The Supreme Court’s 2015 ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges, legalizing same-sex marriage, was truly a watershed opinion.   While western civilization, especially Greco-Roman culture, accepted same-sex behavior in various degrees, it was never viewed as normative for marital relationships.   The modern mantra elevating this idea to the status of legal right is simply, “who are you to tell me whom I should love?” Any idea that intimate relationships are governed by something other than our own feelings is obnoxious to our culture.

While this question, “who are you to tell me whom I should love,” has been the thesis of many tragic love stories, is its essential assumption to be trusted?  Are there ideas or other relationships outside our feelings that should drive love relationships?   We are immediately confronted with this question in the biblical story of Isaac and Rebekah.

Isaac is the long awaited son of promise, born miraculously to Abraham and Sarah.  He is the one through whom the promise of descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore is to come, yet the advance of middle-age finds him still single and unmarried.   Sarah has died and Abraham is extremely old.   So Abraham engages his servant to find a wife for Isaac and places him under specific binding constraints.

In our modernity, we are tempted disdain Abraham’s actions as artifacts of an antiquarian, chauvinistic, patriarchal culture, but are they?  Or are there timeless truths for us in the love story of Isaac and Rebekah?   Join us this Lord’s Day, September 3, as we examine Genesis 24 and consider the role of faith in our most intimate relationships.  We meet from 5:00 – 6:30 pm in The Commons at St. Andrews Anglican Church at 8300 Kanis Rd in Little Rock.  Click here for directions.

Come with a friend you and join us for fellowship and conversation. We look forward to seeing you there.