Lenten Blog | March 13, 2025

"Made me his own"

Throughout the year, the Southern New England Conference of the United Church of Christ reproduces the Daily Lectionary for use by churches.  These are the suggested readings for March 13th:  Genesis 13:1-7, 14-18; Psalm 27; and Philippians 3:2-12.  I would encourage you to read these short selections as part of your Lenten practice.

Abraham was a nomadic herder.  At the same time, there were city-dwellers.  The latter were stationary.  If they lived in larger cities, they would live behind walls.  Their place was definite and defined.  Abraham was not one of these.  Abraham was constantly on the move.  His flocks determined his travels.  His home was wherever he pitched his tent, which is mentioned in today’s first reading when it states:  “To the place where his tent had been …”  He marks locations that are important to him, viewed as sacred, by building altars, stone heaps that were durable and could withstand the elements.  There are two in just today’s Genesis selection, one at Bethel and the other at Hebron. 

This is only a distance of about 35 miles and can be traversed by remaining in the hills, which are less densely populated and offer places to graze the flocks.  Additionally, the hills are separated from the plains where the city-dwellers live.  There was tension between these two groups of peoples.  This is reflected in the earlier Genesis story of Cain and Abel.  Cain is the farmer, the sedentary one.  Abel is the shepherd, the nomad.  Cain’s gift is rejected by God and Abel’s welcomed, which causes Cain to react with anger and he murders his  brother.  This story is told from the perspective of someone like Abraham.

When Yahweh promises to give the land to Abraham, what does that mean?  When Yahweh, says, “‘Rise up, walk through the length and the breadth of the land, for I will give it to you,’” isn’t this the terminology of a wandering nomad?  This does not necessarily mean deeded and owned land.  It more likely is referring to the freedom to pass through the land as a one who herds flocks.  This may not be all that different from the land understandings of the Native American and Settler populations in Colonial America.  Settlers owned the land; Native Americans lived on the land.

This reveals that God is not bound by place; God is bound to people.  Wherever Abraham the nomadic herder is, God is with him.  “Look from the place where you are, northwards and southwards and eastwards and westwards,” wherever you are and wherever you go, God promises to be there, for God is everywhere.  Abraham needs to build his altars as markers, but wherever he goes, and whenever he builds an altar, the altar does not bring God to that place, it acknowledges that God is already there.

Paul takes great pride in his place among Abraham’s descendants.  He is from the tribe that gave Israel its first king and accordingly is named Saul.  He not only followed the ordinary religious practices of the Jews, he chose to become a Pharisee, one who separated from others by an extremely strict observance of the Law.  And yet, Paul says of this life:  “Whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ.”  The God who is on the move, the God who is bound to people not place, is incarnate in Jesus Christ.  His full and natural humanity makes Jesus one with all other humans, wherever they may be, wherever they may go. 

And Paul is willing to suffer any insult or injury “because Christ Jesus has made me his own.”  May our Lenten days help us to better understand and hopefully replicate this powerful relationship that Paul feels with Jesus so that each of us may say, “Christ Jesus has made me his own.” 

If you would like to join us for our online Bible study, please send an email to [email protected] for the Zoom logins.
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If you’d like, here is the link to the Southern New England Conference’s daily reading schedule:  www.sneucc.org/lectionary.