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1 Samuel 3 
Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the Lord under Eli. The word of the Lord was rare in those days; visions were not widespread. At that time Eli, whose eyesight had begun to grow dim so that he could not see, was lying down in his room; the lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was. Then the Lord called, “Samuel! Samuel!”and he said, “Here I am!” and ran to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But he said, “I did not call; lie down again.” So he went and lay down. The Lord called again, “Samuel!” Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But he said, “I did not call, my son; lie down again.” 

Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, and the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him. The Lord called Samuel again, a third time. And he got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” Then Eli perceived that the Lord was calling the boy. Therefore Eli said to Samuel, “Go, lie down, and if he calls you, you shall say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.’ ” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.

Now the Lord came and stood there, calling as before, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.” Then the Lord said to Samuel, “See, I am about to do something in Israel that will make both ears of anyone who hears of it tingle. On that day I will fulfill against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end. For I have told him that I am about to punish his house forever for the iniquity that he knew, because his sons were blaspheming God, and he did not restrain them. Therefore I swear to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli’s house shall not be expiated by sacrifice or offering forever.” 

Samuel lay there until morning; then he opened the doors of the house of the Lord. Samuel was afraid to tell the vision to Eli. But Eli called Samuel and said, “Samuel, my son.” He said, “Here I am.” Eli said, “What was it that he told you? Do not hide it from me. May God do so to you and more also, if you hide anything from me of all that he told you.” So Samuel told him everything and hid nothing from him. Then he said, “It is the Lord; let him do what seems good to him.”

As Samuel grew up, the Lord was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground. And all Israel from Dan to Beer-sheba knew that Samuel was a trustworthy prophet of the Lord. The Lord continued to appear at Shiloh, for the Lord revealed himself to Samuel at Shiloh by the word of the Lord.

Reflection
Many folks imagine Samuel in this passage as a young child. This doesn’t come as a surprise to me considering much of the religious art from the history of the church portrays a young child being given to the priest Eli for service in the tabernacle. Scholars believe he was about three years old, when his mother Hannah offered him to Eli. Moreover, some rabbinic scholars argue he could have been as young as twenty-two months, about the time when she would have weaned him. Although Samuel was a young child when he was offered, by the time this passage took place, he was likely around twelve or thirteen years old. Through our modern lens, this is quite young to assume a role of such responsibility. 

That said, I felt a call to ministry when I was fourteen years old, not far from Samuel’s age when God audibly spoke to him. So I know that it’s not impossible for a boy to understand the idea of being called by God. He wasn’t called to youth ministry, however. His role in the nation of Israel was not a small one. Can you imagine that? Samuel was barely into his adolescence and God called him to be a prophet for God’s chosen people. He would be the voice of God. As the text reveals, hearing Yahweh’s voice in those days wasn’t common, but in this case, God spoke to Samuel several times. In the midst of the unrighteousness of Eli’s house, God was going to raise up a leader. Out of the humility and innocence of a child, God would lead the people of Israel. We shouldn’t be surprised by this somehow, in particular since we know this isn’t the first time God used someone who felt less than, under equipped, or on the fringe of society. God has a knack for using the least expected people. 

Samuel was one of the last judges of Israel and one of the first prophets after Moses. He would be a key figure in helping bring a King-based government to Israel, and in the anointing of David as God’s chosen king. This passage not only highlight the value God places on those often unsuspecting vessels God, but also marks a transition in our story as we move toward the final covenant God makes with one of Israel’s leaders–King David.  

Exodus 3
Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian; he led his flock beyond the wilderness and came to Mount Horeb, the mountain of God. There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of a bush; he looked, and the bush was blazing, yet it was not consumed. Then Moses said, “I must turn aside and look at this great sight and see why the bush is not burned up.” When the Lord saw that he had turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” Then he said, “Come no closer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” He said further, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.

Then the Lord said, “I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters. Indeed, I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them from the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the country of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. The cry of the Israelites has now come to me; I have also seen how the Egyptians oppress them. Now go, I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.” But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” He said, “I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you that it is I who sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.”

But Moses said to God, “If I come to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” He said further, “Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘I am has sent me to you.’ ”  God also said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you’: This is my name forever, and this my title for all generations.

“Go and assemble the elders of Israel and say to them, ‘The Lord, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, has appeared to me, saying: I have given heed to you and to what has been done to you in Egypt. I declare that I will bring you up out of the misery of Egypt, to the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, a land flowing with milk and honey.’ They will listen to your voice, and you and the elders of Israel shall go to the king of Egypt and say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us; let us now go a three days’ journey into the wilderness, so that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God.’ I know, however, that the king of Egypt will not let you go except by a mighty hand. So I will stretch out my hand and strike Egypt with all my wonders that I will perform in it; after that he will let you go. I will bring this people into such favor with the Egyptians that, when you go, you will not go empty-handed; each woman shall ask her neighbor and any woman living in the neighbor’s house for jewelry of silver and of gold and clothing, and you shall put them on your sons and on your daughters; so you shall plunder the Egyptians.”

