Book Review: Genesis: A Beginner's Guide to the Beginning

Information about the book

Genesis: A Beginner's Guide to the Beginning by Amy-Jill Levine.  Published by Abingdon Press, Nashville, 2026.  (Amazon / Cokesbury).

Summary

From Amazon: Genesis: A Beginner’s Guide to the Beginning invites readers into the foundational stories of the Old Testament with clarity, depth, and imagination. Amy-Jill Levine presents Genesis as a living text, one that continues to shape faith, identity, and our understanding of what it means to be human. These familiar stories are often heard in fragments; here, they are explored with care, curiosity, and theological insight.

With her signature blend of historical context and engaging storytelling, Levine opens up the book of beginnings, attending to its beauty, tensions, and enduring questions. She invites readers to linger with stories of creation and responsibility, rivalry and loss, judgment and mercy, promise and perseverance, revealing how these ancient narratives still speak with power today.

The book purchase includes access to 6 video sessions of 10-12 minutes each and access to other leader resources.

Impressions

This book examines key stories from Genesis, including The Garden of Eden, Cain and Abel, Noah's Ark, the Near Sacrifice of Isaac, Jacob's Stairway, and Joseph's story. (I think she needs to write a volume 2 with more stories!). 

Levine is a professor of New Testament and Jewish studies at Vanderbilt University. I'm not sure how many books of hers I have read - looking at my bookshelf, I see five, but there may be more. I can't recommend this book (or the others I have read) enough. They are inspiring, educational, and enlightening. Any of them are excellent for personal study or group work. 

Posts about book

Levine Genesis

 

Serve and Guard

Chapter One of Amy-Jill Levine's book, Genesis, was full of interesting and eye opening information. I'm going to focus this post on one aspect of the chapter, but the whole exploration of the Creation stories is rich.

Take a look at Genesis 2:15:  "The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it."  Levine focuses on the word "till."  To me, to till is to dig in the ground, clear out the weeds and rocks, and plant seeds. I'm not a gardener or a farmer, but that's my impression.  Levine says, "The term translated 'til' in in Hebrew eved, a term that appear over one thousand times; it connotes not so much technical gardening...but 'serving'; its noun form gives us both 'servant' and 'slave' as well as 'worker' and, amazingly, the Hebrew term for 'worship."

What does it mean to think that God put people in the garden to till it? If tilling is serving, then what does it mean to serve the earth? It's not just taking advantage of the benefits of soil to grow food, but it means that we are tasked with caring for the earth itself - providing what it needs - serving it.

She goes on to say, "The connection between the land and the connotations of 'work,' 'service,' and 'worship' shared by the same Hebrew root is supported by the Hebrew term in 2:15 for 'keep,' shamar, which conveys 'guard or 'protect."

How does it change our understanding of being in the Garden (and in the world) to till and keep it if it connotes serve and guard?

 

Sarah Laughed

In the CLM class I taught last night, the person who shared a devotional read Genesis 18:1-15. He compared the trust in God's word exhibited by Abraham to Sarah laughing, saying that she was laughing because she didn't trust or believe God would do what God had promised.

How do you view the idea that Sarah laughed?  Is it distrust? Or is it something else?

For me, I've always loved that Sarah laughed. I imagine, if I live to be as old as Sarah was, and God said to me that I would have a child, I would laugh.  Or cry. It's ridiculous. It's laughable. It's unbelievable. And maybe, for Sarah, who had no children, it would be joyous, too, 

I don't think she is a model of distrust we should avoid emulating.  I think she is a slice of humanity.  Disbelieving. Smart enough to know what she's been told is impossible. Afraid, and a little bit joyous, too. And God respected her enough to have a conversation with her. 

Pentecost Unity

Last Sunday in Sunday school, we had a debate about the nature of Pentecost.  One person thought it was a time when everyone spoke in tongues, and understood each other.  Another disagreed.  

Let's look:

When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place.  And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.  Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them.  All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.  Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem.   And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each.  Amazed and astonished, they asked, "Are not all these who are speaking Galileans?   And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language?  (Acts 2:1-8)

Have you ever noticed or compared this passage to one in Genesis?

