Wednesday, June 14, 2023

Wisdom Wednesday: Yitzhak

Grace and peace to you. I’m Rev. Joe Cailles, the pastor of Peakland United Methodist Church in Lynchburg Virginia. Today is Wednesday, June 14, 2023. Through the month of June, I’m posting my reflections on the scripture lessons for Sunday’s worship services. We’re reading from Genesis this month and following the family of Abraham and Sarah, and their descendants, and I’m using a wonderful translation of Genesis created by Dr. Everett Fox, who is a Professor of Judaic and Biblical Studies at Clark University in Massachusetts. Dr. Fox’s translation uses the Hebrew names for Abraham and Sarah, Avraham and Sara, and captures the rhythms of the Hebrew Language. Adonai said to Avram, Go-you-forth from your land, from your kindred, from your father’s house to the land that I will let you see. I will make a great nation of you and will give-you-blessing and will make your name great. Be a blessing! We heard that passage from Geneses chapter 12, last Sunday in worship. God calls Avram and Sarai to go to a new land so that God can give them descendants who will be a blessing to all the clans of the soil, to all the people of the earth. This is surprising news for Avram and Sarai, because they have no children and they are well past their childbearing and child raising years, but off they go to be blessed and to be a blessing. As I said last Sunday in the sermon, we today, who are among the spiritual descendants of Avram and Sarai, are to be a blessing to all the clans of the soil as well. We who follow Jesus are meant be a blessing to all the world around us. Sometimes we get that right. Sometimes we get that so wrong. For Avram and Sarai, almost immediately they question God and make all sorts of bad decisions. Each time God reiterates that God will give them descendants they question and hem and haw and at one point Sarai even laughs in the face of God, such is her disbelief. I like that part. I like questions and pushback and laughing at God. That’s how we learn and grow in our faith. That’s how we grow and learn more about God. Ask questions! Seek better answers than what I give you or what the church gives you. Seek better answers from what the world gives you. Avram and Sarai do make a huge mistake though. They decide that since Sarai is too old to bear a child, they will have Avram have a baby with Hagar, Sarai’s maid. That’s not what God wants to happen, and it’s not clear how Hagar feels about the situation. It does not go well. Hagar and Avram have a son together, Ishmael, but the household is not happy and Avram and Sarai banish Hagar and Ishmael. Hagar despairs that she and her son will die but God hears them, and God provides for them. Hagar and Ishmael survive and find a home for themselves, and Ishmael becomes the father of his own people. The Muslim people today claim Ishmael as their ancestor. God makes a way even when we mess things up. In Genesis Avram and Sarai become Avraham and Sara, Abraham and Sara, and God does make good on the promise. They have a son named Yitzhak, Isaac, which means, One who laughs and rejoices. Sara laughed at God. Now God and Sara and Avram laugh and rejoice at the newborn baby. I love the idea that God laughs with us, that God delights in our delight and shares our joy. The joy and delight do not last. What comes next for Avraham and Sara and Yitzhak is a trial, a test of their faith which is brutal and life changing for them. We’ll hear that story from Genesis 22 next Sunday, June 18 in worship. Join us online or in-person for Sunday worship at Peakland. And check out Andrew’s new video series “Where’s the Deacon” debuting this Friday on the church’s Facebook page: Peakland United Methodist Church. Throughout the summer Andrew is going to spend Thursdays out in the community, sometimes he’ll be volunteering, sometimes he’ll be having office hours at a coffee shop, and sometimes he’ll just be hanging out. On Fridays, he’ll give us a preview of what he’s going to be doing and where he’s going to be the next Thursday. As Peakland is reaching out, serving all, and extending God’s table, Andrew our deacon will help lead the way. Thanks be to God.