famine and family

Good evening friends,
I'm sorry these readings have been so inconsistent the last month or so. Our reading for today is a big jump forward. On Sunday we talked about God calling Abram to leave his home and go to a land God would give to his descendants. As always, God kept his promise: Abraham and Sarah had a son named Isaac, who married and had twins, Jacob and Esau. God changed Jacob's name to Israel and Israel had 12 sons, who became the 12 tribes of Israel. In jealousy the sons sold their brother Joseph into slavery in Egypt, but God's wisdom enabled Joseph to become Pharaoh's right hand man. With God's wisdom, Joseph administered Egypt's agricultural policy during seven years of abundant harvest to prepare for seven years of famine that God told him were coming. Because of this wise planning, Egypt survived the famine and Pharaoh consolidated power.

Our story picks up from there with Jacob/Israel hearing that there is grain in Egypt while the famine raged in Canaan. All these years he has believed his son Joseph was dead. We're poised for a dramatic reunion that eventually leads Jacob's whole family to take refuge in Egypt as Pharaoh's honored guests. Blessings on your evening,
Sam

Genesis 42:1-8

When Jacob learned that there was grain in Egypt, he said to his sons, “Why do you keep looking at one another? ²I have heard,” he said, “that there is grain in Egypt; go down and buy grain for us there, that we may live and not die.” ³So ten of Joseph’s brothers went down to buy grain in Egypt. ⁴But Jacob did not send Joseph’s brother Benjamin with his brothers, for he feared that harm might come to him. ⁵Thus the sons of Israel were among the other people who came to buy grain, for the famine had reached the land of Canaan. ⁶Now Joseph was governor over the land; it was he who sold to all the people of the land. And Joseph’s brothers came and bowed themselves before him with their faces to the ground.

⁷When Joseph saw his brothers, he recognized them, but he treated them like strangers and spoke harshly to them. “Where do you come from?” he said. They said, “From the land of Canaan, to buy food.” ⁸Although Joseph had recognized his brothers, they did not recognize him.

 

Hagar and Ishmael

Good evening or morning brothers and sisters,
Today we continue our theme of mothers and children looking at the trouble story of Abraham, Sarah and Hagar. Both before and after God called Abraham and Sarah to leave their home for the promised land, Sarah was unable to have children. That was a problem not only because wanting to have children and being unable to is heart-breaking, but especially because God had promised to make Abraham's descendants into a great nation. That promised felt like a dead end without any kids. At one point Sarah proposed the idea of having Abraham sleep with Sarah's slave Hagar so they could have children that way. The trouble was when Hagar did conceive she and Sarah stopped getting along. When God's promise of a son through Sarah finally came true, Sarah wanted to make sure her son wouldn't have a rival for his inheritance. That's where our story takes off. God's love works even when our injustice seems worst.

God bless,
Sam

Genesis 21:9-21

⁹But Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, playing with her son Isaac. ¹⁰So she said to Abraham, “Cast out this slave woman with her son; for the son of this slave woman shall not inherit along with my son Isaac.” ¹¹The matter was very distressing to Abraham on account of his son. ¹²But God said to Abraham, “Do not be distressed because of the boy and because of your slave woman; whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you, for it is through Isaac that offspring shall be named for you. ¹³As for the son of the slave woman, I will make a nation of him also, because he is your offspring.”

¹⁴So Abraham rose early in the morning, and took bread and a skin of water, and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, along with the child, and sent her away. And she departed, and wandered about in the wilderness of Beer-sheba. ¹⁵When the water in the skin was gone, she cast the child under one of the bushes. ¹⁶Then she went and sat down opposite him a good way off, about the distance of a bowshot; for she said, “Do not let me look on the death of the child.” And as she sat opposite him, she lifted up her voice and wept.

¹⁷And God heard the voice of the boy; and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven, and said to her, “What troubles you, Hagar? Do not be afraid; for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is. ¹⁸Come, lift up the boy and hold him fast with your hand, for I will make a great nation of him.” ¹⁹Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. She went, and filled the skin with water, and gave the boy a drink. ²⁰God was with the boy, and he grew up; he lived in the wilderness, and became an expert with the bow. ²¹He lived in the wilderness of Paran; and his mother got a wife for him from the land of Egypt.

long stories and hard blessings

Good morning brothers and sisters,
A conversation yesterday reminded me that this story we're reading can feel very disconnected from our lives and also sometimes feels like it's going on for ever. The Book of Genesis is the story of beginnings: the beginning of the world and the beginning of God's chosen people, Israel. This long family story we've been following tells us how we get from one couple's calling (Abraham and Sarah) to a nation called by God to be special. As we follow the twists and turns of Abraham and Sarah's children and now grandchildren's lives we see that God's calling doesn't run in a straight line. The story matters to us because when God called Abraham God promised that through Abraham not only his descendants, but the whole world would be blessed through him. We believe that this promise is fulfilled in Jesus, who took a message to a particular people and opened it up to everyone.

Today's story is what happened the night before Jacob was going to meet Esau. He send his family and possessions ahead and was to follow the next morning. Jacob receives God's blessing the hard way, sometimes we can relate to that.

May God's blessings follow you today,
Sam

Genesis 32:22-31

22The same night he got up and took his two wives, his two maids, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. 23He took them and sent them across the stream, and likewise everything that he had. 24Jacob was left alone; and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. 25When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he struck him on the hip socket; and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. 26Then he said, “Let me go, for the day is breaking.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go, unless you bless me.”



27So he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” 28Then the man said, “You shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with humans, and have prevailed.” 29Then Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And there he blessed him. 30So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life is preserved.” 31The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip.