Lent 2
Mood:  hug me
Topic: Sermon Staging Area
Initial thoughts and research ...

Genesis 17:1-17
> Between 16:16 and 17:1, there are 16 years of silence. Ever been in those years?
> "El Shaddai" may come from "s'e day" [s'e is a relative particle and day is "enough"; thus, "The One Who Is Enough." It could also stem from sade which is related to "breast" or "mountain"---"One of the Mountains." I tend to think that the former meaning makes the most sense.
> "Abram" is "exalted father"---which must have felt like a mockery when he has no child with his wife; "Abraham" means "father of many"---God has placed his promise in the middle of Abraham's name.
> "Sarai" meant "contentious"---"one who second-guesses." "Sarah" means "the princess."
> According to Ugaritic law, nomadic merchants from other nations could not purchase real estate in Canaan (see C.H. Gordon, "Abraham and the Merchants of Ura," Journal of Near Eastern Studies, 1958). Yet Yahweh says that he will give him the land of Canaan.
> What you named you possessed power over. [Adam and the animals]
> There is no parallel in the ancient world to a covenant between a deity and a human!
> Circumcision: Because of the shedding of blood, there was a sacrificial aspect to this ritual/separation was also implied.
> Why did Abraham laugh? It was too good to be true---the first birth for which Medicare would have to pick up the tab, the first people to buy Pampers and Depends in the same shopping trip, both parents and baby ate the same strained vegetables because none of them had a tooth in their head.
> When God told him about circumcision, "My hearing's not too good anymore. You did not just tell me to do what I thought you told me to do, did you? Okaaaaay ... okay, God, could we just have a secret decoder ring or a secret handshake, but no knives, not at my age."
> God did away with this; we show ourselves to be sacrifices and separated through baptism---I'm glad he did. You think it's bad, on Nominating Committee, finding people for Preschool Ministry Team? Think about if we had a Circumcision Committee.
> When Abraham sins later, it is because he forgets "El-Shaddai"---he forgets that God is enough, that God is sufficient, that God can provide.
> We think we have to have everything, to make our lives easier, as we have more the more things we have the more they make us think we need more [[[Remote that beeps ... some of you ...]]]
> Name change: Classified ad about grave marker, change name to be able to use it.
> See Isaiah 62:2; Revelation 2:17; 3:12.