Blessed… to be a Blessing

This sermon can be heard here


Gate Pa – Lent 2; 2016

Readings:
Psalm                          Psalm: 27       
First Reading:             Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18 
Second Reading:        Phil 3:17-4:1                     
Gospel:                        Luke 13:31-35

What I want to say:
What pattern do we apply to scripture? What is it all about? What does all this God stuff offer us? Demand of us? God tells Abraham that he and Sarah will be blessed to be a blessing (Gen 12). That is the pattern to read scripture and understand our lives of faith by.
What I want to happen:
People to use lent to reflect on how blessed to be a blessing helps them understand our lives of faith and what that might be inviting them into.

The Sermon

     1.      Introduction:

Few weeks ago talked about the patterns that Brian McLaren says we all use to understand the world, life, our lives in God,
they were – rivalry
-          compliance
-          meaningless mechanism
-          love (this last one from life, teaching, death and resurrection of Jesus, the Word of God)
I wonder which of these we use to understand – as said in pew sheet
-          which of these shapes our answer to why are we on this journey to Good Friday and Easter?
-          shapes what is it we hope to get out of it?
-          shapes our desire in all this?

     2.      Abram and Sarai and God’s promise

We just heard the story of God’s promise with Abram and Sarai – truck loads of descendants
            all seems very improbable with Sarai being as old as she is
            and still nothing
Not first time such conversation happens in Genesis
Nor last time
J  First time is in Genesis 12
Abram and Sarai called leave comfort of being among the rich and powerful in Ur                       – come back to this one
J  repeated after give Lot first choice in Gen 13
J  meets Abrams despair in today’s reading
J  God or angels come for meal in Genesis 17
J  repeated with willingness to sacrifice Isaac in Gen 22.
really important promise

     3.      Blessed to be a blessing

Genesis 12 reads
“Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonours you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
30 years ago Bonnie and I did a bible study course called Bethel
subtitle – based on this reading of Genesis 12
“blessed to be a blessing”
suggested that we should read the whole bible in light of this promise
            and this one line
“blessed to be a blessing”
should understand the whole story of people of God in light of that
“blessed to be a blessing”
should understand our own place in this story in light of that
            we are blessed to be a blessing!

     4.      Bible can be read in light of this

Bible can be read in light of this pattern
Law reminded descendants of Abraham through Isaac that yes they were blessed
            that blessing came with responsibility to be a blessing
Prophets constantly exhorted descendants of Abraham through Isaac
            their blessing came with responsibility to be a blessing
            failure to live that       out carried consequences
story of exile is story of failure of descendants of Abraham through Isaac to be a blessing
story restoration came with responsibility to be a blessing
Jesus lived among us
            living what means to be blessed
            living what it means to be a blessing for all people
è fulfilling the law and the prophets
in doing so confronted all the powers that harmed and destroyed communities by which people were blessed to be a blessing
è political powers – heard today
è religious powers  – high priests
è social and economic powers – rich and powerful – included Herod and high priests
è powers caused illness and demonic possession – led people ostracised from their communities
all these powers destroyed communities
prevented people from being blessed
            and prevented them from beige a blessing
Jesus actions and teachings restored those communities
            and like the law and prophets
            offered ways that those communities could be a blessing to others

     5.      The story and struggle goes on

That story, that struggle  of being a people blessed to be a blessing has continued since
at times we inheritors of this blessing
            have been really keen on the being blessed bit
            whole schools of theology build around that
lot less keen on the “being a blessing” bit
Other stories so many clearly understood they were blessed to be a blessing
that blessing was seen as being a blessing in the here and now
making a difference to lives of people around them
people like St. Francis and Franciscan order
St Elizabeth of Hungary – lived in a way that did not add to poverty peasants those lived around her
            involved in establishment orphanages and feeding poor
so many Celtic monasteries across Great Britain and Europe
and many other monasteries as well
more recent times people like
Janani Luwum Archbishop of Uganda and Martyr (February 17, 1977)
In 1971 General Idi Amin came to power in a military coup. A reign of terror followed, and Luwum and the other bishops became prominent among those protesting Amin’s actions. The bishops wrote to Amin to protest about the many arbitrary deaths and the general reign of terror.
On 16 February 1977, after a meeting with President Amin, the archbishop was driven away, along with two government ministers. Uganda Radio announced that the three of them had been arrested, and the following morning it was stated that they had died in a car accident. It was widely known that they had in fact been shot on the orders of the president.
Óscar Arnulfo Romero y Galdámez (15 August 1917 – 24 March 1980)[3]
the fourth Archbishop of San Salvador in El Salvador. He spoke out against poverty, social injustice, assassinations and torture.[4] In 1980, Romero was assassinated while offering Mass in the chapel of the Hospital of Divine Providence.[5]
è you could name your own

     6.      Conclusion

danger with naming these is that see them as special
not like us at all
But to use Brian McLarens ideas
this is the pattern we are to understand everything by
            it is the pattern of God’s love
so we, like them
            are blessed to be a blessing
Invite you this Lent take time reflect
            what ways have we been blessed
            what ways are we a blessing to people Tauranga
            what ways invited join ongoing story people of God
stretches all the way back to Abraham
through coming Christ
and ongoing story the whole church
be "blessed to be a blessing".

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