This June and July, our Sunday morning worship focuses on the book of Genesis. So far, we have noticed the two key ingredients of faith (Genesis 12:1-9); how hospitality and openness to God lead to surprising miracles; and how God provides the wilderness, even with ourselves being provision for others (Genesis 21:8-21). This Sunday, we face one of the most challenging texts of Scripture, where God calls on Abrahams to sacrifice his son Isaac (Genesis 22:1-14). We are called upon to grapple with Scripture, even when we are puzzled or confused by a text. In preparing for this coming Sunday, please read Genesis 22:1-14. And please ask yourselves these and attending questions:
I encourage you to do some “grappling” this week. Do some “wrestling” with this week’s text. Bring your questions and concerns to church. As one has said, let us employ all our resources to get “underneath” the text, to extract its meaning. In this wrestling, may we avoid two traps. First, we may want to dismiss texts that challenge us, and skip over them. Second, we may wish to “sanitize” a passage and make it say what it does not, to alleviate our anxiety. This week, may we come prepared for worship, as those who wrestle with Scripture. When you read Genesis 22:1-14, what are your questions or concerns? How do you understand this passage? And as you read, remember, we are called to both read the Bible, and, in places, wrestle with it. That is not disrespect for God’s word, but reverence for it. And, for this passage, as you grapple with it, you join dedicated saints, thru the centuries, who have done the same.
