Joy

Notes on Genesis 18:1-15 August 18, 2019

Dan Marty

Good morning! Before Vicki gets into the heart of this morning’s message, (because she’s doing the heavy lifting this morning), I want to spend just a few minutes digging into this morning’s scripture. But even before I do that, I want to continue the practice that Pastor Luke introduced a few weeks back by having each of you find someone to turn to and repeat what I say to that person: “Neighbor, O neighbor… There is joy in the journey.”

Now, the first thing I want to point out is that repetition is a common practice in scripture to emphasize important ideas or themes. So, did anyone notice any repeated words or ideas in today’s text?  <wait>  Perhaps I should give you a few hints:

When he saw them, he ran from the tent entrance to meet them…”

“Abraham hastened into the tent to Sarah, and said, “Make ready quickly three measures of choice flour…””

“Then Abraham ran to the herd, and took a calf, tender and good, and gave it to the servant, who hastened to prepare it.”

Why all this running and hastening and hurrying? In addition to being the father of many nations, was Abraham perhaps the prototype and patron saint for all Type A personality/ADHD men?

I suggest not. Abraham was sitting near the entrance to his tent not just because it was the coolest place to be in the heat of the day – which it was because inside the tent would hotter and stuffy, and outside you’re in the sun, while just outside there was shade and maybe a slight breeze. He mostly sat there because from there he could see any traveler looking for a place to rest and get out of the heat. This is exactly what he was watching and hoping for – a chance to offer welcome and comfort to strangers. He was excited and wanted to hurry to be the best host he and his family could be! Even before he realized the identity of his guests, serving them like royalty was his greatest joy. This he learned from his Judaic traditions and reading the words of God – that to provide hospitality to strangers could be among the greatest blessing and upon this earth.

By the way, further proof of Abraham’s over-the-top desire to win the prize for Mamre’s “Host of the Year” can be seen in the measures of his hospitality. Note first that he said to his guests, “Let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree. Let me bring a little bread, that you may refresh yourselves…” 

Now let me point out that, depending on which historical reference you trust, the three measures of choice flour that he told Sarah to make cakes with would somewhere between 24 and 48 loaves of bread! And think about slaughtering a whole calf to prepare lunch for a party of three! Talk about “under promise, and over deliver…” 

Another example of the technique of repetition comes after the meal:

“So Sarah laughed to herself…”

“Why did Sarah laugh…

“I did not laugh.”

But he said, “Yes, you did laugh.”

Let me add that in chapter 17, when God promised Abraham that he would have a son with Sarah, Abraham fell face down and laughed. 

So… why all this laughter? Well… let’s face it. The idea of a 100 year old man getting a ninety year old woman pregnant is pretty hilarious… or, I suppose, terrifying, depending on your point of view. Many consider their laughter as a lapse of faith or some sort of sin. But I would rather emphasize that God used this preposterous idea to prove his miraculous power, and that Abraham and Sarah continued to serve and worship the Lord without missing a beat. In fact, my favorite exchange in this text is that one at the end:

Sarah says, “I did not laugh.” But God says, [and I hear this spoken in Dave Weber’s rich baritone “God voice”] O yes, you did laugh.”

I imagine God said that line with a sly grin, a twinkle in His eye and love in His voice. He knew the hearts of those he was about to bless with joy in their journey.

JOY! by Vicki Marty 

After a Worship Team meeting this spring, I reached out to Luke and told him that if he ever needed someone to give a message at the 9:00 Gathering service, Dan or I would be happy to help.  Two weeks later, Luke asked if we were available to cover all three services on August 18. I told him we would help with that. He then told me that the series would be “Before I Die” (which by the way I think is a really great topic) with the key word being Joy. Okay, that was doable.

Then he told me that our scripture reading would be about Abraham and Sarah learning that in their elderly years they would be having a child.  I instantly started laughing with Luke on the phone and said, “Oh, this is going to be interesting. You ask a couple who chose not to have children to talk about the joy of having children?”  I then proceeded to share with him this story:

When Dan and I were married, we had two ministers officiating the ceremony.  Rev. Dr. David Belcastro, who was the minister of the Disciple of Christ Church in Columbus where Dan was the Choir Director, and Rev. Nancy Scwartz, who was our Youth Minister when we were teens attending our home church of Reynoldsburg United Methodist.  At our rehearsal we specifically asked that they leave out the part in the ceremony where they talk about blessing this marriage with children. We had already made a personal decision to not have children and we sure did not want to give any false hope to our parents.  Our rehearsal went great and we laughed as Rev. Nancy got out a purple bottle of bubbles and starting blowing bubbles on us saying to Rev. David, “Oh this is how we bless marriages in the United Methodist Church.” Of course, that is really not what the Methodists do. It was indeed a joy filled evening.

