June 8, 2009

Texts
Genesis 16 and 17
Matthew 6

Genesis:
Despite the promise of future generations, Abraham and Sarah have no children. So they decide to take matters into their own hands. Sarah offers to have her slave, Hagar, be a surrogate. So Abraham's first born is Ishmael (side note--when people talk about defending "biblical marriage", I suspect they aren't looking to Genesis).
Sarah quickly regrets her plan and banishes Hagar. But God appears to Hagar and makes promises to her as well. And notice in 16:13 "So Hagar named the Lord who spoke to her." While we don't often hear of Hagar as one of the matriarchs of the faith, she saw God and lived, which is no small thing.

When the blessing is repeated in chapter 17, notice that it isn't just about Israel. "You shall be the ancestor of a multitude of nations" (17:4). The tradition of circumcision is introduced here as a part of the covenant.


Matthew:
Sermon on the Mount, continued.
This section has Matthew's version of the Lord's Prayer (compare to Luke 11:2-4). Neither version is exactly as we say it in worship each week. What do you notice in this one?
This prayer is really very radical--praying for God's kingdom to come, asking only for the bread we need for the day (rather than asking to have everything we want), and asking for forgiveness, presuming we've also forgiven.
How often does the famliarity of that prayer make it difficult to really hear what we're asking?

What else in this text are you noticing for the first time?