March 23, 2014 GENESIS 12:1-4A

Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 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. I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” So Abram went, as the LORD had told him; and Lot went with him. *** I think it would be hard to be Lot, to find yourself the afterthought of these four verses, verses where God speaks promises galore upon Abram, promises of land and progeny, of greatness and blessing, of a name so great that it is still remembered today. I think it would be hard to be Lot, for his place in the Biblical narrative to begin, “and Lot went with Abram.” I think it would be hard to be Lot, whose designation and description begin as the one who, ‘went with Abram.’ I think every time there are birthday party favors, or gifts to the siblings of newborns, we recognize that it is hard to be Lot. Every time in high-school, when I was routinely handed my friend’s boat of a purse because she had been asked to Two-Step, I recognized it was hard to be Lot. Or every time in college, when a boy came up to me, and said, “Hey. Are you Amber’s roommate?” I knew that is hard to be Lot. Or every time, in seminary, when friends could study Greek vocabulary for ten minutes and ace the test, and I spent hours, and often tears, just to pass, I knew what it was like to be Lot. It is hard to watch others be blessed and its hard to be the one who goes along with them. Still today, long after consolation prizes, after wing-woman status, after my school tests are done, I still find those Lot places hard, especially in the unexplainable ways, life is unjust. There is a part of me that cringes, when I hear the utterly American, Prosperity Gospel speech, that goes something like, “We are so blessed to have this house, this occupation, this meal, these children…” and while I agree these things can be blessings, I have a hard time because I think of the Lots among us. I think of the Lots who sleep in our park, or the Lots who have had no breakfast and are hungry for lunch, or the Lots who cannot bear children, or whose children or spouses have died, or the Lots whose jobs have disappeared, or who live in countries we call less fortunate, or even less Godly. To say one is blessed, seems to imply that God provides for some, and not for others, and I am uncomfortable with this type of predestination, or post-destination. I neither believe God is that selective with blessings, nor that we have the full capacity to distinguish God’s blessings. I think when we are naming blessings as something we get, rather than something given, we have gotten it wrong. It would be easy for Lot, and for us, to hear God blessing Abram as a list of gifts, ‘the gift of land, the gift of progeny, the gift of fame, the gift of power,’ and to miss the line that reads, “so that you will be a blessing.” It would be easy to miss the reason for God to bless Abram is that Abram might be a blessing. That receiving is not the ultimate end of blessing, but instead, that to give is the purpose of blessing. I think of our offering. Each Sunday we are to return to God a portion of the gifts God has given us. We are to take our blessings, and use them to bless others. It is not a collection plate, for the church to count up its blessings. It is an offering plate for the congregation to offer their blessings to God, and for the church to do likewise through its ministry. The blessing is the giving. I think of the AAUW women’s dinner honoring local heroes. The women honored were not those with the most blessings, the best job, the biggest house, the largest family, but those whom the community saw as being a blessing. Those who had given back. Likewise, when I look at Abram, and I look at lives as influential as our hometown heroes, or graces as small as birthday party favors, I notice that to be a blessing takes effort. It also takes us out of our comfort zone. Abram is called to leave every support he has, his country, his kindred, his house. Our hometown heroes spend much of their time in service to others. And if you’ve ever curled ribbon you know that party favors require small gestures of care. These are not blessings, which count what we have, they are blessings, which give what we can count. What counts as a blessing is the giving. (These are not blessings, which count what we have, they are blessings which give what we can count. What counts as a blessing is the giving.) And so in this way, I suppose Lot, was also blessed and a blessing. All we know of Lot in these first lines, is what he gave, his company. Lot went with Abram. Likewise, he must have given up the comfort of what he had. Lot gave, and his gift is the first we know of him. What an amazing way to be introduced. May we live lives, which rather than introduce our blessings, introduce our being a blessing. Though it is not easy to be the Lot, not easy to give up everything, and walk in the shadow of a friend, may we see the blessing in being the birthday party guest, in holding the purse, in being the roommate, the classmate, and those quiet hometown heroes and the ones that cheer them along. May our blessings be to be blessing.