The Covenant of the Pieces, by Lisa Turtz, 1977
Modern artist Lisa Turtz’s favorite part of painting is the beauty of combining colors and the creativity of ideas and humor in the worlds she creates. She sees whimsical connections between things and they make her smile. Inspired by her work with Torah and Hebrew study groups, she created a series of 15 paintings exploring the Genesis stories. During her painting of these stories, she noticed the nuances and differences in mood and atmosphere, between Genesis & Exodus stories. These subtleties are reflected in her choice of subjects and colors.
Her painting The Covenant of the Pieces tells the story of God’s covenant with Abram in Genesis 15. As God reaffirmed his promise to give Abram’s descendants the land of Canaan, he told Abram to take a heifer, a goat, and a ram, and cut them in half and arrange them on the ground along with a dove and pigeon. According to the ancient ritual, the two people forming an agreement would walk through the animal carcasses to seal the deal in blood (to signify what would happen to either person who broke the agreement). But darkness fell on the land and caused Abram to fall into a deep sleep. The pyramid and sphinx represent Abram’s dream where God told him that his descendants would not inherit the Promised Land until after they were enslaved in Egypt for 400 years. While Abram is sleeping, God’s presence appears in the form of a smoking pot and a blazing torch and pass through the animals alone, signifying that God will keep his promise to Abram. God’s face in the sky watches over this whole episode.
Call to Worship – Psalm 23
Sit at My Right Hand – A psalm of David.
1 The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
3 he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
for his name’s sake.
4 Even though I walk
through the darkest valley,[a]
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
5 You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
6 Surely your goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord
forever.
Invocation
O God who is greater than the most powerful forces in this world, enable us to be still and know that You are God.
O Lord who answers out of the whirlwind of everyday life, breathe in us Your Holy Spirit to strengthen, comfort, and guide us in the midst of the storm.
O still, small voice, speak to us this hour, that we might become makers of Your peace in our homes, in our communities, in our world. We pray all this in the name of the One who calmed the raging sea. Amen.
Be Still My Soul
Be still, my soul: the Lord is on your side;
Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain;
Leave to your God to order and provide;
In ev’ry change he faithful will remain.
Be still, my soul: your best, your heav’nly Friend
Through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.
Be still, my soul: your God will undertake
To guide the future as he has the past.
Your hope, your confidence let nothing shake;
All now mysterious shall be bright at last.
Be still, my soul: the waves and winds still know
His voice who ruled them while he dwelt below.
Be still, my soul: the hour is hast’ning on
When we shall be forever with the Lord,
When disappointment, grief, and fear are gone,
Sorrow forgot, love’s purest joys restored.
Be still, my soul: when change and tears are past,
All safe and blessed we shall meet at last.
Words: Kathrina von Schlegel
Music: Jean Sibelius (FINLANDIA)
Children’s Sermon
Prayer and Intercession
Lord of the cloud and fire,
I am a stranger, with a stranger’s indifference;
My hands hold a pilgrim’s staff,
My march is Zionward,
My eyes are toward the coming of the Lord,
My heart is in your hands without reserve.
You have created it,
redeemed it,
renewed it,
captured it,
conquered it.
Keep from it every opposing foe,
crush in it every rebel lust,
mortify every treacherous passion,
annihilate every earthborn desire.
All faculties of my being vibrate to your touch;
I love you with soul, mind, body, strength,
might, spirit, affection, will,
desire, intellect, Understanding.
You are the very perfection of all perfections;
All intellect is derived from you;
My scanty rivulets flow from your unfathomable fountain.
Compared with you the sun is darkness,
all beauty deformity,
all wisdom folly,
the best goodness faulty.
You are worthy of an adoration greater than my dull heart can yield;
Invigorate my love that it may rise worthily to you,
tightly entwine itself round you,
be allured by you.
Then shall my walk be endless praise.
Journeying On, from The Valley of Vision
Please take a few moments to pray for:
- The Paradee Family
- Reilly Keith Bachelder, Lissy & Bryce
- Howard Deuso
- Kevin Fleming
- Donna Waguespack, our missionary in Mexico
- Healthcare workers
- Other personal concerns
Scripture Reading – Genesis 15
The Lord’s Covenant With Abram
15 After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision:
“Do not be afraid, Abram.
I am your shield,
your very great reward.”
2 But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.”
4 Then the word of the Lord came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.” 5 He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”
6 Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.
7 He also said to him, “I am the Lord, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it.”
8 But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord, how can I know that I will gain possession of it?”
9 So the Lord said to him, “Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon.”
10 Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other; the birds, however, he did not cut in half. 11 Then birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away.
12 As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him. 13 Then the Lord said to him, “Know for certain that for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there. 14 But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. 15 You, however, will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age. 16 In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.”
17 When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. 18 On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram and said, “To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates— 19 the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, 20 Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, 21 Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites.”
Sermon
Cutting Calves and Chasing Crows by Rev. Jason R. McConnell
My Faith Has Found a Resting Place
My faith has found a resting place, not in device or creed;
I trust the ever-living One, his wounds for me shall plead.
I need no other argument, I need no other plea,
it is enough that Jesus died, and that he died for me.
Enough for me that Jesus saves, this ends my fear and doubt;
a sinful soul, I come to him, he’ll never cast me out.
I need no other argument, I need no other plea,
it is enough that Jesus died, and that he died for me.
My heart is leaning on the Word, the written Word of God,
salvation by my Savior’s name, salvation thro’ his blood.
I need no other argument, I need no other plea,
it is enough that Jesus died, and that he died for me.
My great Physician heals the sick, the lost he came to save;
for me his precious blood he shed, for me his life he gave.
I need no other argument, I need no other plea,
it is enough that Jesus died, and that he died for me.
Words: E. E. Hewitt
Music: A. Gretry (LANDAS)