DYSFUNCTIONAL

Right from the beginning of the Bible dysfunctional families appear.  Now these were a group of uneducated,
ancient, wanderers who thought they heard God but sometimes another voice would cause problems.  We were a smaller group of ladies that met at the church yesterday.  The rain drenched us even on the short walk from our cars.  But it did not dampen our spirits.  We were soon laughing at some of the craziness in our own lives.

I was wondering why we had not started the lesson so I said "I am glad I am not doing this study".  Oh but you are I was told.  Evidently I had missed a week and so I was on the wrong chapter and did not realize that I was to be the leader.  They all thought that was pretty funny but I was taken by surprise.

Genesis is a book of contradiction and paradox.  Chapter 22 has Abraham starting on a three day journey to sacrifice his son.  The thought makes me angry and confused and full of disbelief.  How could he?  How does this help me to relate to God as a good and loving parent?

We talked about fear and because they feared God they believed He had to be appeased by offering up a sacrifice.  They did at that time even sacrifice their own children.  An angel stops Abraham in the very act and a animal is provided instead.  Some believe that Abraham trusted God would bring his son back to life.

The sacrificing that continued would become a ritual that abused worshippers that came to the temple and where cheated and exploited.  Jesus became angry so angry he overturned their tables and drove out the abusers.  This is a place of worship and prayer he shouted because it broke his heart to see what was happening. 

We can talk to God anytime anywhere and we do not have to be in a church, nor say the right words, or even take the time to meditate and enter into of state of grace.  The spirit that brooded over the face of the waters in the beginning broods over all of creation.

Jesus tells us praying is not heaping up empty repetitive words thinking that the volume of our words are what God hears.  No it is the simple and humble prayer that is offered up from the heart that is the most powerful. 

The Bible will always be for me the Living Word of God written over many centuries by many different people.  I do not understand it all and some of it makes me angry and afraid until I find the peace of Christ that is hidden within the message.  Issac was saved.  God cared about Ismeal crying in the wilderness, and God cares for those who are lost and broken by life's harsh demands.

Life is not fair but we have to cope with what we have been given. 
We have moved from seeing God as the Lord over one nation to seeing He is Lord of all creation.