Blessings that Flow

There’s an old, old children’s song about Abraham, “Father Abraham had many sons. Many sons had Father Abraham. I am one of them, and so are you, so let’s all praise the Lord.” Maybe you know it. Over the next several weeks, we are going to delve into the story of Abraham. Abraham is the first of the Patriarchs. Judaism, Islam, and Christianity all trace their stories back to Abraham.

So what do we know about him? He lived about 4000 years ago. He lived as many years before Jesus as we live after Jesus.

His name was Abram, and he was married to Sarai. They lived in the city of Ur, on the banks of the Euphrates River, right at the mouth of the river as it emptied into the Persian Gulf. If you look at a map today, the river has changed course, and the gulf has filled in so the city is farther inland. The ancient city of Ur is in Iraq, about 225 miles south of Baghdad. It is the far eastern tip of what is known as the Fertile Crescent. The Fertile Crescent stretches north from Egypt through what we know as the Holy Land, curves and encompasses Haran, Babylon, and Ur. Within the Fertile Crescent, the soil is rich with nutrients and the climate is conducive to farming. So, they had a good, consistent food supply and a healthy economy.

Ur had a long history even before Abraham. It was one of the first village establishments around 4000 BC. So, by the time Abram and Sarai lived there, the city was 2,000 years old and was surprisingly sophisticated. The average home had 13-14 rooms and running water. Children were educated at schools where they wrote on clay tablets with styluses, using what was the beginnings of a written alphabet, they learned mathematics and how to figure square roots.

But Abram and Sarai did not have children to send to school. In all other ways they were well-off. Their whole family lived there on the land that had been their father’s before them, and they had nephews and nieces even though they didn’t have children of their own. Abram had done well, and at 75 he was set to retire. It was time for him and Sarai to enjoy their golden years.
And then God spoke. We don’t know anything about Abram’s faith before the encounter with God that we read this morning. We don’t know if he knew anything about God before God called, but we do know that when God called, Abram responded.

The Lord said to Abram, “Leave. Leave your land. Leave your family. Leave your father’s household, for a land that I will show you.”

So, he packed up his possessions and left. I can only imagine the emotions of his brother, Haran, saying goodbye to his brother and to his son, Lot, who decided to go with his uncle.

These were the words God had spoken: “I will make of you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great, SO THAT you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and curse those who curse you, and through you all the peoples on earth shall be blessed.”

You will be blessed. The Hebrew word for blessed is related to the word for knee. Being blessed is related to taking a knee, to kneeling. Being blessed isn’t about stuff or situations. It isn’t about things going well for you. Being blessed is about being in right relationship with God. It is about taking a knee and seeing your life from the angle God sees it. I think being blessed is a lot like seeing a rainbow. Rainbows are beautiful, but not able to be touched. They are unpredictable. They come even in the midst of storms. And they require you to be at the right angle to see them.

This summer we visited a waterfall named “Rainbow Falls.” And I have to admit that Chris does all our planning, so I had read nothing about the place. But I love waterfalls and I love rainbows, and I could just imagine two or maybe even three rainbows arcing out from this picturesque waterfall, right? Well, we got there, and there were no rainbows. I climbed to the top, sure I would see at least one from there, NONE. Chris explained that we really were too late in the day, and that the best time for seeing rainbows there was in the morning. So, we got back into the van and, if I am honest, I was a little disappointed. I mean, why call a place Rainbow Falls if you can’t see rainbows there almost all the time!

A couple of days later, we were headed back pretty near Rainbow Falls again IN the morning. So, I asked if we might stop. We did. And at first, we saw nothing. I mean, there was a waterfall, and it was pretty. But, there were no magnificent arcs of color. Again, I climbed to the top. Nothing. As I made my way back to the bottom, Chris called for us to come stand where he was. He was looking down on the mist as the water flowed into the pool. From that angle, as the water flowed down the fall and splashed into the pool below, a rainbow appeared in the mist and the whole pool seemed to be a pool of color.

As we journey through the story of Abram and Sarai, we will see them doubt and struggle. They expected to see blessings. They expected to have children, and we will see them try to work out God’s promise for themselves. And we will see how God blessed them, how they came to be in right relationship with God.

As I have thought about their story, I see myself in it. We all doubt and struggle and expect to see blessings. The truth is, God’s blessings are like a waterfall pouring into the pool of your life. But to see the blessing, you have to be looking for it. You have to be standing at the right angle, at the right time. It is always there, you just might not see it in the mist as it falls into the pool of your life. In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.