AfterWords: Stories that Shape our Lives—Scoundrels & Saints

 

Genesis 27:1-4, 15-23

Reading parts of Genesis is like reading a soap-opera! Jacob, grandson of Abraham, shows a different side in today’s reading. Abraham is the faithful, God-fearing man who walks away from everything in Ur to live into God’s call and promise. Jacob, son of promise, is not the one to write home about. He bargains to win his twin brother’s (Esau) birth-right, he steals Esau’s blessing from their father Isaac, and then he swindles his uncle for a thousand goats and sheep. Sheesh! This guy really lives into his name: Jacob… “deceiver.”

The reading for this week focuses on the “blessing” Esau was to receive and Jacob steals. What is this idea of “blessing?” In the Old Testament, when a father confers blessing on his first-born son, he is effectively transferring all his goods and authority to that son. All other sons and all daughters are left out of this. So, if you were not the first-born male of your family, there was no inheritance for you…unless your oldest brother wanted to pass along something to you.

Blessing—while off balance in the Old Testament culture—is not a bad thing. I mean, who wouldn’t want to receive blessing? And, who wouldn’t want to receive blessing from God whom Jesus calls our “Heavenly Father”? His blessing would be the best, right?

Part of the Good News is that we can receive God’s blessing—anyone and everyone. Jesus teaches us in Matthew 5 about how to get in on the blessing—on the “goods and authority” that God has and wants to pass on to us:

³ “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
⁴ Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
⁵ Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
⁶ Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
⁷ Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
⁸ Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
⁹ Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
¹⁰ Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5)

These blessings are for us—kingdom, comfort, the land, satiety, mercy, glimpses of God, divine family. All ours, all conferred on us as we embrace attitudes and actions of poverty, brokenness, meekness, hunger, mercy, purity, peace, and just persecution. These are the counter-cultural ways of walking in the Jesus way.

The story of Jacob, thankfully, ends well. Jacob is changed as God gives him a new name: Israel. He is reunited with his brother…and his brother not only forgives him but welcomes him home. We find in this story the truism: Every saint has a past. We also find in our study today a new truism: Every scoundrel can have a future. God’s way and God’s blessing can change our lives. This is good news for us.

Sunday, September 21, 2025
“Scoundrels & Saints”
Watch/Listen: HERE

AfterWords: Stories that Shape our Lives—Letting Go

 

Genesis 22:1-14

This significant event from the life of Abraham opens with the words, “Some time later God tested Abraham….” These words leave us a bit unsettled. God tested Abraham? Will God test me? And the test? Well, that involves Abraham sacrificing his only son, Isaac, the son we find promised at the beginning of Genesis 12.

These words shake us because—if we’ve been in the faith for a while—we have seen in the New Testament these words: “Nobody being tested should say, “It’s God that’s testing me,” for God cannot be tested by evil, and he himself tests nobody” (James 1:13, NTFE). So how do we reconcile this? Is this an OT vs. NT issue?

Translation is the problem. The Hebrew word nasah can be translated as ‘test,’ but a better translation is ‘proof’ or ‘prove’: “Some time later, God proved Abraham.” And this makes sense when we realize that Abraham has been in the “school of trust” ever since his call in Genesis 12. So, what we really find here is God proving Abraham…or letting Abraham prove his trust in God.

God asks Abraham to take his son into the hills and sacrifice him. For the next seven verses, Abraham is silent. He goes through the motions—gathers kindling, secures fire, gets rope, takes his knife…and travels with Isaac. But, in verse eight, we find that Abraham proves his faith, his trust God who has called him and in God’s promise. Abraham knows his son will not die, and in response to his son’s question about a lamb for sacrifice, he is able to answer with confidence: “‘God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.’ And the two of them went on together” (Genesis 22:8). They go on together because Abraham wants his son, too, to see God’s provision. And God does provide. Abraham is able to “let go” of his son because he trusts God.

A similar “proof” happens in the Gospels when a rich young man comes to Jesus in his pursuit of “eternal life.” After the young man affirms his commandment-keeping, Jesus tells him, “‘One thing you lack…go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.’ At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth” (Mark 10:21-22). Here we find someone who is unable to let go, not yet ready to trust. And he walks away from the promises and blessings of God.

Too often we hold on to possessions, to ideas, to dreams, to self-perceptions, to any number of things we think we must have, we think we can’t live without. Like Abraham, we must be truly willing to let go of those things in order to know and live into the promises and blessings of God. If we insist on holding on, we, too, will go away sad. Today, we can decide to trust, we can take that step of trust by truly letting go of whatever it is we have held onto. Let go…and live into the promises and blessing of God.

Sunday, September 14, 2025
“Letting Go”
Watch/Listen: HERE

AfterWords: Stories that Shape Our Lives - "On the Eighth Day...."