Now the whole earth had one language and the same words.   And as they migrated from the east, they came upon a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there.  And they said to one another, "Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly." And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar.   Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves; otherwise we shall be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth."  The LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which mortals had built.  And the LORD said, "Look, they are one people, and they have all one language; and this is only the beginning of what they will do; nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them.  Come, let us go down, and confuse their language there, so that they will not understand one another's speech."  So the LORD scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city.  Therefore it was called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of all the earth; and from there the LORD scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.  (Genesis 11:1-9)

I don't think the Pentecost passage is about speaking in tongues at all.  For one thing, speaking in tongues is a spiritual gift, given to a few.  it was not something that could be understood by anyone - it required (requires) interpretation.  In the Pentecost story, everyone can understand everyone else, and not only that, they are filled with the Holy Spirit - the spirit giving them this ability.  God heard and understood among them.

Think about the story of the Tower of Babel.  The people - scattered and unable to understand each other.  In this story, it seems the opposite has happened.  Everyone is understood, and there is a unity among them.

The church is born.

Count the Stars

 He (God) brought him (Abram) outside and said, "Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them." Then he said to him, "So shall your descendants be."  And he believed the LORD; and the LORD reckoned it to him as righteousness.  Genesis 15:5-6 

I like to envision this scene.  Abram is doubting.  He cannot understand how God could accomplish what God has promised.  God - who must be used to doubting humans by now - takes Abram outside and has him look up at the uncountable stars.  "Count the stars, if you are able to count them."  Of course, Abram wouldn't have been able to count them.  I imagine this as a clear night, unlike any clear night most of us are used to.  Desert, no light pollution, no trees in the way - countless stars.  "So shall your descendants be."

In other words - "You can't imagine how I, God, can do what I have promised.  Really, what you can't imagine, is how wonderful the results of my promise will be."

Do we ever do that? Do we get so caught up in the doubt that we fail to imagine the wonder of the result?

Look to the Heavens

He (God) brought him (Abram) outside and said, "Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them." Then he said to him, "So shall your descendants be."  And he believed the LORD; and the LORD reckoned it to him as righteousness.  Genesis 15:5-6

Have you ever had an experience like this? Have you ever needed some kind of reassurance from God and found it in God's creation?  Abram looks up at a sky he has seen every night of his life, and in it he sees the results of God's covenant.

I remember when I was young - elementary school aged, I think.  My grandmother was sick, and we had to rush her from West Virginia to Virginia for treatment.  We spent the night awake at the hospital.  Near sunrise, I went outside to check on our dog, who was asleep in the car.  (I think - I'm not certain we had her with us, but it seems like we must have).  I wondered if everything would be OK. 

I saw the sunrise, and knew - as much as I could know - that it would all work out.  I've always considered that encounter with God.  I needed reassurance, and God provided.

I think when we remember those time - those encounters - they can give us comfort and assurance.  I wonder how many times Abram thought back, and remembered looking at the countless stars with God.

Devotional - Covenant

On March 1, I started a journey with other lay people across the Annual Conference.  I'm leading a Conference Certified Lay Ministry Course.  It's a new thing - for me, for the students, and for the Conference.  I am spending  a whole lot of time planning, reading and coordinating.  I'm sure over the next few months  you'll see the course mentioned here, and you'll see posts about it (including book reviews - I already have three of those written).

We began our time together with a Zoom meeting.  I opened the meeting with the following devotional.

Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16

As I was thinking about the beginning of our journey together, and planning what the devotional would be, I was drawn to this particular lectionary reading from last week because of the word covenant in it.

 

We will talk about covenant in our time together.  We will talk about ministry covenants, but we will also – even if not directly – talk about God’s covenant with each of us.  So I thought literally beginning our journey with thoughts about covenant would be appropriate.

