Home > Lenten Blog 2022
Rocking Our Souls
April 7, 2022
Genesis 17:1–8 | John 8:51–59 | Psalm 105:4–11
Rock-a my soul in the bosom of Abraham,
Rock-a my soul in the bosom of Abraham,
Rock-a my soul in the bosom of Abraham,
Oh, rock-a my soul!
As memories are wont to do, this song, likely from my time, long ago, at Rocky Hill School’s Summer Day Camp, popped into my head as I perused the readings for today.
Abraham. The Father of three faiths: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. The reading from Genesis details how God came to Abram – later Abraham – with a so-called “offer he couldn’t refuse”: I will make my covenant between me and you, and will make you exceedingly numerous…You shall be the ancestor of a multitude of nations…I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. I will establish my covenant between me and you, and your offspring after you throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. And I will give to you, and to your offspring after you, the land where you are now an alien, all the land of Canaan, for a perpetual holding; and I will be their God.
Yowza. That was a lot for one poor fellow to absorb. Surely his world was rocked. However, as St. Paul tells us in his letter to the Romans, Abraham was a faithful man, and that simple, yet profound faith, was reckoned to him as righteousness before God. As the Psalmist proclaims:
O offspring of Abraham his servant, *
O children of Jacob his chosen.He is the Lord our God; *
his judgments prevail in all the world.He has always been mindful of his covenant, *
the promise he made for a thousand generations…
In the Gospel of John, Jesus responds to His challengers: Your ancestor Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day; he saw it and was glad.” The Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?” Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, before Abraham was, I am.” So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple. Surely, with His words, He rocked their world, even as they grabbed stones to kill Him.
The terms “covenant” and “testament” are often used interchangeably, so we ponder the covenant of Abraham and the covenant of Jesus. The first came with rules. The next came with Love. Law and Love. The Old Testament and the New Testament. The Love of God –transcending millennia, generations and the faithful who have followed Him to the Cross. There is no expiration date on this Covenant.
Once he has outlined our spiritual journey of faith, from Abraham’s righteousness to Christ’s sanctification for us on the Cross, Paul’s letter to the Romans proclaims, in those absolute, reassuring and comforting words:
For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
So, with Spring creeping over our windowsills, let’s light a little fire in honor of those camp days, bring out the marshmallows, Hershey bars and graham crackers, and sing, “S’More,” for the Love of God, and how Abraham, and his seed, have rocked our souls:
So high, you can’t get over it,
So low, you can’t get under it,
So wide, you can’t get around it,
Oh, rock-a my soul.
Laura Sullivan