 

Genesis 1-2

Origin stories are important. We want to know where we come from. My own story—as far back as we know—starts in the Scottish Lowlands. My people were farmers (and horse thieves…but only English horses!). Knowing their journey from Scotland through Ireland and then to the New World in 1743, and then their migration from Pennsylvania down the Appalachians into north Georgia by the late 1800’s—this is helpful for me and forms my self-understanding. The origin story in the opening chapters of Genesis is even more important. In this story of Scripture, we find that our world and all of Creation are God’s handiwork. That God makes this universe on purpose confirms that the universe and every one of us has purpose. This is good news!

Also a part of this story is God’s taking rest. After creating the universe, our world, and us humans, God rests. Here, God sets the pattern for us—we work, and then we rest. Unfortunately, in the early ages of God’s people, the scholars and religious leaders decided what was work and what wasn’t. They took a one-size-fits-all approach to work and rest. Thankfully, in our Christian era, we now know that work is important and rest is important, but just as one person’s trash is another person’s treasure, one person’s work is another person’s rest. Rest is designed for renewal and re-creation, after the expenditure of our days at work. My work includes lots of screen time and human interaction; my day of rest includes escaping screens and people 😊. Your work may be solitary or physically taxing; your rest may include getting together with others and sitting in front of screen. I cannot tell you what your rest is, and you cannot tell me what my rest is. One of our tasks as followers of Jesus is to really determine and understand what is “rest” for us…and find that day of the week that we can rest…renew…and re-create our lives.

Finally, we may have wondered (or not) what happens on the eighth day—that day after the seventh day: Did God just keep resting, or what? When we read Scripture, we see that God goes back to work. The world is now made, so what is the work of God? After Noah’s flood, God remakes the world. God creates a new people through Abraham. And God begins the amazing work of redeeming our broken and tarnished world. In Isaiah, God says he is “doing something new” (Isa. 43:19); in Jeremiah, God points out that he is remolding our lives, reshaping our lives (Jer. 18:6). Paul declares that “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, that person is a new creation: The old has gone, the new is here!” (2 Cor. 2:5).

God continues to work in our world and in our lives. Where you are and who you are today is not where you will be or who you will be. God continues the good work of renewal, redemption, and re-creation in us and even through us. Thanks be to God!

Sunday, September 7, 2025
“On the Eighth Day….”
Watch/Listen: HERE

AfterWords: Simple Stories, Profound Truths—Lessons in Grace

 

Jonah 1:1-17

Like other stories we have looked at (David & Goliath, Daniel in the Lions’ Den), the story of Jonah is often read in our children’s Sunday School classes or shared as a Bible story in Vacation Bible School. We adults do not linger long over this story. Perhaps it seems too incredulous? A man swallowed by a fish? Yet, we find a profound truth in this ancient story.

Jonah runs from God’s call to preach in Nineveh, is caught in a storm on the sea, tossed into the sea and swallowed by a fish. He prays to God, is spit out on land, and goes to preach in Nineveh. The Ninevites repent and the city is spared, and Jonah is angry because they didn’t get what was coming to them. He pouts, sits outside the city frustrated. The story seems to have no clear conclusion and ends with God asking him if he really has any right to be angry. Too often, the story is presented as a  morality tale: Obey God or suffer the consequences. Is this really message of the story?

One of the reasons I think we do come back to this story again and again is that we find ourselves there in the person of Jonah—we sense a call from God, and we run away. We aren’t all called to preach a message of repentance to large, pagan cities. More often, we sense a nudge from God to do some act of kindness, and we turn our attention to other things. We sense a whisper from God’s Spirit, and we close our ears and do nothing. Whatever shape our “running away” takes from whatever “call” comes to us, too often we turn away from God’s invitation to join in God’s work of redemption, healing, and salvation.

A significant piece of this story is found when Jonah is on the ship headed to Tarshish. The storm comes upon the ship and everyone is in fear for their lives. Jonah is the one who is running from God, but his act of rebellion is affecting the people around him. Even though we often talk of faith as being “a personal thing,” this story from Scripture shows us, reminds us, that how we respond to God can and often does impact the people around us—family, friends, coworkers, classmates, neighbors.

Most of us at some time or another have run away from God, ignored God’s prompting in our lives. We have become Jonahs. And, like Jonah, the place to stop and begin our journey anew in the right direction is in prayer. Jonah prays, and God sets Jonah again on the right path. That act of prayer opens Jonah—and others—to what this story is really about: grace. Jonah experiences grace. The sailors on the ship experience grace. Nineveh experiences grace. This is how God is, and we see the very same thing in the Gospels when Peter turns away from Jesus. When he turns back, he finds grace.

This is the message of Jonah: No mater the storms of life, no matter how far we go, no matter anything, God’s grace—the unearnable, undeserved love and favor of God—awaits us when we turn our lives again to God and join God in the work of changing, saving, redeeming, healing, befriending the world around us. 

What have you been running from? What ‘nudge’ have you ignored? What whispers have you closed your ears to? Today, stop running, pray, and join God in the joyous, life-giving opportunities God has for you.

Sunday, August 31, 2025
“Lessons in Grace”
Watch/Listen: HERE