By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to set out for a place that he was to receive as an inheritance, and he set out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he stayed for a time in the land he had been promised, as in a foreign land, living in tents. (Hebrews 11:8-9, NRSVue)
The origin story of the Hebrew people begins with a perilous trek into the wilderness by the Patriarch Abraham. He is described in the Bible as "a wandering Aramean," a native of the prosperous urban trade center of the Sumerian Civilization in Ur of the Chaldees, who felt called by the One True God to abandon this life of comfort and security in search of a promised land without "knowing where he was going," spending his remaining years without a fixed place of abode. The accompanying painting by Texas-based Artist James Janknegt of Abram and Sarai (later to be called Abraham and Sarah) setting out on their journey along a rock-strewn road gives long overdue recognition of the fact that no family dynasty can begin without a Founding Mother as well as a Founding Father. Sarah will go on to play a vital role in the narrative spun out in the Book of Genesis about the birth against all odds of a promised heir to continue the physical as well as the spiritual Abrahamic lineage. (John Kohan)