Waitinghas never been one of my strong suits.  I get antsy in stalled shoppinglines.  I go crazy when some company puts me on hold forever because of amistake they made.  I get frustrated in traffic jams that stretch formiles.  I can feel the anxiety creeping into my mid-section as the acidschurn in my stomach.  I start to get warm, and then hot.  I start toget irritable.  Downright grumpy.  I try to talk myself out of thephysical responses I am feeling.  "It's not a big deal," I tell myself,for deep down I know that it's not, but I can't seem to banish the feeling thattakes over.  I'm smart enough to know that the anxiety is caused mostlybecause I feel out-of-control of the situation.  I can't "fix" it and toooften I just have to take another deep breath, keep my opinions to myself, andtough it out.  But I'll admit.  Waitingis not my strong-suit. 

Abramand Sarai were going through their own time of waiting and feelingout-of-control.  You remember these two parents of our faith, called byGod out of the blue, chosen by God to begin a great nation, to have a greatname.  Only . . .  time has passed for Abram and Sarai since Godpromised them so much, and still the nursery was empty, the diapersunused.  Three whole chapters of Genesis have passed and the promise ofparenting a great nation has not come to fruition.  They were trying to bepatient, trying to trust God and let things happen in "God's time," but thatpromise was beginning to seem like an impossibility.  After all, the nearestthing they had to an heir was Eliezer of Damascus, and whoever he was, hewasn't their son.

Therewere no children and the two so-called "parents of a great nation" were notgetting any younger!  Abram has been waiting, I assume with less anxietythan my own, but certainly not without some questions.  When was thispromise of a great nation going to come to fruition?  Where was the proofof God's promise?  The clock was ticking and the answers were few. The waiting was tough.  Really tough. 

Godmust have known that the waiting was hard and the questions were big, for Godcomes to Abram again, this time with the words, "Do not be afraid," (foranxiety is always somehow related to fear, is it not?), then with the words ofassurance, "I am your shield" (in other words, "I will protect you"), and "yourreward shall be very great" (Don't worry, Abram, my promise hasn'tchanged.  I will be faithful to my covenant.").

Nowsomewhere along the line Abram missed the parental lecture about showingrespect to his elders and not talking back. Because it appears that in this situation, he's not interested in toeingthe line anymore.  He has big questionsand he believes God needs to step up and give him some answers.  "How?" hewants to know, and there is accusation in his voice as twice he reminds God ofhis current situation: "How will you make of me a great nation when I amchildless and have no heir of my own.  You have given me nooffspring!"  In other words, "I want to trust you, God, but I just don'tget it!"

Howmany times have we cried to God the same challenge:  "I want to trust you,God, but I just don't get it!"

Abramneeded reassurance, and God gave it to him.  God restated hispromise:  "Your own child shall be your heir.  Look at the stars,count them if you can, for these are the numbers of your own descendants."

Abram'sheart must have been lifted high, for these words of assurance; this restatedpromise was all he needed.  Our text tells us that Abram "believed theLord; and the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness."

Nowif anyone wants to argue that doubt is not a part of faith, get a load of thenext exchange between God and Abram.  Godreminds Abram about the other part of the covenant which has to do withland.  "I am the Lord," God says, "who broughtyou from your home to give you this land to possess."  Now you would think that since Abram believedGod's promise about descendants as numerous as the stars, that he would also haveaccepted God's words about the promise of land and been okay with it.  But remember, Abram's been waiting for awhilenow, and he just wants to make sure he understands God's promises completely.  So he asks the Lord, "How am I to know thatthis land will be mine?"

NowI imagine God with a twinkle in her eye at this point.  God loves Abram and she understands that itis really hard for him to take God's promise at face-value.  But God's promise to Abram is true, and shewants him to know that.  So God beginsthe covenant sealing process.  Now wereGod a lawyer, this would have been when the official documents came out, with aplace for all parties to sign and a place for the notary to press the sealwhich would make it official.  Were God abusiness-woman, the deal might be sealed with a handshake and a good-sizedcheck.  Were God a thirteen-year-old boythen a swear on his grandmother's grave would have built trust into thepromise.  Were God a six-year-old girl, apinky-swear probably would have sufficed.

