Text: Franziska Kuhn, reformed Pastor. Basel/Kleinbasel (CH)
As a pastor, I have the great privilege of dealing very intensively and in a wide variety of situations with Bible texts and, of course, the annual motto and its context - the Bible verses around it and the circumstances of the time: in church services, in prayer in a retirement home , when “sharing the Bible” together, in a collegial exchange, etc. Something else always shines out, touches, irritates, and asks questions of me as the reader.
From this abundance I would like to single out two points:
Hagar flees into the desert. To where it is barren and inhospitable. Where the outer landscape reflects her inner parched and dead. You don't usually go to such a place voluntarily, especially as a pregnant woman. She is not looking for God - but flees from an untenable situation. But exactly where she probably expects nothing more, there she is seen. That gives me courage. For the many fugitives on this troubled earth: that they may be seen when they need it most and expect it least. And for me, that God sees me when I'm in need.
During the collegial exchange, a parish colleague asked: would Abraham have rejected Hagar for the second time (chapter 21) if he had known about their encounter with God? What if he was interested in how they fared in the desert? The Bible is silent on whether she told him about it. But as a church, this question could be important: do we believe that encounters with God happen even in the most inhospitable places and with marginalized people? I would think it would be nice if this story with the annual motto not only enriched our relationship with God - but also the mindful, trusting journey with our fellow human beings.
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