Dear friends,
Last Sunday, we sat with the story of Hagar and heard how this enslaved Egyptian woman is the only person in the entire Hebrew Bible who gives God a name: El Roi, the God who sees me. Like Hagar, God sees all of us who are on the margins, and perhaps we can say the same: I have seen the One who sees me (Genesis 16:13). And perhaps like Hagar, you are also a witness and theologian, adding to the bigger conversation of who God is and what God is doing in this world.
This Sunday, we continue our Genesis series with one of the most challenging stories in all of Scripture — the binding of Isaac, or the Akedah, in Genesis 22. We will be delving into the question many of us have wondered: did God really command Abraham to kill his son? I’ll be exploring Genesis 22 in light of Genesis 15, where God makes an extraordinary covenant with Abraham, walking alone between the pieces of sacrificial animals, binding God’s self to Abraham unconditionally and unilaterally.
What do these two texts tell us about God’s character? And what if the most important moment in Genesis 22 is not the command but the interruption? Come join us this Sunday as we carefully unpack this challenging story, and hopefully see God with fresh eyes.
Shalom,
Pauline