Thanks, I Think

It’s not the first time I’ve preached the odd, kind of gross and even disturbing story of Genesis 15 on Thanksgiving Sunday. I believe it’s a great choice for Thanksgiving, even though it starts with Abram questioning God’s plans and then being asked by God to sacrifice specific animals and cut them in two (but not the birds, they stay whole - bizarre).

This is a story that confused me for the longest time. After being prompted by God to look at the night sky resplendent with stars that represented his descendants, the phrase “Abram believed the Lord, and the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness” never quite sat with me. I knew that it was a hugely important statement, quoted in Galatians 3 and ultimately pointing to how people who weren’t Jewish could still belong in God’s family. I just struggled with the wording and what it meant.

The story is set in primitive society. The chopping in half of animals is weird to us but thought by at least some scholars to be typical of a land transaction of the time. One new-to-me take on it caught my attention his week - that by God passing between the cut flesh as the smoking pot and torch (not unlike later times with the Israelites as a pillar of smoke and fire) the Almighty was committing again to all of the promises - the land, the descendants - to Abram and indicating that breaking them would be like God being cut in two. We have a deity not only conversing with a common person but promising things to him, not the other way around. Abram needed reassurance and God gave it in this covenant. God even begins the story by telling Abram to not be afraid and to trust God’s protection as a shield. God sends a vision, God shows what is to come, and Abram is ready to continue on with really no specific directive but to trust the plan.

This weekend we will probably eat more than we should, perhaps feel loss of family acutely, perhaps burn something or experience another disaster when we’re trying to impress. There may be tension, loneliness, shame, or anxiety, or it may be carefree and seemingly perfect. No matter what comes, our journeys continue and we are the recipients of Genesis 15, the ones who benefit because all of us are counted in the stars Abram saw.

We are in God’s family, no matter what kind of disaster our lives are in. What matters is our faith in God, and for Christians, in Jesus. That’s it. Because of our faith, God is with us. God’s shield protects us. God promises that the plans and purposes laid out for us are bigger and better than our current circumstances that may have us impatient or worried. God is bigger than it all.

I encourage you to take a breath at some point this weekend, and more than a breath if you can, and reflect on how this story and God inviting you into the family through Christ’s sacrifice for you impacts your life. Because even if things are going well, it’s reassuring that God is with us and we aren’t alone. We can continue on the journey, one where we may not be able to see too many steps ahead and the terrain may be challenging, knowing that God would sacrifice so much for us.

Happy Thanksgiving to all my brothers and sisters in the big crazy family that is God’s. You are enough and your faith is what matters and God’s love surrounds you. Rest in that promise. Thanks to God for it all.