NOTE: Here are my worship notes for Sunday, July 29, 2012. We will be celebrating worship outdoors this Sunday - weather permitting - in the small lot next to the church building. (If it rains, it will be business as usual.) So bring a chair or blanket and join the fun. I am wrappng up my OT series this week and will head into the 7 Essential Stories of the NT next week.
Introduction
Today I am going to talk with you about Sarah – the
loving, complicated, creative and challenging wife of Israel’s patriarch
Abraham – and why she matters to us as 21st century Christians. As you probably know by now, I believe that
knowing the stories of the Bible – the stories of our ancient tradition – is
very important.
Critically important, you see, because these stories
help us grasp and nourish an alternative vision to the status quo – a new way
of living beyond the obvious – a liberating way of being in a sea of
consumerism, fear and violence. These
stories, in fact, are one of the portals into the kingdom of God.
· They help us see
not only how real people like us tend to live in all our messiness – they are
excellent mirrors of human behavior – but they also offer us sacred
alternatives – ways for us to become healthier in body, spirit and mind.
· How did Jesus put
it in today’s gospel when asked why some people demand fasting but Jesus favors
a party?
"When you're celebrating a wedding,
you don't skimp on the cake and wine. You feast.
Later you may need to pull in your belt,
but not now. No one throws cold water on
a friendly bonfire. This is Kingdom Come!"
I think Jesus is saying:
“Come on, there is not a one-size fits all way of living faithfully. How do our own Scriptures put it? To everything there is a season, right? A time to live and a time to die, a time to
dance and a time to mourn, a time to feast and a time to fast, a time for war
and a time for peace. So wake up and
listen to what is going on within you and all around you for THIS is kingdom
come living!” Do you hear that, too?
The stories about Sarah also
offer us some kingdom come wisdom for living.
So I’m going to give you the three that are most significant and ask you
to consider why they matter for our lives.
They are:
· The challenges
Sara faced by living faithfully with her old, wild man husband, Abraham as
recorded in Genesis 12.
· The complexity of
faith as revealed in the Ishmael stories in Genesis 16.
· And the assurance
of grace made flesh in the birth of her son Isaac in Genesis 18.
Each of these stories portrays a piece of why Sarah
matters to us after 3500 years: in all
that time, human nature has not changed a great deal. Sure, we live faster lives and have more
stuff – for good and ill – but we still hurt those we love even when we don’t
want to and family members betray one another with regularity. And there is still senseless death and fear
all around us as well as the living, mysterious and blessed presence of God’s
grace.
Somebody asked me after worship last week why I didn’t
say anything about the shootings in Aurora, Colorado – especially offer prayers
for the victims. And my reply went
something like this: when you look at a
culture like ours – obsessed with violence and guns – why does it surprise us
when evil pops up and kills innocent people?
This is horrible – and I grieve – but why are we surprised?
I went on to say that because this tragedy just
happened, I didn’t yet have anything of grace or wisdom to share so I thought
it better to remain silent rather than add to the blather that was already
almost overwhelming. Later that
afternoon, for example, I went on line and read a few sermons and blogs about
the shooting and to my mind they were either knee-jerk rants about gun control
or else mostly incoherent mumblings about the meaninglessness of such violence
and our common sense of helplessness. In
a word, it was too soon to speak and silence and discernment were the better
albeit more uncomfortable way.
As the week as gone by, however, a few other thoughts
have started to take root:
· One, given the media feeding frenzy about this tragedy
don’t you think the time has come for people of faith to unplug themselves from
the sensationalistic addiction we have with 24/7 news broadcasts? Over and over
– like the 9/11 video clips of the Twin Towers – we were saturated with bloody
images. In a way that was soul-numbing,
reporters gave us one unnecessary fact after another in the illusion that maybe
we might understand this horror better by being told that the shooter purchased
3000 rounds of ammunition on the Internet.