ButGod is God and so we should not be surprised that God sealed God's promise toAbram and Sarai not with ink, or with money, or with swears, or withpinkies.  God sealed the promise withblood.

BarbaraTaylor describes this ancient process of symbolically sealing a deal in thisway:

Takea bunch of good-sized animals, halve them as neatly as you can, clear a pathbetween the pieces, and require each partner to walk between them as a sort ofself-curse.  By passing through the severed bodies of the animals, eachpartner says, in effect, "May the same thing happen to me if I do not keep myword."  It is what we promise but never mean when we say, "Cross my heartand hope to die, stick a needle in my eye."¹

Thiscovenant-sealing event is gruesome, no doubt, and may cause us to turn ourheads or hide our eyes.  It is so realand so bloody, and lest we forget that, the text tells us that Abram had toswat away the vultures flying in to take advantage of the situation.  An oath sealed in blood is one serious oath.

Asthe animals of the covenant lay before him and the sun goes down, Abram fallsexhausted, and a little afraid, to sleep.  In his sleep he dreams and inhis dream, he sees a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch pass between theanimals, signifying the acceptance of his offering, sealing the covenantbetween God and Abram.  God speaks and seals the covenant with the assuranceof a land in which Abram and Sarai's many descendants may settle.  Apeople and a land to live in.  The promise is clear. 

JamesVan Tholen writes,

And that is the Lord's promise to Abram's doubts, his wondering ifany of what God has said is ever going to come true.  This is what Abram receives from the Lord tohelp him along the way:  God's Word andits seal, in a bloody covenant.  This iswhat Abram receives to help him hold on to God, to help him trust that allthese things will come about, no matter how unlikely and distant they seemright now.  This is what Abram receivesto help him journey as God's child in a strange land:  The promise of God sealed in blood.²

AnxiousAbram is now ready to move forward as a partner in this covenant-sealedrelationship with God.  Will it beeasy?  Not at all.  Will he be free from anxiety?  Doubtful. But will God be with him? Absolutely.  And maybe, justmaybe, when he looks up at the millions of stars or when he remembers thesmoking torch and flaming pot gliding through the bloody carcasses, he'll takea deep breath . . . and he'll believe.

Whatabout us, though?  Like Abram, we alldeal with some anxiety in life, sometimes a lot.  We are anxious about our own health, or thehealth of others.  We are anxious aboutour financial situation in life.  We areanxious about the choices our children make, no matter what their age.  We are anxious about politics and power,poverty and suffering.   We are anxiousabout our future and the future of the world. We may not realize that our anxiety has anything to do with our trust inGod, but it always, always does.

ManyChristians these days are anxious about the state of the church.  They worry that young people aren't coming tochurch.  They fret about the way so manypeople are leaving the church as we know it and compiling their own religion -cafeteria style.  They fear that thechurch is dying.   They fret and pace anddebate and argue and write books and give conferences about what we can do tosave the church, about what we can do to save humanity.

Asif God had never made such a blood oath with Abram.  As if God had never extended that covenant bywriting God's law of love on our hearts. As if God had never become the "Word made flesh" and kept his promise toAbram and to us all through the blood of Christ on the cross. 

But he did.  So now insteadof the carcasses of animals, we have a font, a supper, a cross to remind us . .. how serious God is about the promises [God] makes.  [God's] love for his people is so great,[God's] determination to bring them home is so intense, that [our God] willface death rather than fail.³  

          We don't have to believe it.  We can keep on living in deep anxiety abouteverything in life.  We can keep onwondering when God's going to stick God's head back into the world and make adifference already.  Or we can trust thatGod is God and that God IS in the world and that this God has made covenantwith us in blood - in the blood of Christ upon the cross for us all.  May God give us strength and courage to liveour lives as trust-partners in this covenant of grace.  Now and forever.  Amen.

Copyright 2010: Mindy DouglasAdams

¹ Barbara Brown Taylor, Mixed Blessings,"Wed By God," (Boston:  CowleyPublications, 1986), 3-4.

² James R. Van Tholen, Where All Hope Lies:Sermons for the Liturgical Year, (Grand Rapids: William B. EerdmansPublishing Company, 2003),  67.

³ Van Tholen, 68.