The country singer and song writer Mel Tillis was trying to write a new song and it just wasn’t going anywhere. He’d been trying to write a follow-up to a song of his about Tupelo, Mississippi, but when he played it for a colleague, the other man said he needed to try something else. Said that he needed to write about a new city. As he kept working with the tune he’d started and some of the lyrics, he began a second conversation, this time with Danny Dill, another song writer friend. Danny related something that he’d noticed when he’d been playing small shows and sets in bars in Detroit. This conversation would have been happening in the early 1960’s. A lot of people had been moving to Detroit. Danny Dill noticed that some of them were having a really hard time of it.

     For some people who moved, like Black Americans who were leaving racial violence in southern states, while not perfect, the city of Detroit was still a place where a better life could be built and good wages found. The move was grounded in hopefulness. For others, like impoverished southern white people from both the Deep South and the Southern Highlands, the move to the North was more complicated. They were drawn by the same jobs as Black Americans but, with more reservations. Many would have preferred to stay where they had been raised, but, found it too hard to make a living. For many of these migrants, Detroit was a place they worked. It would never really feel like home.

     Some folks would come home to Kentucky and Tennessee every weekend they had free and during every lay-off at the plant. Others would go to Detroit for a while, save some money, and then move back south. Some would be so miserable that they could never build a life for themselves in their new city. Mel Tillis and Danny Dill ended up writing a song about one of those people. The first verse of the song, known as Detroit City is:
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I wanna go home/ I wanna go home/ oh how I wanna go home
Last night I went to sleep in Detroit City
And I dreamed about those cottonfields and home
I dreamed about my mother, dear old papa, sister, and brother
I dreamed about that girl who's been waiting for so long
I wanna go home/ I wanna go home oh /how I wanna go home

     This is a song of lament and lonesomeness. It is a song about someone completely displaced and out of place, regretting the decision he made to follow the jobs north. He eventually says that he’s going to swallow his pride, admit that he hasn’t been able to find what he was looking for, and just go home.

     I wonder what this guy would have done had he received a letter like the one the exiles received from Jeremiah in today’s scripture. Because, they were singing a similar refrain: I wanna go home/I wanna go home/I wanna go home. And, they hadn’t made the choice to move to Babylon. Sure, poverty drove some white southerners to seek jobs away from home, but, it was still a choice they made and were allowed to make. The Israelites had been forced into exile by a conquering army. They didn’t want to leave Judah and they didn’t want to stay in Babylon. They were people twice traumatized, first by the terrors of war in their homes and then by the forced removal of their leadership to Babylon. They would have said that they wanted to go home and the last thing they wanted to hear was that they would have to stay. And, that’s just what Jeremiah told them. They would have to stay.

     To put this part of Jeremiah in context, Dr. Wil Gafney describes it this way: She said imagine that a foreign army has beaten our army in a war that is in our country. Now, imagine that our government has been dismantled and key religious and cultural artifacts have been stolen and carted away to sit in someone else’s palaces and museums. The president and their family, plus the cabinet, plus all of Congress and the remaining military leaders have all been forced to move to the foreign country, along with our most celebrated artists and most skilled craftspeople. There is great famine back home and great isolation and fear in the other place. It would be almost impossible to rebuild and recover. That’s how complete the devastation is. This is the kind of situation that Jeremiah was responding to.

     I think the letter the exiled leaders were hoping for was from someone who was going to tell them that whatever this exile is, it would be short-lived... That they wouldn’t have to figure out how to change their lives anymore to fit Babylon. They had lost enough. They wanted someone to tell them when God would come save them and let them go home. In her commentary on this passage, Dr. Alphonetta Wines noted that some prophets, like Hananiah, had predicted as little as a two year stay in exile. That might not have been great, but it might have been manageable. Many hard things are manageable if there is an end date. It’s too bad that Jeremiah didn’t think there was going to be an end date any time soon.

     Jeremiah had not been sent into exile. He was so much on the margins of religious and political leadership that the Babylonians did not think it was worth it to send him in exile. You see, the exile was a way to disrupt the leadership capacity of the Israelites. You kill or steal capable leaders. That makes it very hard to organize a resistance or rebuild. The Babylonians didn’t see Jeremiah as a threat. He was able to remain in Judah, where he experienced the trauma and post-war deprivations firsthand. It is in this destruction that Jeremiah finds his call. And, his call is to help the exiled leaders survive. Dr. Wines puts in this way, he writes a letter to the exiles to help them adjust to their current situation, rather than escape it.

     As one who has been having to do a lot of adjusting in the midst of COVID-19, an event that isn’t exile but is disruptive, I can understand this yearning for news that the disruption is over and that things can get back to normal. Jeremiah’s letter is more like the direction we’re getting from scientists... we don’t know how long this is going to last, some of the changes we’re making are long-term if not permanent. But, just because we don’t know when it will be over, that doesn’t mean you can’t find blessing right where you are. Jeremiah says to the exiled that they will find blessing in actually making a life in Babylon: plant gardens, marry partners, have children. He says to them, you will feel the impulse to shrink and decline and isolate. But, don’t do that. He says build and grow and connect. This is going to take a long time and that is how you will survive.

     Dr. Gafney points out that Jeremiah’s instruction to seek the welfare of the city in which they have been exiled does not rely on some kind of amend-making on the part of Babylon. It is unlikely that Babylon would have apologized for what they had done. However, Babylon and Israel were inextricably connected at this point. Anything the Israelites did to make their city more livable would only help them to survive the captivity. And, that should be their main concern: finding a way to cultivate as good a life as possible. Those who were not deported will not have this luxury. This will continue to live in great deprivation. The ones in Babylon must take advantage of whatever goodness they can find right where they were. When they are finally able to return, their people will need them to be in as good a shape as possible.
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     I am grateful that this scripture reminds us that beauty and life can be wrought from terrible circumstances. In some cases, the beauty is in the haunting songs that help us lament, even if we’ve never lived in Detroit City. In other cases, the beauty is in the ways communities can be reorganized by their response to disasters. Dr. Wines reminds us that much of the Hebrew Bible was collected and organized during the exile. Also, this is when synagogues became vital parts of Jewish community. Even the style of faith that developed in this era, a wrestling with questions about God’s provision and God’s relationship to human flourishing and suffering, came about in part because of people’s responses to making a life in Babylon until that time when they could return to Judah, some 60 years later. When Jewish people didn’t have a temple, they developed ways to continue their traditions. I don’t wish terrible circumstances on people, but I’m grateful to be reminded of the life that can rise up in spite of them.

