June 22, 2008 (Veronica Dyck)

Veronica Dyck spoke on Hagar’s story from Genesis and noted the many parallels between Hagar’s and Ishmael’s story, and that of marginalized people through history the nation of Israel’s. Indeed many other groups even today, such as black people, or women; indeed any group that has been marginalized sees parallels in this story of denying justice, and human compassion. The practice of a woman giving one of her servant girls to her husband by whom to have children was not uncommon, but the dynamics of this story are complex, and the text offers us few clues except that although Hagar was given to Abram as wife, Abram was never Hagar’s husband. Was Hagar excessively proud of her accomplishment over Sarai? Was Sarai’s response to outrage appropriate? The significance of Hagar’s meeting with God out in the desert (the first such in the Bible between God and human) cannot underestimated, yet Hagar’s imperfection is obvious in the face of God’s blessing and safekeeping. Her refusal to obey does not disqualify her, however, nor her child, from inheritance. When the prospect of revenge is offered for her abandonment in the desert, only then does Hagar turn and follow God’s path. Nevertheless, Hagar’s return and service to Sarai until Sarai’s own son Isaac is born more than a decade later is fraught with complications. What is the significance of the long delays between Ishmael’s and Isaac’s birth? What occurred in this time? Hagar was driven into the desert again, but this raises more questions than it answers; yet there is no question that God blesses Ishmael, and through him, Hagar once again. Veronica noted several possibilities of blessing and future that commentators have raised about the text, and how Abraham, despite acting so abominably, goes on to receive God’s blessing as well. The parallels of this story and that of Moses and Israel are striking, and Veronica outlined some of those for us too. Veronica’s stories of possibility described for us much more fully how imperfect are the tools that God uses to achieve His ends, and how God’s Exodus theme of intervention to save his people, whoever they may be, is an ongoing event that carries on until today. [AP] Listen to the sermon audio MP3 recording from Sunday June 22nd, 2008 using your browser's preferred media player.

June 15, 2008 (John Klassen)

Dr. John Klassen, (History Professor Emeritus, Trinity Western) spoke on the lectionary text, Genesis 18.1-15, "Reasons to Laugh". There are far too few examples of laughter recorded in scripture. Instead we are given stories of worry and suffering almost from the beginning of Scripture, when the existence and knowledge of evil is alluded to in the tale of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. . Seventh-century theologians added to this trend by encouraging Christians to search our souls for any possible unacknowledged sins, deal with them (by faith and works), and some evangelicals are still influenced by this type of thinking. However, God has always entered the world with forgiveness, grace and love, which gives us cause to laugh with joy. When Jesus comes much later, he declares (as did Proverbs) that God loves everybody, not just those who are good or have the right kind of faith (God sends rain on those who are good and those who are not.) Again, this is reason enough for joy and relieved laughter. Genesis 18 tells of Sarah's laughter (though the word in the original is quite flexible and its sexual connotations make it unusually difficult to understand). Although she had given Hagar to Abraham in order to help God by providing the family a son, God was not going to be denied the option already promised, and Sarah miraculously became impregnated, and when Isaac was born, Sarah said, "God has brought me laughter" despite her lack of faith (and Abraham’s). The day's reading from Romans 5 looks at sin as 'that which pulls you down'. Adam somehow released this tremendous power of sin, but in Romans 5 we are told that we are saved, not by our faith (or good deeds) but by the faithfulness of Jesus (Toews argues this is the best translation/understanding of the passage). With all these examples in mind, showing how God works with everybody, in spite of their lives or paucity of faith, why do we, as the church, assert that certain individuals are not worthy to preach, minister or lead worship? The day's readings demonstrate this is not the way God views, approaches, or works with individuals. Thankfully God works around our weaknesses, thinking, faults and limitations - just as in Genesis. [JEK] Listen to the sermon audio MP3 recording from Sunday June 15th, 2008 using your browser's preferred media player.

June 8, 2008 (Mark McConnell)

Mark McConnell (doctoral theology student and former Associate Pastor at West Point Grey Baptist Church) spoke on "The Risk of Faith". He began with an interesting clip from the movie The Legend of 1900, in which '1900' was a man who was born and raised on an ocean liner, never once setting foot on land. After decades of this safe nomadic life, he finally decided to attempt living away from the boat, but when the time came, was unable to leave the only existence and comforts he had known all his life. This interesting story somewhat parallels that of Genesis 12.1-9 in which Abram felt he should attempt living away from the comforts he had known so many decades in Haran. Unlike '1900', Abram finally (on his second attempt) moved into Canaan. The first time Abram 'was called by God' to move to Canaan, he went only as far as Haran, thereby disobeying God's call. Nevertheless, God's call is consistent and came again, in spite of Abram's past being compromised by disobedience. Mark suggested that for God, our past does not our having potential in God's eyes. Mark also reminded us that people in Abram's society would have considered Abram and Sara to be under God's curse (shown by infertility) and therefore assumed that God would never work through them as a couple. But God saw this couple in a very different way. Abram and Sara's final response to the call to move was described by the writer of Hebrews as an act of faith. In that regard, John Calvin once wrote, "I command thee to go forward with closed eyes." To what are we being called? To new work, new directions, new attitudes? [JEK] Listen to the sermon audio MP3 recording from Sunday June 8th, 2008 using your browser's preferred media player.

June 1, 2008 (Henry Neufeld)

Henry Neufeld began with three modern stories about rules and obedience that had puzzling origins. The rules we most often find useful and live by, are quite different than those found in the Bible. Such rules as we find in Leviticus are puzzling. Yet by these rules, God gives a blessing if you obey, and a curse if you do not. Little was said in the OT about faith, and a lot about obedience, and Henry had to check not only with a concordance, but also with three knowledgeable friends to be sure. He asked, by emphasizing faith over obedience, are we emphasizing heavenly life insurance over following Christ’s path? Do we have it backwards? Henry quoted Rebecca Sack who said that when we separate what we believe from what we do, the result is that Christians become functional atheists. Another friend quoted Bruggemann, saying belief (“Believism”) is not the only step on the road to eternal life - obedience, actions and discipleship are necessary too. For Jews, faith was obeying the covenant, the rules. Mt 7:21-23 outlines how Jesus defined a follower - it was more than believing or doing miracles in his name, but rather, what results have you produced with the teachings of Jesus? Yet Jesus often berated his disciples for not having faith. Paul, too, reminded Jewish Christians that “By grace you are saved, through faith, not works. Yet what is often missed in this popular text is the second half - “so that you may do good works.”. On judgement day, we’re not going to be judged on what we believed but on what we did with the knowledge God gave us. May we not be found wanting. [AP] Listen to the sermon audio MP3 recording from Sunday June 1st, 2008 using your browser's preferred media player.