 

One of the things I hope you notice from this passage is that it is God who establishes the covenant.  This is not a contract where each side states what it will do for the other – God is declaring through this covenant that God will be “God to you and to your offspring after you.”  Abram and Sarai will be blessed to become the ancestors of the multitudes – of nations and kings.  This is all God’s action.  It has not been earned by Abram and Sarai – it is a covenant of Grace.

 

We should also notice that this covenant is based on relationship, God is not establishing a covenant with a people – God is establishing a covenant with Abram and Sarai.  The covenant extends to all who will follow – but it is established out of a relationship between God and these two particular people.  It’s amazing to think, isn’t it, that the creator of the universe knows these two people, promises steadfast loyalty to them, and that personal relationship will literally reconcile humanity.

 

Abram and Sarai receive new names in this passage – Abraham and Sarah.  What I did not know before I started planning this devotional is that God, too, is called by a new word.  This  passage is the first time in the Bible that the word El Shaddai is used to describe God.  We translate that as God Almighty, but it can also be translated as God of the Mountains. 

 

As we begin this journey together, I hope you will remember that while the covenant in Genesis 17 was with Abraham and Sarah, it was an everlasting covenant.  We to, the People of these Mountains are in relationship with God – we are recipients of God grace because of the restoration begun by God so many years ago.  We too have new names, beloved of God. 

 

Prayer:

El Shaddai, God Almighty, God the mountains, God of grace and love, walk among us tonight.  Gather with us in homes, at our desk, around our computers, and inhabit our work tonight and throughout this year.  Make your will known to each of us, and grant us the grace to move forward in your call.  I give you thanksgiving for each of those here tonight.  May we all live into the new names you have given to us.  In your son’s name we pray, Amen.

 

God's Brushstrokes: Science

My college education - both undergraduate and graduate - is in the field of biology.  I worked 20 years in medical research before moving to my current position with The Foundation.  I am a scientist, and I am a person of faith.  I've never found that to be a contradiction.

For me, if God is the painter, then science is the study of the paint strokes.  A person can be an atheist and study science, but I don't think a person can  declare faith in God but reject science.  To do so would be to replace God's handiwork with one's own "story" of how God works in the world.  It is a rejection of the opportunity to move closer to the work of God. 

When I worked in the lab, I was always in awe of the idea of that I was adding reagents and enzymes to a small tube and the result was that DNA was snipped and proteins were captured (not in the same tube).  It was amazing to me.  The intricacies of how the DNA and the cell and the tissue and the organ and the body worked was and still is an amazing reflection of the creativity of God, and that is only enhanced by knowing the a tiny twisted ladder of nucleotides controlled it all.

For me, when I read the two creation stories in Genesis, I don't care how many days it took in the story for God to create the world.  In fact, it is not the purpose of the story to tell the how.  The purpose of the story is to explain THAT God created the world, THAT God created humankind, THAT God created you and me, out of a wonderful and boundless imagination, stamped with God's own reflection, even amid our diversity.  Evolution?  For me it is a wondrous brushstroke in the painting.

I heard the other day that we don't "believe" in science.  That's true.  Science is the study of fact.  What is it? How does it work? How does it relate to something else? Fact.  My belief is in God, and that is strengthen by the knowledge of the facts. Science doesn't lead me to reject God; science brings me closer to God.

Please remember, as we move closer to the reality and the hope of a world vaccinated against the virus that causes COVID-19, that we need science in order to  love our neighbors best.  Please be open to seeing God's brushstrokes in the work and advice of scientists as they tell us the facts.

 

Logos: Genesis 1:1-5

In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light. And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.  -Genesis 1:1-5

God’s presence.  Light.  Creation. Imagination. Hope.

The beginning of Genesis is the story that claims for us God’s hand in all creation. Something as basic as the light and the dark, the day and the night, exist as they do because God set the world in motion. 

Someone said to me a few days ago that she didn’t see anything good in 2020.  I don’t feel that way.  Believe me, I am anxious for us to reach the end of this pandemic. I can’t wait to gather with other people, to eat out or go to the mo vies without worrying about sickness and death.  However, look around. See the hope. See what has been done medically to develop treatment and vaccines.  See the healthcare workers battling to save people’s lives. See the light in the darkness.

it works this way because God has set the world in motion. Deep down, most of us know how to love each other, to battle away selfishness and hate.  To care for each other.