     When we are tempted to be Babylon, may we turn away from destruction, so that we no longer ask people to survive the unlivable. And, when we are in exile, may we remember that God is still with us, helping us create the legacies that allow us and our descendants to survive.

     Sources referenced in today’s sermon:

• Alphonetta Wines: https://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=4184
• Wil Gafney: https://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=704
• John Henderson:  https://www.facebook.com/ClassicCountryMusicStories/posts/the-story-behind-the-songdetroit-citywritten-by-danny-dill-mel-tillisbobby-bare-/754331438026440/
• Jon Freeman and Stephen L. Betts: https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-country-lists/10-great-songs-you-didnt-know-mel-tillis-wrote-125819/bobby-bare-detroit-city-i-wanna-go-home-1963-126136/
• To learn more about The Great Migration, when many African Americans living under threat of racial violence in the South moved North to work in large cities:  https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/great-migration
• To learn about what is known as "The Hillbilly Highway," when many people, particularly white people, moved from rural southern Appalachia into northern cities, like Detroit, to find good jobs: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillbilly_Highway#Appalachian_migration
• To listen to Dolly Parton's version of Detroit City: https://youtu.be/n8HavIjym0s

     There is a beautiful song called “Ring of Keys” in a Broadway show called Fun Home that I thought of when I reread today’s scripture. The show is based on the graphic novel of the same name, written and illustrated by Alison Bechdel. In the song, she recounts a transformational moment from her childhood. She was eating in a diner with her dad. This would have been in the mid- to late 1960’s in Pennsylvania. And, this woman walked in, delivering something. What she was delivering wasn’t as important as how she looked while she did it. She looked strong.

     In the song, young Alison sings:
Your swagger and your bearing
And the just right clothes you're wearing
Your short hair and your dungarees
And your lace up boots

And your keys, oh
Your ring of keys

     Alison isn’t simply enamored by the keys. She is amazed to see a woman presenting a different idea of how to move through the world than Alison has ever seen before. This woman takes up space. She does a sweaty job where she has to carry heavy things. She has a short haircut... not a pixie cut, but a haircut that looks more like the haircuts the men that Alison knew would wear. Even her clothes were a revelation. She wore practical things, work pants and boots, but this was more than her uniform. It was also intentional, chosen to tell people who were paying attention something about who she was. And, Alison was paying attention. In that moment, when she saw this adult she didn’t know, she saw something true that she recognized in herself and also something to aspire to. She sings, “I think we’re alike in a certain way” and “why am I the only one who sees you’re beautiful/ no, I mean/ handsome.”  The last lines of the song are “I know you./I know you./I know you.” I read somewhere that this revelatory moment in the diner, where she said “that’s who I am and want to be” is one of Alison Bechdel’s earliest memories. She lived her life a little differently from that moment on.

     I must admit, it can be a little tricky to compare Alison’s revelation to Paul’s revelation.  Alison’s revelation seems like a relief. A transformation, to be sure, but also a relief. She sees a vision of an adult version of her that bring her hope. If you haven’t read the book or seen the show, Bechdel's home life was difficult. Seeing this woman and her dungarees and boots was a bright spot in a life that could be hard. Paul, well, Saul, who would become Paul, he was pretty happy with his life. He was doing just what he thought he needed to be doing. His transformative moment was terrifying. I’m going to argue, though, that, once he got past the fear, this revelation also made his life more hope-filled. Because, before that flash of light on the road, Saul of Tarsus was going down a path ruled by fear and destruction. By the look of things, he would need something like an act of God to change him. The story tells us that God’s action did.

     Saul appears to be one of those people who is very sure that God needs defending by the faithful. He is introduced in chapter 9 as one so zealous in his faith that he is willing to participate in violence to protect it. When you are brought up in the violence of the Empire, it can be tempting to replicate that violence. It’s like last week, when we were reading in Exodus, and Moses, who was raised by the Pharaoh, lost his temper and killed an Egyptian man whom he saw abusing an Israelite. Saul, likely fearful of the fate of his own faith under Roman domination, turned that fear into violence against those whom he saw as threatening his faith, particularly, the followers of the radical teacher, Jesus. Jesus, who had been killed by the state. Jesus, whose followers, like Stephen, were willing to face death even as they shared the good news of his message. Saul had no patience for those who defamed God and drew unnecessary and dangerous attention to their people.

     Dr. Mitzi Smith, when writing about this passage, says “God reveals God’s self to whomever God chooses and when God chooses.” And, Saul, who had already believed in God fiercely, was the recipient of this revelation. Saul, who was well-educated and well-connected, a Pharisee who was a son of Pharisee, a Roman citizen when many weren’t, could not use all his political or social connections to work his way out of the startling encounter with Christ on the way to Damascus. A light from heaven flashed and he fell to the ground, the world that he thought he saw so clearly, becoming nothing before his eyes. Jesus, long gone from this world, but moving through the Holy Spirit, speaks to him and sets him on the journey to a new life and a new mission.
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     First, Saul will have to rely on his friends to lead him safely into the city. You see, following Christ is rarely done alone. Then, a disciple named Ananias will come and lay hands on him, preparing him for the work of the Gospel, and offering him the chance to make amends for all he had done wrong in the world. When Saul, whom we know as Paul, accepts this blessing and is baptized, we know, from this vantage point in history, that we are seeing a world changing ministry begin. Whatever had been preventing him from seeing a hopeful future fell away, and he was able to begin anew.

     Now I don’t know if your transformation story is more like that little girl who sees herself in an adult for the first time or more like Saul, who had his hurt turned from fear and anger into hope and love. But, I bet you have a transformation story. Maybe you’re having a transformation story right now, moved by the protests and testimonies offered up to us over the last two weeks about what it is to be black and live in this country. However you come to see the thing that changes you, I hope are able to get up and go do whatever Christ is calling you to do. Your life and this world can change. This stories reminds us that great transformation is possible. I pray that you have found your part of it.

