The God Who Sees: Reckoning With Our Slave Past

Genesis 21 holds the matter that was “very distressing to Abraham on account of his son,” but the distress comes after Abraham has already used and abandoned Hagar. Hagar’s story begins in Genesis 16, where Abram and Sarai, tired of waiting on God’s promise, take Hagar, Sarah’s Egyptian African slave, into their own hands. Abram impregnates her, Sarah mistreats her, and pregnant Hagar runs into the wilderness all by herself. The angel of the Lord meets her there and promises that her offspring will be multiplied, and Hagar names her son Ishmael, “God will hear.” Hagar also does what no one else in Scripture does. She gives God a name: Elroy, “the God who sees me.”

Genesis 21 brings Isaac’s birth into the story, and Sarah sees Ishmael playing with Isaac at the weaning feast. Sarah’s fear, insecurity, and possessiveness turn a sibling moment into a crisis of inheritance. Abraham sends Hagar and Ishmael into the desert with only bread and water, and the completely innocent son of that forced union is cast out as if he does not matter. The text refuses to let Abraham’s distress become innocence. It should be distressing. It better be distressing.

The story comes closer to home when Hagar and Ishmael are remembered alongside Joe and Dorcas, Andy, Harriet, Caroline and George, and the “colored communicants” whose labor built Providence’s own building. The Genesis story becomes a Providence story, not only about enslaved people and enslavers, but about siblings. Isaac and Ishmael were divided by lines and strata they did not create, yet they were joined by the blood of Abraham. The slave cemetery and the church cemetery, separated by a stone wall, bear witness to siblings buried apart, some joined by the blood of Jesus and some also by the blood of earthly fathers.

Hagar runs out of water and runs out of hope, placing Ishmael under a bush because she cannot bear to watch him die. God hears Ishmael’s cry, opens Hagar’s eyes, and shows her a well. Elroy sees Hagar, God hears Ishmael, and the boundary-defying, tender-hearted, astonishingly generous God provides a future.

The story of Knox Presbyterian Church in Cincinnati shows what confession can become when a congregation admits that it still benefits from racist gifts and race-based exclusions. Knox’s partnership with Third Presbyterian insists that sibling care cannot become white saviorism. The call is lifelong relationship, sacrificial repair, and a love that works until Ishmael’s cries cease. The truth is plain: there is no longer any us and them. Greed, fear, stone walls, electric gates, and impenetrable ZIP codes do not get the last word. God’s children are siblings.

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Key Takeaways

• 1. Elroy sees the ones cast out. God’s name in Hagar’s mouth is not an abstract doctrine, but a testimony from the wilderness. Hagar names God as the One who sees her before the household that used her ever treats her as fully human. A congregation that remembers Elroy must ask whether the desperate are actually being seen, or only managed from a safe distance. [25:58]
• 2. Ishmael’s cry reaches God first. Ishmael’s name means “God will hear,” and the name becomes a promise when the child is dying in the desert. God hears the cry before the powerful repair the harm, before the family tells the truth, before any institution catches up. Divine hearing exposes every human arrangement that trained itself not to listen. [35:02]
• 3. The wound is a sibling wound. The story is not only enslaved people and enslavers, but siblings torn apart by fear, inheritance, and power. Isaac and Ishmael are divided by structures they did not build, yet bound by a father they share. The church cannot speak honestly about reconciliation while pretending that stone walls, ZIP codes, and old money have not separated kin. [31:36]
• 4. Confession must become repair. Knox Presbyterian’s racist gift could have remained buried in the records, but confession pressed the congregation toward material partnership. Repair required money, relationship, humility, and the refusal to control another community’s wisdom. True repentance does not perform sorrow, then go home unchanged. [38:17]
• 5. There is no longer us and them. The cry of Ishmael does not cease because it is pushed farther away, muffled by walls, or answered with token charity. God’s people are called toward reckless love, ceaseless work, and sacrificial giving because the cast-out child is not a stranger. The gospel names separated people as siblings, and that name demands a different life.
  
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Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [21:49] - Abraham’s Distress Over Ishmael
• [23:49] - Hagar’s Story Begins
• [25:58] - Hagar Names God Elroy
• [26:22] - Isaac’s Birth And Weaning Feast
• [27:16] - Sarah Casts Out Hagar And Ishmael
• [29:02] - Bringing Genesis Home To Providence
• [31:36] - The Story Is Also About Siblings
• [33:42] - Hagar Runs Out Of Water And Hope
• [35:02] - God Hears Ishmael’s Cry
• [35:37] - Matthew 25 And Structural Racism
• [36:25] - Knox Presbyterian’s Racist Gift
• [38:17] - Repair Through Partnership With Third Pres
• [39:56] - Elroy Still Sees The Hagars
• [41:42] - No Longer Us And Them

1. What name did Hagar give God in Genesis 16:13, and what does it mean? How does this contrast with how others in the story treated her? [25:58]
2. What specific actions did Knox Presbyterian Church take to address their history of benefiting from racist practices? [38:17]
3. How does the sermon describe the relationship between Isaac and Ishmael, and what physical symbol (like the stone wall) illustrates their division? [31:36]

1. Why do you think God responded to Ishmael’s cry before Abraham or Sarah acknowledged their harm? What does this reveal about God’s priorities? [35:02]
2. The sermon argues that Isaac and Ishmael’s separation was a “sibling wound.” How might systems like slavery or economic inequality create similar divisions among people who are actually connected? [33:42]
3. The story of Knox Presbyterian includes partnering with Third Presbyterian instead of controlling them. Why is humility critical in repairing harm, and how might “white saviorism” undermine true reconciliation? [39:16]

1. “El Roi” means “the God who sees me.” Who in your community might feel unseen or “managed from a safe distance” (e.g., due to race, class, or trauma)? How could you intentionally see them this week? [25:58]
2. Ishmael’s name means “God will hear.” Are there cries for justice or pain in your city (e.g., systemic poverty, racism) that you’ve trained yourself to ignore? What practical step could help you listen?
3. The stone wall between cemeteries symbolized divided siblings. What “walls” (physical, social, or emotional) exist in your life or community that reinforce separation? How might you begin to dismantle one? [33:11]
4. Knox Presbyterian committed to annual financial support for Third Presbyterian. What long-term, sacrificial commitments (time, money, advocacy) could your group make to address a historical or ongoing injustice?
5. The sermon says, “There is no longer us and them.” When have you treated someone as a “stranger” instead of a sibling? How would your decisions change if you saw them as family? [41:42]