Sun. Mar. 23 (Marianna Harris)

Marianna Harris (former pastor of St. Andrew's United Church) built her talk around her visits to Palestine and on Genesis 12.1-3, in which Abram is promised his descendants will be a nation. This was a promise made some 3,000 years ago. Is it still relevant today? In Genesis 12, Abram is told that "all peoples on earth will be blessed because of you", and one can assume that "all" means all--Palestinians, Moslems, Jews, Christians, each of whom claims Abraham as a spiritual ancestor. Yet these people fight, kill each other, steal land, all symbolized today by the 700-mile-long wall. Israelis fear 'terrorists', Palestinians (both Moslem and Christian) fear the Israeli military. In this environment, how in the world can these peoples think of themselves as being blessed? Was that promise only a dream? Is God's promise of a 'promised land' no longer valid because Israel does not honour Yahweh and Torah? [JEK]

Listen to the sermon audio MP3 recording from Sunday, March 23rd, 2014 using your browser's preferred media player. NOTE: the excerpt of the song at the end is "Blessed Are Those Who are Called" from the album Momentary Saints by Linnea Good.