 Resources consulted in this sermon:

• Mitzi Smith: https://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=1930
• Lisle Gwynn Garrity, "Unraveled: The Conversion of Saul to Paul- Discovering a New Path," from Unravelved: Seeking God When Our Plans Fall Apart study journal, A Sanctified Art, sanctifiedart.org
• The lyrics of "Ring of Keys": https://genius.com/Original-broadway-cast-of-fun-home-ring-of-keys-lyrics
• Here is a video of one of the original actors in the Broadway show singing "Ring of Keys": https://youtu.be/wMJvLTZOhpE

 Pharaoh had a plan.
     Pharaoh had a plan.  It is reasonable for us to expect leaders to have a plan.  We have confidence and trust that good leaders have their best interest at heart, and that those interests coincide with our best interests. Pharaoh was a powerful leader. Whether or not he was a good leader is another question. Someone was certainly benefiting from his choices.  Now, this Pharaoh comes many years after Joseph and the Israelites had a plan that saved Egypt from a famine.  The time has lapsed such that he does not really know these Jewish people; certainly not with the intimacy of his ancestors or the Pharaohs before him. He has long stopped viewing the Israelites as welcome refugees in his land. Instead he has grown frightened of them, not because they did anything wrong, just because Pharaoh was afraid. So, he oppressed them, enslaving them, in order to shore up his power. He was willing to do terrible things to stay in power. His plan was to keep the Israelites in bondage and hurt them in order to keep them in line.

Moses had a plan.
     Moses had a plan. And, his plan was mostly to get the heck out of Dodge and stay out of Dodge. It was already a miracle that Moses was alive. Pharaoh’s plan included genocide and every Israelite boy was to die. But, there were two midwives, Shiphrah and Puah, who made a plan and saved the boys. And, then, a woman named Jochebed made a plan and saved her own son. That’s Moses. He survived in a time when he wasn’t supposed to and even ended up living in the household of the one who ordered his death. That story would be miracle enough on its own. But, the story didn’t end there. So many more signs and wonders will happen.

Even though he grew up with Egyptians, Moses was an Israelite and he knew it. When he saw an Egyptian beating an Israelite slave, a slave who might have been one of his relatives, and he snapped. He killed the abusive man. And, even though he had grown up as a grandson to the Pharaoh, he knew his place in the world was tenuous. A descendant of refugees and a survivor of one genocide, this son of a mother with plan, makes his own plan. He gets out of town, gets to Midian, and tries to make a life there. He marries Zipporah. They have a kid. His plan is to stay in Midian, have a family, and stay alive.
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God had a plan.
     God had a plan and the first part of that plan was to get Moses to go back to Egypt and help his people. Back in chapter 3, God appears to Moses and says, “I’ve heard the people. I will send you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.” Moses was not at all sure that this was a good plan. “Who am I,” he says, “that I should go to Pharaoh?” Well, if God was a little snarkier, God might have said you’re the Pharaoh’s grandson. Why wouldn’t I send you? Instead, God is patient and insistent. Every time that Moses tries to work his way out of this whole liberation fight, God promises to give him what he’ll need to succeed.
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     Moses says what if I say that their God has sent me and they don’t believe me. God says, tell them my true name and that I sent you to help me save them. Also, I’m going to send signs and wonders, so they will see that I am with you. Moses says, but what if they don’t believe that you actually came to me? God says, I’m going to show you how to do something with that staff and your cloak that only God could help you do. Moses says, I’m not eloquent or quick with words. I will not be able to charm or convince them. God promises to be with Moses’ mouth, teaching him what to say. Moses even pleads with God to send someone else and God agrees to send Moses’ brother Aaron to help, but Moses still has to go. Moses is integral to this plan. Left without excuses, Moses agrees to go.

     Part 2 of God’s plan comes when Moses goes to see his adopted grandfather, the Pharaoh. This is when we see God’s plan and Pharaoh’s plan collide.  Like many things we do, Pharaoh has a formula for his plan.  His method is to agree with whatever is asked of him, but then to go back on his promise once he gets what he wants.  We might think that is awful, and it is, but this Pharaoh’s Modus operandi worked well.  It got him out of nine plagues. It worked like this:  God sent Moses and Aaron to tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites go so they could worship God or God was sending a plague.  Here’s how it goes down:  Pharaoh says “No.”  Plague comes.  Pharaoh gets Moses and Aaron and tells them to ask their God to forgive him and he will let them go.  God removes plague.  Pharaoh doesn’t let them go.  So, the snakes come and Moses’ snake eats all of the snakes of Pharaoh’s magicians.  Then here we go. Our reading only goes through one plague. There are so many more: frogs, gnats, flies, dead animals, boils, hail, locusts and darkness.  Even a terrible reproduction of the sin of Pharaoh’s original plan: the death of innocents.  In all of this, here’s what Pharaoh didn’t have:  A Plan B.  Sound familiar?  How many of us have a plan and we keep working it with the confidence and arrogance that it will continue to work.  Who needs a Plan B? Well, those whose arrogance will not allow them to remember whose plan is really in charge... those people need a plan B. 

     God knew the Pharaoh’s plan. God used the arrogance and deceitfulness of Pharaoh to assure that the Egyptians and the Israelites know that God is “in this Land.” Remember, Pharaoh was considered a God. This story is a story of God making sure people knew that the Pharaoh was a human, not a God. God utilizes the predictability of Pharaoh’s character and his one-plan-negotiating-strategy to punish the Egyptians for enslaving the Jews and to distinguish the Egyptians from the Jewish people, further identifying the Israelites as His people.  I don’t know about you, but I would never have made it to boils. I would have changed plans.  But Pharaoh was unwilling to choose a different path, setting God’s plan in place.  God knew that this Pharaoh was a leopard who would not change his spots.  He also knew that Pharaoh had used this very same tactic against the Jews to kill all of their male children, yet it backfired. Pharaoh’s own undoing, Moses, was raised in his very own home.
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     I know that we’re missing organized sports, so let’s go with a football metaphor here: God’s game plan is for us is to be identified as God’s people. God’s game plan was to demonstrate that God was the only God and the most powerful god, and that God was in their homeland, calling the plays.  When you enslave God’s people, you must be prepared for the consequences. The Israelites, slaves of the Egyptians, would be set free from their captors, clearly identifying them as His people.  Many of those Egyptians would suffer and die because of Pharaoh and his stubborn attachment to his very bad plan.

     Do you have a Plan B?  Or, are you still banging your head against the wall, keeping to your plan like Pharaoh?  When you stop trying to run your play without God being your quarterback, how do you know what to do?  Just like football, you need to get in the huddle.  You need to spend time with God.  Reading the Word, talking about the Word, living the Word in community, and praying that God will clearly reveal your position in the play.
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     We are accustomed to thinking about ourselves first.  There is truth in the statement that you must take care of yourself before you can care for others.  There is also truth in the fact that God provides us with what we need to play our position on the team. Our goal is cultivate and nurture the community of God’s kin-dom.  Our individual rights and privileges are only worthwhile if they enrich the entire team (if we’re sticking with the football metaphor).  God’s plan includes all of God’s people, working together in love for the glory of God.  Get on the Team! Get in the huddle!  God's got a plan!

