I wonder what it was like for Abraham to be circumcised at the age of 98? Now that I have your attention! 😉 We actually don’t hear that in the scripture reading today, but it’s in the passage immediately preceding it. And in the BibleWorm podcast that I listened to last week, they speculated that this might be why Abraham was sitting around at the door of his tent… he was recovering from his circumcision. A circumcision that was and is for Jewish people a sign of their covenant with God. Let’s listen as we pick up the story in Genesis 18: 1-15:

The LORD appeared to Abraham near the great oak trees of Mamre while he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day. 2 Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked and saw three men standing across from him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself toward the ground. 3 He said, “My Lord, if I have found favor in Your sight, do not pass by Your servant. 4 Please let a little water be brought and wash your feet and rest yourselves under the tree. 5 I will bring a piece of bread so that you may refresh yourselves. After that you may pass on, now that you have come to your servant.”

And they said, “So do, as you have said.”

6 So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah, and said, “Quickly prepare three measures[a] of fine flour, knead it, and make cakes.”

7 Then Abraham ran to the herd and took a choice and tender calf and gave it to a servant, who hurried to prepare it. 8 He then brought butter and milk and the calf that he had prepared and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree while they ate. 9 They said to him, “Where is Sarah your wife?”
And he said, “There, in the tent.”

10 One of them said, “I will certainly return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son.”

And Sarah heard it in the tent door, which was behind him. 11 Now Abraham and Sarah were old and very advanced in age, and Sarah was well past childbearing. 12 Therefore Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I am so old and my lord is old also, shall I have pleasure?”

13 Then the LORD said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Shall I surely bear a child when I am old?’ 14 Is anything too difficult for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you, at this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.”

15 Then Sarah denied it, saying, “I did not laugh,” because she was afraid.

But He said, “Yes, you did laugh.”

We hear of Abraham’s encounter with three strangers… When he sees them, he runs out to meet them… and offers them shade, rest, food and drink. I always chuckle at this passage… because, after offering them these things, he then gets Sarah and the servants to make it happen!

There are two themes that I’m going to pick up from our reading this morning: hospitality and promise.

First, hospitality. Hospitality in the ancient eastern world went beyond offering food and shelter to those who were in need; it was a matter of survival for all travelers. In a world in which it was not possible to purchase temporary accommodation, reliance on the households of strangers was the custom for those who traversed the land. But hospitality in this world also went beyond survival; it was recognized as a sacred duty. Christian hospitality built on this understanding and expanded it. There are numerous hospitality stories in both testaments, and the hospitality is revealed in different ways. There is the hospitality of a shared meal, there is the hospitality of a welcome into someone’s home, and there is the hospitality of restoration of the person’s place in community. The Hebrew tradition of hospitality, which the gospel writers would have been familiar with, was bound up with their understanding of themselves as being “a stranger, an alien, a tenant in God’s land.”[i] To provide for the stranger was a moral responsibility, “it was associated with God, covenant and blessing.”[ii]

And then there is promise, the Lord promises a child, born in Sarah and Abraham’s old age. I love the earthiness of this passage… not only is there food, drink and respite from the heat of the day offered. But Sarah speaks of she and Abraham being old, and not taking any sexual pleasure in each other’s body’s any longer. I imagine her laugh is one of disbelief!

When I pondered this reading a couple of weeks ago, the first thing that popped into my head was, “Are we Sarah?” Has God come to been at our front door, telling us that there will be new life born amongst us and we’ve laughed to ourselves in disbelief?

Look around…. Most of us are literally past childbearing age! But… but… are we too old to bear new life? I don’t think we are… And in doing so, we have to let go of the life we had as a church… the kind of church that we loved… the kind of church that we thought would last forever.

God promised Sarah and Abraham the fulfilment of God’s promise and it came to be.

Let’s listen to that part of the story.

21 The LORD blessed Sarah, as he had promised, 2 and she became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham when he was old. The boy was born at the time God had said he would be born. 3 Abraham named him Isaac, 4 and when Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God had commanded. 5 Abraham was a hundred years old when Isaac was born. 6 Sarah said, “God has brought me joy and laughter.[a] Everyone who hears about it will laugh with me.” 7 Then she added, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”

I wonder if Sarah found it hard to be a mother in her old age? I wonder if as she was up in the middle of the night with a teething baby, she muttered to herself, “What were you thinking God!” Imagine the middle of the night feedings, the chasing after a toddler… and yet, they named him Isaac… which meant laughter.

