Tag: Abraham and Sarah

Genesis 17:3-9: Leaving the Comfort of Ur
Genesis 17:3-9: Leaving The Comfort of Ur

Ur of the Chaldees

Thursday, March 20, 2025

Today we remember the story of Abraham and Sarah.

In Chapter 12 of Genesis, we hear God’s call to Abram: Leave your country, your relatives, and your father’s home, and go to a land that I am going to show you. I will give you many descendants, and they will become a great nation. I will bless you and make your name famous, so that you will be a blessing.

Today we ask ourselves if we are willing to leave all that we know in order to move toward an unseen promise. Do we have faith that God truly calls us as God called Abram? Do we believe in the hope of God’s covenant? Do we share God’s Spirit with open and giving hearts? In today’s Noontime reading, we move further into Abram’s story and we rest in the verses that tell us how and why Abram becomes Abraham. We hear the familiar words describing how and why Sarai becomes Sarah. And we ask . . .

Are we willing to step forward into the unknown as we follow God’s call? Do we anticipate the joy of the journey as we discover new places, times and peoples? Do we act with Christ’s mercy? Do we live in Christ’s joy? And like Sarah and Abraham, are we willing to leave the comfort of Ur?

For information on the city of Ur, visit: https://www.britannica.com/place/Ur

Click on the image of Ur, or visit Antiquity NOW at: https://antiquitynow.org/tag/ur/

Visit the Resting in the Promise post by entering the words into the blog search bar.

Or enter the word Covenant into the blog search bar and explore.

Image from: https://laulima.hawaii.edu/access/content/user/millerg/ANTH_151/Anth151Unit3/Ur.html
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March 20, 2025

Abraham and Sarah, faith, hope, promise, Ur of the Chaldees
Genesis 15 & 21: Do Not Fear – Part I
Genesis 15 & 21: Do Not Fear – Part I

Monday, January 1, 2024

We are familiar with the conversation between Abram and “I AM” in which God promises not only a kingship and land but a son and as many descendants as there are stars in the sky. Do not fear, Abram, I am a shield to you; your reward shall be very great (Genesis 15:1) God’s fidelity is echoed in Abram’s.

Later in this story, Hagar bears Abraham a son and her attitude toward Abraham’s wife Sarah changes. When Hagar and her child Ishmael are sent away to wander in the desert, the same God who promises so much sends a messenger to bring them tidings of peace. The angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What is the matter with you, Hagar? Do not fear, for God has heard the voice of the lad where he is. (Genesis 21:17) Ishmael’s cry is heard by God.

Millennia later God perseveres in watching over the marginalized and invites shepherds as the first witnesses to the arrival of the Messiah in the world. Today we reflect on the gift of fidelity that Abraham, Sarah, Hagar and Ismael teach us. We reflect on the humility and joy of the shepherds who visit the child Jesus. And we reflect on the permanence of God’s love.

Jesus persists in serving as our shield. Today let us consider the fidelity we echo back to God.

Throughout Christmastide, we continue to explore the number of ways the Creator tells us that we need not be afraid.

To learn more about why and when Abram and Sarai’s names become Abraham and Sarah, visit: http://bibleblender.com/2011/bible-stories/old-testament/genesis/abraham-gets-a-new-name

Image from: https://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-image-christ-born-high-res-abstract-background-your-project-image35831176
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January 1, 2024

Abraham and Sarah, fidelity, Hagar and Ishmael, Jesus as shield, shepherds
Hebrews 5:11-14 & 6: Resting in the Promise – A Reprise
Hebrews 5:11-14 & 6: Resting in the Promise

Saturday, December 3, 2022

You have become sluggish in hearing . . .

Notes from the NAB, page 1328: Rather than allow the slow to become content in their slowness, Paul exhorts them to even higher levels of spirituality. He is not lenient. And as for those who have fallen away completely, he does not even address these apostates. If all we need is energy to progress in our spiritual journey, we can turn to Christ for he tells us through Matthew (10:28-30), my yoke is easy, my burden light. Christ himself exhorts us, Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

Sometimes we are not so much sluggish as afraid. We know that the task lying before us is laden with tricky passages, dark corners, deceitful paving stones that look firm and yet sink into quicksand. On these occasions we must also turn to Christ, trusting him when he says take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart. Disobedience is not an option for an apostle.

Paul tells us that Christ’s promise is immutable, and he uses the long story of the covenant promise between Yahweh and Abraham as ample proof. Did not the elderly couple – Sarah and Abraham – begin a kingdom of millions? Did this new way of seeking God not travel to all peoples of all nations? Do we not know even today the story of this Abraham, Sarah, and the high priest Melchizedek? Paul reminds us that it is impossible for God to lie; God’s very goodness and honesty force God to keep God’s covenant with God’s people.

So when we feel weary or afraid, we might turn to Paul for a reminder of the words we can never hear too often. This we have as an anchor of the soul, sure and firm, which reaches into the interior behind the veil [into the Holy of Holies], where Jesus has entered as forerunner . . .

