Title: Blessing Forward
Scripture: Genesis 12:1-9 / Psalm 33:1-12
Lectionary, Year A, Proper 5
Author: Chris Harbin
We tend to be a bit short-sighted as a species. We think of blessing in terms of immediate reward and gratification. In fact, immediate gratification is a sign we point to as a mark of immaturity. We like to teach our children that immediate gratification is short-sighted and we need to look further ahead for larger and better rewards. Then we grow up and find ourselves right back at the beginning, looking for immediate gratification, even if we have extended the term a little. When will we learn that the greatest blessings are those which look far enough down the road to include future generations?
Abraham is considered the Father of Faith by three major world religions. He is held in esteem in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. We think of Abraham as greatly blessed by God, especially as today's text talks about God's blessing promised to Abraham. Then we look at his life and may begin to question exactly why and how it is that so many consider him blessed. At least in the ways we tend to use and hear the term used around us, Abraham seems to be barely blessed, if he was indeed blessed at all.
Over the course of his lifelong journey of trusting and walking with God, he never enjoyed what today commonly passes for blessing. Oh, he had his herds of animals. The only property he ever held title to was purchased at many times its value, and only amounted to a burial cave with its adjacent field. For the majority of his life, he had no children. He had no place to which he belonged, nowhere he was known and accepted. He was a nomad and an outsider wherever he chanced to go. He held no political power beyond the band of servants, slaves, and others attached to his nomadic band. Any wealth he accumulated seems not to have passed down to his son Isaac. Isaac was only born in his advanced years, leaving him childless ...
Scripture: Genesis 12:1-9 / Psalm 33:1-12
Lectionary, Year A, Proper 5
Author: Chris Harbin
We tend to be a bit short-sighted as a species. We think of blessing in terms of immediate reward and gratification. In fact, immediate gratification is a sign we point to as a mark of immaturity. We like to teach our children that immediate gratification is short-sighted and we need to look further ahead for larger and better rewards. Then we grow up and find ourselves right back at the beginning, looking for immediate gratification, even if we have extended the term a little. When will we learn that the greatest blessings are those which look far enough down the road to include future generations?
Abraham is considered the Father of Faith by three major world religions. He is held in esteem in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. We think of Abraham as greatly blessed by God, especially as today's text talks about God's blessing promised to Abraham. Then we look at his life and may begin to question exactly why and how it is that so many consider him blessed. At least in the ways we tend to use and hear the term used around us, Abraham seems to be barely blessed, if he was indeed blessed at all.
Over the course of his lifelong journey of trusting and walking with God, he never enjoyed what today commonly passes for blessing. Oh, he had his herds of animals. The only property he ever held title to was purchased at many times its value, and only amounted to a burial cave with its adjacent field. For the majority of his life, he had no children. He had no place to which he belonged, nowhere he was known and accepted. He was a nomad and an outsider wherever he chanced to go. He held no political power beyond the band of servants, slaves, and others attached to his nomadic band. Any wealth he accumulated seems not to have passed down to his son Isaac. Isaac was only born in his advanced years, leaving him childless ...
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