by Steve Garnaas-Holmes
God said, “I will make of you a great nation...
so that you will be a blessing....
To your offspring I will give this land.”
—Genesis 12.2, 7
Oh, we love the part about being great.
We forget the part about being a blessing.
And we fight about the land.
We want “great” to mean might. Dominance.
What if it meant extraordinary, like a great artist?
We'd be a people who are remarkably wise and beautiful,
who are uniquely faithful and loving
amidst war and conflict.
We seize the promise of land,
and seize the land from others,
which can only lead to war.
What if we thought of whatever land we were on
as a gift from God—not ours to possess,
but God's, to cherish?
We'd be a people who know their belonging
no matter where they are,
who regard everything as gift, not entitlement.
What if we thought our purpose in life
is to be a blessing for others?
We'd be a people whose one will is to bless,
who trust that “the gentle will inherit the land,”
and who therefore become truly great.
The promise is still possible.
How embarrassing is it to hear that we are given “dominion,” in the language of Genesis, knowing our depressing track record of authority and dominion? How could we possibly merit this grand vision? But if this grandness embarrasses us, it also challenges us to imagine humanity’s place in the context of God’s great creative vision.
Br. Lain Wilson
Society of Saint John the Evangelist