Reflection
Of all the Jesse Tree ornaments, today’s is my least favorite–the whip. It’s a tool with one purpose: to bring about pain or the threat of pain. In the Jesse tree it represents the story of Moses and how God used him to free the Israelites from Egyptian slavery, but it points more directly to what happened 400 years before Moses was even born. 

Picking up the story where we left off, after Joseph saved his family, other Israelites began to move to Egypt. Over time, they began to prosper and increase in number. After Joseph and his generation died, another Pharaoh came into power. Over time, however, he didn’t like how the Jews had grown and saw them as a threat. He began to oppress them and yet, they still grew in number. Eventually, Pharaoh commanded the Hebrew mid-wives to kill every Hebrew boy born, but they feared God and didn’t obey. So Pharaoh told all of Egypt that all Hebrew boys were to be drowned at birth. And it didn’t get better. For over 400 years, the Israelites suffered in slavery and for those years, one of the primary symbols of their oppression was the whip. Thus, the whip ornament reminds us of those years of slavery, but also how God finally rescued them from their captors through a man named Moses. 

Pharaoh’s final edict to drown all the Hebrew male babies led to one particular infant being hidden in a basket among the reeds of the Nile River. He was discovered and adopted by the Pharaoh’s daughter. He was raised as an Egyptian and then one day, everything changed. After killing an Egyptian guard, Moses fled for his life into the hills of Midian, where he became a shepherd.  This is where our passage for today picks up the story. 

Moses was out minding his flock and his eye caught a bush that was burning, but not consumed by the flame. Moses investigated further, and encountered the living God. The Lord called him to free the Israelites from their captivity and lead them to Canaan–the land promised to Abraham by God. Moses resists. God presses him further. Negotiations continued. Then, one of the most remarkable parts of the story unfolds. 

Moses asks God, “what if they want to know who sent me?” God tells him to say, “I am, who I am” sent him. And just like that… we have a name for God–I am. What does this name tell us about God? In Hebrew, the verb “to be” forms the basis of God’s name. In this way, his name was not a literal name, but a statement of who God is. “I am” is a statement of existence and in the case of Moses, it’s a case of God declaring–I am the sustaining essence of the existence of all things. God’s name is a statement of self-existence. All the power in the universe belonged to God and he was sending Moses to the Pharaoh backed by that power. 

So Moses went. The Pharaoh resisted. Ten plagues happened. The Pharaoh relented. And the Israelites were finally free. The curse of the whip was finally broken. Maybe in that way we can see the whip as a symbol of Moses’ story. Perhaps in the end, the whip isn’t that bad of a symbol for the story of Moses after all.

Hey CPC,

I hope you’re all well and in a blessed Advent spirit. Tomorrow, Sunday, December 11th is the third Sunday of Advent. It’s hard to believe that Christmas is only two weeks away. During worship tomorrow we’ll light the third candle of Joy as we consider the joyful news that Mary received and her prayer of praise that followed.

Here are your announcements for this week!

Intergenerational Study of the Bible for Youth
Our intergenerational study of the Bible will be exploring the creation and fall narratives found in Genesis tonight Sunday, December 11th from 4:00pm to 5:30pm. All are welcome (especially those between the ages of 10 to 18 years old).

Games Up Here
Join us for “Games up here” on Monday, December  12th at the Presbyterian Annex at 7:00pm. 

AICM Mission Trip Informational Meeting
Are you interested in participating in the AICM mission trip to Show Low, AZ with Grace Fellowship? Join us Tuesday night, December 13th at 7:30pm at the Annex. 

December Session
This Wednesday, December 14th, the CPC elders will meet in Darley Hall at 10:00am for our December Session.

Wednesday Bible Study
Join us this Wednesday, December 14th at 5:00pm online and in Darley Hall as we explore the Apocryphal book the Wisdom of Solomon.

Men’s Prayer Breakfast
Join the men of Lake City this Thursday, December 15th at 7:00am for good food, prayer, and Bible study.  

Here are your links for the week ahead:

Sunday Worship Service:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88489308747?pwd=RHVFY1BybkU0a1RXZE9GRlBZWWpNUT09

Wednesday Evening Bible Study:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83431443393

Genesis 50
Then Joseph threw himself on his father’s face and wept over him and kissed him. Joseph commanded the physicians in his service to embalm his father. So the physicians embalmed Israel; they spent forty days doing this, for that is the time required for embalming. And the Egyptians wept for him seventy days.

