Lent 2009 #12

Hebrews 11:1-3,17-19  1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 2 Indeed, by faith our ancestors received approval. 3By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible. 

17 By faith Abraham, when put to the test, offered up Isaac. He who had received the promises was ready to offer up his only son, 18 of whom he had been told, "It is through Isaac that descendants shall be named for you." 19 He considered the fact that God is able even to raise someone from the dead—and figuratively speaking, he did receive him back.

THOUGHTS:

Hebrews is in interesting book in the Bible.  Scholars can't agree on when it was written or who the author is.  It was probably originally a sermon rather than a letter.  The main image developed in this sermon to a mixture of Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians is of Jesus the Christ as the eternal high priest who fulfills and completes the Jewish system of sacrifice.

In the passage above, we see Abraham's faith that God could raise Isaac from the dead if he went through with the sacrifice.  (If you don't know this story, see: http://lentendevotions.blogspot.com/search/label/Isaac ).  

The writer here is almost like saying "Abraham knew God could resurrect someone before it has been done, and now it has been done..."  Abraham's faith in God is so great, that he is the bedrock character of faith for Jews, Christians, and Muslims.  Many of us read the story of Abraham in Genesis 12-25, and seeing Abraham's faith, we are blown away.  The amount of trust he places in God seems utterly crazy!  

Yet, we too are called to place our trust in God.  Most of tend to want to call the shots ourselves.  (I know I do sometimes.)  Take some time to think about how you can more completely trust in God.  Think about how your faith is your conviction in things that cannot be seen.

 

PRAYER:

God, sometimes we think we already have all the answers, and we want to take control of our world.  Thank you for reminding us in scripture an din our lives that everything belongs to you.  Help us to trust you more, and to follow where you lead us.  In Jesus name we pray, AMEN.

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These devotions are provided by Lutheran Campus Ministry at George Mason University .  Feel free to share them with your friends!  For more information on our ministry and events, see http://gmu.edu/org/lutheran  

You can subscribe to these devotions by RSS or email from http://lentendevotions.blogspot.com

Lent 2009 #11

Genesis 18:16-33

     16 Then the men [who were God and two angels] set out from there, and they looked towards Sodom; and Abraham went with them to set them on their way. 17 The Lord said, 'Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, 18 seeing that Abraham shall become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? 19 No, for I have chosen him, that he may charge his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice; so that the Lord may bring about for Abraham what he has promised him.' 20 Then the Lord said, 'How great is the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah and how very grave their sin! 21 I must go down and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry that has come to me; and if not, I will know.'

     22 So the [angels] turned from there, and went towards Sodom, while Abraham remained standing before the Lord. 23 Then Abraham came near and said, 'Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? 24 Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city; will you then sweep away the place and not forgive it for the fifty righteous who are in it? 25 Far be it from you to do such a thing, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?' 26 And the Lord said, 'If I find at Sodom fifty righteous in the city, I will forgive the whole place for their sake.' 27 Abraham answered, 'Let me take it upon myself to speak to the Lord, I who am but dust and ashes. 28 Suppose five of the fifty righteous are lacking? Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five?' And he said, 'I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.' 29 Again he spoke to him, 'Suppose forty are found there.' He answered, 'For the sake of forty I will not do it.' 30 Then he said, 'Oh do not let the Lord be angry if I speak. Suppose thirty are found there.' He answered, 'I will not do it, if I find thirty there.' 31 He said, 'Let me take it upon myself to speak to the Lord. Suppose twenty are found there.' He answered, 'For the sake of twenty I will not destroy it.' 32 Then he said, 'Oh do not let the Lord be angry if I speak just once more. Suppose ten are found there.' He answered, 'For the sake of ten I will not destroy it.' 33 And the Lord went his way, when he had finished speaking to Abraham; and Abraham returned to his place.

 

THOUGHTS:

Let's set the context just a little bit.  God and a couple angels just came and told Abraham and Sarah that they were going to have a son.  Sarah laughed, God called her out on it, they banter a bit, etc. 

