Our First Lesson today contains a bizarre and even a weird story. It sounds like an eerie tale of the occult rather than an account from Holy Scripture. God asked Abraham to bring him a cow, a goat, a ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon. Abraham obeyed. He brought the animals before the Lord and slaughtered them. He cut each animal in half and laid the pieces in two neat rows.

Vultures hovered and circled over the slain beasts. Abraham flung his arms in a wild frenzy driving the birds of prey away. Exhausted from his vigil, Abraham fell into a deep sleep. The sun slowly settled beneath the horizon and a dreadfully dense darkness covered the land. Then, out of nowhere, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch floated from the darkness. For a moment these two objects lingered and vacillated; …