Bible Text: Genesis 12:1-9, 1 Corinthians 12:14-26 | Preacher: Pastor Karen Bartkowski | Series: Genesis | So, today we meet Abram.  We don’t know much about him before this chapter in Genesis.  Last week, we read part of Chapter 11 and about the Tower of Babel.  The people built this tower to show how great they were, how able they were and to draw attention to themselves.  But, God had some different plans.  Pastor Dorry encouraged us to hear God saying “watch this…”  God took the people who were working together toward one goal.  A goal that put them at the center.  And God confused their languages and spread them all over the face of the earth. The end of Chapter 11 is a genealogical list of the descendents of Shem, one of Noah’s sons, until we get to Terah, the father of Abram.  It is here we learn that Abrams’s wife, Sarai, could have no children.  But, really we don’t know anymore about him as a person or them as a couple.

Chapter 12 begins with, “The Lord said to Abram…”  It leaves us to wonder if Abram knew who the Lord was, if he had heard from the Lord before and what allowed Abram to not only hear the voice of the Lord, but also to listen.  Why was Abram chosen by God?  God made some really BIG promises to Abram.  It would lead us to think Abram must have been a good guy, someone who had a relationship with God. But, I wonder if God chose a plain, unassuming person to become the Father of Nations to teach us something.  If we apply the logic from the story of the Tower of Babel, God is saying, “watch this…”  Look what I am going to do next…I am going to change the world starting with this nondescript person.

In contrast to the words we read last week, where the builders of the Tower of Babel said “We will…Today we read God say “I will”.  God is the main character in this story!  God is the author of this story! God says…

I will give you land.

I will give you children.

I will make you blessed to be a blessing to the whole earth.

Abram might have thought, how is any of this possible?  It doesn’t make any sense?  I am leaving land owned by my family for generations to go to a place I have never seen.  How will that land become mine?  And….my wife is barren….she can’t have children….how is it that we will possibly make a new nation?  And a blessing? How can a basic man like me, currently with no land and no children, have any impact on anyone else.  Who will want to live like I do?  Who will listen to me?

They all seem like likely questions, right?  But, let’s remember God says “I will”.  God’s actions are the center of this promise.  God promises to do what seems impossible.  God promises do what Abram cannot imagine.  The rest of the Bible tells us over and over again how God is faithful to these promises. God might be making a promise to Abram, a promise of land and children, but the promise for blessing is for all the people of the earth. Did you hear that?  “All the families of the earth will be blessed”  God says I will bless all the families of the earth!. God says, starting with Abram, I will bless all people.  I will make and keep my promise with all people.  This is where the truth is in the song Father Abraham.  “I am one of them and so are you!  So, let’s all praise the Lord!”

.  God is promising a relationship with all people. God is revealing that God desires a relationship with all people!  God is the initiator of this relationship.  God is the giver of the blessing.  God is the reason we can have faith in these promises. This is not about us, what we do or what we think.  God chose to make the promise of blessing, the promise of love, the promise of protection with all people. All people get the blessing, whether we think they deserve it or not. All people get the blessing, whether they know it or not.  This blessing from God is the foundation of our understanding of Prevenient Grace.  That grace of God that is at work before we know it, before we accept it, the grace that is working to show us who God is.

The story of the Bible is God’s story.  The story of how God has built and nurtured this relationship with all people through the good, the bad and even the ugly.

It is through this relationship that God reveals God’s self to the world.  All people are both blessed and blessings because God can and does use all people and all situations to show the world who God is.  When we read about Joshua leading the people across the Jordan River to the Promised Land, Joshua reminds the people that God parted the river just as God had parted the Red Sea. These acts were not only for the people at the river’s edge, but Joshua 4:24 says those acts are also so that “all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mighty.”

