St. John’s United Church of Christ
June 15, 2008
A Sermon by the Rev. John Krueger
This Strange Partnership Genesis 18:1-15
In the stifling heat of another summer day in the desert, Abraham is half-dozing at the entrance of his tent, waiting out the mid-day heat to give way to the cool relief of the evening. This is the time when all of life slows down to preserve whatever energy is left. This is the time to endure the heat as best you can, to bide your time, doze off, and wait it out.
When he least expects company, for who would be out in the middle of a stifling day, Abraham is surprised by the arrival of three strangers. The three appear suddenly, as out of nowhere. He scurries to recover, wanting to play the role of a very hospitable Bedouin chief. After convincing them that he is up to the task of being a gracious host, he marshals the help of his good wife, Sarah, and their servants, preparing as quickly as possible a suitable meal.
This meal will consist of fresh bread, curds, milk and veal, and soon the sumptuous meal is spread before them. Abraham watches over them from a distance, taking note of any sign of approval, hoping his guests will give high marks to his hastened hospitality.
It begins to dawn on Abraham that these three strangers are more than they appear. They refer to his wife, Sarah, by name, even though they have not been formally introduced. And they announce that within a year Sarah will bear a son, a son who will fulfill the promise of God to Abraham and Sarah that they will become the parents of a mighty nation.
Sarah has been eaves-dropping on their conversation, and laughs. And why not? This is a very old couple, far beyond the normal years of child-bearing. For them to have a son would take a major miracle. So she laughs, laughs at a prospect far out of the realm of reason.
This is a grand old story, part of a collection of Isaac stories, Isaac, the name of the son to be born. These stories are tied to Abraham and Sarah and the Hebrew treasure-trove of stories about their Hebrew beginnings. The essence of the story, and the powerful punch-line whenever it was told, was verse 14: “Is anything too wonderful for the Lord?” “Is anything too hard, too difficult for the Lord?” Is God limited, in any way?
This confronts us with a profound theological question – how is God present in this world of ours? Why do things happen as they do around us? What part does God play in the events of our daily lives, and what parts do people like Sarah and Abraham play?
The creation stories in Genesis, chapters one and two, set the stage for all the rest of the biblical record. God is the uncontested creating power who calls the worlds into being. There is no struggle between God and some rival powers. No, it is God alone who commands the stage and causes all of the created order to come into being. This is the unique Hebrew concept of a monotheistic God. There is one power, unrivaled, unchallenged, the only actor in a one star play.
But this simplicity is complicated by the arrival of the human beings. They are the pinnacle of God’s creative genius and they are given the ability to choose, to be willful. Instead of puppets and robots, God created autonomous beings, with minds, and wills, and feelings. They are to be in charge of the created order, to be the stewards of God’s masterpiece.
But they also are given the ability to say Yes and to say No, to obey and to disobey, to be loving and to be selfish, to follow God and to follow other paths. The bottom line is that the great God of the universe has become hobbled by granting sovereignty to these humans. They can, and do, thwart God’s best intentions. They can, and do, complicate their lives and the lives of others. So the sovereignty and autonomy of God is compromised by the sovereignty and autonomy of these human beings.
All of that then leads to This Strange Partnership of our lives. How much of what goes on around us is God trumping whatever stands in God’s way, God pushing God’s agenda on everyone? And how much of what goes on around us is this Strange Partnership, the willful and sometimes foolish actions of human beings and the grander intentions God has for us?
Can God force an agenda, God’s agenda, in our world, or does God need to stand with hat in hand, waiting for some sort of human assistance? This is much more that trying to find out who is to blame for some of the human tragedies we hear about daily. This is trying to understand this partnership so we can more faithfully carry out our part of the equation.
Not long ago two families in Morgan County suffered the death of a child. Some people believe the deaths could have been prevented with appropriate and timely medical care. Those family members believed it was their faith duty to pray for healing, and that such prayer was enough. Because these were children, one an infant, the parents may face charges of neglect. It may be that relying only on prayer, not seeking medical care, was breaking the law, was child neglect.
I don’t believe that anything is too wonderful for God, or that anything is too hard or too difficult for God. But I also believe that God has chosen to be in partnership with fallible human beings like us in carrying out those wonders. For example, I believe God’s gift of healing is often mediated through the giftedness of those who serve us through the medical arts with medical skills. I am disappointed by the arrogance of some doctors who seem to think they are the Great Healers, when in fact they are the instruments God uses to share the gift of healing in this world.
I believe that God wanted the Hebrews to be a distinctive people, and I believe God wanted Sarah and Abraham to be the parents of a mighty nation. However, God needed Sarah and Abraham to stop laughing and become the primary actors in this wonderful story. It was alright for Sarah and Abraham to be skeptical, for common sense said this scheme was a mighty stretch. God could only have the last laugh if they reluctantly chose to be the cast in this unlikely play.
One of the enduring and continuing challenges for us is to sort out This Strange Partnership we have with God. How much of what happens in our world is the mighty autonomous God, striding along, meeting drowsy, unsuspecting people in the middle of an unremarkable day and enlisting them in some grand design? How often have we stopped God stone cold by our unwillingness to imagine our participation in one of God’s grand designs? How prepared are we to be open to a journey with God that we do not fully understand, just being content to know that while we, and others, may snicker and laugh at the prospect that God could be including us in the play, nothing is too wonderful for God?
No doubt this summer will provide some hot, sultry days like that special day in life of Abraham and Sarah, when you are just minding your own business, not making any waves, and not expecting anything very significant to happen. And perhaps God intervenes to beckon you into some significant role in a drama that seeks to touch and transform someone’s life. You, and me, in some divine drama, when God comes near and God’s grace and God’s love become real.
We continually are writing the next chapter of our lives as we write the next chapter of the life of this church. In so doing, we are participants in This Strange Partnership. This would be a loving, compassionate, creative, redemptive God, and folk like us, fallible, mistake-prone, slow-to-understand people who often laugh at God’s possibilities. But we are God’s chosen agents in this world, dispensers of reconciliation, peace, justice and love. That is a pretty interesting job description.