Sermon for June 18, 2023 – The Third Sunday after Pentecost
Preached at the Church picnic and service of Morning Prayer in St. Vital Park
Is anything too wonderful for the Lord?
By Rembrandt - https://www.wikiart.org/en/rembrandt/abraham-receives-the-three-angels-1646, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=80906535
It is fitting that, as we find ourselves here today gathered together away from our normal house of worship and are immersed in the beauty of God’s creation, our program year is coming to an end. We will all take a well deserved break after a very busy year in our life together. We are able to take the coming months to rest, relax, and rejuvenate our souls. Some of you may make grand adventures hither and yon, while other may pass the dog days of summer right here in our homes. Either way, we have an opportunity to pause, catch our breath, take stock of where we are, just how far we have come together in this past year and to give thanks to God for these wonderful blessings.
Is anything too wonderful for the Lord?
This question comes to us as Abraham and Sarai, soon to be Sarah, but not yet, have begun to make their home in this new land that was promised to him by God. If we remember last week, when God called Abraham to leave everything behind to follow God’s promise of a blessed and bountiful future. Our story continues as Abraham has pitched his tents in the plains of Mamre.
Abraham, by the oaks of Mamre, sees three men approaching in the heat of the day. And he seems to know that they are no ordinary strangers. Because, while hospitality is quite literally a matter of life and death in that semi-arid climate, Abraham goes above and beyond the call of duty in his hosting of these guests. He moves as fast as his 100-year-old legs will carry him. He runs to meet them, bows down to the ground, runs to the tent to tell Sarah to whip up a good dinner, and runs to the herd to rustle up some good veal. When he sets this hastily-prepared feast before the strangers, they eat and then ask after the missus -- “Where is your wife Sarah?”
As it turns out, Sarah is eavesdropping on the conversation from inside the tent entrance. And when the visitor promises that she will bear a son in her post-menopausal years, Sarah, like Abraham before her, laughs and says to herself, “After I have grown old, and my husband is old, shall I have pleasure?”
Then the LORD (in the guise of the strangers, as it turns out) says to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, and say, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?’”
But then comes the crux of the matter, the question on which the whole story hinges: “Is anything too wonderful for the LORD?”
Is anything too wonderful for the LORD? Can God fulfill God’s promises, despite the facts on the ground? Sarah and Abraham don’t believe it. In fact, Sarah, forgetting that she’s not supposed to be listening to the conversation, says from behind the tent entrance, “I did not laugh.” And the LORD, with (I imagine) a twinkle in the eye and a chuckle at the divine absurdity of it all, says, “Oh yes, you did laugh.”
Is anything too wonderful for the Lord?
You all might have felt like Abraham and Sarah, as you waited during the long period of transition, wondering just who God was calling to come alongside you, and accompany you into a new horizon. With each failed search, with each hopeful moment dashed, you all might have been tempted to scoff at God’s promise to lead you, like Sarah. A year ago, I had just finished my intense chemotherapy treatments and arrived as hairless as the day I was born, and yet, a year later, look at how far we have come together.
There is no hiding that we growing, slowly, but we are indeed growing. We have welcomed some new families and baptized new members into our community. Our average Sunday attendance has continued to grow and remain strong throughout the year. Each of you has given so much of yourselves in your time and your talents in the many ways that each of you help this parish family day in a day out. We are a shining reflection of God love.
And yet the work is not done. We will all have these next few months to relax, so that when we come back and take up our work again we will be energized to following God where ever he continues to lead us. In the fall we will have an opportunity to re-engage with worship and formation, with outreach and stewardship, to learn and grow.
And so, just as the strangers gathered around the table of Abraham to break bread together in fellowship and gratitude so do we. We come together as a parish family to break bread, to give thanks to God for each other, for the blessings of this community, and for the bright future that lies ahead.
Is anything too wonderful for the Lord?
No way…we are proof. I am proof. This, right here, right now, is proof in the wondrous depths of God.
Amen
