ABRAHAM
Do you remember how God saved Noah and all the animals in the ark, and how Noah and his family promised to be God’s people, and God promised to be their God?
Noah’s children had children and grandchildren and they filled the earth.
God chose two of them, Abraham and Sarah. to be the ancestors of the Chosen People. the people of Israel, the People of the Promise.
Abraham and Sarah lived in the desert. In tents.
And God called to Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham, Abraham!”
And Abraham said, “Here I am.”
God sad to Abraham’ “Go out from your own country and your own people, into a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation. You will have many children, more than there are stars in the sky, or sand in the desert.”
Now Abraham and Sarah were old, and they had no children.
But Abraham believed in the Lord, and Abraham left his country, and went out into the desert. And Abraham built an altar, and worshiped the Lord. And again, God called to Abraham,
And said to him, “Abraham, Abraham!” And Abraham said. “Here I am.” God said to Abraham. “I am your refuge and your great reward. You will have more children than there are stars in the sky or sand in the desert.” Abraham and Sarah still had no children, but Abraham believed in the Lord, and Abraham journeyed on, and built an altar to the Lord. A third time God called to Abraham as Abraham sat in the doorway of his tent and Sarah was inside. Three angels came to visit Abraham and Abraham ran out to make them welcome and prepare them food. And as they were eating, they said, “We will surely come this way again and Sarah will have a son.” Now Sarah was old and dried up. and when she heard this, she laughed. And the angels said, “Why did Sarah laugh? Is anything too hard for the Lord?”
And the angels went their way and in the springtime, Sarah had a son. And they named him Isaac, which means, “laughter.” Isaac was the father of Jacob and Esau, and Jacob was the father of twelve sons, the twelve tribes of Israel. the People of the Promise. And that is our story.
The Lord be with you!
This Sunday is Pentecost Twenty and the color is green. In this story of Abraham, God calls out “Abraham, Abraham!” and Abraham says, “Here I am!” This happened with Noah. too. If we hear God even if it is a quiet voice inside, we can stop and say, “Here I am!” and listen. One other thought about this story, I put stars on the envelopes every week so we can remember that we are the People of God’s Promise. Have a good week. Be safe. I miss you! I want to thank Gretchen Wolff Pritchard for her wonderful Beulah Land stories.
