https://youtu.be/b_dkAcvaiBw Holy Communion UCity · The Rev. Mike Angell: Wrestling With God Here’s a thesis: the Bible’s endurance comes from its mystery. These Genesis stories were told for hundreds of years before every being written down. The stories are probably close to three thousand years old. They were campfire tales, told and refined by storytellersContinueContinue reading “Wrestling with God”
Tag Archives: Sermon
Without a Vision, the People Perish
Jesus looked out on a group of tired, frustrated, oppressed people. He told them, “you get a choice of where to live.” You can stay in this tired frustrated place. Or Jesus said, you can follow me…
Pride and Sacrifice
That is the other key difference in the stories. When Jesus died, the human authorities thought they had won, but they didn’t have the last word. God had the last word. The resurrection is a witness to the power of God’s love even over the machinations of death. Even when the world is loveless, even when the world would sacrifice some of our siblings, God will conquer. God will have the last word. As people who follow the loving, liberating, life giving God, it is our work to take the knives out of the hands of those who think they are enacting justice. And God takes pride when we keep on marching.
Sarah, Hagar, and God’s Laughter
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.
Mike Angell 