When the days of weeping for him were past, Joseph addressed the household of Pharaoh, “If now I have found favor with you, please speak to Pharaoh as follows: My father made me swear an oath; he said, ‘I am about to die. In the tomb that I hewed out for myself in the land of Canaan, there you shall bury me.’ Now therefore let me go up, so that I may bury my father; then I will return.” Pharaoh answered, “Go up and bury your father, as he made you swear to do.”

So Joseph went up to bury his father. With him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his household, and all the elders of the land of Egypt, as well as all the household of Joseph, his brothers, and his father’s household. Only their children, their flocks, and their herds were left in the land of Goshen. Both chariots and charioteers went up with him. It was a very great company. When they came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond the Jordan, they held there a very great and sorrowful lamentation, and he observed a time of mourning for his father seven days. When the Canaanite inhabitants of the land saw the mourning on the threshing floor of Atad, they said, “This is a grievous mourning on the part of the Egyptians.” Therefore the place was named Abel-mizraim; it is beyond the Jordan. Thus his sons did for him as he had instructed them. They carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave of the field at Machpelah, the field near Mamre, which Abraham bought as a burial site from Ephron the Hittite. After he had buried his father, Joseph returned to Egypt with his brothers and all who had gone up with him to bury his father.

Realizing that their father was dead, Joseph’s brothers said, “What if Joseph still bears a grudge against us and pays us back in full for all the wrong that we did to him?” So they approached Joseph, saying, “Your father gave this instruction before he died, ‘Say to Joseph: I beg you, forgive the crime of your brothers and the wrong they did in harming you.’ Now therefore please forgive the crime of the servants of the God of your father.” Joseph wept when they spoke to him. Then his brothers also wept, fell down before him, and said, “We are here as your slaves.” But Joseph said to them, “Do not be afraid! Am I in the place of God? Even though you intended to do harm to me, God intended it for good, in order to preserve a numerous people, as he is doing today. So have no fear; I myself will provide for you and your little ones.” In this way he reassured them, speaking kindly to them.

So Joseph remained in Egypt, he and his father’s household, and Joseph lived one hundred ten years. Joseph saw Ephraim’s children of the third generation; the children of Machir son of Manasseh were also born on Joseph’s knees. Then Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die, but God will surely come to you and bring you up out of this land to the land that he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.” So Joseph made the Israelites swear, saying, “When God comes to you, you shall carry up my bones from here.” And Joseph died, being one hundred ten years old; he was embalmed and placed in a coffin in Egypt

Reflection
There are thirteen chapters between the story of Joseph being sold into slavery and the death of Jacob. In case you don’t read them, here’s a quick summary. Joseph was eventually brought to Egypt and sold to Potiphar, a high official of the Pharaoh. Although he drew much favor with Potiphar, he was wrongly accused of a transgression which resulted in his imprisonment. While in prison, God blessed him with favor among the guards which led to an opportunity to interpret a dream for one of Pharaoh’s officials. Interpreting that dream correctly led to another opportunity, but this time it was Pharaoh’s dream. Pharaoh was pleased with what he heard and promoted Joseph to the highest ranking official in all of Egypt in charge of preparing for seven years of plenty and seven years of famine based on his interpretation of the dream. 

Joseph does an amazing job and stores up provisions during the seven years of plenty. So when famine began, Egypt was saved because of Joseph’s leadership. Moreover, the famine drew other tribes to Egypt seeking aid. Joesph’s brothers were among the Jews who sought help, but they had no idea that Joseph was over all of Egypt. Joseph offers them provisions, but when their grain bags are filled, he hides a silver cups in one of the sacks. Then, he sent them on their way. 

Not long after they left, Egyptian soldiers stopped the brothers to search their bags for stolen goods. When they found the chalice, the brothers were brought back to Joseph. There they stood, before the second most powerful ruler in Egypt, terrified. Joseph, on the other hand, must have been ready to burst with joy for his big reveal. After all those years, he would finally be reunited with his family. His brothers’ wrongdoings were forgotten. Eventually, his whole family moved to Egypt and they settled there. 

You might be wondering, “how could Joseph just forgive what his brothers did?” “Why didn’t he want to get revenge on them?” All good questions, indeed. Perhaps Joseph had enough wisdom to look at the larger picture of what God was doing. Had his brothers never thrown him into the pit and sold him into slavery, Joseph would have never been in the position to help save the fledgling nation of Israel. In short, Joseph, understood that what the brothers meant for evil, God used for good. Israel, as God’s chosen people were saved from the famine, because God intervened through Joseph. 