Resources consulted while writing this sermon:

• Lauren Wright Pittman, “Unraveled: Pharaoh Hardens His Heart to Moses’ Requests: When Humans Unravel God’s Plans for Justice,” Unraveled: Seeking God When Our Plans Fall Apart. A Sanctified Art: sanctifiedart.org.
• Adele Berlin, “Moses,” HarperCollins Bible Dictionary (San Francisco: Harper, San Francisco, 1989)
• The image attribution: J&R Lamb, Co.. Singing Windows, detail, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=56492 . Original source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Singing_Windows_stained_glass,_designed_by_J%26R_Lamb,_located_in_the_University_chapel_at_Tuskegee_University,_Tuskegee,_Alabama_LCCN2010637794.tif.
  
  

Act  2:1-21
When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.
Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astonished, they asked, ‘Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs—in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.’ All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, ‘What does this mean?’ But others sneered and said, ‘They are filled with new wine.’

But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them: ‘Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning. No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:
“In the last days it will be, God declares,
that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh,
   and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
and your young men shall see visions,
   and your old men shall dream dreams.
Even upon my slaves, both men and women,
   in those days I will pour out my Spirit;
     and they shall prophesy.
And I will show portents in the heaven above
   and signs on the earth below,
     blood, and fire, and smoky mist.
The sun shall be turned to darkness
   and the moon to blood,
     before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day.
Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

*All art is from the Art in the Christian Tradition collection at Vanderbilt University

Note before our sermon: This week was filled with the news of incidents of racist violence in the United States. In this sermon, which was initially envisioned as a joyful activity for the kids at our church, I also discuss some of the history our denomination has in supporting protest as a holy act. Let me be clear: Pentecost is about a holy ruckus that turns people’s lives toward God. The protests in our country are a part of Pentecost.

How can you be a part of this Pentecost protest movement, even if you are practicing social distancing?

Tithe some of your time during the stay at home order to learning more about anti-racism. Here is a good list of resources, both for kids and adults, to help us continue the holy work of dismantling racism. You could read them on your own or, if you’re feeling like connecting with others at church about this, develop a long-distance study group to talk about what you’re learning: https://tinyurl.com/antiracismresourcelist

Share your money: If you have some money to share, these programs in Minneapolis are doing great work and could use our support right now:

• Black Visions: blackvisionsmn.org
• Central Area Neighborhood Development Organization:  https://thecentralneighborhood.com/
• Help rebuild this restaurant: https://www.gofundme.com/f/rebuilding-bole-ethiopian-cuisine?utm_source=customer&utm_medium=copy_link-tip&utm_campaign=p_cp+share-sheet
• Help fund some frontline medics caring for people at the protests in Minnesota: https://www.northstarhealthcollective.org/donate
• 
  

Bail out some protestors: https://bailfunds.github.io/- This is a nationwide list of bail funds.
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Become involved in local government. Ask questions about the kinds of training your town and county’s police force has received in de-escalation, implicit bias, and anti-racism. Ask about funds the department has been given for military-grade equipment. Ask about what community policing measures they are putting in place.

On to the sermon:

     OK, we are going to do a quick scavenger hunt. I need help from everyone who is in elementary or middle school. High schoolers and adults can help if you want. Ok, the rules are: First, the thing has to be inside your house. Second: You can walk fast but do not run. Third, if you can’t find it in 12 seconds, you have to come back and get another assignment. Grown-ups in the house, I will need your help counting. Fourth, it has to be small enough that you can safely carry it. If it is sharp or made of glass, you have to have a grown up help you. Alright, here’s the list of things we are going to try to find:

• A piece of ribbon
• A bird
• A fan
• A wind-chime
• Something red
• Something yellow
• Something orange
• Something that reminds you of fire
• Something that reminds you of God

**The kids were sent off on their scavenger hunt. They found everything. Some grownups helped, too.**

     Alright, real quick, somebody show me your ribbon, your bird, your fan, your wind-chime, your red, yellow, and orange things, your thing that reminds you of fire. Now, if you had to guess, why do you think I asked you to find this list of things? What do they all have in common?  (We left some room for their guesses.) Those are all good guesses. I picked all of these things because they remind me of the story of Pentecost. The fan, wind-chimes, and ribbon all help me see, feel, and hear the wind. In the story, the Holy Spirit rushes into a room like a strong burst of wind. And, what about the red, yellow, and orange stuff: Yes, it’s the color of fire. And, you may have brought something that reminded you of fire. The story says that the Holy Spirit looked like a fire over people’s heads. What did the Holy Spirit help the people do? It helped them speak a bunch of languages. Does anyone know why it was important that they speak a bunch of different languages?

     This story took place in Jerusalem, a city where people spoke a bunch of different languages. This is the fun part about living in a big city. There are many people there from all over the world. And, they speak the languages that they learned in those places. They would also know one common language so they could talk to each other. The People in Jerusalem probably understood Greek. They spoke Greek at the grocery store and when they talked to neighbors and strangers, maybe even at the synagogue. They spoke their languages at home. That’s how they sang lullabies to their babies and argued with their siblings. While you might assume that people could speak the common language, you wouldn’t necessarily think that someone who wasn’t from your country could speak the language of your home.

     Were the people surprised to be hearing the other languages? Yes. They definitely were. They heard the big noise of the rush of Holy Spirit wind and they heard all the shouting and they came running to hear what was going on. You see, I don’t think this Pentecost event was quiet. We know that the Holy Spirit was loud. I can’t imagine the people who were speaking spoke quietly after that. I bet they shouted. That’s why the big group of people could hear them. There were 120 people in the room where the Holy Spirit wooshed. There is no way that 120 people, all talking at the same time, would have been quiet. I don’t think the 3000 people who came to hear them would have been quiet, either.

     I bet a lot of us who are on this call today were raised to believe that most of the time holy things are quiet things. For the grown-ups especially, you might remember you parents or grandparents making you sit very still at church. If you spoke even one little bit, you got shushed and maybe got your arm pinched. You were taught that you showed respect by being quiet. That’s how I experience your quietness when I preach. This is how you learned to be respectful. So many of us learned how to recognize God in still and quiet places. Quiet walks in the woods, quiet meditations on your porch, quiet trips around a labyrinth. We are good at it because we’ve had a lot of practice doing it.

