Like a lot of pastors I know, I, too, tend to start Monday morning off by looking at the Lectionary Readings for the coming Sunday. Even though I might have planned a thematic overview for a season, month, etc. I still tend to look once more at the upcoming readings each Monday. I revisit them. Often I see something I might have missed before, or something has happened in my own life that brings a certain aspect of the text into a different light. Through out Lent, the Monday blog post will be some reflections to help us think about a/the reading(s). Now, that I am often in the pews listening to sermons, I realize that this is a little different from the folks in the pews. The folks in the pews tend to be a week behind (or maybe the pastor is a week ahead?). The folks in the pews spend the week reflecting upon what has been preached. The pastor is reflecting on what will be preached. Here is your chance to reflect upon them for the upcoming week, too.
What struck me today in reading through the Lectionary texts was the reading from Genesis.
Genesis 12:1-4a
(12:1) Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you.
(12:2) I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.
(12:3) I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."
(12:4a) So Abram went, as the LORD had told him; and Lot went with him.
Now, I must say, having heard many a yarn around the scuttlebutt that this is a rather terse telling. There is no mention of any argument from Abram (not yet re-named Abraham). There is no sharing of how Abram felt regarding his home land, his family, his country. It brought to mind the number of sailors who sail upon the waters. The numbers have boomed sense the 60's. Why do these people (us) set out? I think there are a variety of reasons. Can you name all of the ones that apply to yourself?
Yet, it seems to me that there may be two reasons that are prominent: we cannot help ourselves; we are seeking some sort of a blessing. In the "we cannot help ourselves" compulsion there maybe a sense of calling, seeking, longing. I'm not sure how many of us would use the "in search of a blessing" language, but is it there none-the-less? We are looking for a better way of life - either upon the waters, or in the "paradise" of a distant land. In this sense perhaps these are no longer two reasons, but extensions on the same.
In the meantime, we become nomadic people, just like Abram. And in our wondering, perhaps we, too, ask ourselves the following questions:
In the journeying, how are we aware of God's presence? How do we become aware of our blessedness? How do we share that blessing with others?
Blessed Be,
Joel
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