As we turn our attention to the ornament of the chalice for reading, consider how majestic God’s larger plan is for those who love him.

Genesis 37
Jacob settled in the land where his father had lived as an alien, the land of Canaan. These are the descendants of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was shepherding the flock with his brothers; he was a helper to the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wives, and Joseph brought a bad report of them to their father. Now Israel loved Joseph more than any other of his children because he was the son of his old age, and he made him an ornamented robe. But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peaceably to him.

Once Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more. He said to them, “Listen to this dream that I dreamed. There we were, binding sheaves in the field. Suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright; then your sheaves gathered around it and bowed down to my sheaf.” His brothers said to him, “Are you indeed to reign over us? Are you indeed to have dominion over us?” So they hated him even more because of his dreams and his words.

He had another dream and told it to his brothers, saying, “Look, I have had another dream: the sun, the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me.” But when he told it to his father and to his brothers, his father rebuked him and said to him, “What kind of dream is this that you have had? Shall we indeed come, I and your mother and your brothers, and bow to the ground before you?” So his brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind.

Now his brothers went to pasture their father’s flock near Shechem. And Israel said to Joseph, “Are not your brothers pasturing the flock at Shechem? Come, I will send you to them.” He answered, “Here I am.” So he said to him, “Go now, see if it is well with your brothers and with the flock, and bring word back to me.” So he sent him from the valley of Hebron.

He came to Shechem, and a man found him wandering in the fields; the man asked him, “What are you seeking?” “I am seeking my brothers,” he said; “tell me, please, where they are pasturing the flock.” The man said, “They have gone away, for I heard them say, ‘Let us go to Dothan.’ ” So Joseph went after his brothers and found them at Dothan.

They saw him from a distance, and before he came near to them they conspired to kill him. They said to one another, “Here comes this dreamer. Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits; then we shall say that a wild animal has devoured him, and we shall see what will become of his dreams.” But when Reuben heard it, he delivered him out of their hands, saying, “Let us not take his life.” Reuben said to them, “Shed no blood; throw him into this pit here in the wilderness, but lay no hand on him”—that he might rescue him out of their hand and restore him to his father. So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe, the ornamented robe that he wore, and they took him and threw him into a pit. The pit was empty; there was no water in it.

Then they sat down to eat, and looking up they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, with their camels carrying gum, balm, and resin, on their way to carry it down to Egypt. Then Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is it if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him, for he is our brother, our own flesh.” And his brothers agreed. When some Midianite traders passed by, they drew Joseph up, lifting him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. And they took Joseph to Egypt.

When Reuben returned to the pit and saw that Joseph was not in the pit, he tore his clothes. He returned to his brothers and said, “The boy is gone, and I, where can I turn?” Then they took Joseph’s robe, slaughtered a goat, and dipped the robe in the blood. They had the ornamented robe taken to their father, and they said, “This we have found; see now whether it is your son’s robe or not.” He recognized it and said, “It is my son’s robe! A wild animal has devoured him; Joseph has surely been torn to pieces.” Then Jacob tore his garments and put sackcloth on his loins and mourned for his son many days. All his sons and all his daughters sought to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted and said, “No, I shall go down to Sheol to my son, mourning.” Thus his father bewailed him. Meanwhile the Midianites had sold him in Egypt to Potiphar, one of Pharaoh’s officials, the captain of the guard.

Reflection
We all know the story of Joseph and his coat of many colors. Whether you learned about him in your Sunday School growing up, or caught him in his broadway musical (Joseph and the Amazing Technicolored Dreamcoat), there’s no doubt that we all know the character of Joseph. As you’ve likely noted, his story is not without drama. It’s filled with parental favoritism, jealous siblings, murderous plotting, human trafficking, and profound mourning for the perceived loss of a child. Yet amidst all of that darkness, we find God at the center. 

The story of Joseph can be looked at in a variety of ways, but I’d like to point out two. One is narrative based, as related to the larger story of Israel’s journey as God’s covenant people, the other is oriented around the theological claim of the story (beyond God’s faithfulness). Both contribute much to our understanding of God’s relationship with us, but the latter has much to remind us about who God is and how he operates in the world. 

First, the story of Joseph–the coat, the jealousy, his journey to Egypt, Jacob’s lament–reveals several key points about God’s redemptive plan. Much like many of the preceding stories, Joseph’s is filled with vivid examples of the effects of human sin. Even after teaching on this passage for years, I still find my self abhorred by the actions taken by the brothers and the lies they used to cover it up. How could someone sell anyone into slavery let alone their own sibling? Then they faked his death by putting goat’s blood on the multi-colored coat. I wonder what God was thinking as he watched all this happen. The chosen people with whom he made a covenant were at it again. Sin on top of sin. But Yahweh kept to his promise and remained with Jacob and his family. He may have allowed for these things to transpire, but not without stepping in a little.