On Saturday during our ceremony, we were quite surprised when Rev. Nancy forgot our request and asked for a blessing of the children that would come from this marriage.  Dan and I stood there looking at each other eyes wide opened trying not to laugh. We were not upset with Nancy… it was a simple mistake and something for us to laugh about overtime.  Well, the joke was on us and I think that God was the comedian. 

In 1991, Dan and I were approached by a choir member at the UCC Church in Silver Lake to see if we would like to host an AFS foreign exchange student.  Audrey and her family had hosted a couple of students and she thought it might be something we would be interested in. Dan and I had multiple conversations about that idea over a few weeks and decided that since we had plenty of room in our home and we lived so close to Cuyahoga Falls High School (about 8 houses away) we would host a student.

As we talked about a future student, Dan and I had thought maybe a student from Spain or South America would be a good fit since we knew a little bit of Spanish (you know…. “uno, dos, tres” and “Donde esta el bano?”)  We even joked that with our luck we would get a Brazilian since they speak Portuguese, not Spanish. During the AFS Host Family Interview our interviewer asked us, “What country would you like to a host student from?” Instead of saying a student from Spain or South America like we had discussed, out of Dan’s mouth came the words, “It would be really great if the student was from a country that has a Formula One Grand Prix auto race.  I would love to go and see a Grand Prix race in the student’s country.” I started laughing and thought, “Where did that come from?!?” Once again, with God being the comedian, the Interviewer looked at the stack of student applications that she brought to our home and said, “Does Brazil have a Grand Prix?” At that moment Dan and I both knew that God intended for us to host Leonardo Vieira from Brazil.  

So there it was… God fulfilled, in an unexpected way, the blessing that was spoken at our wedding. He opened the door for Dan and I to be parents in a way that fit our needs and the needs of our students.  

The morning before we met our son Leo, I was a nervous wreck.  I actually thought I was going to get sick. My mother called me that morning and asked me how I was feeling. Her response to my symptoms was, “Well, it feels like your having a baby today.”  We laughed at that thought. Later that evening as I sat in the living room thinking about all that happened that day, I wept tears and more tears… some of them joy filled but many of them grief filled, already knowing that someday I would have to say goodbye to Leo and how was I ever going to handle that? As the year progressed, there were the normal moments of great joy and great struggles of having a teenager in the home. But down in the depth of my heart was the joy of being a mom to this young man.  The joy of opening up our home to him, of jokes told and laughter shared, of learning about another culture and attending our church and Mass with him. The joy of watching Leo spread his wings by coming to the USA and then spread them more by making new friends from his high school and Boy Scout Troop. I was so nervous about him being in a car with other kids that I limited him to only staying in Cuyahoga Falls. One day he asked permission to go with a friend to… Fairlawn. I was just not going to let that happen.  I called my father and told him what was going on and my father laughed and said, “Good Lord, Vicki, his parents let him come all the way here from Brazil and you won’t let him go to the town next door?!?” I laughed and ultimately allowed Leo to go to Fairlawn with his friend.  

Over the next fifteen years we hosted 7 other students.  In addition to Leo from Brazil, we hosted Ricardo from Chile, Gulriz from Turkey, Mladen from Chile, Victor from Paraguay, Gloria from Italy, Bastian from Chile… who many of you may remember as he attended church here when he lived with us.  He comes back often to visit…always making sure he comes to church. He loved The Gathering Service and especially loved Stacie Yates and Xanthe Phillips and Mr. and Mrs. Febus. Our last student was Nathalia from Brazil, who asked to be baptized in this church.  She was baptized in a Gathering Service by Interim Pastor Sharon.

Pastor Luke shared with us last week that Abraham means “a father of many nations”.  I am now wondering if Dan needs to change his name to Abraham.

The hospitality we extended to our AFS sons and daughters has been shared back with us many many times by their friends and families when we have taken our vacations to South America and Europe. We have learned so much about other cultures. Our minds and hearts have been opened wider than we could have ever imagined.  We are now Grandma and Grandpa to eleven grandchildren. Though we are 5,000 miles apart, we are by the Grace of God – and with the help of the internet – still connected.

The joys of being a family… no matter how it is created… is God intended.  Just as he blessed Abraham and Sarah with Issac he has blessed us here with family that is our biological family, our step family, our adopted family, our exchange student family, our fostered family or our chosen family of our friends.

So when we come together here to worship as a CHURCH FAMILY, when we come together here to grieve the loss of a good and faithful servant, when we come together here to hold up grandparents who have lost their grandson, when we come together here to help educate our Sunday School students or our Hobby Horse preschoolers, when we come together here to simply have fellowship and fun, when we come together here to support the AA groups and Scouts that meet in our building, when we come together here to serve the hunger needs of this community, let us come together with laughter and joy on the journey remembering that sometimes God is the comedian and brings us the exact family that we need.

 

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