I see light at the end of the tunnel, but I also see light in the tunnel. God is here in the hands and feet of those around us, and in your own.    

Abram's Call: God finds us

Let's spend a few days thinking about call.  I recently taught a class in the Western district concerning lay servant ministry.  As I wrote the outline for the class, I started with a few call stories.  I think each of them can tell us something different about how God, in relationship with us, calls us to ministry.

Review Genesis 12:1-9.  This is Abraham's call (Abram at the time).  Verses 1-3:

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. 2 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. 3 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.”

As a sidenote, the blessed to be a blessing concept is one of my favorites from the book of Genesis.  It is the motivation for our call.

If you read all of this passage, you'll see that God calls, and Abram goes.  He picks up what he has, and his family, and he leaves where he lives, heading out, following God.  Abram lived in a city in what is now possibly in Turkey - although there is not consensus about this.  He traveled to the land of the Canaanites - even ending up in Egypt at one point.  The Canaanites lived in what is now Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, southern Lebanon, and southern Syria. No matter how you look at it, or where you place ancient cities, Abram traveled.

And yet, at each place, God found him.  At each place, God was there.  

God comes to us where we are.  Where we are geographically; where we are spiritually; where we are emotionally; where we are physically. God calls us - finds us - values us - wherever we are.  And when we say yes, when we obey, we will find that God travels with us.  God does not leave us alone in a foreign land.  

Genesis as Story

In the book Genesis for Normal People by Peter Enns and Jared Byas, the authors describe the literary style of the book of Genesis: not textbook, not a book of principles, but instead an ancient story, written in a particular time to a particular people.

That started me thinking about story.  What does it mean that Genesis is an ancient story? What role does story play in our lives?

A few weeks ago I attended the funeral of the brother of a friend.  Joel was - it was made clear that day - a storyteller.  Why did he tell stories?  His brother, our friend Jeff, related a story Joel told about an experience he had on his birthday.  Through this story, we learned about Joel's personality, his parents' reactions to him, and had a glimpse of the way life was for Joel at the time.  Jeff was able to tell the story because Joel had shared it - but it was before Jeff had been born.

Through stories we learn about the people, their relationships with each other, and we glimpse what life was like for them.  Through stories, what we didn't experience ourselves becomes clearer, in a way that a textbook or a book of principles could never accomplish.

The truth of a story isn't its factual basis, but is instead its underlying truth.  This is what I was like.  This is what life was like.  This is what it was like in my community, and with the people I loved or hated.  

In Genesis, we have the story that helps us to understand that God created the universe, the world, the animals, man and woman.  In Genesis we learn the truth that God created us.  In Genesis we hear the struggle of those following God - or trying to follow God - and what is was like to learn how to do that.  In Genesis we see how God didn't give up on his creation, even when his creation gave up on him.  In the story of Genesis, we see the Israelites beginning to learn that they are the people of God - and from that truth, we can learn that we are the people of God.  Created, loved, and never abandoned.  

Let's see a history book do that (although I do love history books).

The Women

Last Sunday I taught a Sunday school lesson based on Genesis 30.  This chapter and the ones around it are concerned with the story of Jacob, Laban, Rachel, Leah, Billhah, and Zilpah.  

You probably know the story.  Jacob goes to Haran and his uncle Laban, brother to his mother, Rebeccah.  He first meets Rachel (Laban’s daughter) at a well.  He falls in love at first sight.  He makes a bargain with Laban to work seven years keeping his sheep in order to marry Rachel.  We know the story that Laban tricks Jacob, and he marries Leah, the older daughter).  He marries Rachel one week later, and works 7 more years.  In those seven years, Leah has four sons, Rachel gave her maid Bilhah to Jacob, and the maid (and therefore Rachel) had two sons.  Leah sent her maid to Jacob, and that maid (Zilpah) had two sons.  Leah had a two more sons and a daughter, then Rachel finally had a son (Joseph).  Rachel had one more son, Benjamin, and died in childbirth.