     The story of Pentecost reminds us that God is found in loud and raucous places, too. And, I think this story, especially this weekend where there are people loudly protesting for racial equality all over our country, it is good for those of us used to Holy Stillness to remember this Holy Ruckus. And, to look for God at work in these protests. Let’s go back to the stuff you found in your scavenger hunt. Who all found something that reminded them of the Holy Spirit? What did you find? (they shared) Those things are all so good.

     Here’s what I found. I look at it every time I write a sermon and whenever I lead worship at home. It’s a sign, that you could use as a protest sign, from one of my schools. It says, “Be a revolutionary. Question authority. Challenge the status quo. That’s not what Jesus would do. That’s what he did.” It even has a little flame on it. That’s the symbol for my school, Chicago Theological Seminary. Even though I need to find still and quiet places, this sign reminds me that that isn’t the only place to find God.

     Did you know that in 1966, our denomination, the United Church of Christ worked to help make sure that TV stations run by racist people couldn’t refuse to show the protests that were happening across the South. They were trying to hide the protests to make them less effective and didn’t want people to see that the people who were protesting had a right to be angry. The people who owned the TV stations didn’t want the people in other places to see how badly the protesters were being treated. Pastors in the South, including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., asked our denomination to help. They asked us because there was a Pastor named Everett Parker who worked in journalism before he became a pastor. He knew how to help them.

     Together, they went all the way to the Supreme Court and won! The court said that TV stations couldn’t have the license they needed to show TV shows and the news if they weren’t going to be fair in how they did it. If they wanted to be able to keep working, they had to stop keeping the protests off their shows. After that, the protests were able to do more good because more people knew they were happening and they would help the protesters, even if they lived far away. The protesters were inspired by God to make the world better. They could do what God was asking them to do after they found someone who knew how to help them.

     The people in our Bible story were willing to follow Jesus when they saw and heard the loud miracle on Pentecost. People in our country were willing to follow Jesus better, too, and change unfair laws once they saw, on their TV screens, the truth about what was happening in the South. It’s like they finally heard words they understood, but it was images on their screens. I think this weekend is another Pentecost season, where people are telling the truth about their lives and we are seeing and hearing it, maybe for the first time. The question is, will we be like our ancestors and change because of it? Or will we be too afraid of the ruckus and miss God working in the wind?

Resources mentioned in this sermon:

• Debra Mumford’s commentary on Pentecost:   https://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=4458
• This is a helpful article to begin learning about the UCC’s lawsuit that helped make sure protests weren’t intentioned excluded from tv programming:   https://www.ucc.org/news_everett_c_parker_the_dies_at_102_09172015
• There is more information about the lawsuit in this course information:   http://uccfiles.com/pdf/polity-5.pdf

     In the movie Ladybird, the character Ladybird is a high school senior who does not like where she lives (Sacramento, California) and wants desperately to go to college on the East Coast, even though her mom says the family can’t afford it. She is smart and funny and argues with her mom a lot. They both are very mean to each other sometimes. She gets distracted at school, in a way that is familiar to many people who have been to high school. She nearly ruins her longest running friendship, though manages to repair that relationship before it’s too late. Ladybird just seems deeply unsatisfied and thinks the way to be satisfied is to leave. College is the way she thinks she can leave.

     One of the nuns, Sister Sarah Joan, at the Catholic school Ladybird attends, a school that her parents have scrimped and saved to afford, is fond of her. And, she’s impressed by her college admission essay. She calls Ladybird into her office to talk about it. Having read the essay, the Sister Sarah Joan says, “It’s clear that you love Sacramento.” Ladybird looks aghast, as though the sister has just accused her of something. She hates where she is from and derides it as a bunch of suburbs and strip malls “without culture” whenever she talks about it. She tries to explain how she wrote such a beautiful essay about a place she doesn’t like very much. She says, “I guess I pay attention.” Sister Sarah Joan replies, “Don’t you think they’re the same thing? Love and attention?”

     There’s a song by the Judds called, “She is His Only Need” about what sounds like a good and solid marriage between two people named Billy and Bonnie. Part of the evidence given of their great devotion to one another is the way that Billy pays attention to Bonnie. Rather than essays, Billy turns his attention into gifts, small and large. Well into their retirement, Billy wants to make sure Bonnie had everything she wants and needs. The song says, “And ev'ry once in a while you could see him get up/And he'd head downtown/'Cause he heard about something she wanted/And it just had to be found/Didn't matter how simple or how much/It was love.” His purchases weren’t about showing off. They were about showing how much he saw her, what she enjoyed and what she needed to get by. He was a good husband to Bonnie because he was paying attention.

     The next time you are reading the Gospel of Luke, I want to you to note how many times that they tell us that Jesus was paying attention. They may not put it quite that way, but, that’s what he’s doing: paying attention. The scholar Ira Brent Driggers compiled a list of some of the occasions when Jesus was paying attention: In Luke 5:27-28, Jesus sees a tax collector named Levi and calls him to be a disciple. In Luke 5:12-16, Jesus see and tends to a man with leprosy who called to him to for help. In Luke 9:37-43, a man from the crowd calls out to Jesus, ‘Teacher, I beg you to look at my son; he is my only child.” Jesus saw him and healed the boy from his seizures. In Luke 13:12, Jesus saw a woman with a physical disability and healed her. In Luke 18, it’s a blind man that he sees and heals. Over and over again, Jesus sees people who are usually ignored. He feels someone near him who needs healing. Consistently, Jesus pays attention and, in so doing, shows someone love. In this fairly familiar story, Jesus turns that attention and love to Zacchaeus, someone who most of the community would have thought was not worth it.

     Jesus was going into Jericho, an important city to Romans because it was a customs center. It was a city deeply connected to the taxation system that the Romans required the countries they overthrew to take part in. Tax collectors, like Levi in the story I mentioned earlier and Zacchaeus, in this story, did not have good reputations. Not only did the people of Israel, like any forcibly colonized people, resent giving money to support Rome, it was also understood that he demanded more than was required from people in order to fill his own pockets. Zacchaeus would have been understood to be both a traitor to his people and a cheat. He would have been excluded from the good graces and common life of his community because he was one who was materially making people’s lives harder for his own profit.

     Sometimes, in those stories mentioned earlier, people desperately want Jesus to see them. They call out for him as soon as they see him because they believe he can help them. It’s not clear if Zacchaeus wants to be acknowledged by Jesus. It just says that he wants to see Jesus, possibly to see what all the ruckus is about. The act of climbing the tree is pretty extraordinary though. Most of the time, grown-ups don’t go climbing trees to look over crowds. And, yet, Zacchaeus does. Dr. Driggers wonders if this could be a sign that Zacchaeus is doing more than just being curious. He is searching for something.