Next, this narrative also offers a 50,000 foot view of God’s presence. As we consider the reading, it seems like God is absent from the story, especially when Jacob’s sons are committing such horrible acts. We know from the last passage that God faithfully remained with Jacob, despite his depravity. Thus in the midst of this display of evilness in the world, we can still claim that God was there. Presence doesn’t always mean intervention. As we’ll see in more clear terms in the next reading, God works with humanity in and through their sinful choices. In the end, however, God’s plans do not and will not fail. 

When we look at the ornament of Joseph’s coat, perhaps we should be reminded of God’s faithfulness, even when we’re surrounded by evil. 

Genesis 28
Then Isaac called Jacob and blessed him, and charged him, “You shall not marry one of the Canaanite women. Go at once to Paddan-aram to the house of Bethuel, your mother’s father; and take as wife from there one of the daughters of Laban, your mother’s brother. May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and numerous, that you may become a company of peoples. May he give to you the blessing of Abraham, to you and to your offspring with you, so that you may take possession of the land where you now live as an alien—land that God gave to Abraham.”

Thus Isaac sent Jacob away; and he went to Paddan-aram, to Laban son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, Jacob’s and Esau’s mother. Now Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Paddan-aram to take a wife from there, and that as he blessed him he charged him, “You shall not marry one of the Canaanite women,” and that Jacob had obeyed his father and his mother and gone to Paddan-aram. So when Esau saw that the Canaanite women did not please his father Isaac, Esau went to Ishmael and took Mahalath daughter of Abraham’s son Ishmael, and sister of Nebaioth, to be his wife in addition to the wives he had.

Jacob left Beer-sheba and went toward Haran. He came to a certain place and stayed there for the night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place. And he dreamed that there was a ladder set up on the earth, the top of it reaching to heaven; and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. And the Lord stood beside him and said, “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring; and your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and all the families of the earth shall be blessed in you and in your offspring. Know that I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”

Then Jacob woke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place—and I did not know it!” And he was afraid, and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.” So Jacob rose early in the morning, and he took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up for a pillar and poured oil on the top of it. He called that place Bethel; but the name of the city was Luz at the first. Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, so that I come again to my father’s house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God, and this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God’s house; and of all that you give me I will surely give one-tenth to you.”

Reflection
The story of Jacob is one of the more interesting narratives found in the book of Genesis. It’s a bit Jekyll and Hyde in terms of character development. We first encounter Jacob as an adult a few chapters back, and it’s not pretty. We find him shrewdly manipulating his older brother into trading his birthright for a humble bowl of stew. Then, with the help of his mother, he deceives his father Isaac into blessing him instead of Esau, thus robbing his older brother of his rightful inheritance. Everything that belonged to Isaac was now Jacob’s. And, this is where our  passage picks up the story. 

It’s time for Jacob to escape, because Esau wanted to kill him. Fearing for his safety, Isaac sends him to Rebekah’s family to marry one of Laban’s daughters. So Jacob sets out, and while sleeping under the stars one night, he sees a vision in his dreams. There was a ladder going from the earth to Heaven and there were angels ascending and descending. Then, God promises Jacob that the land he was sleeping on was promised for his descendants, also that Jacob’s offspring would be like “dust of the earth” spreading throughout the region and world. Finally, God says that he’ll be with Jacob wherever  he goes. In a time where Yahweh’s presence was rarely felt or known, that promise carries significant weight. 

Then Jacob woke up, and he made an altar to mark the spot that he calls the “house of God” and the “gate of heaven.” He realized that the literal ground he was sleeping on was set apart as holy. 

So to recap, we get a bad first impression of Abraham’s grandson. But as Jacob is fleeing the wrath of his brother, God intervenes and recommits to the covenant he made with Abraham and assures Jacob of his eternal presence with him. It may seem like an underserved blessing for a guy who just lied and cheated to get his brother’s inheritance. How do we go from an entitled swindler to the same guy being one of the most important people in the Scriptures? God’s grace and faithfulness. As you color, tape, or hang your Jesse Tree ornament today, consider how vast God’s grace is upon all of us. 

Genesis 22
After these things God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.”

He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I shall show you.” So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac; he cut the wood for the burnt offering, and set out and went to the place in the distance that God had shown him.

On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place far away. Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; the boy and I will go over there; we will worship, and then we will come back to you.” Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. So the two of them walked on together. Isaac said to his father Abraham, “Father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “The fire and the wood are here, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?”