We often only see the story with the perspective with which we were taught about it, but I think it is important to see it differently - through the eyes of the women.

What about Leah and Rachel.  They have no say in who they marry and when. They have no control over their future - whether they go with Jacob when he leaves or stay with their father (this is part of the bargaining that Jacob does with his uncle).  Their worth is determined only by the birth of sons - Rachel is shamed until she eventually has Joseph.

And think about the maids.  They are truly property.  Their mistresses give them to Jacob, they get pregnant, but their own children do not belong to them.  Maid is probably not a correct word - slave would be a more descriptive one.

How does this change how we see the story? When we read it with traditional eyes, do we see the rape of Bilhah and Zilpah?  Do we see the less-than-human standing of Rachel and Leah?  Do we really SEE the women at all?

God Leaves Paradise

In Sunday school a few weeks ago, we were discussing Genesis 3.  Look as these verses (21-23):

And the Lord God made garments of skins for the man and for his wife, and clothed them. Then the Lord God said, “See, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”— therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he was taken.

A few interesting items that draw my attention this morning:

• God clothed Adam and Eve.  What does that say to you about his care of his creation, the man and the woman?
• God sent them out of Paradise because they had eaten of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil - they now knew sin.  Would he allow them to live forever in this state of sin? No.  He sends them out of Paradise, perhaps not to prevent them from achieving eternal life, but to prevent them from living in sin forever.  What does that say about God?
• He sends them forth, away from Paradise. Is that the end of the story? Are they outside of God's presence forever? If you read "the rest of the story," you'll see that God doesn't send them out of Paradise alone.  God goes with them.  God is present in all the pages of the Bible, with his creation.  In other words, God left Paradise with them.

I was thinking of that grace this morning.  God didn't banish them to be alone; God went with them, leaving the garden.  What does that echo (or pre-echo) to you? Can you relate that to Jesus leaving the presence of God to come to earth as a human?  Grace.

Genesis and Joy

Read this from Genesis 3:17-18:

And to the man he said,

“Because you have listened to the voice of your wife,

and have eaten of the tree

about which I commanded you,

‘You shall not eat of it,’

cursed is the ground because of you;

in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life;

18 thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you;

and you shall eat the plants of the field.

And now read this from Joy to the World:

No more let sins and sorrows grow,

Nor thorns infest the ground;

He comes to makes His blessings flow

Far as the curse is found,

Far as the curse is found, 

Far as, far as, the curse is found.

I know, I should have seen that before, but I never have. In class last night, we started an Advent study, and Terry compared these two quotes. She was pointing out how the coming of Christ is the salvation of the world, and how the hymn illustrates how the incarnation is the response to the fall.

As we move through Advent, I thought this would be a great thought to carry with us.

Genesis 15: Part 3

Thinking about Genesis 15 (see Monday's post)

 

Role of ritual in the story

And then there is that really nasty passage about splitting animals in half and walking between them. It’s important to set this passage in its place in history – know the context. (another great hint for understanding God’s message through the word we read). The slaughter and splitting of animals was a Near Eastern covenant ritual in which the covenanting parties walk between the pieces of animals, thus taking upon themselves the fate of those animals should they violate the covenant. They signed contracts differently then than we do now.

If you read it carefully, you’ll see that a fire pot and buring torch pass between the animals – symbols of God, but that Abram does not. God is taking on the responsibility for fulfilling the covenant alone.

Seeing it, Abram would have known what was happening, and would have understood, through this ritual.

Are there rituals or ordinary experiences that God uses to reveal himself to us?

Trust

The stated purpose of the lesson is “to have the courage to question and to trust in the Word of God.” In this passage, Abram moves from doubt to faith: Verse 6 says, “Abram trusted the Lord, and the Lord recognized Aram’s high moral character.” 

Psalm 8 has been called the first Psalm of praise in the Psalter.  Read Psalm 8 and consider the idea of Trust.