     The previous stories in Luke also show us that Jesus doesn’t always need to be asked for help in order to realize that someone needs it. Remember, he pays attention to people. He would have likely heard all about this tax collecting cheater named Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus job, and bad reputation, would have gotten him some level of renown. Jesus recognizes him and also sees his need. Immediately, this man known to be fairly terrible, becomes an incredible host. He clambers out of the tree as quickly as he could and takes Jesus into his home.
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     A good person wouldn’t have dined with someone with such a bad reputation. That’s what the people in the town say when they see Jesus spend time with Zacchaeus. If Jesus was as good as people said he was, he would have known what they knew: That Zacchaeus was not worth the trouble. But, Jesus sees people, saints and sinners alike. He sees potential and pain and sorrow. He sees something worth saving. Dr. Driggers reminds us in the commentary on this story, Jesus risks judgement from the broader community to go stay with this man who was looking for something. Jesus thought his mission was worth the risk.

     Loving someone who steals things will not always work out the way it does in this story. We know that. Nevertheless, something about being seen and trusted elicits a change in Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus has a new plan for his life: To live it more like God wants him to. His money has come from extorting his people. His transformation means that he is going to return what shouldn’t have been his anyway. Half will go to those who have nothing, the poor in the community. He will use the rest to repay the people he has defrauded, paying four times what he took from them. It probably won’t fix all the harm he’s done, but, it will get all of them closer to the life that God hoped for them.

     Jesus said “Today, salvation has come to this house, because he, too, is a son of Abraham.” Jesus connects this act of amend-making to Jewish tradition. To be a child of Abraham is to be one who messes up but also continues seeking God. Even the process of multiplying what you return to people as a kind of retribution for your acts has roots in their shared tradition. Exodus 22:1, Leviticus 6:5, and Numbers 5:6-7 all direct people to pay back more than they take. Zacchaeus is affirmed as a son of Abraham when he lives out the best of their shared tradition with a promise to continue to live a life changed by his encounter with Jesus. Jesus promises to look for the lost. Sometimes that means the sick and forgotten. Sometimes that means the influential and powerful. Change is possible, with God’s help. Jesus saw that potential in Zacchaeus.

     There is a Zen Buddhist teacher named John Tarrant who once said, “Attention is the most basic form of love. Through it, we bless and are blessed.” I hope that you feel Christ’s attentiveness to you, especially in the midst of this trying season. I hope that you can practice some Christ-like attentiveness, too. Maybe you’ll offer a teenager a kind word and affirmation. Maybe you’ll buy something sweet for your spouse. Maybe you’ll give someone a second chance, even if you’re not sure if they deserve it. Heck, maybe you’re Zacchaeus in this story, desperate enough to see Jesus that you’ll do anything to catch a glimpse. It would be easy these days to be distracted or to ignore what you don’t want to see. I hope you’ll remember this story and remember that something beautiful and redemptive can happen if you pay attention.

Resources noted in this sermon:

• Drew Coffman's article about the film Ladybird (you can find the film on Netflix): https://extratextuals.com/lady-bird-love-and-attention-1df46bca5fa1
• The Lyrics to "She is His Only Need": https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/wynonnajudd/sheishisonlyneed.html
• James Cordova: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/living-intimately/201105/attention-is-the-most-basic-form-love-2
• Ira Brent Driggers: https://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=4253
• I didn’t mention Samantha Klassen’s great comic about vocation, but, you should read it anyway. It is a lovely meditation on attention:  https://medium.com/@samanthaklassen124/the-threads-of-vocation-a-comic-39bd8b8ad22f

     Recently, Tasha and I watched a scene in a tv show that has stuck in my mind over the last several weeks. In the scene, the stakes are very high: like, fate of the entire universe high, and two regular humans are trying to figure out what to do. One character, Dr. Jurati, who has been making some questionable and destructive choices, is in the midst of her redemption arc and is working with Jean-Luc Picard, our hero. It’s just the two of them on a spaceship and they don’t quite yet have a plan to hold off more than 200 enemy ships while they wait for reinforcements. Dr. Jurati is noticeably and reasonably concerned. She says: “So, how do we hold off two hundred and eighteen warbirds ‘til Starfleet gets here. If they get here. Are you not answering to build suspense?” Picard, sitting in the captain’s chair and trying to figure things out says: “At the present moment, Dr. Jurati, I'm trying to pilot a starship for the first time in a very long time without exploding or crashing. If that is all right with you.” Dr. Jurati says: “Totally. Good call. One impossible thing at a time.” One impossible thing at a time.
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     She had heard Picard and maybe his old friend Raffi saying that. When looking at a huge and terrible thing, it is too easy to get overwhelmed by all of it. Better not try to figure it all out at once. Better not get ahead of yourself. Every piece of it might be impossible, but, if you’re lucky and work hard, the piece right in front of you might be more possible than you first imagined. In another series, in another time, Picard said, “Things are only impossible until they’re not.” He’s a little playful, you see, even in times of great stress. This idea of “one impossible thing at a time” is both a plea and a plan. Please, only one impossible thing. Yes, I can manage one impossible thing at a time. Let’s get to work.

     I remembered this bit of Star Trek: Picard when I read this impossible story from the book of Matthew. While they were not facing down 200 enemy ships, Jesus and the disciples’ world was getting increasingly dangerous. Jesus’ cousin John, the one who had baptized him and ushered him into public ministry, had been murdered by a powerful, cowardly, and cruel king. The tension around Jesus’ ministry is mounting, too. Jesus’ popularity had been growing. In the verses before today’s reading, the crowds were so big, so desperate, with so many people in need of healing and wisdom trying to get close, that they practically crush Jesus. They even follow him to the deserted place where he has gone to mourn John’s death. Jesus would have been in his rights to tell them to back off and give him some time. He needed to grieve. But, he saw their desperation. He had compassion for them. He began to heal people. This is the first of the impossible things in this chapter.

     As the chapter and the day went along, the people didn’t look they were going anywhere and the hour was getting late. There was no Hannaford and no Peppers and no Fast Eddie’s. It was not easy to find food, much less food for scores of people. Jesus, who loved the people, even as he was overwhelmed by them, knew that they’d need to eat. The disciples, noticeably and reasonably concerned, did not know how that many people were going to find that much food. “How are we going to feed all these people?” they said.  It looked impossible, like defeating 200 star ships impossible. And, then, Jesus, breaking down the big impossible task into something smaller, asked for the food they had to share. It didn’t look like a lot: five loaves and two fish, but, it was enough. More than enough. They fed everybody, a job that was impossible until it wasn’t. They even had leftovers.