Abraham said, “God himself will provide the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So the two of them walked on together. When they came to the place that God had shown him, Abraham built an altar there and laid the wood in order. He bound his son Isaac, and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to kill his son. But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven, and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” And Abraham looked up and saw a ram, caught in a thicket by its horns. Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. 

So Abraham called that place “The Lord will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.” The angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven, and said, “By myself I have sworn, says the Lord: Because you have done this, and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will indeed bless you, and I will make your offspring as numerous as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of their enemies, and by your offspring shall all the nations of the earth gain blessing for themselves, because you have obeyed my voice.” 

So Abraham returned to his young men, and they arose and went together to Beer-sheba; and Abraham lived at Beer-sheba. Now after these things it was told Abraham, “Milcah also has borne children, to your brother Nahor: Uz the firstborn, Buz his brother, Kemuel the father of Aram, Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel.” Bethuel became the father of Rebekah. These eight Milcah bore to Nahor, Abraham’s brother. Moreover, his concubine, whose name was Reumah, bore Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Maacah.

Reflection
The story of Abraham’s intent to sacrifice Isaac stands as one of the most difficult texts for me. I was taught growing up that it was a test from God to make sure that Abraham really loved God. As a child, I just accepted this as a part of Scripture and eventually understood it as a foreshadowing of our Heavenly Father’s willingness to send his only son to be sacrificed for our sins. I didn’t take issue with the narrative or what was implied by God’s strange request. 

Then, during my high school years, I remember struggling a little with this passage. Why would God ask this of Abraham? Sure, we who know the end of the story accept the premise because it works out in the end–God stops the sacrifice, offers a ram in Isaac’s place, and all is well. But my teenage brain still wrestled with the why question. Why would God ask Abraham to sacrifice his son, when God promised that the covenant would be fulfilled through this miracle child? As we saw in the last passage, Abraham offered Ishmael to God as a vessel through whom the covenant could be fulfilled. God rejected that offer and pressed further that God would give a child to Sarah in her advanced years. I can only imagine Abraham’s confusion when God asks him to sacrifice Isaac. After all, child sacrifice was something that was common among the civilizations of the Ancient Near East. God had set Abraham apart and called upon him to live his life differently. A command that followed the foreign practices of other people groups, would have seemed completely out of left field. 

For many years I dwelled on this perplexing story with a certain level of cognitive dissonance. It never added up for me. Then, during my time in seminary, my dentist and I were discussing this passage while I was in his chair (he was probably doing more of the talking). I shared my issues with it and he shared an alternative interpretation that helped shed light on what might have happened in that disturbing narrative. Eventually, he gave me an article that laid out a different perspective that has provided some level of resolve. 

The Biblical scholar writing the article asserted that God might not have actually asked Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, but rather that the motivation for Abraham was culturally imposed. Other tribes and people groups in that region would have regularly participated in the practice of sacrifice which sometimes included children. In this schema, Abraham was not following an unimaginable request from God, but demonstrating his own lack of understanding of God’s larger divine plan for the salvation of humanity. Due to the cultural norms that surrounded him, Abraham presumed God wanted Isaac as a sacrifice. God could have certainly still fulfilled the covenant promises of a name, land, and descendants without Isaac. The sacrifice of his miracle child was a suitable way to prove his love and commitment to God’s plan. 

As we know, Abraham was far from perfect. For example, instead of remaining where God called him to stay, he went to Egypt. Then, he offered his wife to the Pharaoh in exchange for safety. Abraham made some poor choices based on his own understanding of what God would want him to do. An understanding of this passage through the lens of Abraham’s misappropriation has helped me to see the story in a new light. Instead of God asking something unthinkable from Abraham, God remained faithful to Abraham in spite of Abraham’s misunderstanding. In the end, God once again demonstrated his faithfulness to his people and covenants despite the failures of humanity.

Genesis 12:1-9
Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” So Abram went, as the LORD had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. Abram took his wife Sarai and his brother’s son Lot, and all the possessions that they had gathered, and the persons whom they had acquired in Haran; and they set forth to go to the land of Canaan. When they had come to the land of Canaan, Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. Then the LORD appeared to Abram, and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him. From there he moved on to the hill country on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; and there he built an altar to the LORD and invoked the name of the LORD. And Abram journeyed on by stages toward the Negeb.

Genesis 17 
When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless. And I will make my covenant between me and you and will make you exceedingly numerous.” Then Abram fell on his face, and God said to him, “As for me, this is my covenant with you: You shall be the ancestor of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the ancestor of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land where you are now an alien, all the land of Canaan, for a perpetual holding, and I will be their God.”

