First United Church of Christ (Bremen, IN)

Jacob flees the life he'd known with only a blessing. It must have been a pretty lonely feeling. But a dream reveals that there's more to this than he realized.
Printable version.

God declares that two nations war in the womb of Rebekah. Is God merely predicting the outcome? Or is God orchestrating it? Certainly, God could have enabled it so that Jacob was born first. One would think that so much of the conflict could have been avoided had he been. God doesn't. Is there anything about this that is helpful in our own efforts to live faithfully?  A printable version.

Genesis 24 is the longest single narrative in the book. Its main character isn't Abraham or Isaac. It's Abraham's servant. It is in many ways a rather sweet, simple story. And it offers some insights into what it means to seek God's will.  Here's a printable version. 

We're taking two weeks to look at this troubling but well-known passages of Scripture. This week we are examining it under the assumption that Abraham passes the test, that his willingness to offer his son as a sacrifice is, in fact, a demonstration of a profound faith in God and God's covenant. The quality of recording is a little weak. Apologies. A printable version of the sermon. 

Abraham pushes back against God's decision to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. The pushback is less a defense of Sodom as it is a challenge to God's honor. Is not this covenant God has made about blessing? Blessing Abraham and, through Abraham, the whole world? God is not threatened by the challenge. God knows more than Abraham, more than any of us, how dependent we are on a God operates by mercy. Printable version.

Why does Sarah laugh? It's actually a complicated question. We laugh for lots of different reasons. The meaning of laughter is critical to this story as it is the story of Isaac-- which means "Laughter." What's that about? A printable version of this sermon.

Once again God comes in to clarify business surrounding this promised offspring. The timing isn't great. After all, Sarai's had thirteen years to get used to the idea that the promised child wouldn't be hers. Why is God so difficult?  Here's a printable version. 

The lack of a baby proves again to be a source of tension in this week's chapter.  Bringing Hagar into the mix is supposed to relieve the tension. It does the opposite. It seems this plan simply veers the story off course. However there's something about it that speaks to what is at the heart of the story. A printable version of the sermon.

After a couple of weeks with technical difficulties, we return to our series on Genesis with an investigation of Genesis 15. Abram's become a wealthy man. However the  big promise-- the promise of an heir-- has yet to be fulfilled. How is Abram supposed to believe? First, he needs to step outside the tent.  A printable version of the sermon can be found here. 

As with the story of the flood, the Tower of Babel story shows God dealing with humanity in its entirety. If God wanted to keep intervening in that way, what God does here makes it far more complicated. God confuses their language and causes them to spread over the Earth. As we find out in the upcoming chapter, God zeroes in and promises to intervene on a very small scale. What do we make of this shift? Why would God complicate things?