Prayer: Awaken in us, God, the possibility of dreams. Teach us to see in the images common to our lives your very presence. Calm our fears as we walk deeper and deeper into the darkness as we encounter the fame of your spirit; it Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.

Genesis 15: Part 2

Thinking about Genesis 15 (see yesterday's post)

Doubt

What is your initial impression of the story?  What do you think Abram’s responses say about his faith?  Verse 2 says, “But Abram said, ‘O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damacus?” Does Abram’s response indicate faith or doubt?

• What do you think about doubt? Is it a sin? Is it a natural part of faith? (I think doubt is evidence that we are exploring our faith deeply – I think doubt is the growing pain of sanctifying grace – in order to mature in our faith, we have to ask God and our faith questions. I think we can trust God enough to bring God our doubts.)
• When have you experienced doubt? Do you doubt your ability to answer God’s call? Do you find doubt in your faith? Does Abram’s doubt help you relate to him?
• How does God respond to Abram’s doubt? with patience or impatience? How will God respond to your own doubts? How should we respond to other people’s doubts?

Role of Nature in the story

God takes Abram outside to look at the stars. Imagine what the night sky looked like the desert with no light pollution or buildings to block the starshine. It must have been a beautiful site that easily illustrated God’s point about descendants. What would this have told Abham? It would have been a reminder that God created the stars – this is God. It reminds me of the scenes in Job when God says things like, “Were you there when I set the foundation of the earth?” God’s not just saying, “Count the stars.” God is saying, “Remember who I am.”

Does God ever open your eyes to God’s presence through nature?

Genesis 15: Part 1

I taught a lesson in Sunday school based on Genesis 15. The next few posts are from the notes I made for the lesson: 

In Genesis, we meet Abram in chapter 12. God calls him to “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.”   And so he and Sarai go – God said so, so they go. Abram was 75 years old.

There are two accounts of God’s covenant with Abram in Genesis. One of them is the one that is the basis of this lesson – it’s the Yahwist’s account in chapter 15. The other one is in chapter 17 – the priestly account. In between (chapter 16, Hagar has Ishmael; Abram is 86). In Chapter 17 – the second account of the covenant, Abram is 99.  I just think it’s interesting that from the first call to the second account of the covenant is 24 years.

So, from “I will make you a great nation” until the birth of his son was 25 years.

Three times before this encounter, God has promised Abram descendants: we see them in Genesis 12:2, 12:7 and 13:16. I imagine that Abram is getting frustrated with the lack of a promised fulfilled. And so we come to the encounter we are going to read today.

It’s mainly a dialogue between God and Abram. Parts of it a little icky.

There is a literary pattern that can be seen in the dialogue:

- God’s promise

- Abram’s protest

- God’s response and reassurance

And in what we’ll read today, we’ll see that cycle twice. It’s a pattern that can be seen in other encounters with God in other parts of the Bible – in the conversation with Moses at the burning bush, for example.

Seeing literary patterns can give you clues as to what is about to happen – and when those patterns are switched around – it’s a clue of something else that is important. We should never forget that the Bible is literature, and knowing that can help us to understand God’s message through the words.

Please read Genesis 15.

Genesis 15: The script

Over the next few days, I will share three posts relating to scripture from Genesis 15. As part of the lesson, I asked several members of the class to read the scripture as if it were a "play."  Here is teh script.

God’s covenant with Abram

Narrator:  After these events, the Lord’s word came to Abram in a vision

God: Don’t be afraid, Abram. I am your protector. Your reward will be very great.

Abram: Lord God, what can you possibly give me, since I still have no children? The head of my household is Eliezer, a man from Damascus. Since you haven’t given me any children, the head of my household will be my heir.

God: This man will not be your heir. Your heir will definitely be your very own biological child.”

Narrator: Then God brought Abram outside

God: Look up at the sky and count the stars if you think you can count them. This is how many children you will have.”

Narrator: Abram trusted the Lord, and the Lord recognized Abram’s high moral character.

God: I am the Lord, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land as your possession.

Abram: Lord God, how do I know that I will actually possess it?”

God: Bring me a three-year-old female calf, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a dove, and a young pigeon.