     That all happens right before today’s story. Today’s reading is the next impossible thing. Jesus still needed some space to mourn and pray. He sent his friends off in the boat and headed up the mountain to be by himself. He went to the mountain for fortification. But, notice, he rarely does his ministry by himself. He needed coworkers, disciples. When it came time to be with the disciples again, they were far out in the water, having been driven out by a storm. Jesus didn’t need to be alone anymore, so he started walking. Typically, walking is not the way that one crosses water. Jesus is not typical. And, besides, things are only impossible until they’re not.

     The disciples, having spent the night on a stormy ocean are terrified by what they behold. They even think they are seeing a ghost. After the overwhelming last few days, I do not blame them for being afraid. In fact, I’m surprised that even one of them could muster a response to such a vision. I think I’d have been huddled around the mast, waiting for the storm to be over. But, Peter was watching and listening. He heard Jesus counsel to not be afraid. And, he decided to do something about it. Maybe he was able to see something hopeful in the moment. Or, maybe he’s trying to test what he thinks might be a ghost. Whatever the reason, he called out, offering to do the impossible... to meet Jesus part way.

     He had watched Jesus heal people and feed people from almost nothing. Walking on water might just have been the next impossible thing that will become possible. And, for a moment, it is. Peter is doing it. He is walking on the water. And, then, he is not. Dr. Mitzi Smith put it this way in a commentary on this story: “Peter soon discovers that it is one thing to be battered by strong winds while in the same boat with others. It is a whole other matter to be on the water surrounded by strong winds and all by yourself, without others who share in the same vulnerability.” Peter, whose name means the Rock, sinks like a stone. “Lord, save me” he yelled.
Faith is a curious thing. Peter had faith enough to step out into the water. That is no small feat.  Nobody else thought to do it. Lisle Gwynn Garrity wondered in her meditation on this scripture for the Unraveled devotional if we weren’t seeing Peter trying to convert some desperation into courage. Remember, it had been a rough couple days capped off by a stormy night that may have left him in fear for his life. Maybe he felt like he had to get across that water to get back to Jesus in order to get through everything that had been going on.  But, that initial desperation wasn’t enough to keep him walking. You can’t build your faith entirely out of desperation, even if it’s what gets you off of the boat in the first place.

     Mitzi Smith wondered if Peter didn’t actually just need to stay in the boat and wait for Jesus. If Peter needed the presence of Christ, all he really had to do was be patient. Jesus was on the way to the boat. Had Peter waited, he would not have been alone and he would have soon been back in the soothing presence of Christ. Peter didn’t have to walk for this to be a miracle. A beautiful, impossible thing still would have happened, whether or not Peter stepped out of the boat. Neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present,  nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. That’s how the apostle Paul put in in Romans. The storm would not have stopped Jesus. Nor would the grief. Nor would the cruelty of unscrupulous rulers. Peter didn’t have to do the impossible. Jesus was going to do it for him. But, in that moment, he wanted something impossible to help him know that what he was seeing was true, to help experience faith in Jesus in a way that overpowered his fear in the moment.

     Jesus loved Peter like he loved the hungry crowds earlier in the story. So, he reaches out to save him. He wondered about the paucity of Peter’s faith. Is this Jesus castigating Peter for falling in the water or for even getting out of the boat in the first place? It’s not clear. What is clear in the story, is that Jesus’ arrival in the boat brings calm. The wind no longer buffeted them about. Suddenly, with him there, this whole impossible ministry seems manageable again. It says they worshiped him there, because they knew he was the Son of God.
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     I imagine that you are looking at some impossible things coming up. I also imagine that you are noticeably and reasonably concerned about the decisions that you will soon have to make. Maybe you are praying this plea and plan: One impossible thing at a time. I pray that you will have faith enough to walk toward Christ and also to ask for help if you fall. Remember, even if you sink, it’s possible for Jesus to lift you up, into his calm. This is a time of impossible choices. But, they are only impossible until they are not. And, Jesus still specializes in the impossible. May you see him coming towards your boat.
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Resources mentioned in this sermon:

• Mitzi Smith's commentary is here: https://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=3359
• Lisle Gwynn Garrity, "Unraveled: Peter Sinks in the Water," Unraveled: Seeking God When Our Plans Fall Apart. A Sanctified Art: sanctifiedart.org.
• Star Trek: Picard is available on CBS All Access. Star Trek: The Next Generation is available on a variety of streaming services. 

• Captain Picard says, "Things are only impossible until they're not" on an episode of The Next Generation called "When the Bough Breaks" which first aired in 1988. For more info on the episode see:    https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0708841/characters/nm0001772
• "One impossible thing at a time" comes up in a couple episodes of Star Trek: Picard. First, it is in a conversation between Picard and Raffi in an episode called "Absolute Candor." Then, again, when Dr. Jurati says it in "Et Arcadia Ego, Part 2." Information about the episodes is here:

• https://www.tvfanatic.com/shows/star-trek-picard/episodes/season-1/et-in-arcadia-ego-part-2/  
• https://www.tvfanatic.com/shows/star-trek-picard/episodes/season-1/absolute-candor/

Why did Sarah laugh? Genesis 18:1-15, 21:1-7 

Sarah’s life is strange. Very strange. We don’t know much about the beginning of it. When we first meet her, she is called Sarai and announced as the wife of Abram. The values of this family are occasionally questionable. In Genesis 20, it says that Sarai is Abram’s half-sister. Most cultures frown upon siblings marrying one another. Other members of this family, namely Abram’s brother and eventually his son, also marry relatives, though they are nieces and cousins. This is not usually a good idea, both for genetics’ sake and for the ways it disrupts trust and care within family units. Nevertheless, it is a part of this family’s life. Dr. Wil Gafney, in an article about Abraham, wondered if this isn’t supposed to clue us in from the beginning to the idea that these people, though they are the heroes in our story, were far from perfect and, actually, sometimes made some pretty bad decisions. And, the bad decisions happen early in their relationship. 

The other strange thing about Sarah’s life is that she was married to someone on a mission from God. And, not just any mission. God told Abram (who would become Abraham) that he would be the father of a great nation. Not only that, but he would have to leave their home country to do it. This wasn’t some fly-by-night fantasy of youth, either. Abraham was 75 years old when he set off on this mission. He didn’t have any biological children at this point. He took up his family, including his nephew Lot, and all of everybody’s stuff and took off to follow up on God’s promises.  

