“ At that time the Canaanites were in the land.”

Genesis 12

This small line from Genesis 12 sticks with me. Buried in the midst of Abram’s transformation from a wandering Aramean to the patriarch of a multi-religious (Jewish, Muslim and Christian) family is this short phrase. ‘At that time the canaanites were already in the land.’

Now this is the same land that God says he is going to give to Abraham and all of his offspring (that is Muslims, Christians and Jews) and yet there are people IN THE LAND ALREADY.

There is actually no good resolution to this. Neither in Genesis 12 nor the rest of scripture. Or for that matter in human history. We still have regular conflict - often between Muslims, Christians and Jews - over this same patch of ground. We are certainly not going to resolve it in this one reflection!

Perhaps it is enough to just be reminded that whatever we think is given to us, provided for us, offered specifically for us, it belonged to someone else first.

I think about this when it comes to churches — Memorial is not MY CHURCH or even OUR CHURCH, but rather a building and a community that we curate and caretake for past and future generations.

I think about it also when it comes to our ministry in Baltimore. No matter how committed we may feel to a project, or an idea, we should remember that there was someone here before us. Often newcomers to Baltimore will refer to it as a ‘blank slate’ and it can feel like that, especially with so much vacant land here in West Baltimore.

But there are people here, people who are from here, and people who have invested their time and energy and joy and sorrow into this city and these places and we should remember that ‘they were already in land’ when we arrived.

So we too should approach any work we do with humility, patience, kindness and authenticity - remembering that we did not get here first, and we will not be the last. We are curating a space and place for those who came after us.