We must rest in this promise that when all is dark, when all appears to be lost, when all is more difficult or more terrifying than we can bear, we must be still so that we might hear again . . .

Come to me . . . and you will find rest for your souls . . .

A Favorite from December 11, 2008.

Image from: https://faithgateway.com/blogs/christian-books/hope-anchor-soul
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December 3, 2022

Abraham and Sarah, covenant, deceit, fear, humility and meekness, Melchizedek
Genesis 17:15-19: Joy and the Promise of Birth
James Tissot: Abram’s Counsel to Sarai

Friday, November 26, 2021

Genesis 17:15-19

Joy and the Promise of Birth

What I like so much about this story, and what I liked as a child, is the fact that God changes Abraham’s and Sara’s names when they enter into their covenant with him. I also like that both of them laugh when they hear the news that they will have a child so late in life. These are outward and visible signs that when God approaches with a promise of fortune, even when these promises appear to be impossible to keep, we can expect change and joy.

There is also a motif of wonderful and simple surprise in this story. I like wonderful yet simple surprises in my own life, and I am always grateful to discover that I am still capable of finding joy in small things of life. I have always found that it is in the quiet and in the stillness that jumbled thoughts and prayers become crystalline and clear.

I also smile when I read about Abraham and Sara’s happy hospitality. In the next chapter, Abraham runs out to greet the strangers who approach his tent, while Sara prepares a meal. I was raised in a family in which we were taught that to open one’s home and to share one’s table was a sacred act, one in which we leave ourselves most vulnerable to others and the possibility of betrayal, but an act to which we must commit ourselves. When we turn people away we also turn away the opportunity to be transformed, the possibility that God may enter our own tent for “is there anything too wonderful for the Lord to do?”

As a child, I always wondered why Sara was so fearful that she “dissembled”, saying that she had not laughed. Was it that she did not want anyone to know that she was inside the tent listening to the conversation between these men? Did she find God’s promise too ridiculous to believe? Had she lost the sense of wonder, hope and joy as she aged? I suppose we shall never know.

Now that I am grown, with children and grandchildren of my own, I hope that I never lose my sense of humor. I also hope to be always open to the surprises of joy God has in store for me. And I hope to have the patience and perseverance God requires or me. May I be worthy of the promise God has placed in me. May I rise to do the work God has asked of me, and to give birth to the work God requires of me. For in this will be my joy.

Image from: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tissot_Abram%27s_Counsel_to_Sarai.jpg

Adapted from a reflection written on October 5, 2007.
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November 26, 2021

Abraham and Sarah, hospitality
Romans 4:18-21: Being Prepared
Romans 4:18-21: Being Prepared

Tuesday, October 15, 2019

Last week-end when I was returning home after several days packed with more activity than reflection, I turned on the radio and the words of a sermon saluted me in the dark. The voice spoke through the car speakers saying: Life is not about knowing and understanding what we are doing next, it is about being prepared. The homilist then developed his theme by reminding his radio flock of the number of times that God leads people into greatness . . . without their full comprehension of how or when this plan God speaks of will unfold. The radio voice then told a series of stories and it pointed out that this string of figures from scripture hold something in common: the protagonists are all prepared to receive the word . . . and to follow it in faith . . . hoping against hope . . . obeying, trusting and loving God.

As I made my way home through the warm, falling darkness, the headlamps of my car were only lighting the winding way a hundred yards or so before me. The night was creeping up behind and snugging in beside me; the light before me was fading fast. And even though I was traveling a well-memorized route, I really had no idea of what lay ahead of me in the darkness the headlights did not pierce. But the voice on the radio and the night beyond the car’s head beams drew me on. The homilist reminded listeners that when God invites us to move to a new place he does not divulge the entire plan – this plan is too complex in the first place and knowledge of its entirety is not necessary in the second. It is enough that we follow and enact God’s will as best we can. That is all that is required of us. God knows our strengths and weaknesses. He did, after all, create us.

This always happens to me when I tell God that I think he has chosen an improper servant to do his work after he has sent me into the fray of life and I feel that I have come up short of God’s and my own expectations. Without fail when I am feeling this way, I receive a clear signal that God well knows what he is doing . . . and that I must doubt God and myself less . . . and trust in God and myself more. He delivered the message again on that beautiful dark night last week-end, and here he delivers it again through St. Paul in this recounting of Abraham and Sarah’s leap of faith.

I must devote myself to being more prepared in this life. I must remember that with God all things are possible . . . and I must be prepared to answer God’s call, being fully aware that whatever God has promised he is able to perform.

Image from: http://www.turnbacktogod.com/pray-for-gods-servants/

Written on September 27, 2008 and posted today as a Favorite.
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October 15, 2019

Abraham and Sarah, being prepared, God’s promises, hope, trust

Tag: Abraham and Sarah

Genesis 17:3-9: Leaving the Comfort of Ur

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Genesis 15 & 21: Do Not Fear – Part I

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Hebrews 5:11-14 & 6: Resting in the Promise – A Reprise

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Genesis 17:15-19: Joy and the Promise of Birth

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Romans 4:18-21: Being Prepared

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