The world is watching.

There they stood. Probably on both sides of the grave. One the favored son. The other the banished son….Ishmael and Isaac. Sons of different mothers. We can only guess at their relationship…maybe not adversarial but at least strained.Gen 25:9 And his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him…Probably both were pall bearers. They had both carried Abraham into his burial chamber and arranged him before the cave door was blocked and sealed. There was a million miles of history between them. History past and history yet to be. They are never to be together again in scripture but on this day they share a significant burden…grief. They shared the task of burying their father.Maybe on Isaac’s part there is uncomplicated sorrow. We know that Sarah and Abraham lived apart in their final years. We know that Abraham had taken another wife and, by her, several children but at the burial that family…that part of Abraham’s life is not mentioned. You can’t help but wonder if Ishmael’s grief is tinged with regret or even bitterness. He and his mother had been cast out but the very God that had prospered Abraham and his favored son had spoke greatness over Ishmael’s and Ishmael’s progeny. Ishmael was first-borne but not chosen. I just want to focus on this moment. I want to acknowledge the tension between them. But I want to compliment these boys…their commitment and their discipline. For all the stress they both were there and, generations before the Law would command them, they honored their father.We’ve all experienced differences that clouded our relationships. I’ve worked with congregations torn by controversy. But we have a duty to our common faith…to the overarching responsibility to love and to do the work of evangelism. To carry out our mission. Whatever our offenses…whatever our history…we are family and the world is watching.