Sermon Notes – June 30, 2020

Father Abraham had many Sons

Genesis 22 :12-14 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

 As a child we sang lustily in Sunday School:
“Father Abraham had many sons
Many sons had Father Abraham
I am one of them and so are you
So let’s just praise the Lord
Right arm!”

If so what went wrong?

One of the interesting developments as part of the fall out effect of the George Floyd revolution is the growing interests in slave stories. These are collections of some of the experiences shared by slaves about life on the plantations that fueled the economy of the U.S.A. There is much that one can glean from such writings that continues to affect race relations even today. Many times, slaves who were the trusted drivers of the plantation owner would desire to offer words of advice to his owner. These owners often lacked the discipline or business acumen and managerial skills needed to transform a floundering economy of scales while many a slave had gained tremendous knowledge and wisdom that will later be translated to successful ventures. The problem was the owner will allow his whiteness to blind him from accepting the wisdom of any one outside his cultural settings. In the end all would suffer as the plantations became overwhelmed by debt and slave families were broken up as commodities for debt servicing.

In many ways today there remains that lingering reluctance of how much can one really share to save our nation. How long must truth be sacrificed for the greater good? For too long we had to bear our wisdom, knowledge, and expressions in silence as leaders of both the nation and church hurtled to their own demise. We would agonize in many ways before we dare raise our voices and even then we had to shout to be heard. It took a dying whispered breath “I cannot breathe” for our white brothers & sisters to stop and listen. How hard must God shout the words “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him!”

This I suspect can be the lens we are invited to view the readings for today. Abraham and his household is gripped by fear. In their cultural settings human sacrifice may possibly be the norm. Abraham is fearful to carry out the act because either way he loses. He is a prisoner of his cultural system. Isaac suspects he is carrying the tools of his own death. The servants who are going along are fearful witnesses. Sarah is at home gripped by fear to the point that one tradition has it that Sarah died while Abraham and Isaac were on the way to Moriah. She was literally scared to death. How could she live without her son? Some even go as far to say that even God was gripped by fear for, he was not sure if Abraham would stop when so ordered. So, the road to Mt. Moriah becomes a journey of fearful silence.

There is so much we can all gain from a close study of these readings for in many ways we are all caught in a trap called fear. Some fear reparation, some fear revenge, all fear to trust. So like the slave and the owner we are hurtling along to our mutual demise. The fear is driven by the inability to see that there is enough resources available for all to live well. Greed and fear are dancing to the music of hate dirges. During this ‘dance macabre’, black lives along with their hopes, dreams and aspirations are being sacrificed. These including Dr. Martin, Trayvon, Michael, Alton, Bothan, Sandra, Atatiana, Freddie,Tamir, Breanna, Philander, George and thousands of others were sacrificed on altars of cultural whiteness.

 Then God breaks into the world of fear and declares “in me and through me there is enough for all.” Look there is a ram in the thicket”

Then Jesus came and revolutionized our understanding of God’s Holy word. Mathew 10:40 -42 “Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. Whoever welcomes a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward; and whoever welcomes a righteous person in the name of a righteous person will receive the reward of the righteous; and whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple–truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward.” Jesus bought us all into a relationship of both equality and equity. In Jesus what we discover is not unity over diversity but a truly diverse and equitable unity. My friends this is a time for Christians to fully activate their faith in God’s love for all.  For, it only through this faith, will our nation be saved. No longer can the Church which has so often supported structures of inequality, collaborated corrosively with power, colluded with colonialism remain passive. For too long those who confessed their belief that all human beings are made in the image of God have so often presented the world with a God whom they have made in their own cultural image. On Mt. Moriah a new promise was given in order to live out the promises of God. This was a chairos moment, in which God transforms fear into loving action through faith.

“Father Abraham had many sons
Many sons had Father Abraham
I am one of them and so are you
So let’s just praise the Lord
Right hand!”

Or in modern chant “Black Lives matter!”