 

After we have the passage above.  God decides he trusts Abraham, and that this faithful servant deserves to know what is going to transpire.  God is on the way to see if all the compaints going around about Sodom and Gomorrah are true.  Abraham knows God is planning to wipe these cities off the map, and what is his response?  He basically lays a guilt trip on God: "Oh God, don't be that kind of god!  You are much better than to wipe out the innocent along with the guilty!  Don't punish the righteous because of the wicked!"  Abraham wants things to be fair.

 

We might think Abraham is out of line for implying God doesn't know how to act, but God says, "OK, you're daring me to prove I'm merciful?  Let's try this: if I find 50 righteous people in the cities, then I'll forgive everyone who lives there."  Do you notice that it still isn't fair.  Now, instead of the good people suffering along with the evildoers, God offers to forgive the evildoers because of a small righteous minority.  Yet, Abraham isn't initially satisfied, and he barters with God, wheeling and dealing until two cities will be forgiven if God finds just ten righteous people living there.  The whole community appears to stand or fall together.

 

Would you ask God for this kind of radical forgiveness?  Do you?

 

I love how this story shows that God takes the time to listen to people.  God trusts Abraham enough to tell him the plan.  God listens to Abrahams objections.  God is persuaded by Abraham's arguments.  Sure, God ends up destrying the cities in the end because they showed no hospitality to the strangers in their midst, but that doesn't diminish for me that God valued Abraham's opinion.

 

 

PRAYER:

Lord, thank you for your mercy, and for loving us before we even knew anything about you.  Help us to be willing to share our desires with you even as we work to fulfill your desires with our lives.  All this we pray in Jesus name, AMEN.

 

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These devotions are provided by Lutheran Campus Ministry at George Mason University .  Feel free to share them with your friends!  For more information on our ministry and events, see http://gmu.edu/org/lutheran  

You can subscribe to these devotions by RSS or email from http://lentendevotions.blogspot.com

Lent 2009 #9

Genesis 16:1-6 

1 Now Sarai, Abram's wife, bore him no children. She had an Egyptian slave-girl whose name was Hagar, 2 and Sarai said to Abram, "You see that the Lord has prevented me from bearing children; go in to my slave-girl; it may be that I shall obtain children by her." And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. 3 So, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, Abram's wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her slave-girl, and gave her to her husband Abram as a wife. 4 He went in to Hagar, and she conceived; and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked with contempt on her mistress. 5 Then Sarai said to Abram, "May the wrong done to me be on you! I gave my slave-girl to your embrace, and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked on me with contempt. May the Lord judge between you and me!" 6 But Abram said to Sarai, "Your slave-girl is in your power; do to her as you please." Then Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she ran away from her. 

THOUGHTS:

Um...whoa.  This is one of those stories that I don't get at first.  Let's start with some quick background info:

1. Back in Genesis 12 , God basically told Abram at age 75: "Trust me.  Leave your family and the only home you've ever known behind and follow me, I'll tell you when you reach your destination, and you'll have more descendants than you can possibly imagine or count."

2. Abram followed, and he and Sarai have now been in Canaan for 10 years.  He's now 85 and he and Sarai are pretty old to be having kids.  

My Bible commentaries also tell me:

3. In the ancient middle east, it was an acceptable practice for a wife who could not conceive to give her slave-girl to her husband as a concubine.  Any offspring of this union were legally children of the wife.  In this case, that means that the child that Hagar bears will belong to Sarai after birth.  

4. Motherhood is highly respected at the time.

     So looking back to the passage above, we see that Sarai got impatient waiting for God to deliver on the promises that caused them to uproot and leave everything behind.  Sarai takes their destiny into her own hands and has her husband sleep with Hagar.  Her plan works, but it somehow backfires, too.  Hagar's loses respect for Sarai (because Sarai couldn't conceive) and this led to the slave-girl usurping the rightful place of the wife.  To combat this role reversal, Sarai complains to Abram that her slave-girl is getting uppity.  Abram effectively responds: "Not my problem, this was all your idea."  

     Phew, that's a lot of back story to explain that this brief passage may be saying: Trust God.  Don't try to take destiny into your own hands.  This doesn't mean to be complacent or apathetic: God works through people like you.  I think it means that we should always be listening for God's direction before we act.  It's OK if you never feel like you hear any direction, just keep doing what you think is right.  I think God communicates subtly and we don't always know when we are hearing.  It's when we stop listening that we tend to wander into traps of our own making...  

