Ten Minutes for Teachers
Mar. 4, 2007
Vol. 7, Issue 1

Worship Texts:  Gen. 15:1-12,17,18; Ps. 27; Luke 13:31-35
Worship Theme:  I Must Be On My Way
Other Texts:  Philippians 3:17-4:1
 
Devotion: 
Berit.  It is a Hebrew word.  Originally, it meant “shackle” or “chain” as in a metal circle that would bind an animal or even a person to something else.  Berit.  Sounds interesting, but not too inspiring or comforting.

Over time, as happens with words, berit came to signify more than a chain; it signified any type of binding agreement:  a treaty, the bond of marriage, a contract, a national pact.

Would you believe our faith is built off this very word:  berit?

For the Israelites, the term berit became the epicenter – the linchpin – of their faith.  It came to signify the bond between God and God’s people:  the covenant.  Guess what the word for covenant is in the Old Testament.  You got it.  Berit.

This week, we get to look in on how berit is made:  the process whereby God binds God-self to God’s creation.  Given the rise of romance and the deluge of such TV hits as “The Bachelor”, you might expect this covenant-making to be a gentle, pleasant process – drawn out over time and elegantly prepared.  You would be wrong, though.

As you open up the first book of our common story – Genesis – and turn to chapter 15, you’ll find a man desperate for a son.  Even more, this man is desperate to hear from God, since it was, after all, God who called this man away from his hometown (away from his friends and family) and out into the wilderness; it was God who lured Abram with the promise of fame and land. 

Make no mistake about it, Abram ventured out in faith, but faith does not mean anything until God shows up, until God comes through.  So, for all intents and purposes, as we peer into Abram’s life and thoughts here, he is nothing more than a gambler, a potential proverb of foolishness and risk.

But, then berit happens … again.  God, having previously promised Abram land in the abstract, now gives Abram a definite place.  The promise is being fleshed out. 

The way this covenant-making is done sounds strange to us.  When we read about the brutality of it – the killing and spilling of blood – we cringe to think this is the same God we’ve come to know and love, the same God who so gladly welcomes children.  Such is the mystery and “otherness” of God.

And this is also true, we know there is NO WAY Abram will forget this covenant – the blood on his hands, the stench of dead animals, the hot sun, the birds of prey overhead!  This berit-business – this covenant-making – is serious stuff.  It requires sacrifices; it happens in a messy, brutal world, and also in a messy manner.  And, yet, it also produces assurance, peace, and, ultimately, new life.  It allows for God to be bound to us, not because we’ve done something tremendous or grand, not because we called God and told God we wanted to be God’s people.  No, simply because God wanted to gather us as a “hen gathers her brood under her wings” (Luke 13:34). 

Faith.  It begins with a promise.  Spoken by God, given to Abram – a promise that beckons us forward.

Something to Chew On:
Like last week where God commanded the Israelites to give because God had given first, God’s covenant with Abram will lead to opportunities for the Israelites to make a covenant with God.  Opportunities for response will come later and often:  Abram’s (or Abraham’s) children can answer God’s promise with their own promises – like the exchange of vows at a wedding.

One way we make covenant with God is to take seriously our identity as God’s people and to be shaped by activities, stories and seasons of faith.  Even more specific, we make ourselves a covenantal people by passing on our faith through Sunday school … or by teaching our children about the God of Abraham, Moses, Deborah, Esther, Paul, and Martha.  We become linked to God; we become part of the children of Abraham.

Consider that as you gather for Sunday school and worship this Sunday, you are – in part – the fulfillment of God’s promise to Abram:  “I will make you a great nation” (Genesis 12:12).  You represent God’s faithfulness, the fruit of ancient vows.
 
Prayer for the day:
“We come to you, O God, often wondering about the fulfillment of promises that seems to take so long.  But even in our wandering, we come to you in trust.  We trust you will bring good to us and to all.  Help us to build our lives on your promises.  Amen.” Seasons of the Spirit: Lent, Easter.  Pg. 9.