The story of Abraham and Sarah is truly wild – it’s so wild that, to me, it makes the story of Noah and a universal flood destruction seem like an episode of a sitcom. I almost can’t believe it’s a part of the lectionary passages; the story reads more like a season of Days of Our Lives instead of the story of the mother and father of Israel. But, at its heart, it is a story of deep love of God for God’s creation. It’s a story of covenant, of promises made and promises to be fulfilled and a story of relationship, of partnership, of identity and of new beginnings.

In our current Lenten series, our sermon series (and Lenten devotionals) focus on the idea that we, as Christians, are called the claim the promises that God freely and generously makes to us as God’s people. Last week, Jefferson led us through the story of Noah, and we named and claimed our place in God’s creation and the first covenant God made with Noah, with Noah’s family, with all creation and with us. God gave us a sign – the rainbow – to remember this covenant – this promise to never destroy creation again.

In the story of Noah that we didn’t read last week, we learn that God chose Noah because of Noah’s blamelessness, Noah’s trustworthiness, Noah’s faith in God. The New Revised Standard Version Genesis 6:9 says: “Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation; Noah walked with God.” Sound familiar? Our text today gives the same charge to Abraham used to describe Noah – the Hebrew words for blameless or trustworthy  are the same attributes Noah already had, the things Noah had already done  – the ones that set him apart to be a part of the new creation. God speaks to Abraham, “I am El Shaddai. Walk with me and be trustworthy.”[1]

This week, we began our sermon roundtable Bible study, where we will gather together and explore the week’s Biblical text. A quick plug for that process – please come and join us on Monday nights if you are interested (email Jefferson or me, and we’ll get you  in)! It’s a time to use the gifts God has given us of reason, our experience and our tradition as United Methodists and Christians to honestly discuss pieces of the weekly scripture that stand out to us, that we have questions about, that are particularly meaningful for us. This process recognizes that sermons never come out of a vacuum or are preached in one – the context of our community matters and the voices of the sermon-hearers matter, too. No one’s voice is prioritized, no one’s questions are more important than anyone else’s. Our time together on Monday was truly delightful and equally informative to me, and Jefferson and I would love for you to be a part of this time.

Our discussion was robust and expansive, and one of the things that we centered our discussion on was God’s choice of Abraham and Sarah. Isn’t it interesting that Abraham – the father of generations isn’t the righteous man Noah was? Abram has a complicated past – he sold Sarah to a foreign king for animals and other slaves, he had a child with his wife’s Egyptian slave. Even noting our differences in context (slavery was commonplace in Biblical times and clearly the roles of women and their role in marriages has…evolved), Abram doesn’t appear to have the same moral compass, righteous life and exemplary family as we’re told Noah has. Nevertheless, it is from Abram, from Abraham and Sarah great nations will be born and through them will God’s covenant continue with God’s people. “Walk with me and be trustworthy” God urges Abraham.

I would be remiss to not mention Abraham…and God’s partner in this covenant, Sarai, to-be-Sarah. The covenant is not complete without her and without her work in this partnership. God says, “‘As for your wife Sarai, you will no longer call her Sarai. Her name will now be Sarah. I will bless her and even give you a son from her. I will bless her so that she will become nations, and kings of peoples will come from her.’”[2] Similar to Abraham, Sarah didn’t have a spotless past.