Dark Night of Abram's Soul - Genesis 15

The Dark Night of Abram’s Soul

Genesis 15:1-21

I am told the words, Do not be afraid, appear some 365 times in the Bible (R.Rohr). That is one reminder for each and everyday of the year, except when we have a leap year...so one day this year, this month in fact, you can fear. The rest of the days, do not be afraid!!   

Slide: I like how F. Buechner says it: "Here is the world, terrible and beautiful things will happen. Don’t be afraid."

Easier said than done.

As we continue along our Lenten journey, I have encouraged members of my household, especially the two little ones and myself to give up for lent: Freaking out!

It’s funny the images and especially the songs which come to mind as I cobble together my sermons. Last week, It was devil went down to Georgia.

This week: Aw Freak out:

"All that pressure, Got you down.

Has your head spinning all around"

"Freak out."

No, this Lent I tell the kids and myself Don’t Freak Out! Lent is a period where we recognize our need for God, and in new ways discover how we might become closer to God and to others.

By not Freaking out! we are more pleasant to be around so others might care to be around us. And we are demonstrating a dependence on God, again, easier said than done...

Because we "aww freak out!"  

Why do we freak out?

Any number of reasons: In Star Wars: the Force Awakens, Kylo Ren kind of freaked out on several occasions when he received bad news! I freak out when I’m hungry--hangry moments?  And when I’m tired, and when I’m not getting my way, and when I’m disappointed. when I’m afraid, when I’m  fill in the blank:

In our passage from Genesis 15 we catch Abram, soon to be father of our faith Abraham, is kind of freaking out.

Why? He’s disappointed. He fears for his future.  He's losing his patience.

We can probably relate to this, but if we’re honest many,  if not most of our disappointments have come from unrealistic expectations we’ve set for ourselves. Why were we hoping for that outcome in the first place?  Had we consulted God before we set that expectation? or was it something we just felt like we deserved?

But for Abram, it was different than from most of us, because, at least according to the story in the bible, his expectation had actually been promised to him by the LORD--directly.

In Genesis chapter 12, the Lord tells him countless offspring!

Yet, many years pass and as Abram sees it,

he had been given no offspring---....except for his child born of his slave and foreigner--

Side note: here we see evidence of the prejudice of our forefathers all the way back to father Abram.  A sin we’re still trying to overcome...

So, because the Lord had promised and not yet fulfilled:

Slide: On a starry evening

Abram kind of freaks out.

Using his personal direct line to God--

which most clergy have of course --

He has this conversation, if we can call it that.

Abram questions…

God responds: “Do not be afraid!”

But, but..you promised!

“Here we go again,” says the patient Lord.  

Abram, go outside and count the stars, that’s how many your offspring will be…..

I wonder if this was kind of a trick God used to get Abram to fall asleep when Abram started freaking out. Like counting sheep.

Bucking Bronco - Genesis 16:1-13

Genesis 16:1-13

NOTE: this is the relatively unabridged version of the sermon.  We actually did something else in the service than just me preaching. The congregation was divided up into four sections and each section was assigned one of the four roles in the narrative: Hagar, Sarai, Abram, and the Angel of the Lord.  The groups discussed the passage from their perspective and then shared/defended their perspective to the rest of the group, with David Anderson helping with the verdict.   This probably could/should have been the whole sermon portion, but I felt obligated to also deliver parts of "sermonette #2 and #3 below, which touch on being part of the household of abraham and domestic violence...WOW, try to squeeze all that in one sermon :). 

We begin a fall study of the old testament.
When’s the last time you picked up the bible and said, I’m going to read a little OT? 
And not just going to the Psalms or Proverbs.

A friend recently told me she doesn’t usually turn to scripture for guidance because when she did this in her past she ran into some OT passage that it just didn’t speak to her, or worse, left her confused or made her feel worse.  

There’s a reason Ben Franklin and many of us become selective about our bible canon,
but Harry and I and the group that meets for bible study on Tuesdays at noon thought it would be a fun fall challenge to check out the Hebrew Scriptures.
So they picked out some passages...
including this one...

So here we go into the Fantastic, Fearful, Far Out world of the Hebrew Bible!

Abram Animal Halves, Genesis 15

Genesis 15: 1-18; Westminister Presbyterian Church, Santa Fe; February 28, 2010

Singing:

Father Abraham had many sons
Many sons had Father Abraham
I am one of them and so are you
So let's all praise the Lord.
Right arm!
Father Abraham had many sons
Many sons had Father Abraham
I am one of them and so are you
So let's all praise the Lord.
Right arm, left arm!
Father Abraham had many sons
Many sons had Father Abraham
I am one of them and so are you
So let's all praise the Lord.
Right arm, left arm, right foot!

Alright! I was at presbytery meetings all day Friday and Saturday.
I thought singing this together would make for a great sermon. 

How bout, one more verse…Father Abraham…no?

Okay.  Actually, I’m kind of wondering how you reacted to this passage Rachel read about Abram…aka father Abraham. What stood out to you from this ancient text?  What about Abram’s whining to God about his heir being a slave?  [Offensive to me]. What about God encouraging a colonialist conquistador attitude in Abram? Giving Abram land to possess that is already possessed?  

And how bout Abram getting his butcher groove on? slicing through animals…eesshh

You know I have options when choosing passages to preach on. But, for some reason, this was the passage that stayed with me for this second sunday of lent. 

As we are thinking about our own Lenten journeys, As we are living into sacrificing, altering, or taking on of certain lifestyle practices as a way to re-imagine Jesus’ experience in the wilderness, and understand better the way of the cross—And for many of us this has meant attempting to reduce our fossil fuel intake because we see it as an issue of justice...

This passage about Abram stuck.  And I want to share, briefly, three reasons why (unusual for me to preach a three point sermon but here goes).