Genesis 12:1-9
Proper 5 (10) – Year A
Jesus called and was called. Abram and Sarai and Lot and others were called and call.
Call is closely allied to blessing—blessing is where a call is intended to lead.
Call and blessing are so strong that they can overshoot the mark. We catch a glimpse of the extra energy that comes from call and blessing when Abram and the lot make it to the land of Canaan, have it acknowledged that this is the place that was the goal, and then find themselves unable to stop their journey, their call, their blessing and moved on from there to east of Bethel and then south to the Negev.
One could always argue that these subsequently named places are all part of some larger “promised land” and Abram was but staking out various parts of it. If we read but one more verse we find Abram all the way into Egypt. There is a sense of bait and switch here with Abram seemingly promised good things to come and ending up in a famine that pushes him on beyond Canaan. Promise delayed is going to be a theme for a while (still).
You may want to track this in your own life of calls and blessings overshot or delayed. While we usually focus in on just the pericope at hand, in this instance it is helpful to go the extra mile and read a bit beyond the appointed stopping place.
A later reflection on the “overshoot” phenomenon suggests that call and blessing can easily be sidetracked through a mechanism of pride. It appears that call and blessing do not live easily with humility. A struggle, rather than cooperation, between these gifts can delay each of their benefits, for both self and others.
As found in Wrestling Year A: Connecting Sunday Readings with Lived Experience
Though this pericope includes the previous one, we are in a different part of the church year and there are some differences to be noted along with the similarities. As always, when one change is made, whether by addition or subtraction, the whole situation is changed.
More will be made of Abraham’s "faith" later. For now let’s look at Abram’s response to a new blessing.
An old dog can learn new tricks. Abram was 75 when striking out on a new path. Who can be given up on? This passage lets us know we can’t give up on anyone. That could be modified by saying we can’t give up on anyone who has been touched, blessed, by G*D. But, what sort of elitism is it to define who will and will not be touched by G*D.
When was the last time you considered the radical Calvinist branch of Methodism as elitists, today’s “religious right”. They try to project themselves as populists but that is but a facade for knowing who is already in and who isn’t. And, according to them and General Conferences scared of their tactics, all GLBTQ’s are out (its a matter of procreation, don’t you know) just as before this all the descendants of Ham were out.
But all that to the side. Note the altar building and then moving on, more altar building and more moving on. Have we not built altars and then settled beside them? It is time to note that keeping up with G*D goes beyond sacred spaces. Let’s keep moving.
http://www.kairoscomotion.org/lectionary/2002/june2002.html
To Abram's descendants – the promise of land.
Life goes awry in a very usual way – from poverty to poverty in three generations. Stereotypically, a poor individual gains through hard work and perseverance and makes a bundle; their children don’t have to work as diligently because of the resources at hand; and their grandchildren lose diligence altogether, squandering their inheritance – back to poverty.
The same process holds for the technique and efficacy of sacrifice. Hosea, among many prophets, calls descendants to return to a basic relationship with God without the intermediary of sacrifice which puts all the blame for lack of fortune upon some failed magic and/or God’s perversity.
As you consider the dream you once had for your life and where you have come to – is this a time of rejoicing or regret? Have we been caught in a spiritual version of this old sociological model of generational wealth or religious model of sacrificial wealth? What will motivate us third generational progressive prophets to return to our radical roots?
http://www.kairoscomotion.org/lectionary/2005/june2005.html
To Abram and Matthew a call: “go from your country” and “come, follow me” – look again, there is another way to find greater life, greater hope beyond hope. Being open to this call in our own day is part of the challenge for settled individuals and congregations and nations.
This call is not just geographical. The Psalmist and Paul remind us of the changes we need to be making internally that our heritage might be healed, that our distress and sacrificial mentality be swept away by steadfast love.
Whether an external move or an internal one, a key element is transformation from acting out of fear of further distress, because our guilt needs to be atoned for by some sacrifice, to being proactive beyond fear to ask for what is needed (remember Tabitha’s father and an unnamed woman with a twelve-year hemorrhage) in anticipation of steadfast love without retributive punishment needing to occur first.
Note the acceptance of Jesus regarding a request for him to move, not Tabitha's father or Tabitha. Note the acceptance of Jesus of a touch that slows him during his journey.
Perhaps we might envision a mutual journey – G*D’s and ours – not one pulling or pushing the other from where they are, but a mutual attraction and desire to move in common.
- - - - - - -
journey without a destination
challenges our control need
even with past adventures
having turned out well
there is hesitation
to trust againjourney without a destination
raises again an insatiable god
testing and testing again
our temptation
to settle
injourney without a destination
is a realistic assessment of our lot
no matter how we disguise it
change and death obtain
warrants to search
empty livesjourney without a destination
anticipates beyond current plateaus
use of several learnable skill sets
to envision preferred futures
to enact their foundations
to enliven generations
http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2007_06_01_archive.html
We all journey by stages (no, not the wild-west kind). We are uprooted (poisoned) and settled (healed) and pray a next round will find us in a better place.
In sci-fi terms, we pollute where we are. This pollution is psychic, spiritual, physical, violent, etc. Eventually a whole planet is filled with our offal and it is time to take off for a new promised land.
It is this reality that is found in the middle-of-the-night. We resist and resist the need to change that we might be born anew where we are. Eventually, though, this new birth is put off so long that we destroy our host in the birthing process, we will never be able to go home again.
At this point we need to get off the dialogic impasse of being born again or from above and all that it symbolizes to different experience bases. The only choice open is death promising new choices or healing requiring repentance where we are.
Always we are looking for the healing available in death and the death that is needed for healing. When we are able to hold these two together, we find resurrection – a healing, a new birth, a reincarnation.
http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2008_02_01_archive.html
Jesus called and was called. Abram and Sari and Lot and others were called and call.
Call is closely allied to blessing. Blessing is where a call is intended to lead. Blessings are available to and through those called.
In fact call and blessing are so strong that they often overshoot the mark. We catch a glimpse of the extra energy that comes from call and blessing when Abram and the lot make it to the land of Canaan, have it acknowledged that this is the place that was the goal, and then find themselves unable to stop the journey, the call, the blessing and moved on from there to east of Bethel and then south to the Negev.
One could always argue that these subsequently named places are all part of some larger “promised land” and Abram was but staking out various part of it. But if we read but one more verse we find Abram all the way into Egypt. There is a sense of bait and switch here with Abram seemingly promised good things to come and ending up in a famine that pushes him on beyond Canaan. Promises delayed is going to be theme for awhile (still).
You may want to track this in your own life of calls and blessings overshot and delayed. While we usually focus in on just the pericope at hand, in this instance it is helpful to go the extra mile and read a bit beyond the appointed stopping place.
A later reflection on the “overshoot” phenomena suggests that call and blessing can easily be sidetracked through a mechanism of pride. It appears that call and blessing do not live easily with humility. A struggle, rather than cooperation, between these gifts can delay each of their benefits, both for self and others.
http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2008_06_01_archive.html