This year, we spent the summer months listening to the great sagas in the book called Genesis: Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, Esau and Jacob, Joseph and his brothers. We journeyed with this family who are called and blessed by God. They wander as nomads, prosper and thrive, and establish themselves in Egypt in greater and greater numbers. The central theme running through these stories is:
Promise and Fulfillment
God promises Abraham, in his old age, that he will:
a) have a new land to settle in;
b) be the father of a great nation of descendants
c) through this nation, be a blessing to the world
This is complicated by the fact that he and his wife are beyond the age of bearing children, and they have none. But God fulfills the promise, and a son of their own, Isaac, becomes heir to the promise. Along the way, there are issues of trust, questions about how this promise will be fulfilled, challenges to be overcome, and times when all looks impossible and hopeless.
At each generation, the plot thickens. First the problem is no children, then the problem is which child, since there are now two to choose from. Then there are 12, and they’re trying to kill each other! All the complications continue. Yet throughout, the promise remains and God’s fulfillment of that promise is sure. A nation of people is established.
Towards the end of the summer, we turn to Exodus, and the promise is further complicated. This people are enslaved and under threat of genocide. How will the promise survive? Over the fall, we will hear of their liberation and the long journey to a promised land. And we will see how God’s promise and fulfillment is never easy, but always real.
In some ways, the story leaves us with the promise of blessing: a journey that is not quite complete, and just as complicated as before. We will listen in these days for God’s promise and fulfillment in our own lives, as people of God at St Mark’s, who are heirs to the promise of a blessing.