Bogosity

Gen 12:1-4

and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.

There’s a bible study program you can do called bethel which uses this verse as the underpinning for the whole bible blessed to be a blessing.

Last week we spent some time looking into the closets of our lives and we’ll continue to do that but we now throw a few more things into the mix. While we’re beating ourselves up over things we have done and thoughts that lurk under our shining exteriors, we mustn’t forget to feel guilty about the things we have failed to do.

Of course I’m being facetious – the point is not to feel guilty about it. However, guilt can sometimes be a good feeling that tells us that we want to change something and feel that we have the power to change it. Let’s be proactive in lent – remember why we’re here? We spent the first few weeks of the year in epiphany learning about the work of God in the world – justice, freedom, healing etc… In lent we’re looking at the things that block God’s work and what we can do about it. This is not a time for wallowing in woe. It’s a serious time, it may involve some planning, it may involve some deep soul searching and may require us to ask forgiveness and make some difficult changes but let’s keep our eye on the prize – a world where joy is abundant and oppression is forgotten.

Getting back to Abraham (the subject of today’s reading), we learnt in bethel that the descendants of Abraham – the Israelites were quite fond of the first part of the prophecy – I will bless you and tended to forget about the second half so that you will be a blessing. Our challenge is to avoid that trap – lets be careful to share what we have and give what we can with a sense of promise and hope for a better world.