10/21/2018
Genesis 22:1-18
Chris Breslin
“ThroughAbraham and his family, God will bless the whole world. Shimmering like a mirage in the deserts through which Abraham wandered was the vision of a new world, a rescued world, a world blessed by the Creator once more, a world of justice, where God and his people would live in harmony, where human relationships would flourish, where beauty would triumph over ugliness.” -N.T. Wright
“In chapter 12 Abraham is asked to cut himself off from the past. In chapter 22 he is asked to cut himself off from the future.” -Fleming Rutledge
“God, fathomless in power, who alone created heaven and earth, starting from nothing or worse than nothing, now pleads with one human being, whom God already knows to be fallible, to restore God’s shattered faith in creation…God’s transcendence works, you might say, from the bottom up.” -Ellen F. Davis
“in this situation I do not understand you. Your behavior violates our covenant: still, I trust you because it is you, because it is you and me, because it is us…’Almighty God! What You are asking of me is terrible. I do not understand You. You contradict Yourself. But I have known You, my God, You have loved me and I love You. My God, you are breaking Your word to me. What is one to think of You! Yet, I trust You. I trust You.” -Eliazer Bergovits
“Jesus Christ’s profligate gift of blood on the cross is the pointe in space and in time through which Julian begins to see everything and everyone.” -Amy Laura Hall (on Julian of Norwich & Revelations of Divine Love)
I said to my soul, be still, and wait without hope/
For hope would be hope for the wrong thing; wait without love/
For love would be love of the wrong thing; there is yet faith/
But the faith and the love and the hope are all in the waiting.
-T.S. Eliot (fromEast CokerinFour Quartets)
The dripping blood our only drink,/
The bloody flesh our only food:/
In spite of which we like to think/
That we are sound, substantial flesh and blood-/
Again, in spite of that, we call this Friday good.
-T.S. Eliot (fromBurnt NortoninFour Quartets)
My God my bright abyss/
Into which all my longing will not go/
Once more I come to the edge of all I know/
And believing nothing believe in this.
-Christian Wiman (My Bright Abyss)
“Jesus’ death on a cross is the paradigm of faithfulness to God in this world” -Richard B. Hays
Scripture:
Songs for Today’s Worship Gathering:
Wood and Nails by Watts/Wardell/Cunningham
Praise the Savior Now and Ever by Fortunatus/Moore
Hail to the Lord’s Anointed by Montgomery/McCracken
Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross by Crosby/Doane
Up on a Mountain by Aiuto
Come to the Table (Isaiah 55) by Wilson
Doxology
Further Reading:
Proclaiming the Scandal of the Cross ed Mark Baker
Jesus and the God of Israel by Richard Bauckham
Sweet Deliverance: Lenten Reader compiled resource by Chris Breslin & the Gathering Church
The Crucifixion of the Warrior Godby Gregory Boyd
Inhabiting the Cruciform God by Michael Gorman
The Art of Reading Scriptureed Ellen Davis & Richard Hays
The Very Good Gospelby Lisa Sharon Harper
Moral Vision of the New Testament: Community, Cross, New Creationby Richard Hays
Revelations of Divine Loveby Julian of Norwich
King’s Cross by Tim Keller
Community Called Atonement by Scot McKnight
And God Spoke to Abrahamby Fleming Rutledge
The Crucifixionby Fleming Rutledge
The Undoing of Deathby Fleming Rutledge
The Cross of Christ by John Stott
My Bright Abyssby Christian Wiman
The Day the Revolution Beganby N.T. Wright
How God Became King by N.T. Wright
Simply Christian: Why Christianity MakesSenseby N.T. Wright
Free of Charge by Miroslav Volf
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