Proper 14 C - Genesis 15:1-6

Genesis 15:1-6

Confirming the covenant by looking at stars too numerous to count is hardly proof of the promise but that is the way it has been with Abraham and God. After all, God’s “trust me” was enough for Abraham to leave his people and his father’s household for a promised land he had never seen so God’s starlit “trust me” is enough for Abraham to believe what appears less likely with each passing year. Abraham’s believing “trust me” despite the delay in God making good on the promise is reckoned as righteousness which is a way of saying that the Lord and Abraham are BFF because friendship is a relationship of trust. It is the same for all who have not seen and yet believe; who following the Lord anticipate the promise of eternal life in a land beyond without having been there; who trust that despite the difficulties of each day prayers offered are heard and God’s grace and mercy and love is as boundless as the stars that cannot be counted. In my mind no one that I know has lived that more fully than Calvary member Harry Herd who is very close to receiving the goal of his faith, the salvation of his soul. (1 Peter 1:9) Although, truth to be told, Harry’s soul was never in danger for Harry and the Lord have been BFF for a long, long time. In ways he may not fully know he has been my spiritual inspiration for many years in the same way his playing the harp in hospital rooms and on Via de Cristo weekends have been windows into the forever future prepared for all who love the Lord. I have no doubt he will be greeted by angel choirs and, who knows, there may be a chair for him in the angelic orchestra. And so the word from the Lord to Harry and to Abraham is the same word to us who walk in this life as yet by faith. Trust me.