A recent visit with a member of the congregation resulted in my carrying away a book on Abraham. This one was written by a local author, a woman in Greenville. Like other books on the same topic, she analyzes the relationship between the "Abrahamic Faiths."
Jewish, Christian, and Islamic communities trace their origins to Abraham. Jewish identity begins with Abraham. Christians emerge from following Jesus, a descendant of Abraham. In the book of Romans, Paul goes to great lenghts to show how Jesus more adequately understood God's promise to Abraham, and thus why one should follow Christian teachers.
The split which gives rise to Islam is rooted in the events of Genesis 16. Here, after Sarai is unable to conceive, she asks her servant girl (Hagar) to lie with Abraham and bear a child for her. When conception occurs, jealously develops between the two. Hagar flees. God comes to Hagar and promises protection for her child; promises that the child will have many decedents. There is also a reference to his "hand against every man and every man's hand against him."
Family fights are the worse fights. Because we know each other well we are able to hurt one another in ways a stranger never could. Most family fights arise out of jealousy. We think there isn't enough love to go around, or we fear one is being preferred over another.
Again, the ability of the ancient stories of scripture to describe what is happening in our lives and in our world is amazing. Again, from scripture we can glean the assurances that we need to be locked in such trivial disputes. God comes to offer words of assurance and to comfort us with Promise.
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