Ancient Blessings

Wednesday, January 3, 2007 -- Year 1

"Morning Reflections" is a brief thought about the scripture readings from the Daily Office of Morning and Evening Prayer according to the practice found in the Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church.

Morning Prayer begins on p. 80 of the Book of Common Prayer.
Evening Prayer begins on p. 117
An online resource for praying the Daily Office is found at www.missionstclare.com
Another form of the office from Phyllis Tickle's "Divine Hours" is available on our partner web site www.ExploreFaith.org at this location -- http://explorefaith.org/prayer/fixed/index.html


Today's Readings for the Daily Office (p. 940)
Psalms 68 (morning) // 72 (evening)
Genesis 28:10-22
Hebrews 11:13-22
John 10:7-17

Again this morning we hear of the beginning of a great journey. We go with Jacob, who in the future will be named Israel. He has stolen his brother's blessing from their father Abraham, and now he must flee his home. Alone at night, he has a dream. An angel-laden ladder connects heaven and earth, and the Lord God stands beside him.

I am struck with ambivalence as I read of the divine gift. God gives to Jacob "the land on which you lie." I know that nearly four thousand years later, conflict over that gift brings violence, tragedy, and threat to the entire earth. How I long for the fulfillment of the other part of the original promise -- that "all the families of the earth shall be blessed in (Jacob) and in (Jacob's) offspring." When will the gift of this holy land simultaneously be a blessing again to all the families of the earth?

Jacob's acceptance of this blessing and gift is a conditional and negotiated acceptance. "If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, so that I come again to my father's house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God." As he leaves this promised land, he challenges God to care for all his needs and to return him home. If God takes care of him, Jacob will accept and worship this God. Furthermore, if God lives up to this bargain and allows Jacob to prosper, then Jacob tells God, "of all that you give me I will surely give one-tenth to you."

Christian interpretation of this passage proclaims that God has blessed "all the families of the earth." That blessing is in the person of Jesus. Again I feel some ambivalence. Our Christian history is also marred with violence, tragedy, and threat in the name of Jesus. Many families have not felt blessed by his followers.

The book of Hebrews looks back at these stories of Israel's early heroes, the promises, and the blessings. The author of Hebrews believes that the patriarchs' deepest desire was for "a better country, that is, a heavenly one."

It strikes me that if we held on to these gifts and promises from God with a more spiritual and less literal grasp, we might be able to accept the blessings and forego the violence.

Is it possible for Israel to live so confidently in the promise of a spiritual and heavenly home that some sharing accommodation might be made which could bring reconciliation in the Middle East? Is it possible for Christians to live so confidently in the love and presence of Jesus that we could make peaceful and sharing accommodation with all faiths? For so many centuries we have suffered from the victory-defeat paradigm of possessive "either-or" faith. What might a millennium of "both-and" faith look like?

Lowell
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The Rev. Lowell Grisham
St. Paul's Episcopal Church
Fayetteville, AR