Dear people of God, we really don’t need more details about this
shooting; and we truly don’t need more visual assaults. Unplug as an act of prayer and justice –
grieve for the wounded and the dead – but don’t let yourselves be manipulated
or distracted from living by all hoopla.
· Two, remember the arc of the Good Friday/Easter
story. My friend and colleague, Rick
Floyd, recently posted these words that warrant repeating: “The
Christian faith is built upon the conviction that God has acted, and continues
to act in the midst of humankind’s repeated lapses into senseless violence. God
joins us in our tears and grief, yes. The first heart broken on Friday morning
was God’s. But God has done more than that, physically bearing the worst that
humanity can dish out, and rising from it, to make a way for us to withstand
the darkness and become bearers of the light.”
The violence and the evil – while very real and ugly – are NOT the end
of the story, beloved. What did we sing
at the start of worship? Christ the Lord
is… risen today: alleluia!
We don’t have to see it to know that it is true.
We are, you see, people of the Cross – people who live
by faith that the life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ – are
the deepest truth God has offered the world.
And this love and grace is not dependent upon our accepting it or
understanding it: God offers us grace because
God is God.
What Jesus did upon the cross, he did
for (all who suffer and know pain and sin) for us all. He did it for the
shooting victims in Aurora, for their families, for the casualties of history’s
wars and conflicts, for all the times we as human beings sink below our
humanity. He did it for the victims and, yes, he did it for the perpetrators.
He took upon himself all the brokenness in our lives, and did it with no
guarantee that we would ever respond. This unconditional gift, beyond all
price, reveals what love truly is, and shows the heart of God to be filled with
knowledge and compassion for our condition. It was not done in folk tale or
myth, but in the midst of our history. Over a century ago George MacDonald
said, “The Son of God suffered unto death, not that we might not suffer, but
that our suffering might be like his.” (To
Speak of God Now, Howard MacMullen)
Our culture doesn’t know – maybe has never known and
certainly if it did know has forgotten – the truth of the Lord in our stories
of faith. No wonder the vast bulk of
what has been spoken and said about the shootings is so empty. And so, my friends, like a broken record I
want to go back to the stories of our faith tradition over and over – and
invite you to join me – as we listen for God’s deepest truth – a way into the
very kingdom – through them.
Insights
First, a
reminder of the complexity and consequence of living by faith from Genesis 12…
Now the Lord said to Abram, ‘Go from your country and your kindred and
your father’s house to the land that I will show you: I will make of you a
great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will
be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and
the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth
shall be blessed.’ So Abram went, as the Lord had told
him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed
from Haran. Abram took his wife Sarai and his
brother’s son Lot, and all the possessions that they had gathered, and the
persons whom they had acquired in Haran; and they set forth to go to the land
of Canaan….But there was a
famine in the land. So Abram went down to Egypt to reside there as an alien,
for the famine was severe in the land. When
he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, ‘I know well that you
are a woman beautiful in appearance; and when
the Egyptians see you, they will say, “This is his wife”; then they will kill
me, but they will let you live. Say
you are my sister, so that it may go well with me because of you, and that my
life may be spared on your account.’ When
Abram entered Egypt the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful. When the officials
of Pharaoh saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh. And the woman was taken into
Pharaoh’s house. And
for her sake he dealt well with Abram; and he had sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male
and female slaves, female donkeys, and camels.
This blows my mind: at the ripe old age of 65 instead of
receiving Social Security Sarah follows her wild and prophetic husband out of
civilization into the wilderness according to a plan and inspiration only he
had comprehended. Then when they arrive
at their unknown destination there is a famine so they have to take a detour to
Egypt. And when they get to Pharaoh’s
land Sarah’s beauty spooks Abraham so he lies about their marriage and gives
her as a concubine to the political Lord and Master of the land.
What do you even
DO with such a story? Think of the fear
– and confusion – and pain and shame Sarah experienced. What strikes you about this story…? Let me make two observations knowing that there is a
whole lot more we could and should discuss here, ok?
