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Feb. 28, 2010 MLC – Ocean View, NJ. H. Fege, D. Min.

Second Sunday in Lent. Gen. 15.1-18, Phil. 3. 17ff., Lk. 13.31-35

Those of us who graduated from Seminary in the 60’s or before were taught not to use personal stories as illustrations in sermons.

It was considered sanctimonious at best and poor taste at worst… too much like a fundamentalist's testimonial.

But recent seminary graduates who have heard some of the better preachers in our tradition will tell you that not only is it ok to speak of our own spiritual journey, it is imperative. Because it is the only one we can speak about with any certainty and conviction… and I would add, isn’t that what much of the Bible is about as well--personal stories of encounters with the Holy?

In the Yiddish a schlemiel is a person going around spilling soup on people. A schlemozzel is the kind of person that is having soup spilled on them… Abraham was a schlemozzel.

The story begins with Abraham and his wife Sarah. God tells Abraham in Ch.12.1 “Go from your country, your kinfolk, your father's house to the land I will show you. 2. I will make you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great.”

We are told that Abraham was 75 years old when God called him to leave it all and to take up the journey to the Promised Land. 

We are told that he took his wife, and his nephew Lot, and all of his belongings--camels, pots and pans, servants and kin that wanted to go… and went toward Cana.

At some point we are told that there was a famine in Cana. So Abraham decided to go to Egypt to wait it out. Before they got there he told his wife “you are a woman beautiful in appearance and when the Egyptians see you they will want to kill me so they can have you.” 12.14ff

Remember that we were just told that Abraham was 75 and Sarah 65… how much of that beauty was left at 65 with the two of them trekking through the desert for the last 30 years or so…

So Abraham told Sarah that she would be his sister while they lived in Egypt.

It worked until the Pharaoh started getting boils all over him and was told that God had it in for him because he was sleeping with a married woman…

At that point he sent the two of them packing. We are told that he and his Sari and all that he had was very much… livestock, silver, and gold.

It seems that Abraham and the investment bankers of Wall St. have a lot in common…

It is at this point that the story picks up for us. By this time Abraham is 100 and Sari is 90 and still there are no children.

Ch.13 “After all these things the word of the Lord came to Abraham in a vision.” Abraham is told your reward will be very great… and Abraham says ok Lord, I hear you but the wife and I are getting up in years and we were thinking about taking out one of those Long Term Care policies that Thrivent is pushing right now. And God said trust me Abraham… just trust me.

Abraham come outside with me ... Look up and start counting stars.

It must have been like one of those nights after a Nor’easter, when you look up and the stars are so close you can reach out and pull one down.

And God said “Abraham how’s the counting going?” and we can just see Abraham rolling is eyes…God speaking again, so shall your descendants be, reminding him, I am the Lord your God. I brought you from Ur to give you this land to possess…

But Lord, how can I be sure. How will I know what you say is for real?

Then an astonishing thing happened. It is called covenant-making. It was all one-sided.

It involved the cutting in half of a 3-year-old heifer, a female goat, and a ram… and not cut were a turtle-dove and a pigeon. 

By then it was daylight and the sun was putting a strong scent on the whole mess and we are told that the vultures had gotten wind of it… and Abraham had to shoo them away.

By that time, it was getting dark. Abraham had fallen asleep …

A 100 year-old man is not good for late night TV, or visions for that matter, but God was not done with him.

            “A deep and terrifying darkness descended upon him and a fire pot and flaming torch passed between the cut pieces.” and we are told that on that day the Lord made a covenant with Abraham.

            “To your descendants I give this land from the river of Egypt to the great river, the             river Euphrates.” 

Now here’s the part that the lesson left out, only 4 vss.

But it’s the fine print… and I always read that first.

            The Lord said to Abraham –know this for certain that your offspring shall be aliens in the land that is not theirs... they shall be oppressed for 400 years... and for yourself, you shall go to your ancestors in peace and be buried in your old age.

There you have it. If you think about it, the covenant was kind of one-sided.

God was the one who put his life on the line. 

Abraham the old schlemozzel got off easy.  He said o.k. I got it. I believe you God… You are telling me that you are going to do all this for me and if it doesn’t happen you will be as dead as those smelly fillets that the vultures are waiting to finish off.

My birth certificate was issued in Germany when the Third Reich was stamping Swastikas on all legal documents.

In 1955, 13 years later, I stood before a Judge in the Federal Courthouse in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

He handed me a Bible and asked two questions:

What is your name and will you be a good citizen?

Since I was a minor and my parents had already become citizens, it was more a formality than anything else. When I told him my name, he asked me if I had a middle name and since I did not he asked if I wanted one…

My teenage hero was the quarterback for the High School football team, his name was Mike… so I became Hartmut Michael…

It was a covenant-making moment. The judged told me to believe in the American dream of justice for all and freedom… He gave me citizenship and a middle name and he asked for me to believe in Justice and Freedom for all…

That is a heavy burden to lay on a 13-year-old. 

Covenant-making comes at a cost.

 In today’s Gospel we heard: “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it. How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings.”…

God kept his promise to Abraham.

Abraham was tested. When he and Sarah finally did have a son together, God told Abraham to build a fire and sacrifice Isaac. Abraham was about to plunge his knife into the boy and offer him on the altar, when an angel told him no.

In the end it was God who plunged the knife into his own son to be sacrificed …

Covenant-making is heavy stuff. P.S. God made a covenant with all of you as well… it is called Baptism.  

The question is, do you believe him?