 

PRAYER:

God, thank you for your subtle whispers, and for your spirit moving in our community as we journey together.  Keep our hearts and minds firmly focused on you, and guide us in humble service of all those that we meet.  Use us in ways that we might not even notice to do your will on earth.  For the sake of Christ Jesus, AMEN.

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These devotions are provided by Lutheran Campus Ministry at George Mason University.  Feel free to share them with your friends!  For more information on our ministry and events, see http://gmu.edu/org/lutheran  

You can subscribe to these devotions by RSS or email from http://lentendevotions.blogspot.com

Lent Day #9

Today we are going to finish our look at Abram / Abraham in Genesis. There is so much depth to his story, and we've only scratched the surface. A couple days ago, we looked at the the significance of the binding of Issac in Genesis chapter 22 and yesterday we condsidered Abraham's prophetic role and that Isaac was quite possibly an adult at the time of the story. Today we finish this story...

GENESIS 22:9-14 (NJPS)
9 They arrived at the place of which God had told him. Abraham built an alter there; he laid out the wood; he bound his son Isaac; he laid him on the alter, on top of the wood. 10 And Abraham picked up the knife to slay his son. 11 then an angel of the Lord called to him from heaven: "Abraham! Abraham!" And he answered, "Here I am." 12 And he said, "Do not raise your hand against the boy, or do anything to him. For now I now that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your favored one, from me." 13 When Abraham looked up, his eye fell upon a ram, caught in the thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering in place of his son. 14 And Abraham named that side Adonai-yireh, whence the present saying, "On the mount of the Lord there is vision."

If we assume that Isaac is an adult and Abraham is upwards of 115 years old, then Isaac could probably have overpowered Abraham if he wanted to, so in verse 9 when Abraham binds up Isaac on the alter, Isaac has to be a willing participant! Why don't Christians ever talk about the courageous sacrifice that Isaac was willing to make? My Jewish Study Bible calls him the prototype of the Jewish martyr.

GENESIS 22:15-18 (NJPS)
15 The Angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven, 16 and said, "By Myself I swear, the Lord declares; Because you have done this and have not withheld your son, you favored one, 17 I will bestow My blessing upon you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars of heaven and the sands on the seashore; and your descendants shall seize the gates of their foes. 18 All the nations of the earth shall bless themselves by your descendants, because you have obeyed My command."

It appears that the sacrifice Abraham makes is somehow atoning for the whole world: "Because you have done this ... All the nations of the earth shall bless themselves by your descendants, because you have obeyed My command." Has this come to pass, or is this yet to come? It seems like many of the nations of the earth curse offspring of Isaac (the Jews). As Christians, we probably want to say that this blessing evantually came through Jesus the Christ, but it doesn't seem like all the nations of the earth *are* blessing themselves by Him -- not yet anyway.

Looking at the progression of Genesis 22:1-18 as a whole, it challenges me. I consider how hard it is to follow God's will sometimes. Think about it... It appears that God's will was to deceive Abraham ... that God's will was for Abraham to attempt to kill his son ... that God's will was to have Abraham tie his son upon the alter ... to have Isaac endue the knowledge that his dear daddy was going to sacrifice him ... to have to stop Abraham with his arm raised, just moments before he slits Isaac's throat ... and that God's will was only then to reveal to Abraham a substitute sacrifice.

Huh? If the purpose was to test Abraham, why would a sacrifice still be necessary once the cat is out of the bag? Shouldn't it go, "Abraham stop! You've passed the test. Now, cut only the ropes that bind your son and take him home to celebrate." If there is going to be an animal in the thicket, I expect it to be a nice plump sheep for Abraham to take home for a feast to reward him for passing the test. That's not the way the story goes. Instead, God fulfills the prophecy that Abraham makes in verse 8, when Abraham said, "God will see to the sheep for His burnt offering." Maybe he is rewarding Abraham's belief that God would find a way to ensure that Isaac was able to have progeny. We don't know.