God said to Abraham, “As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations. This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised. You shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you. Throughout your generations every male among you shall be circumcised when he is eight days old, including the slave born in your house and the one bought with your money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring. Both the slave born in your house and the one bought with your money must be circumcised. So shall my covenant be in your flesh an everlasting covenant. Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.”

God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. I will bless her and also give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall give rise to nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.” Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said to himself, “Can a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Can Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?” And Abraham said to God, “O that Ishmael might live in your sight!” God said, “No, but your wife Sarah shall bear you a son, and you shall name him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him. As for Ishmael, I have heard you; I will bless him and make him fruitful and exceedingly numerous; he shall be the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation. But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this season next year.” And when he had finished talking with him, God went up from Abraham.

Then Abraham took his son Ishmael and all the slaves born in his house or bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham’s house, and he circumcised the flesh of their foreskins that very day, as God had said to him. Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. And his son Ishmael was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. That very day Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised, and all the men of his house, slaves born in the house and those bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised with him.

Reflection
Wow… talk about a lot of fodder for reflection in these two passages. In the first narrative from Genesis 12, we have Abraham’s calling story. Yahweh saw that things weren’t going well on earth and decided to intervene. He interacts directly with some random guy named Abram and makes a promise to him on the condition that he leave everything behind. So Abram obeys. He travels to Canaan, the land that God would eventually establish as the nation of Israel. 

In chapter 17, we find two very important narratives. First, God’s covenant with a specific people. The two preceding covenants were with humanity as a whole. The first was with Adam and Eve (the Adamic Covenant) and the second was with Noah and his offspring (the Noahic Covenant). These first two covenants were about being fruitful (cultivating the earth), multiplying (producing offspring), and filling the earth (spreading and growing as a human civilization). In this passage, however, God is picking one line of people, that will all stem from one man–Abraham (who’s name was changed in this passage as well). The Abrahamic Covenant is really the beginning of God’s direct intervention to reconcile humanity unto himself. As this story unfolds, we’ll see God returning to this covenant made with Abraham. Even for us today, this covenant is significant, because it marks the place in history when God steps in. God promises Abraham three things: 1) to make his name great, 2) to give him countless descendants, and to give him a land (Canaan). In return, however, God asks for something. 

This brings us to the second narrative. To mark the occasion of this covenant, God asks Abraham to participate in a new practice that would act as a sign of the covenant–circumcision. That’s right, Survey Says… top answer for the category: Things Church People Avoid Talking About. Yet, there it is. It’s a strange request in my opinion, but nonetheless it’s the way God chose to mark his people. This ritual would accompany the Israelites throughout the history of their people. 

In the Christian tradition, we believe that when Christ died on the cross and rose again three days later, that the requirements of the Abrahamic Covenant were no longer needed. Furthermore, we believe that the “sign” of the New Covenant (Jeremiah 31) was baptism. No longer was the covenant between God and Israel marked by circumcision, because God’s Spirit would mark us in our hearts and signify this mark through the visible practice found in the sacrament of Baptism. In the end, we become Abraham’s “offspring” through our relationship with Christ Jesus and our confession that he is the Savior of the world.

Genesis 8
But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and all the domestic animals that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind blow over the earth, and the waters subsided; the fountains of the deep and the windows of the heavens were closed, the rain from the heavens was restrained, and the waters gradually receded from the earth. At the end of one hundred fifty days the waters had abated, and in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. The waters continued to abate until the tenth month; in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains appeared.

At the end of forty days Noah opened the window of the ark that he had made and sent out the raven, and it went to and fro until the waters were dried up from the earth. Then he sent out the dove from him to see if the waters had subsided from the face of the ground, but the dove found no place to set its foot, and it returned to him to the ark, for the waters were still on the face of the whole earth. So he put out his hand and took it and brought it into the ark with him. He waited another seven days, and again he sent out the dove from the ark, and the dove came back to him in the evening, and there in its beak was a freshly plucked olive leaf; so Noah knew that the waters had subsided from the earth. Then he waited another seven days and sent out the dove, and it did not return to him any more.

In the six hundred first year, in the first month, on the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from the earth, and Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked and saw that the face of the ground was drying. In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dry. Then God said to Noah, “Go out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and your sons’ wives with you. Bring out with you every living thing that is with you of all flesh—birds and animals and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth—so that they may abound on the earth and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.” So Noah went out with his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives. And every animal, every creeping thing, and every bird, everything that moves on the earth, went out of the ark by families.

Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And when the Lord smelled the pleasing odor, the Lord said in his heart, “I will never again curse the ground because of humans, for the inclination of the human heart is evil from youth; nor will I ever again destroy every living creature as I have done. As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night shall not cease.”

