To see how far religion has come, it helps to read up on some ghoulish history – namely, the history of human sacrifice - keeping in mind this is not for the faint of heart.

What we see is that not more than a half dozen centuries ago, humans were doing unspeakable things to other humans in the name of religion.

It’s understandable, as we had no idea how the earth worked. So to appease the invisible forces behind rain and sunshine, fertility and health, humans reasoned they were to give up something valuable. Anthropologists say this is the genesis of nearly all forms of religious sacrifice.

It is in this primitive setting that one of the most popular religious stories appeared: Abraham and the near-sacrifice of his only son Isaac.

If you have a problem with a God who wants an innocent child sacrificed you’re not alone. However given the setting in which this story first appeared, there would have been far fewer objections.

The revelation here is that, in fact, this God does not want a child sacrificed. The revolutionary statement was that while the gods of Abraham’s neighbors were calling for human sacrifice, this God wasn’t.

This God was different.

Very different.

Israel’s God was interested in blessing. Indeed, the bigger story of Abraham was his call to be a ‘blessing to all nations.’

This story announces that God is not the angry, judgmental, punishing deity that too many of us still suspect – rather God’s interest is in loosing you and me from the ideas that we are here to do anything less than to love, heal, reconcile, and assist in repairing the brokenness of the world.

You and I are called, as Abraham was called, to come face to face with a God who wants to bless others through us. How are we seeing ourselves as this vessel? Whom is God asking us to bless, and how are we doing so?