Narrator: He took all of these animals, split them in half, and laid the halves facing each other, but he didn’t split the birds. When vultures swooped down on the carcasses, Abram waved them off.  After the sun set, Abram slept deeply. A terrifying and deep darkness settled over him.

God: Have no doubt that your descendants will live as immigrants in a land that isn’t their own, where they will be oppressed slaves for four hundred years. But after I punish the nation they serve, they will leave it with great wealth. As for you, you will join your ancestors in peace and be buried after a good long life. The fourth generation will return here since the Amorites’ wrong doing won’t have reached its peak until then.”

Narrator: After the sun had set and darkness had deepened, a smoking vessel with a fiery flame passed between the split-open animals. That day the Lord cut a covenant with Abram

God: To your descendants I give this land, from Egypt’s river to the great Euphrates, together with the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.

Logos: Genesis 12:1-2

12:1 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.
12:2 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.

Years ago - no, more than you're thinking - many years ago, I was a Bethel Bible teacher. Preparing to do that meant taking a two year class that met 2.5 hours a week, homework, and a whole lot of reading and thinking.  I loved it. Growing up, I always wanted to be a teacher, and this was a cool way to prepare to do it - plus I love Bible study.

After I completed that training, I led a class. We met weekly, 1 hour a week, for six 6-week sessions. A big commitment for those who took part. But a blessing - I know for me, I hope for the students, too.

One of the basic themes in the Bethel curriculum is from this verse - you are blessed to be a blessing. It stuck with me from that time, even now. 

What does it mean to the way you approach discipleship and stewardship if you believe that you have been blessed for the purpose of being a blessing? 

Last week I preached in Wheeling. Before worship, I received an email from a former student in the Bethel class that I taught. It said, "You have been blessed to be a blessing." It was meant to be encouragement as I prepared to teach, and it was.

If you believe you have been blessed for the purpose of blessing others, then first of all, you recognize the blessings that you have been given - the gifts you have, the time you have, the opportunities you have.  For me, it provided a reminder that I was in that place in that time because God (and others) believed I had the gifts to do what I was about to do. Realizing that you are blessed creates confidence. Secondly, knowing that their is a purpose in what I am doing - to be a blessing - creates trust. It's not me who will bless others - it's God, through me. I can trust that God will act in ways I don't anticipate or understand because I say that I will step out and serve. The blessing that will happen isn't based on my abilities - but on the gifts I have been given and on the action of God through me. Thirdly, knowing that there is a "so that" in what is happening pushes me to say "yes" to God. I have an obligation (which becomes a joy) to serve.

You have been blessed (yes, you have), to be a blessing. You have been given the gifts to do what you are called to do, you can trust God to work through you, and you have a responsibility to act on what you have been given. Seize the opportunities before you, and experience joy. 

As God told Abram, "Go."

As God told Abram, "Go."

Falling

The devotional I read this morning, written by Elise Erikson Barrett, and published in Disciplines 2015, is based on Genesis 17.  In this chapter, God calls Abram to change his name, to give up his expectations of what life will be like, to move to another place, and to trust God.

It was not a small call on Abram's life.

Have you ever been in a situation that required you to trust someone? To depend on another person's character and place your faith in that person?  The author of the devotional recalls those trust games where you fall back and are hopefully caught by someone else.  It's a good analogy, I think - to fall, trusting that you will be caught.

What makes you do it?  Why would you fall, out of your own control, trusting that someone else will catch you?  It's not a wise thing to do, and could result in banging into the ground. You do it, I think, because you trust the person who has promised to catch you.

Why would Abram follow God - give up his home, his life, his name - and follow?  I think it must have had someone to do with his trust of God.  Do we find God to be trustworthy?  Will we fall and let God catch us?  Isn't is a question of faith? Is that all it is?

I think it might be more than that.  How do we develop that kind of trust in God?  Maybe it's through remembering how many times God has caught us?  Maybe it's through developing a close relationship with God and allowing God's grace to strengthen our faith?  Maybe it's through stepping out, getting out of the boat, and walking?