohim. It is also a strand that is not as inclined to emphasize that Abraham’s line of descent occurs solely through Isaac, perhaps a function...
Wayne Brouwer
Tony Campolo once told of a student who came to him in his office at Eastern Christian College. The young man explained to Dr. Campolo that he was going to take a semester off from college in order to travel for a while and get away from all the pressures that were consuming him. He said, “I don’t know who I am anymore.” Because of the expectations laid on him by his parents, his friends, his professors, and his girlfriend, he felt he had to get away from it all and find himself again.
Tony Campolo commended him. “That’s a good thing to do!” he said. “But what if you start peeling away the layers of yourself, like an onion, and when you get rid of them you don’t find anything at the center? What if you get to the heart of who you are, and you find there’s nothing there? What...
Tony Campolo commended him. “That’s a good thing to do!” he said. “But what if you start peeling away the layers of yourself, like an onion, and when you get rid of them you don’t find anything at the center? What if you get to the heart of who you are, and you find there’s nothing there? What...
David Coffin
An older pastor and his wife who serve in a remote hill area with sporadic cell phone reception drive to the nearest large city to get their android phones updated and serviced. The service technician is young man with tattoos in his late 20s. He works meticulously on the phones as he visits with the pastor and wife. The young man shares that he used to be a clergyperson in this pastor’s denomination. After some time as a chaplain and a few years serving in a small congregation in the next state, he decided to leave the pastoral ministry. And furthermore, his experience as a pastor revealed to him some very bitter, dark realities he experienced in the church. He shared that these people really didn’t practice or believe what they confessed on Sunday. The older pastor pointed out that no...
Sandra Herrmann
Genesis 21:8-21
This portion of scripture for today is primarily about the promises of God to Hagar and Ishmael, and the end of their biblical story. There are several things we may say about it:
* It is an explanatory tale, the point of which is "This is why we (meaning the descendants of Abraham) and the Arabs are constantly at war";
* It is a story that reflects -- backward, as in a mirror -- the relationship between Egypt and Israel over the centuries;
* It is a cautionary tale against the practice of taking sexual advantage of the female slaves in a household, and in our day can be seen to address the situation where a rich couple takes advantage of a poor woman who will offer her womb as a surrogate in order to provide a better material...
This portion of scripture for today is primarily about the promises of God to Hagar and Ishmael, and the end of their biblical story. There are several things we may say about it:
* It is an explanatory tale, the point of which is "This is why we (meaning the descendants of Abraham) and the Arabs are constantly at war";
* It is a story that reflects -- backward, as in a mirror -- the relationship between Egypt and Israel over the centuries;
* It is a cautionary tale against the practice of taking sexual advantage of the female slaves in a household, and in our day can be seen to address the situation where a rich couple takes advantage of a poor woman who will offer her womb as a surrogate in order to provide a better material...
David Kalas
In the 1949 World War II movie, 12 O'Clock High, Gregory Peck plays Frank
Savage, a no-nonsense general who is brought in to straighten up a hard-luck, low-morale
American bomber group stationed in England. In his first address to the men of his unit,
General Savage tells it like it is: "We're in a war, a shooting war. We've got to fight. And
some of us have got to die. Now I'm not trying to tell you not to be afraid. Fear is normal.
But stop worrying about it. And about yourselves. Stop making plans. Forget about going
home. Consider yourselves already dead. Once you accept that idea, it won't be so
tough."
The message is an unwelcome one, and the paradigm unpopular. Within minutes, every pilot in the group is preparing to request a transfer. But unpopular...
The message is an unwelcome one, and the paradigm unpopular. Within minutes, every pilot in the group is preparing to request a transfer. But unpopular...
There are lots of hard jobs in the world, things that are tough to do, work that requires long years of training or which uses skills that are hard to develop. There are the standard ones that we all think of as very hard jobs - nuclear physicist is one (in previous times it was "rocket scientist"); brain surgeon is another.
In the last six months the huge difficulty of being a firefighter has been driven home to us in the papers and on television. There are enormous risks to it, along with an enormous physical and emotional toll it takes on lives.
In the last six months the huge difficulty of being a firefighter has been driven home to us in the papers and on television. There are enormous risks to it, along with an enormous physical and emotional toll it takes on lives.
In our society being Christian does not in itself lead to rejection and persecution. In fact, in some political circles one's Christian credentials might be of help in getting him or her elected to political office. That smugness about church relationships might take us so far from the point of our lessons that they would appear to be irrelevant to the folks in the pews.
Yet our lessons challenge us not to think merely about being Christians but about willingness to be spokespersons for God in and to a society that treats Christianity with more benign neglect than outright persecution. Are we, the church, willing to risk the people's response to Jeremiah's announcements of judgment by our confronting a society more concerned about preserving wealth than protecting the poor? Are...
Yet our lessons challenge us not to think merely about being Christians but about willingness to be spokespersons for God in and to a society that treats Christianity with more benign neglect than outright persecution. Are we, the church, willing to risk the people's response to Jeremiah's announcements of judgment by our confronting a society more concerned about preserving wealth than protecting the poor? Are...
I would not have minded the day off today. It is one thing to say, in the abstract, that we have to take up the tough stuff in the biblical record. It is another, however, to focus on the moment and the locale or circumstance described in a biblical story. So long as we talk about the principle of realism in the scripture, it is possible to remain abstract and principled. The moment we come close to the reality of persons in the Bible, it is impossible to be anything but concrete and personal.
Wayne Brouwer
My daughters know the direct access code to my office phone. Not everyone gets that information, and most of those who do have it, use it sparingly, but that's not true of my daughters. They know they can call me anytime. When I see theirs as the incoming number, I answer my phone, even if I have others with me. My daughters have privilege. They're family.
Something of that family privilege is part of each of today's passages. Hagar and Ishmael lost family privilege in the household of Abraham, but gained it in the household of God. Spiritual family privilege marks Paul's conversations about what resources we have available to us in order to do battle with the darker side of life. Jesus talks about the family resemblance that comes to those who are claimed by him as part of...
Something of that family privilege is part of each of today's passages. Hagar and Ishmael lost family privilege in the household of Abraham, but gained it in the household of God. Spiritual family privilege marks Paul's conversations about what resources we have available to us in order to do battle with the darker side of life. Jesus talks about the family resemblance that comes to those who are claimed by him as part of...
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