I question why God would tempt people if he really knows what is in our hearts. Testing his follower like this makes it look like God is insecure, but that can't be right, can it? God seems to need to find out if God's chosen apprentice is more than just a fair weather friend -- that Abraham would be obedient even if it seems that God is breaking the promise of a great nation fathered by Isaac, even as it seems that God is merely toying with him. I'm not pleased with the emotional trauma that God makes Abraham and Isaac endure. I'm uncomfortable with the fact that God in no way uses this opportunity to condemn human sacrifice -- instead, he commends Abraham for being willing to go through with it! In the end I have to acknowledge that God's ways truly are beyond my comprehension.

What about you ... what do you think?

PRAYER:
Dear Lord, Thank you for all things. I even thank you for my confusion, for it reminds me that no matter how often I think I "get it", I still don't know it all. As I accumulate knowledge, I realize how much I don't know. I pray only that you light the path far enough for me to attempt to follow your lead. I ask that you give me the courage to be obedient to your will. I hope that you open me up to possibilities beyond my dreams, and I look forward to learning to know you more. In Jesus name, Amen.

Lent Day #8

We've been looking at the story of Abram / Abraham starting with Abram's call story in Genesis 12 and then with Abraham pleading for God's grace to be expansive in Geneis 18. Yesterday we started to look the significance of the binding of Issac in Genesis chapter 22. Today, we continue with this story...

GENESIS 22:3-8 (NJPS)
3 So early next morning, Abraham saddled his ass and took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. he split the wood for the burnt offering, and he set out for the place of which God had told him. 4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place from afar. 5 Then Abraham said to his servants, "You stay here with the ass. the boy and I will go up there; we will worship and we will return to you."

6 Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and put it on his son Isaac. He himself took the firestone and the knife; and the two walked off together. 7 Then Isaac said to his father Abraham, "Father!" And he answered, "Yes, my son." And he said, "Here are the firestone and the wood; but where is the sheep for the burnt offering?" 8 And Abraham said, "God will see to the sheep for His burnt offering, my son." And the two of them walked on together.

In verse 5 Abraham tells his servants: "we will return". That's *we*, referring to Abraham and Isaac. If Abraham thinks that he's sacrificing his son, why does he say that they will both return? Does he already know that this is a test -- that he isn't expected to go through with it. Has he figured this out? Does he have any intention of actually slitting Isaac's throat? Is he hiding his fatal intentions from his servants and/or his son? Is he in denial, or is expressing hope that God won't renege on covenant -- on the promise that Isaac will be a great nation? If we take verse 8 into account, where Abraham tells Issac that "God will see to the sheep", it appears that Abraham has hope or faith that God will find a way to prevent him from carrying out the very task that God assigned him to do!

Hmm, so how old is Isaac at this point anyway? Until recently, I was under the impression we were talking about a young child who was maybe 5-8 years old. What about you? Look at verse 6 --- Abraham piles the wood for the pyre onto Isaac to carry. We aren't just talking about a couple small logs, but enough to conduct a burnt offering. That gets me thinking that this kid had to have been at least a teenager. Most rabbinic commentators see him as an adult -- and Abraham is really freaking old by this point! (He was 100 when Isaac was born!) It makes sense that Isaac is carrying the wood since he's probably much stronger than Abraham by this point...

PRAYER FOR PERSONAL DEDICATION:
(from the Lutheran Book of Prayer, Concordia 1970)

Lord of my life, I know that my life is not my own. By Your death and resurrection You made me Your own. Help me to live under Your direction, always ready to hear the call, "Follow Me"; always aware of Your presence; always knowing that I have received the gift of Your Spirit; always living so that others may receive Your love and mercy through me.

It is not easy to ask for these things, Lord, because I know that I have much to give up. I can no longer pretend that my life is my own. My prayer is my surrender to Your care and direction. I want to follow, Lord, but it is very hard. I will get very tired. I will make selfish mistakes. I will fail time and again. I will fall.

Show me again that there is love and forgiveness and mercy in Your hand. Use me in spite of my reluctance, doubt, and disobedience.

Pour into me Your good Spirit, so that I am not afraid to follow and fall and follow again. Amen.

