Again and again in Genesis, we find the stories of rivals. Cain and Abel, Isaac and Ishmael, Jacob and Essau. It's almost as if the Bible is trying to tell us something about how we relate to one another. And today we enter again the story of Sarah and Hagar.
This Advent, I am not going to counsel you to be patient. Instead I say, be impatient. Be impatient for the coming of the reign of love. Be impatient for Christ to reign in glory. Let your impatience fuel your work for justice.
Let me say clearly, if your god is the god of one race, your god is an idol. If your god is the god that blesses one nation at the expense of others, that god is an idol. If your god blesses one gender identity, one orientation, one political party at the expense of all others, that god is not the God Jesus preached, that Hosea prophesied, that Paul theologized. We don’t worship that kind of small god in this church.
