Abraham the Priest // Pastor Karina Johnson // Oct 12 2025

My mom was a teacher for over 30 years before she retired two years ago. Throughout my childhood I heard about the collective bargaining that went on between her teacher’s union and the schools as salaries, benefits, and school calendars were negotiated.As we continue on in our Genesis sermon series, we’re continuing to look at the Sodom and Gomorrah story through Abraham’s eyes (Genesis 18:16-33). As a chosen man of God, Abraham takes on the role of collective bargainer, kind of like a union rep, seeking to keep the cities from destruction. It’s an interesting tactic and as we consider Abraham’s negotiation and God’s response we learn a lot about their characters. A human bold enough to make an appeal to the divine and a God who loves righteousness so much he excuses the wicked. This is good news for us today as part of the human race where “all have turned away, all have become corrupt there is no one who does good, not even one” (Psalm 14:3).