"Then Abram said to Lot, 'Let there be no strife between you and me, and between your herders and my herders; for we are kindred. Is not the whole land before you? Separate yourself from me. If you take the left hand, then I will go to the right; or if you take the right hand, then I will go to the left'." (Genesis 13:v.8-9)
This is the set reading for today and the focus for reflection on the Methodist Church web-site. I found the commentary helpful, but question the partiality of God that is expressed. Does God really favour one person over another, how do we square this up with a belief that Christ died for all? I wonder if we don't give God too much credit for having a hand in the downfall of Lot, Lot made some bad decisions and lived with the consequences, Abraham also made some bad decisions but God protected him from the worst that his folly could bring. So what was the difference between the two? I suspect that like many other fallible followers, that Abraham even through all of his bad decision making had his heart set on following God's ways, perhaps this was not the case with Lot....
That however is not the insight I gained from the reading, what struck me were Abraham's words: "Let there be no strife between you and me....... separate yourself from me." There is real wisdom here about the need for space in which to grow and thrive and flourish. Abraham knew that if they stuck together then strife would be inevitable. I reflect upon this as I reflect upon recent strife within my own household, with some of my children home from university for the summer things have been rather fraught at home. Tim and I don't have the space that we are used to, neither do our children, on top of this we are preparing to move and all is stress and change. Add to that the fact that there are very few summer jobs around this year and they all face starting the new term in debt
It strikes me though that what is happening is that my 20+'s are getting ready to really leave and move on, they have been used to running their own lives away from home, and the summer break seems like a backward step, suddenly they are home. We need to re-negotiate our living arrangements, my children are no longer children they are capable young adults. I don't have land to offer them but somehow we need to make space for one another and that means learning to see one another differently We need to find the right way of saying "We are kindred, let there be no strife between us..." hard though it seems we need to separate to grow...