Reflection
I know in the past (even a few weeks ago), I’ve attempted to humorously point out the irony of decorating nurseries, kids’ rooms, and the like in the theme of “Noah’s Ark.” Trust me, I get it, there were lots of animals and animals are nice. They are always smiling as they walk back down that big ramp off the Ark. There’s a rainbow in the sky, the sun is always shining, and everyone seems so happy. It’s a fresh clean start for humanity and it’s a near perfect image of God’s blessing. 

But, as we all know, that slant on the story of Noah’s Ark is far from the truth. If we’re to take a serious look at the larger text, we see an unhappy God who is ready to destroy all of humanity and start over. We see the mockery of Noah, as neighbors and folks passing by hurl insults at the crazy dude who is building a giant wooden coffin. We find the animals are sent by God, which must have been a startling thing for those scoffers… “Where the heck did these elephants come from? We don’t have elephants!” 

Then, the rain came and the waters rose. Sure it seemed harmless at first, but when it started creeping up their ankles, I bet there were many of those neighbors clambering at the base of that giant boat. As the waters rose, so did the death count. I imagine Noah and his family understood the horror that was happening outside the safety of those wooden walls. Eventually, however, the dying ended and the waters calmed. And that’s where our chapter picks up the story. 

Genesis 8 gives us an often overlooked part of this Biblical narrative. It describes, not the rise of the water and the death of humanity, but the receding of the waters and the waiting that Noah and his family had to endure. If you do the math, it was about one year they were floating in the Ark. Imagine that for a second. It wasn’t a cruise ship with an abundance of ways to pass your time. It was a floating zoo, with no plumbing, limited supplies, and no promise of land for many months. The claustrophobia, the smells, the chaos… it’s truly impossible to picture what life was like during that year. 

Yet, they waited (not that they had any other option). And they waited some more. Finally, almost a year later, God rewarded them with a new start. God reestablished the covenant of grace that he made with Adam and Eve in the garden–be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. For Noah and his family, it was a new beginning. We celebrate that new beginning, but sometimes without remembering the waiting that took place. 

Advent is designated as a time of waiting and preparation. Yes, we’re waiting for Christmas day and all of the delights that the holiday season provides. But, let’s not forget how Noah waited, how the Israelites waited (and still wait), and how we’re called to wait for Christ’s return.  Whatever God is doing with you this Advent season, perhaps we ought to savor the challenges of waiting a little more. After all, God’s blessings did shine down on Noah after their year long wait. And, wow, was it worth that wait.

Hey Everyone,

I hope you are all well on this snowy Friday morning (it snowing here in Lake City). This Sunday, December 4th is the second Sunday of Advent. During our worship service we’ll be lighting the Candle of Peace, celebrating communion, and then after, having our first-of-the-month potluck. So please remember to bring your communion elements to the broadcast if you’re joining us via Zoom. And, if you’ll be attending worship in person, join us for our monthly potluck after. This months theme is “holiday dinner.” Ham and brisket will be provided folks in our congregation. 🙂 The rest is up to you.

This Sunday, I’ll continue preaching from the Gospel of Matthew, as we explore the story of John the Baptist. You can read that text and the other lectionary passages in the downloadable online Order of Worship below.

Finally, if you’re in town, don’t forget that tomorrow is “Christmas in Lake City.” If you’re planning on participating in any of the day’s activities, stop by the Armory at 3:30 for Christmas Bingo… There’s a rumor that Santa will be calling the games, but who knows. 🙂

I’ll also be in the parade with the LCOWS, offering a short Christmas reflection at the lighting of the town tree, and helping lead the singing for the carol sing-a-long in the Lake City Art Center theatre directly after the dedication ceremony (around 6:30pm). I hope to see you at some point during the day.

Here are your announcements for the week!

Intergenerational Study of the Bible for Youth
Join us this Sunday, December 4th from 4:00pm to 5:30pm in the Annex for our new youth-oriented study of the Bible. All are welcome.

Games Up Here
Join us for “Games up here” on Monday, December 5th at the Presbyterian Annex at 7:00pm. 

Wednesday Bible Study
Join us this Wednesday, December 7th at 5:00pm online and in Darley Hall as we explore the Apocryphal book of Esther. 

Men’s Prayer Breakfast
Join the men of Lake City this Thursday, December 8th at 7:00am for good food, prayer, and Bible study.  

And here are your links for the week!

Sunday Worship Service:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88489308747?pwd=RHVFY1BybkU0a1RXZE9GRlBZWWpNUT09

Wednesday Evening Bible Study:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83431443393

Stuff to Download!