A stroll through Hebrews 11 would be similar to going to an ancient castle: beautiful and austere; something out of another world on the outside and, as you enter, you would see the story of the place as you walked through in the form of tapestries and pictures, relics of another world. It is the world of the people who once inhabited the place and fought to keep it in the family for hundreds of years. Heroes, if you will, folk of renowned.

Hebrews 11 is the story of Israel in the Old Testament; it is also our story. It is the story of faith that endured. What is fascinating is that the writer takes us all the way back to the origins of the story of redemption and, guess what, it is the story of God’s grace coming to people and of them laying hold of God’s promises by faith. There are two stories always going on, and we see all this in Genesis 4 in the story of Cain and Abel. One story, the one you think is the ascendant story, and the other, the real story of how God is working in history. One story is about firstborns, the advantaged and power. The other is a story that is moved along by grace that comes to the ones who are thought of as afterthoughts, but by grace through faith cling to a promise.

Cain’s name means “to get, create.” As first born, he embodies the future hopes and dreams of the family. Abel’s name means “vapor, or nothingness.” The natural ordering of things is seen in the first siblings in recorded history. And yet, in Hebrews we see the opposite. At the fount head of the grace story is not Cain, but Abel. Though an afterthought to the world, Hebrews says, “he still speaks.”

Sunday, we will talk about it. It will be an exciting day. After worship, we have a Congregational Meeting to approve our annual budget and also to elect Elders. It is also VBS eve, and the church is already taking shape where our children—led by our youth staff and a multitude of others—will be immersed in the true story of redemption. I can’t wait!