 

Then Jesus, as God incarnate, expanded this promise, this covenant, of blessing.  Certainly the blessing of salvation that we received through his death and resurrection is nothing to sneeze at.  But, we can not and should not overlook all the blessings that Jesus provided through his teaching, his modeling of behavior and his expansion of the definition of love.  Jesus showed all people how to love all people. When asked what God wants most from us, he says “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and love your neighbor as yourself.”  He doesn’t make a list of those you should not love.  He continually draws the connection between God, our neighbor, and ourself. In every interaction we read about in the Gospels, Jesus is making, enhancing and building connection between people and God and between people and people.  In his last instructions before he ascended, Jesus tells his disciples, and us, to go and make disciples of all nations.  Not some, not the ones we like, or understand, or agree with.  We are to work to continue the connection we have with all people that God established through Abram, some 4000 years ago!

 

God does not leave us on our own to do this daunting work.  As promised, God sent the Holy Spirit so that we could be witnesses to the whole earth.  God surely desires relationships with ALL people and God uses ALL people to build and maintain those connections.

 

In our reading from 1 Corinthians today, Paul helps us understand this connection we have with each other.  He describes all people as being part of the body. I think it is funny how Father Abraham song uses the parts of the body as well.  And whenever I hear this scripture, I am reminded of the ditty…the foot bone’s connected to the leg bone, the leg bone’s connected to the hip bone….and so on and so on. Paul describes the church as the body.  Paul says each part of the body is equally important. Each body part has its own purpose and no other one can say that another is not needed.  Can the hand say to the foot. You are not needed?  Or the eye say to the ear you are not needed?  Purpose and connection are inseparable.  Because I am sure that we can all tell a story about a time we injured one part of our body and the rest of our body suffered. Back pain makes it hard to walk, a broken arm makes it hard to get dressed, a headache makes it hard to think, see or talk.  When one part of the body suffers, all suffers.

Paul uses the metaphor of the body, but what if we really said what Paul was trying to teach us.  We would say all people are important to the church.  Each person has his or her own purpose and are equally important.  What person can say to another, you are not needed?  What person can say to another you are not a part of the body? What person can not feel the pain of someone else’s suffering?

We might be saying to ourselves, I would never do that, the church would never do that, this church for sure would never do that.  I have always thought that everyone belonged here, this church always welcomed everyone, we care about everyone.

To this, I would like to add a challenge to our thinking.  If we believe that God is the giver of the blessing and that the blessing is for all people as God stated, then everyone’s name is on that list of blessing. God has already decided that! God has already written that list; God wrote the list the day he made the promise to Abram when he said all the people of the earth shall be blessed.  All people!  And who doesn’t like to see their name on a list.  I remember being in high school and auditioning for a part in the musical or a special choir group.  The rush to the bulletin board when the list was posted was exciting, as long as you saw your name on the list. It meant you made it, you were good enough, you were worthy.  But, what if your name wasn’t on the list?

Or who can remember shopping in a souvenir shop while on vacation, maybe at the beach or Niagara Falls or Disney World?  Remember the whole rack of key chains with names?  Remember how cool it was when you found your own name?  And how disappointing it was when there wasn’t even a spot for your name?

We have a responsibility to tell people that everyone is blessed by God, even if they don’t feel that from their families or friends.  We have a responsibility to show people that their name is on the list, even when other people say they are not good enough or don’t belong.  We have a responsibility to stay connected to all the people God has connected.

Our reconciling team has been working on this statement that is in the bulletin for over 10 months.  We have prayed, learned, talked, and disagreed at times.  One of the most robust conversations involved the list you read in the statement.  Some wondered why we can’t just say “all people”, why do we have to make a list? Or even why do we need a statement at all?  Haven’t we always been a welcoming church to all people?  I see this statement as our way of making a tangible connection. A way to make a connection with people who might feel disconnected. With people who have been made to feel that they are not part of the body or that their part is not needed. I believe this statement is a way for us to post that list on the bulletin board so that everyone can see their name. God has already made the list and everyone’s name is on it, from Abram to you and me, and all those who will come after us.  God has already made the promise to everyone. God has already connected us. I wonder how will we live out that connection and share the blessings from God?

In the name of Jesus, Amen.