NOTES:
We still need a couple volunteers for the Hypothermia Shelter on Friday evening. Feel free to bring an interested friend. We'll be serving food to up to 85 homeless folks and getting to spend some time eating with them and talking to them. We'll leave campus at 4:15pm, serve food, eat, and clean up between 5pm and 8pm, and return to campus before 9pm. RSVP on Facebook or by contacting me at bbuss (at) gmu (dot) edu

Lent Day #7

We've been looking at the story of Abram / Abraham starting with Abram's call story in Genesis 12 and then with Abraham pleading for God's grace to be expansive in Geneis 18. We're going to skip over Lot trying to protect God's visitors from the violent inhospitality of Sodomites. As the mobs near overtaking him, the visitors spare Lot and his family before destruction of Sodom. Now we're going to spend a few days working through story of the binding of Isaac in Genesis chapter 22.

GENESIS 22:1-2 (NJPS)
1 Some time afterward, God put Abraham to the test. He said to him, "Abraham," and he answered, "Here I am." 2 And He said, "Take your son, your favored one, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the heights that I will point out to you."

If your first thought as someone living in modern times is "What kind of crazy person would even consider killing his own child?" -- you aren't alone. It is worth remembering that Abraham lived in time and place where many gods were worshipped and sacrifices were always getting bigger and you never really knew what you had to do to please the gods, but some priest would tell you and you would do it. If things went well afterward, you would offer a bigger sacrifice as thanks. If things went badly, you offered a more drastic sacrifice under the assumption that the last offering wasn't good enough. Human sacrifice was not uncommon. For a more in-depth analysis of this world, wait until Rob Bell's "The gods aren't angry tour" comes out on DVD.

I want to pull out some things that really struck me in recent study of this passage with a Hebrew Bible professor at a local seminary. First, looking at verse 2 where it says "your favored one". This is apparently far weaker in English than the original Hebrew, which gives the sense of "your own soul". Wow!

If you start poking into it, we see that Abraham's legacy is inextricably bound up with Isaac's -- he is named as the heir who will inherit God's covenant with Abraham, though both of his children will be great nations...

GENESIS 17:17-21 (NJPS)
17 Abraham threw himself on his face and laughed, as he said to himself, "Can a child be born to a man a hundred years old, or can Sarah bear a child at ninety?" 18 And Abraham said to God, "O that Ishmael might live by your favor!" 19 God said, "Nevertheless, Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall name him Isaac; and I will maintain My covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring to come. 20 As for Ishmael, I have heeded you. I hereby bless him. I will make him fertile and exceedingly numerous. He shall be the father of twelve chieftains, and I will make of him a great nation. 21 But My covenant I will maintain with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this season next year."

This shadows the language earlier in Genesis 17 when God makes the covenant with Abraham. Therefore, in some ways Abraham's life centers around Isaac -- it is as if his son were himself because all Abraham's hopes are riding on Isaac. (No pressure kid.) The order of the terms in Genesis 22:2 is also important -- they indicate increasing tension. Read it this way: "I want you to take your son. Not just your son, but your favored son, the one who is the core of your being. Yes, I mean Isaac -- the one you love. I want you to kill him as an offering to me." WHAM! Can't you just imagine how this takes Abraham's breath away? All this time setting up a legacy, a rightful heir born when Abraham is 100, and now God wants the kid back!

What would you do?

PRAYER FOR GRACE TO ADJUST MYSELF:
(From "My Prayer Book", Concordia 1980)

Gracious God, heavenly Father, I must confess that I am sometimes upset by the many changes that come in life. I find it difficult to make the necessary adjustments. I do not ask to understand, but help me, I pray You, always to realize that no matter what happens to me, and what changes must be made, You still love me and will make every experience work together for my good.

Give me the faith to trust Your promise, "My grace is sufficient for you." In mercy forgive all grumbling and complaining of which I have been guilty in the past. Teach me to follow the example of Jesus, my Savior and Lord, who in trial and tribulation said, "Not My will, but Thine, be done." In that spirit I shall be able to meet whatever life has in store for me. For Jesus' sake. Amen.

