Cultural Encounters: A Journal For The Theology Of Culture Volume 14 Number 1 | Page 16

MEETING HAGAR -Haught Commandments or Noah). 10 I believe that the Bible is practically inescap- able in our society today and that, for those of us who claim to take it se- riously, we need to revisit the good theological stories between its covers. Sure, we may have read it before. More than once, even. But we are dif- ferent people now living in a changing world, and the same old story may have new things to teach us. One story, in particular, illustrates my point. It’s a powerful theological story that has taught me important lessons at least four times in my life. And one that I see myself revisiting often, es- pecially in the world in which I live now. I Am a Star If Sunday school offered academic degrees, I would have earned a doc- torate by the time I was twelve. I loved spending time each week in the basement of First Presbyterian Church in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, im- mersed in a story from the Old Testament or the New. Assisted by color- ful felt board figures, I’d imagine the biblical world in a “you are there” sort of way. I was on the constant look out for a connection to my life. Looking back, I had great Sunday school teachers, the likes of Irene Rob- bins and Chuck Sears, who worked hard to plant biblical stories in my brain and heart. As if they knew that after high school and college, I would drift away from the church, only to rediscover it later, when I be- came a wife and mother. The story I am remembering now was about Abram and Sarai, whom God eventually renames Abraham and Sarah. The story begins in Genesis 12, when God calls the two of them to be- come “a great nation.” I remember being struck by the idea that Abram would leave his own country, his father’s home, and take his wife and his entire household with him. That sounded frightening and lonely to me, but I was also struck by God’s promise to make Abram and his household “a blessing.” As we read on, God promises Abram descendants as numer- ous as the stars in the desert sky (Gn 15:5–6). The image stuck in my head and returns whenever I catch a glimpse of the open sky, far from city lights. Descendants as countless as the stars. For a gawky, insecure fifth-grader from a barely functioning family, that was heady stuff. Though I often felt alone in the wilderness and was afraid of striking out on my own, I told myself that I was one of Abram and Sarai’s descend- ants. I was part of a worldwide family of believers. I latched onto that connection without question. I Meet Hagar Twenty years later, I came across Abram and Sarai’s story again. This Cecil B. de Mille, The Ten Commandments, Paramount Pictures, 1956. When I was teaching high school religion classes, my students’ memories of the biblical Exodus story were indelibly colored by this motion picture. I learned that even the poorest retellings of a biblical story do not negate the theology revealed in the original. Noah, Darren Aronofsky, Paramount Pictures, 2014. 10 11