Romans 8:26-39 Genesis 29:15-28 So the story of Jacob continues. After his night in Bethel where he saw the ladder of angels climbing between heaven and earth, and heard the voice of God reaffirming the promise of a future, Jacob arrives at the home of his uncle Laban – his mother’s brother. Here he is welcomed … here he meets a beautiful girl … it looks like Jacob has landed on his feet. But what’s that thing they say about karma? Karma is a you-know-what, right? After seven years of hard work impressing his future father-in-law, Jacob the trickster gets tricked. Bigly. And surprisingly, Jacob doesn’t even complain. Maybe he’s been waiting for this, the proverbial other shoe, to drop. So he sighs, nods in acceptance, then puts his head down and continues working off his sentence – seven more years for Uncle Laban. And we, the readers, sit back […]
Continue readingMonth: July 2020
Where God Is
Genesis 28:10-19a Jacob left Beer-sheba and went toward Haran. He came to a certain place and stayed there for the night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place. And he dreamed that there was a ladder set up on the earth, the top of it reaching to heaven; and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. And the Lord stood beside him and said, “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring; and your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and all the families of the earth shall be blessed in […]
Continue readingEntitlement
Genesis 25:19-34 When we were little, my older sister and I told our youngest sister that our parents found her in a garbage can and brought her home. We only told her that because she was young enough and innocent enough to believe it and it amused us that she believed it. We convinced her also that her duty as the youngest child was to wait on us; run down to the kitchen and get us a snack if we were hungry, even run down to the 7-Eleven if we had a sudden craving for Doritos or Laffy-Taffy. We were bad. It’s the natural order of things that older siblings dominate the younger ones because they can. They’re bigger, smarter, stronger … for a while. Later, when things even out; when the younger siblings are as big and strong and smart as the older siblings, they’re still dominated by the […]
Continue readingO Soul, Are You Weary and Troubled?
Romans 7:15-25 Matthew 11:16-19,25-30 Some years ago, I began a search for Jesus pictures. I was interested in all the different ways Jesus is portrayed in art. There is quite a variety. Over the centuries you can see the ways cultural priorities have been reflected in the popular images of Jesus. In the early centuries of the church, there were some rather severe images: Judge-of-the-world Jesus and victorious-in-battle Jesus. But modern people seem to prefer a milder version: Gentle-shepherd Jesus and little-children-loving Jesus. There are some that are less common but very arresting: like sad Jesus, looking on the state of the world with a tear on his face. One of my favorites is polite Jesus, knocking on our door, hoping we will answer. There is also laughing Jesus – which, for some reason, a lot of people don’t like, and I’ve never really understood why. But one thing I have […]
Continue readingAn Outstretched Hand
Genesis 22:1-14 Matthew 10:40-42 There are a few stories in the Bible that are sometimes referred to as “texts of terror.” This story from Genesis is one of them. It is the climax of the long story of Abraham and Sarah. In a way, it resembles the climax of a big disaster movie, where a disaster comes – a tsunami, a fire, a nuclear attack, or zombies from outer space – tearing through our civilization and leaving a huge swath of wreckage in its wake. Usually, in the disaster movie, we just focus on the survivors. When it’s over, the audience is washed in relief, so thankful that we made it! On the screen there are embraces and maybe a little wry humor, so we can leave the theatre feeling good. We might try to do that with the Genesis story too. Look at the survivors – Abraham and Isaac […]
Continue reading
