Here is part of our Old Testament reading, from Genesis: ‘Abram fell on his face; and God said to him, “Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations’.

The two Hebrew names mean ‘exalted father’ and ‘father of a multitude’. The second name can be taken to refer to the covenant which God has just entered into with Abraham, in which God promises that he, Abraham, will be the father of ‘a multitude of nations’. His obedience to God, who sent him out from Haran, where everything was familiar, into an unknown land, leads him into a profound union with God.

May we too, when we feel the touch of God in our lives, respond with like obedience, trusting that this will bring blessing, and may God bless you this day.