Sometimes, Abraham isn’t all that sure that God is going to do what God promised. There’s this one time that the family became climate-related refugees, having moved to Egypt to escape a famine. Abraham is a little scared about things, and, seeing how beautiful his wife is, begins to worry that someone might hurt him to get to her. So, he asks her to tell people that they are siblings (which they might have been?) and not actually spouses. It’s like he doesn’t think anyone will come after a brother the way they would a spouse.  

Sarah apparently agrees to the scheme and it backfires on all of them when some henchman for the Pharoah sees Sarah, decides that the Pharoah would want Sarah, and tells the Pharoah about Sarah. Pharaohs usually get what they want, at least temporarily. He takes Sarah. We don’t know how she feels about this. We do know that the Pharoah pays for her in sheep, oxen, donkeys, slaves, and camels. God helps Sarah out by afflicting Pharoah with plagues until he gives her back. Even the Pharoah is appalled at the situation. He says to Abraham, “What have you done to me? Why didn’t you tell me she was your wife! Take her and be gone!”  As if that weren’t enough, there’s another story a couple chapters later where they tell a second king that they are siblings and not spouses. And, this second king takes Sarah and God tells the king to give her back. And, that king is so freaked out about what happened that he pays Abraham to take her back! And, he lets them settle wherever they want in the king’s country.  It's like they bumble into good luck despite their terrible plans. I’m telling you. Sarah has a strange life.  

I try to keep all that in mind when I read this story about an unlikely dinner party that Sarah and her husband have found themselves hosting. This story happens between the two royal wife-taking stories and just after God has changed the couple’s names to signify their place in God’s promised future. I am indebted to the work of the scholar Bruce J. Molina for helping me understand the some of the ways that Sarah and Abraham’s hospitality is working in this story. We need to pay attention to the way this couple welcomes guests. Their lives may be strange, but their welcome is deep, and apparently pretty typical for their time. Their practices of hospitality may be one of the few normal things in their lives.  

Molina argues that we should understand their welcome was a process of transformation, showing us how a stranger changes into a guest. This transformational hospitality had steps. First, a stranger is tested to make sure that they aren’t a threat. Sometimes this means inviting them to speak. Other times, like in this story, there is ritual foot-washing to demonstrate mutual concern. The foot-washing a sign of a willingness of each party to be put in a vulnerable position near one another. Vulnerability requires trust. If they are willing to grant one another trust, they shift out of the role of strange, and into the roles of guest and host. And, both the guest and host have responsibilities.  

The act of transformational hospitality required all parties to opt in to the relationship and to live up to their responsibilities. Sarah and Abraham were required to care for the guest’s well-being. They offer food and assure their guests' safety. We often think of God as the one doing the caring. But in this story, humans have the opportunity to offer care to God though being hospitable to God’s emissaries. In return, the emissaries were to show the appropriate level of graciousness.  Notice how respectful the guests are. They do not treat the camp as if it were their own, or insist that they be served first or even ask for a particular kind of food. They also always eat the food served to them without complaint. 

There is always a measure of reciprocity in this kind of interaction. If someone is a good host, the stranger who has become a guest will return the kindness at a later date. Or, maybe the guest and host will transform again, building their relationship into friendship or family. At the very least, the guest will spread a good word about the host. While this kind of relationship was not exactly transactional, it was normal for a host to expect something good to happen if they were hospitable. I’m not sure that Abraham and Sarah could have planned for the good thing that happened to them after this measure of hospitality. I mean, let’s look at their plans. They almost never work out. Abraham’s plans get Sarah swiped by kings at least twice. Sarah will make a plan to get Abraham a kid that will result in her feeling jealous and abandoning that kid and his mom in the wilderness. Sarah and Abraham are not good at making plans. I don’t think they had a plan here. But, they did have a practice. They knew how to welcome a stranger. And, something incredible happens when they do. 

The guests tell Abraham that Sarah will soon be carrying their long-promised child. Of course, Sarah laughs. Her life is strange, but not that strange. She is far beyond child-bearing years.  She knows that women her age do not get pregnant. She and a person they had enslaved were doing all the hot and sweaty parts of hosting, you know, the meat prep and the cooking. She wasn’t in the room with the guests. This laugh is probably a sign of her exhaustion and exasperation. Why wouldn’t she laugh at this wild promise? She might be willing to follow her husband all over creation because of his mission from God.  In that moment, she had to laugh at the idea that she would have this particular part in it. How could she even believe that she would have a child. That is such a reasonable response that I cannot hold it against her. 

It looks like God might not have held the laugh against her either, though God did ask about it. God said to Abraham, “why did Sarah laugh? Can’t God do anything?” Sarah, who had spent some time with a king who thought he was a God, realized that laughing at that moment might have been a mistake and denied doing it. Again, I do not blame her for making that call. But, God knew what God heard and makes sure she knew it, too. Notice, though, that that laugh and the lie about the laugh don’t ruin things. Sarah and Abraham’s own hare-brained, and sometimes cruel plans won’t even stop God from fulfilling God’s promise. Let’s remember: While this is a story about Sarah and Abraham, this is also a story about God making and keeping a promise. 

I do love that Abraham names Sarah's child after her laugh. Isaac means laughter. Laughter, once the sign of her exhaustion and exasperation, in this child, becomes a sign of God’s grace and covenant. Sarah may have even told people this story, laughing again, this time at the goodness of it all. “God who has brought laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh with me.” As your plans unravel, and they surely will, even if they aren’t as bad as Sarah and Abraham’s were, I pray that you will remember this laughter and you will find your own sign of grace and covenant. Maybe it won’t be a child. But, some new life will surprise you. I can’t wait to hear you tell the story about it.    
 
Resources consulted for this sermon:  

• Dr. Wil Gafney http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=3596 

• Bruce J. Molina, "hospitality," in the Harper Collins Bible Dictionary, ed. Paul J. Achtemeier (HarperSanFrancisco: 1989)

The art on this post is Sarah laughing, detail from "Angel Appears to Sarah" by Tiepolo, Giovanni Battista, 1696-1770 and can be found at http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=55120

Resources mentioned in this sermon:  

• Gov. Andrew Cuomo shared Dennis’ letter here:   https://twitter.com/NYGovCuomo/status/1253729749177970689?s=19 
• Greta Gerwig’s film adaptation of Little Women:  https://www.sonypictures.com/movies/littlewomen 

Art on the blog post is from JESUS MAFA, found here: http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=48275