Gen. 17:1-7, 15-16; 18: 9-15   Is Anything too Wonderful for God?   03/12/06

1. Abe was 99.  Sarai a mere youngster of 90.  Beginning to think of a little retirement home in Haran.  Time to reminisce.  Maybe regret a bit, all the things they?ve missed out on!  And God?s sending them off tenting!  I give Sarai full marks for being willing to do that.  But the next bit is huge ? she will be a mom.  Now I?ve had nightmares about being the oldest recorded pregnancy in history, but 90 ? I would have thought by then that I was safe!  Well apparently not.  God is calling them out to do a new thing.  Will they listen?  Unbelievably they do.  Not that God is miserable and can?t stand them having a rest.  But what if no one else would listen to the call?  What if no one else would go?

2. So they set off.  A record back pack in the wilderness.  And still no baby.  Sarai is so discouraged.  Abe?s not doing too badly.  But he doesn?t have to deal with the scorn of the other women.  We don?t hear if the guys bug him.  ?Hey Abe, A great nation eh?  More descendants than the grains of sand on the beach.  Yeah sure!?  In those days not having children was seen as a huge failure.  And for Sarai every month a sinking feeling in her stomach, and a bright reminder there will be no child.  Does she call herself barren?  Failure?  Could she have seen how she could do God?s will had there never been a child?

3. But God sends a messenger who says, ?You?re really going to have a baby.?  Can?t you just let her rest God?  But you see God knew what their deep longing was for ? the thing that at the end they?d really regret if they missed out.  When Isaac is born and named, Sarah says, ?God has made laughter for me!?  Sarai had been old and tired, discouraged, depressed, and unable to laugh.  And God made laughter for her.  With their new names, Abraham and Sarah ? regardless of what they themselves - or others had previously called them, they go on to found a nation.  The messenger?s question, ?Is anything too wonderful for God?? is answered. 

4. When God calls my name, can I hear it over the names I call myself ? like depressed or left out or worn out or forgetful or stressed that are so destructive?  A name that affects how I relate to the world.  The names we call ourselves are so important.  So if I could be open to hear, what name is God giving me now?  How will it change me?  God is calling you and me, no matter what age we are to a new thing.  New things are scary.  Oh it?s not like backpacking in the desert, pregnant, but significant!  It?s to ministry - yours and mine.  It might be tempting to feel overwhelmed, tired, and worried.  Can we instead hear the reminder, ?Is anything too wonderful for God??  Will we open our ears to hear the names that God is calling us ? capable, caring, faithful, resourceful, and strong?

5. This is a really difficult scripture to hear for all who wanted a child as desperately as Abram and Sarai did.  And didn?t receive that laughter.  Or for a million different reasons, a child did not bring laughter.  Or it may be your deepest wish, but economically, relationship wise, it is not faithful to have a child right now.  In such painful circumstances, can we hear a different call that will bring meaning and purpose and laughter to our particular wilderness?  A call where God wants to lead us as surely as Abram and Sarai?  For surely this scripture is not just about birthing a baby, but hearing God?s call to new life in the midst of circumstances so difficult, it is like heading into the biting sand with just our back packs.

6. Or what if we?re at the other end of life?  Maybe not 99, but it feels like it!  Worn out, the very legs we once ran on, now stiff and sore, or maybe won?t even hold us up.  All the things that once gave us pleasure, we either can?t do, or they?re so hard, we wonder are they worth it.  It would be so easy to burrow in, give up, and wait to die.  Is God still calling?  Absolutely!  Calling us to the thing that we alone can do.  What niece, great nephew, grandchild, great grandchild, or friend needs to hear what we alone can leave to them.  A legacy of what a difference faith made to us in the tough times.  And each one will face those times.  What will they remember about us doing the hard physiotherapy, choosing life, our attitude in the biting sand?  Will they be able to remember and echo our words, ?Is anything too wonderful for God?

7. Sandy is a good friend, just fifty-two and the realities of MS have changed her body over a period of about twenty years so that now she lives between motorized wheelchair, scooter, and bed.  She recognizes it?s not much longer she can live alone without more supports.  What supports does she need?  Can she get them? She could burrow in and give up.  And there are days she shares with us her friends how very hard it is.  And there are other days she spends fighting City Hall.  Literally.  You may have heard her on CBC last fall when they were trying to cancel citizen committees.  Including the one she served on that works for accessibility.  Many long days in a row she was strategizing with others, talking to media, to City Council.  At the end, a huge smile indicated her success at re-instating the committees.  She told how exhausted she was ? and how good it felt.  And she said, ?It was worth it!?  It is evident she listens to God?s call.  And that her indomitable courage is Spirit fed.

8.  Will we dare to answer our call?

One day George announced to his neighbor that he was going to take his wheelbarrow and go across Niagara Falls on a wire. The neighbor asked, "When are you going to do this, George?"

He replied, "When I'm ready."

He set out to practice in his back yard. He set a wire a couple of feet off the ground and approximately the length that he would have to go. For weeks the neighbor would watch him go back and forth, back and forth across this wire with his big wheelbarrow.

The weeks turned into months. George had perfected it. Then he announced that he was ready for the big test. The neighbor went to the Falls to watch him. George was ready to go across when he saw his neighbor standing right there in the front row.

George asked him, "Do you believe that I can do this?" His neighbor said, "Yes".

"Are you certain?"

"Yes George, I've seen you practice day after day, rain or shine, so there is no doubt that you can do it". George looked at him straight in the eye, "Do you really believe that I can do it?"

?Yes, George, I really believe.?  Then said George, ?Get into the wheelbarrow.?   God?s saying to us, ?Get into the wheelbarrow!  Do you trust me to do a new thing?  Is any problem too great, too difficult??

Then let us ask, ?Is anything too wonderful for God??