Lent Day #6

Yesterday, we started looking at the story of Abram / Abraham, which covers Genesis chapters 12-25. We started at the beginning, but now we'll skip ahead a bit. Abram is now known as Abraham and Sarai is now known as Sarah. Lot has separated from Abraham to settle in the more fertile plains near Sodom. Abraham has a son, Ishmael, who is the daughter of Sarah's maidservant Hagar (yes, this is a cause for dramatic conflicts in the family). In Genesis chapter 18, God announces to Abraham and Sarah that even though she is past menopause, they will have a child of their own. Picking up immediately after that story...

GENESIS 18:17-21 (NJPS)
17 Now the Lord had said, "Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, 18 since Abraham is to become a great an populous nation and all the nations of the earth are to bless themselves by him? 19 For I have singled him out, that he may instruct his children and his posterity to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is just and right, in order that the lord may bring about for Abraham what He has promised him." 20 Then the Lord said, "The outrage of Sodom and Gomorrah is so great, and their sin so grave! 21 I will go down to see whether they have acted altogether according to the outcry that has reached Me; if not, I will take note."

This passage portrays God's internal dialogue -- God is debating if Abraham needs to know about the planned destruction of Sodom for being violently inhospitable to foreigners visiting the city. God has just visited Abraham and now they are walking toward Sodom in the fashion of Abraham walking his guest to the curb to say goodbye. It appears that God is making a last minute decision about whether his plans should be shared, or remain secret. It is evident that God opts to treat his chosen one with respect by sharing the plan, and the conversation continues...

GENESIS 18:22-32 (NJPS)
22 The men went on from there to Sodom, while Abraham remained standing before the Lord. 23 Abraham came forward and said, "Will You sweep away the innocent along with the guilty? 24 What if there should be fifty innocent within the city; will You then wipe out the place and not forgive it for the sake of the innocent fifty who are in it? 25 Far be it from You to do such a thing, to bring death upon the innocent as well as the guilty, so that innocent and guilty fare alike. Far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth deal justly?" 26 And the Lord answered, "If i find within the city of Sodom fifty innocent ones, I will forgive the whole place for their sake." 27 Abraham spoke up, saying, "Here I venture to speak to my Lord, I who am but dust and ashes: 28 What if the fifty innocent should lack five? Will you destroy the whole city for want of the five?" And He answered, "I will not destroy if I find forty-five there." 29 But he spoke to Him again, and said, "What if forty should be found there?" And He answered, "I will not do it for the sake of forty." 30 And he said, "Let not my Lord be angry if I go on: What if thirty should be found there?" And He answered, "I will not do it if I find thirty there." 31 And he said, "I venture again to speak to my Lord: What if twenty should be found there?" And He answered, "I will not destroy, for the sake of the twenty." 32 And he said, "Let not my Lord be angry if I speak but this last time: What if ten should be found there?" And He answered, "I will not destroy, for the sake of the ten."

Whoa! The man who we saw obeying God without a recorded peep yesterday in Genesis 12 is today questioning God with questions that border on manipulative. Look at the language: "Far be it from You to do such a thing ... Far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth deal justly!" He's basically telling God, "No, no, no -- you don't want to do that. Let me tell you what you want to do." Granted, he does it all very politely, but his pleading keeps going, bargaining God all the way down to agreeing to spare the entire city if a mere 10 innocent people can be found!

Look at the first half of verse 25 more closely: "Far be it from You to do such a thing, to bring death upon the innocent as well as the guilty, so that innocent and guilty fare alike." Abraham appears to be setting up to ask for the innocent to be spared, but look at the solution he seeks as the passage goes on. Abraham is asking God to show mercy, sparing *ALL* the inhabitants of the city "for the sake of the innocent". Doesn't it seem like Abraham starts off saying that God should punish justly, and then follows that up by begging for God to bestow grace universally?

How far do you hope that God's grace reaches?
Do you hope that there are a chosen few who are saved?
Do you hope that people get what we deserve based on our innocence or guilt?
Do you hope that those who believe exactly as you do are saved while those who think differently are left out of the party?
Do you hope that God's grace extends to all of humanity?
Do you hope that God's grace envelopes all of creation without limit?