· This story of
Sarah speaks to me of the ways we often hurt our loved ones – make stupid and
even ugly choices out of fear – and expect others to follow and obey. Abraham had his reasons – we all do – and
while we may not have sold out our spouse for safety and a whole lot of sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male and female slaves, female
donkeys, and camels” I bet you can name ways you have made some choices that
have wounded those you love. Life is
messy and this story invites us to careful with our judgment: like St. Paul says, “All of sinned and fallen
short of the glory of God – all and every one of us.”
· This story also
speaks to me of Sarah’s abiding trust in the Lord – not necessarily Abraham –
but God. Yes, she obeyed her husband
because that is what women did in those days.
But she was also willing to endure challenges and uncertainty because
she trusted God’s grace even when there was no obvious evidence. Do you know what I am saying? In this, she is not unlike the Virgin Mary
who says to the angel Gabriel before the birth of Christ, “Ok, I don’t get it
but I am going to be open to your love by faith and let you work even miracles
through my flesh.”
Sarah speaks to us of an abiding faith that accepts
uncertainty because her trust is so deep – and let’s be clear that this is a
faith not simply for women – but for men and children and congregations,
too. That’s one reason why I believe the
story of Sarah matters for us today.
The second story involves one of Sarah’s servants,
Hagar, the wild man Abraham and an unexpected child named Ishmael from Genesis
16..
Now Sarai,
Abram’s wife, bore him no children. She had an Egyptian slave-girl whose name
was Hagar, and Sarai said to Abram, ‘You see that
the Lord has prevented me from bearing children; go in to
my slave-girl; it may be that I shall obtain children by her.’ And Abram
listened to the voice of Sarai. So,
after Abram had lived for ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, Abram’s wife,
took Hagar the Egyptian, her slave-girl, and gave her to her husband Abram as a
wife. He went in to Hagar, and she conceived…
the angel of the Lord said to her,
‘Now you have conceived and shall bear a son;
you shall call him Ishmael,
for the Lord has given heed to your affliction.
He shall be a wild ass of a man,
with his hand against everyone,
and everyone’s hand against him;
and he shall live at odds with all his kin.’
One of the unexpected consequences of Sarah being
given to Pharaoh as a concubine in Egypt is that Abraham was given a huge dowry.
And in addition to the sheep and oxen and all the rest – Sarai – which means
princess – was given some slaves – one of whom turned out to be Hagar – which
means stranger. The tradition of the
Jewish rabbis even suggests that Hagar was the daughter of Pharaoh. Now three
things are important to remember in this part of the story:
· First, Sarah gave
Hagar to her husband because at age 75 she still hadn’t conceived. You might say, Sarah grew tired of waiting on
the Lord and decided to take things into her own hands – and it didn’t turn out
to be such a great idea. Waiting on the
Lord is tough – most of us need a lot of encouragement – and time and again we
grow impatient and try to move things along and this story suggests that is
almost always a problem.
· Second, when
Hagar becomes pregnant she starts acting haughty – like she is superior to
Sarah – and this infuriates the matriarch.
This might be one of the first stories about the doctrine of unintended
consequences: Sarah’s motivation and
intention was good – not patient – but pure, but the result of her actions was
totally unexpected. Reinhold Niebuhr
says that faithful people must always know that there will be surprises –
ironies – to everything we do that we cannot even imagine. And these ironies will cause us to act with
humility to correct them… and on and on it goes forever. Hagar’s acting “uppitidy” was not part of the
plan.
· And third,
Sarah’s response to her own hurt feelings – banishing Hagar to perish in the
desert – is a problem, too. She sends
her pregnant slave-girl out into the desert to die of thirst until God comes along
as an angel to rescue the outcast, right?
How many times have we been hurt by someone we loved and trusted – and
rather than go to them and ask why things have become so messed up – we react
in cruel or destructive ways? This story
reminds us that while it is human nature to do stupid and mean-spirited things
when we are hurt, it is not kingdom living.
