God’s dusty promise
Saturday, March 20th, 2010
Photo by Victor Bezruko. Creative Commons license.
(Editor’s note: Dr. Brad Binau led several seminary students on a January term course to Haiti, which was struck by a massive earthquake after their arrival. Below is an excerpt from a sermon he recently delivered at Trinity Lutheran Seminary.)
The Bible tells the story of Abram and Sarai, an elderly couple without children. This had been a great source of pain and sadness for them. Then God promised them many descendants. At the time, it seemed God had promised the impossible.
“PRACTICING THE PROMISE”
Genesis 15.1-12, 17-18
By Dr. Brad A. Binau
Weeks ago I came forward, as many of you did, and got “dusted” on Ash Wednesday with the sign of the cross. I entered Lent, as did we all, with the sobering words of the Lenten promise that “we are dust, and to dust we shall return.”
On Jan. 12 at 4:53 p.m., I was “dusted” in a different way. I did not come forward to be “dusted” but the dust came to me in my room at the Florita Hotel in Jacmel, Haiti. No earthquake I had ever experienced during my years in California lasted more than a few seconds. Don’t panic, I thought. It’ll stop any moment. Foolishly, but fortunately, I stayed put until the dust, and the screams, and the exploding sounds of collapsing buildings nearby made me realize that the likelihood of my being returned to dust then and there was very real.
The following individuals are known murder victims with ELCA ties killed since Pretty Good Lutherans was started in September 2009: