Last Sunday, October 5, we studied the story of Noah’s ark. Pastor Brent observed that this story, shocking to modern ears, was the Hebrew people’s way of responding to the surrounding cultures’ stories of capricious gods with a story of a just God. The story ends with a rainbow: a visible sign of God’s promise, God’s covenant, that this would be a one-time cleansing (much as we might like to be put on an ark with all our favorite people and animals and wash away the rest). Next week, Pastor Brent will talk about God’s next big covenant, this time with Abraham, a patriarch of our faith.
In the meantime, hear this story of Abraham from around the time of his covenant, a story which Reverend Katherine preached on a few months ago.
Genesis 18:1-3
The Lord appeared to Abraham at the oaks of Mamre while he sat at the entrance of his tent in the day’s heat. He looked up and suddenly saw three men standing near him. As soon as he saw them, he ran from his tent entrance to greet them and bowed deeply. He said, “Sirs, if you would be so kind, don’t just pass by your servant.”
Devotional – a love letter from God, borrowed from Liberating Love by Sandhya Rani Jha
Something that was taught and practiced by my earliest followers is a culture of hospitality. Welcoming the stranger is one of the most reverent acts you can perform. Abraham did not know that the men he greeted were angels sent by me. What he knew is that human beings are created in my image, and that the starting place of all encounters should be one of generosity. Welcoming the friend is easy. Welcoming family is easy…depending on the family. But welcoming the stranger is not about their relationship to you. It is about you[r] knowing their relationship to me: one of my beloved children. Today I invite you to reflect on the ways you have extended kindness to strangers in the past, and I invite you to wonder what it would feel like to extend that kindness even further, letting the person you greet know that you see in them my image.
