Sermon are weird. Going in to this morning, I felt worse than usual about this one because the form is more, well, amorphous. Sort of: riffs on “be a blessing.” As these things go, however, I got many more positive responses than usual. My theory is that people felt good after the baptism, so they thought the sermon was better than it really was. In any case, here it is.  (And remember, this is a manuscript not a sermon.  Delivery, congregation, and Holy Spirit make a sermon.)

Be a Blessing

Genesis 12:1-4

The Lord said to Abram: “I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.”

Blessings, in the Bible, come in many forms.

• In the first creation story in Genesis 1, God created the great sea creatures, the fish, and the birds then, blessed them all.
• Later in Genesis, Jacob and Esau have a bitter fight over their father’s blessing.
• In the book of Ruth, Naomi calls for the Lord to bless Boaz (2:20)
• The Psalmist cries, “blessed are those who walk in the light of the Lord,” “blessed are those who fear the Lord,” “and blessed are those who seek God’s justice.”

Blessings are an important part of the Biblical narrative.

I haven’t heard it much in Scotland, but in America, blessings will come up fairly often in everyday interactions.

Last summer, when I worked at a Presbyterian church in Atlanta, Georgia, nestled between a subway stop and a public library, my duties often included meeting with the homeless who would stop by the church asking for assistance of one sort or another.

In these cases I’d invite the homeless person in, offer them a cool drink, a comfortable seat in an air conditioned room, and the use of our clean restrooms, and after they became comfortable, we’d chat for a while. I’d do my best to help them–giving them canned food or a supermarket voucher, or connecting them to other organizations who specialized in assisting people with their particular needs.

And always, after our conversation and prayer, the homeless person would thank me and say, “Bless you. God bless you brother. God bless.”

Another common blessing-related interaction in America occurs on the telephone, or perhaps at the supermarket checkout line. Maybe you will have had a casual conversation with a stranger, which closes the conversation with the phrase, “Good bye, have a blessed day.”

Sometimes, even, in the south especially, one might say a simple, “Hello, how are you?” And the response may be, “I’m blessed.”

Now I’m not saying America has God’s blessing figured out. Sometimes I think, at home, blessings have become more of a verbal phenomenon than a theological one. The words, “Have blessed day” at the end of phone conversation may be spoken in true faith, or they may be an unconsidered old habit.

But something is worth taking for these spoken blessings–said in faith, or out of habit. They emphasize that blessings should not, and are not, constrained to the the world of the Bible.

God said to Abram, “I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.”

Now we don’t know much about Abram’s life before God’s call and blessing of Abram found in Genesis chapter 12. The text says Abram was the son of Terah, husband of Sarai, and had no children. We do know that having children was very important in Abram’s time, as they would provide for their family, care for their parents in old age, and carry on the bloodline. We know that Abram was 75 years old when he received God’s call. But that’s about all we know about Abram. (By the way, let that be a reminder to anyone who thinks you are too old to do God’s work–God called a 75 year-old to leave his homeland and bring about God’s covenant people.)

I imagine Abram sitting in a tent somewhere in the desert, content in his old age, having a cup of tea and some shortbread when God busts through the ceiling of the tent.

“Abram, pack your bags. We’re going on a trip. Take Sarai with you–it’ll be a long journey, but I think you’ll find the compensation package suitably rewarding. You may as well pack everything you own since you’re never coming back. Oh, and I’m not telling you where we’re going. It’s cool though, stick with me and all the nations of the earth will call you blessed.”

Abram, shell-shocked, couldn’t figure out anything else to do than pack his bags and get going.

Abram’s call and blessing from God was a big one, big enough to be remembered for all eternity. But God is still calling and blessing today. Maybe God’s not by breaking down the roof of your tent, speaking directly to you, and describing the future. But God blesses still.

Twenty-seven years ago last month, God blessed the good folk of Ayr and established a united church on Midton Road. Bringing together Cathcart, Sandgate, and Trinity Churches and making St. Columba Church that we know and love. That union was not without its difficulties, but the good folk of the three churches discerned God was calling them to union. And the many and various fruits of the union continue to ripen today.

Think over those twenty-seven years, how many children were taught the good news of the gospel. Think how many cups of tea were shared in fellowship. Think how many hymns were sung to the glory of God. Think of the many ways God will bless this church in the future. And know, God blesses still.

It’s unfortunate the Revised English Bible translation that we use in worship chooses a different way to phrase God’s instructions to Abram. My favorite translations say, “I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.”

It’s that phrase, “you will be a blessing” that stands out to me. Usually we think of blessings only as something given rather than something enacted and embodied. God tells Abram, “Be a blessing.”

The translators of the Revised English Bible chose a different wording, “I will make your name so great that it will be used in blessings.”

Literally in the Hebrew the phrase means, “so be you a blessing.” So I think the English, “be a blessing” probably makes the most sense.

But before we go off to be blessings to the people of Ayr and beyond, we need to consider why Abram is a blessing.

God said to Abram,
I will make of you a great nation,
and I will bless you,
and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.

God is at work here. It is God who’s doing the blessing, and only in response to God’s blessing can Abram be a blessing to others. God calls, and Abram responds.

Far too often today we switch that order around, claiming God is blessing us while what’s actually happening is that we’re neglecting our call to be blessings to others. God doesn’t tell Abram, “be blessed, sit in your tent and drink you tea,” but “be a blessing, pack your bags, forget your pension, follow me to a land I have prepared.”

It’s easy to sit back and thank God for our blessings, especially when they are material. We can thank God for the blessing of our warm houses–and that’s a good thing to do–we can thank God for the blessing of family–as we should–we can thank God for the blessing of a friends, a strong church, a lovely town–as we do–but the call of God doesn’t stop there.

Abram was blessed, then hit the road. Sure the blessing may have sounded nice at the time, but I’m sure it wasn’t comfortable–leaving one’s country, kindred, and father’s house to move to an unknown land.

Did you notice, the text doesn’t tell us Abram’s spoken response. It just says, “So Abram went as the Lord told him.” Can you imagine what Abram must have said and thought?

What is this crazy God thinking now? I’m 75 years old and have no children–how will my family be blessed? God will make my name great? The only great thing I have coming is my death.

But God had something else in mind. You know the story: God brought Abram and Sarai through the famine. God established a covenant with Abram, and promised to give his descendants much land. God gave him a new name, “Abraham,” and his wife God called, “Sarah” and blessed them with a son in their old age.

Blessings come in many forms. God has blessed you all with many different gifts, in many different ways, for many different purposes. But what is not different, what is sure and certain beyond any doubt, is that God has blessed you. For you belong to God.

The first question of the Heidelberg Catechism puts it this way. “What is your only comfort in life and in death? That I am not my own, but belong body and soul, in life and in death, to my faithful savior Jesus Christ.”

Did you notice, as God calls Abram there are no conditions, no “If you do this, then I’ll bless you.” God doesn’t even say, “I’ll bless you now, but you better watch it: if you screw up I’ll take it all away.” No, the Lord’s call and blessing of Abram is unilateral. Unconditional. Unbreakable.

It’s that same covenant of love that we celebrate today around the font. Our sister Chrissie has been called by God, and in a few moments will be marked and sealed as God’s own, not with conditions or clauses, but by a covenant of grace.

At the font, we’ll mark Chrissie’s fellowship into that great nation begun by Abram’s call. We’ll welcome her into the church of ages. We’ll celebrate our communal identity as God’s beloved. And it will be our task to be a blessing to Chrissie, to tell her the old old story, and to help her find ways, along with us, to be God’s blessing to others. Amen.