When I am doing mindless, menial tasks (like washing dishes or family accounting), I often turn on The Property Brothers, or Fixer-Upper, or (my favorite) Love It or List It.

These home improvement shows always have the same narrative:  a home designer excitedly displays his or her computer-generated plan to bring an old home to its modern ideal. 

But then, as the real work starts, the construction crew finds rotted walls, dangerous wiring, and even raccoons hiding in the attic.

Now we get to the drama of each show – here is the pivot point!

This Sunday we’ll study the dramatic pivot point of God’s Home Repair Show:  Genesis Twelve.  In Genesis Chapters One through Eleven we discover raccoons in God’s home – Adam and Eve are disobedient, Cain murders his brother Abel; human sin brings on a devastating flood; humanity gets too proud and builds the Tower of Babel.

From Genesis Twelve and forward God strains to repair his broken creation.   He does it by promising to create the nation of Israel.  Israel will be the tool by which God repairs his world.

This Sunday we’ll mark Memorial Day, remembering with gratitude those who’ve sacrificed their lives for the sake of our special nation.  From its founding days, America has understood itself as exceptional, chosen, a “New Israel.”  As we reflect on our special nation and its corona virus challenges, we’ll learn insights from ancient Israel about what it means to be chosen.