A quick bite with Adam & Eve

I stopped by to dine with some old friends today. Adam and Eve, Abraham & Sarah, the whole gang was there. Until I started reading, I didn't realize how often we have dined together. From Sunday school classes starting in 1983 to seminary classes, I have seen this crew dressed up on felt boards and as singing tomatoes & cucumbers (veggie tales). They have been presented as uncomplicated, faithful followers of God, and as utterly human, broken people. Throughout the meal, at times it was as if Dr. Fretheim joined us, his voice in my head "God's covenants build upon each other..."

I didn't quite know which version of these old friends I wanted to visit. It used to be so simple--Father Abraham had many sons, I am one of them, and so are you, so let's all praise the Lord! Then, I went to seminary and the relationship became more complicated--Father Abraham had a son by taking advantage of his power and position. Hagar would have had no choice but to mother a child for him. In our modern world, we call it rape. How do we continue to sit across the table from him, naming ourselves as "one of his sons?" Lot's virgin daughters, after being offered up by their father for gang rape, got him drunk and slept with him in an extremely misguided attempt to keep the human race alive. But God still used the broken--the murderer, the rapist, the raped, the illegitimate children in His story. Abraham, and Hagar, and all the rest are part of God's story. Not because they were cleanly cut felt board characters who made a mistake one day by eating an apple from a talking snake. Instead, they are all part of God's family, gathered at God's table IN SPITE of and BECAUSE they are broken, deplorable human beings. Because we are too. These accounts don't make the meal any less "perfect" or or "magical"--it was never intended to be. Instead, we still gather at the table with Abraham, Lot, and Eve knowing that we too are broken, waiting for Jesus to serve us the meal.

Though I don't have the energy tonight, I will have to share with you the power of the flood story and the rainbow in my life. I lived in East Grand Forks MN when flood waters destroyed the entire town and burnt out the downtown area. In the midst of our broken city, God gave us a perfect rainbow over the burnt out downtown, reminding us all of His promise to never leave us and never flood the world again...look for a fuller story on April 19, the 13th anniversary of the flood.

Feasting with Pastors: Every month, a hungry group of pastors gather together in East Central Indiana for a meal. We share our concerns, spread a little good cheer (and gossip) and feast on God's food. On any given Sunday, we are providing the meal to our congregation. But, once a month, those who serve the FEAST to others serve it to one another. It is our daily bread, reminding us that no matter how broken we or our ministry is, Christ too is broken, so we may be filled. The broken BODY of Christ is served to the broken Body of Christ. Then, we go out, so that we may remind others to to ask God to
Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread....

Pastor Tracy