God goes to Hagar and brings her healing – what’s more the Lord returns
her to Abraham and Sarah’s household – until the child, Ishmael is 13. And just to add insult to injury, Abraham (as
you might expect) comes to love and cherish his first born son…. Ouch!
There is a ton of other insights to bring out about
this story – including how it is treasured in Islam – but for now maybe that’s
enough. As the prophet Isaiah once
said: For
my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my
ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. Human beings have always had a problem with waiting on
the Lord – and Sarah shows us just one layer of the difficulty we create for
ourselves when we fail to practice waiting on the Lord.
Do you know the old gospel tune that
comes from Isaiah? Those who wait upon the Lord
shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings as the eagle; they
shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not be faint: teach me, Lord, teach me, Lord to wait. I
think the ancient stories of Sarah have incredible contemporary value.
So one more – the great story of the
birth of Isaac – from Genesis 18…
The Lord appeared
to Abraham by the oaks of
Mamre, as he sat at the entrance of his tent in the heat of the day. He looked up and saw three men standing near him. When he saw
them, he ran from the tent entrance to meet them, and bowed down to the ground. He said, ‘My lord, if I find favor with you, do not pass by your
servant. Let a little water be brought, and wash your
feet, and rest yourselves under the tree. Let me
bring a little bread, that you may refresh yourselves, and after that you may
pass on—since you have come to your servant.’ So they said, ‘Do as you have
said.’ And Abraham hastened into the tent to Sarah,
and said, ‘Make ready quickly three measures of choice flour, knead it, and make cakes…
And as they ate the said to him, ‘Where is your wife Sarah?’ And he said,
‘There, in the tent.’ Then one said, ‘I will surely return to you in
due season, and your wife Sarah shall have a son.’ And Sarah was listening at the tent entrance behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age; it had ceased
to be with Sarah after the manner of women. So
Sarah laughed to herself, saying, ‘After I have grown old, and my husband is
old, shall I have pleasure?’
Let’s say out loud just a few of the
obvious blessings from this story:
· God comes to Abraham in an unexpected
way – as three strangers travelling the road – and this happens so often we are
asked to pay attention: in fact, you might be wise to say that MOSTLY
God comes to us in unexpected ways,
yes? As a baby in a manger, as a
crucified loser on a hill outside Jerusalem, as an unexpected guest in need of
dinner.
· And what is God’s request when the Holy
One shows up as a stranger? Hospitality, right? Not fear or judgment or uncertainty. Abraham welcomes the three strangers into his
tent and nourishes them.
· And in the midst of this hospitality,
God’s promise is revealed: Sarah will bear a child. So many blessings are multiplied and revealed
when we feed one another and welcome one another in peace. In some ways, it is a no-brainer but it is so
counter-cultural in our fear-based generation.
And finally, most of us find God’s
promised blessings hard to imagine: what
does Sarah do? She laughs – who wouldn’t
– it doesn’t even make sense. But our
limited imaginations and short-sighted comprehension doesn’t limit God’s grace
– and eventually Isaac is born just as God promised. The other night I was reading about one of
the English mystics in The Cloud of Unknowing and came across these words: Although God eludes the intellect, this does
not mean that God in unknowable. It means, rather, that God is not a concept.
What cannot be thought may still be known by love.
Conclusion
We are not in charge, dear people of
God, the Lord is – and that is good news.
We can’t comprehend the fullness of God’s promise and grace – and that
is good news, too – because that means God doesn’t have to depend on us to
understand or always get it right. And
even when life seems the most perplexing and frightening – when we do our worst
to one another and ourselves – that is not the end of the story: God’s love is greater than our actions and
sin.
Spending time with the
stories of God in action can not only train us to live by faith when the
outward evidence isn’t clear, it can also lead us into kingdom come living
right here and now. We might be
surrounded by stupidity and cruelty – and we are – we might be afraid and alone
– and that is probably true, too – we might even laugh in the face of God’s
promise. But none of that stops the Lord
our God from advancing the cause of grace in Jesus Christ our Lord. And this is the really good news for today
for those who have ears to hear.
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