Do you, like Abraham, pray for God's grace to extend farther than individuals ... beyond "fair" ... exceeding mere justice?

PRAYER:
Dear Lord, we thank you for all the blessings that you bestow upon your creation. We don't presume to understand your ways, or to have a better plan than you do. We plea today that your grace extends farther than our own. We know that we are as undeserving as everyone else and we humbly hope that your will is so gracious and merciful that it shocks us. Strengthen our faith and continue to bless us in work and service for You, through Christ. Amen.

NOTES:
1. These devotions are sponsored by GMU Lutheran Campus Ministry, which is is part of Northern Virginia Lutheran Campus Ministries. Our ministry is focused on students attending George Mason University or other colleges in northern Virginia -- and we don't just mean Lutherans ... we welcome everyone! For more information, see http://gmu.edu/org/lutheran
2. Please feel free to share these devotions with your friends. They are accessible from the "Lenten Devotions" Facebook group at http://gmu.facebook.com/group.php?gid=7958874287, or you can subscribe to the RSS feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/LentenDevotions

Lent Day #5

The Bible starts off in Genesis with the creation of everything, Adam and Eve getting exiled from the garden of Eden, the first murder, the development of culture, and the corruption of society. God takes a universal approach to things with Noah and the flood -- basically "rebooting" the system by killing nearly everyone. The Noah story ends at the end of Genesis chapter 9, followed by two chapters of lineage listings covering 10 generations and roughly 400 years with no mention God. During this time, humanity spreads across the world. Then we hit chapter 12, and God singles out one individual living in Mesopotamia...

GENESIS 12:1-6 (NJPS)
1 The Lord said to Abram, "Go forth from your native land and from your father's house to the land that I will show you.
2 I will make of you a great nation,
And I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
And you shall be a blessing.
3 I will bless those who bless you
And curse him that curse you;
And all the families of the earth
Shall bless themselves by you."
4 Abram went forth as the Lord had commanded him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran. 5 Abram took his wife Sarai and his brother's son Lot, and all the wealth that they had amassed and the persons that they had acquired in Haran; and they set out for the land of Canaan. When they arrived in the land of Canaan, 6 Abram passed through the land as far as the site of Shechem, at the terebinth of Moreh. The Canaanites were then in the land.

This is how the story of Abram / Abraham begins. Imagine it. Abram has lived in his father's house for 75 years -- and then God shows up and says "Gather your things, leave your father behind, and hit the road. Stick with me & I'll make you legendary. All the people of the world will consider themselves blessed because of you." Much of the promises to Abram get interpreted as reversing some of the curses put upon Adam and Eve when they were exiled from the garden.

We don't know if God had spoken to Abram before, or if he heard this audibly or in his head. The variables are mostly unknown. It appears that Abram was fairly well-off already as he had amassed wealth and slaves. Whatever factors came into play, Abram left home with his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, and all of their wealth. He gives up the security of his land and kin and hits the road.

Many of us have left our families to go to college, to take jobs, or to explore other opportunities. This is more dramatic. Even today, we would find it odd for someone to leave their line of work, their home, and their family -- with no plan and no specific destination. It would probably have been more odd then, when the norm was to stay with your family and almost everyone continued in the family business.

Think about how amazing it is that Abram was open and receptive to hearing what God was calling him to do. Sure he was promised a lot, but look at what he sacrificed. Think about how much trust he had to place in God in order to be receptive to being called to a completely new life, even in old age. Most of us are still young. Are we listening to what God is calling us to do? Are we willing to risk what we have for the sake of the unknown if that is where we feel God is leading us?

PRAYER:
Dear Lord, may you open our hearts and minds to your will. We pray that you give us the courage to follow where you lead us. We know that everything we have is a gift from you. Even our very own lives are gifts from you, and we humbly offer them for your use. In Jesus name, Amen.

NOTES:
If you are registered to vote in Virginia, Maryland, or the District of Columbia -- the primaries are tomorrow (Tuesday 2/12/2008). Virginia does not do registeration by party, so as long as you are registered to vote, you can take the ballet for whichever primary you are interested in voting in, but not both.