Hospitality and promise.

In 2019 you chose hospitality and promise by becoming an Affirming congregation, our Affirming Statement reads:

Intentionally creating safe spaces where all people are welcomed and accepted regardless of age, gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, family configuration, ability or economic circumstance. Open invitation and opportunities exist for everyone to take part in all aspects of our church life, including worship, membership, fellowship, outreach, advocacy, leadership, marriage and the marking of life passages, according to their gifts and talents. We are committed to being an integral part of a community together. We celebrate the richness that diversity brings to St. James, recognizing that life is a journey of compassion and understanding.

What a wonderful statement! And I have to say I was surprised when St. James became an affirming congregation, it did not fit with my mental picture of you. Now of course, it does. My question for you, does this statement carry any weight for us a congregation beyond our walls?

On Wednesday, Cathy McLeod and I participated in a counter rally against the 1 Million March for Children. On the surface, that seems like a good thing to march for, not protest against. But when I dug a little deeper into the march, I along with some of my colleagues, became very concerned.

As my colleague, the Rev. Betsy Hogan wrote in Facebook post, “For me, it’s really about hard-core protecting of the Canadian public sphere from an overriding of “Canadian values” — as articulated in the Charter — with “religious values”. And that’s what this demand for “parental rights” amounts to. It’s not benign. It’s not the apparent reasonableness of ‘I should get to choose what my children are exposed to’. Not when the basis of that choice is whether or not something conforms to a parent’s religious or cultural belief. Not only is that not a ‘right’ that parents have in Canada in relation to what children experience in public school, but it’s not even a right we should WANT parents to have in Canada. Because this time it’s conservative Christians and Muslims, who want to override the Charter with the Notwithstanding Clause in order to eliminate in schools any mention of the fact that Canadians come in gay and trans as well as straight and cis — that this is a thing, that is legal, that it’s protected.“

“But it could just as easily be conservative Christians and Muslims wanting to override the Charter with the Notwithstanding Clause in order to eliminate any mention in schools of gender or racial equality. It could be “parental rights” demands that boys not be exposed to girls to preserve their purity, or that girls be forced to cover their hair, or that Jewish or Hindu students be segregated out of classrooms, or that teachers should only be male so that boys aren’t tempted and girls learn early to accept male authority. All on the basis of religious belief.” That’s part of the actual job of public schools: to educate for citizenship, to manifest and communicate Canadian values as articulated in the Charter. That protects ALL of us, as a non-sectarian country. And it is hugely important.“

She wrote that in an email to a number of colleagues, inviting us to gather at St. Matthew’s and be part of a counter rally. So, on Wednesday morning, I headed over on the ferry, and believe me, when the Woodside Ferry terminal parking lot was full, it was tempting to pack it in and forget about it. On the ferry and as I walked to St. Matthew’s, I felt both vulnerable and encouraged, as I received both scowls and smiles of appreciation… I was wearing my rainbow collar. Already at 9, there was a huge crowd around Province House, with rainbow flags and drums.

Our group gathered and made our way, down to the Grand Parade, where the two groups were being separated by a line of police officers. We spent a couple of hours walking with our very visible signs of support for the counter rally. It was a peaceful, if noisy event. I was proud to be part of a United Church contingent… even in my old age!

I can’t help but wonder how some of our neighbourhood organizations like MacPhee Centre for Creative Learning on Queen Street are feeling. Or how some teachers are feeling. Is it part of our mandate, of our affirming stance, to reach out to them?

Getting back to Abraham and Sarah having a child in their old age… that’s not going to happen is it? None of us here, or at least I don’t think any of us are actually going to bear children… but we can be the bearers of new life!

And it’s evident from the data that you provided in the Listening Circles that you are ready both to let some things go and to look at some new ways of engaging people.

What else aren’t we too old to do? (Wait)

There’s something else… none of us are too old to write letters, are we? Letters of support, letters of encouragement, letters that let those who are much more on the front lines of this battle, know that they are not alone.

Are we going to be hospitable and welcoming to the new life and promise that God has in store for us?

What?

Was that a yes?

Should I ask again?

Are we going to be hospitable to the new life and promise that God has in store for us?

Thanks be to God for the challenge and the opportunity of being God’s people. Amen.

[i] Christine Pohl, Making Room: Recovering Hospitality as a Christian Tradition, (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1999) p. 16
[ii] Ibid. p.17

Genesis 18: 1-15
Genesis 21: 1-7
September 24, 2023 – SJ