The Impossible List

"Is anything too hard for the Lord?" Genesis 18:14

The Impossible List
By Rev. William Dohle

If you were to make a list of your personal impossiblities, things you know you could never do, what would be on your list?

Maybe you're older and retired, so "having children" would be deemed impossible right now.

Maybe you're on a set income or own a low income, so "owning a jet" would be deemed impossible.

Maybe your body is built like mine so "lifting a thousand pounds" would be on your list.

We all set up that list, one way or another, inside our head. It's how we keep ourselves from getting killed and trying something too hard for us to do. Its how we manage our own expectations. Without such a list, we might try something truly impossible for us and wind up hurt or dead as a result.

But God has no such list. Not anywhere.

In this passage from Genesis we're reminded of this. Here the angel visitors ask Abraham, "Is anything to hard for the Lord." Their question comes after Sarah, listening in on their conversation, starts laughing when they tell Abraham, "I will surely return to you about this time next year and Sarah your wife will have a son."

Sarah is thinking: "That's crazy! And absurd! I'll never have children at my age. I'm just too old!"

But Sarah doesn't realize who is sitting in her midst. She doesn't know that this God, this Lord of heaven and earth, has no such list. Nothing is too hard for God. Nothing is impossible for God. Even opening the womb of an elderly woman like her.

As we keep our list of impossibilities, we mustn't force our list upon God. For God all things are possible. God can create a new creation here on earth. God can raise Jesus Christ bodily from the dead. God can take the ashes and dust that use to be a human being and give them flesh and muscle and bone and life again. God can do it!

God can move mountains in people's lives. God can change hearts and bring people back to faith. God can heal people physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. God can open our eyes and change our vision. God can do all that.

So... is nothing impossible with God? Do you truly believe that? Or are you like Sarah? Sitting beside herself, chuckling at what she heard. Always keeping reservations to what God is capable of inside? Never really coming to a full expression of her faith?

Let us set aside these things. Let us take the faith of Christ Jesus, believing in our hearts that there is nothing impossible for God and for those who believe in his name. May our eyes be open too, that we might see the answers to our prayers staring us in the face, and that we might know, in our heart of hearts, that our Lord cares for us deeply.

Almighty God, source and ground of all of life, give me the faith to trust you fully, knowing that nothing is impossible with you. May my prayers and petitions be spoken in such faith and give me eyes to see when the answers to those prayers come, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Holy Strangers

"Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he hurried from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed low to the ground." Genesis 18:2

Holy Strangers
By Rev. William Dohle

I was taught, growing up as a kid, to never talk to strangers.

My mother would always say: "If a stranger comes up to you and wants you to go in his car, run the other way. If a stranger talks to you, ignore him. If a stranger gives you a piece of candy, refuse it."

Wise words to be sure.

Sadly in our society, if harm is to come to you it will most likely come through someone you know already or even a close relative. Few crimes are caused by "strangers." It's your family you have to watch out for!

Of course it is wise to be cautious of strangers, especially as children, but as adults, ignoring, avoiding, and being afraid of strangers isn't the best of way to live. For starters, avoiding strangers prevents you from experiencing life in any other way other than the way you are use to. If you were afraid of strangers at school, chances are you'd have no friends. Life requires a little risk.

In Scripture we learn strangers bring something else too. They bring the face of God with them. Ancient people had a rule called the "law of hospitality," which states that one must welcome the guest and show hospitality to the stranger on the off chance that God himself has come to visit.

This very thing happens to Abraham, who is met by three visitors, three strangers. Abraham shows them the hospitality that is their due.

Upon seeing them, Abraham exclaims: "If I have found favor in your eyes, my lord, do not pass your servant by. Let a little water be brought and then you may all wash your feet and rest under this tree. Let me get you something to eat, so you can be refreshed and then go on your way..."

But that's not all Abraham does. He instructs Sarah to bake some bread. He heads out to the herds and chooses the best calf for their evening meal. He brings them some food and sets down beside them to eat. He becomes their host, offering up the very best of himself to them.

Abraham doesn't avoid them, ignore them, or exclude them. He doesn't give them what is left over. Instead, Abraham gives them his very best and offers to them all that he has.

Though I hesitate to offer up this plan of service to us today, given the scope of our world's need, the same premise applies all the same. We are surrounded by strangers. And they are precisely the strangers we are called to minister to. There are strangers at the grocery store, at the post office, and all around the city. There are strangers even at work, at school, and on the streets. There are strangers who need just a smile to warm their day or a kind person to take time out to talk to them. There are strangers in more need than we can fulfill, but who could still use an acknowledgment from us. There are strangers you'd appreciate a visit or a card. Anything that might tell them that they are special.

And, like the strangers who visited Abraham that day, God resides amongst strangers amongst us too. In words that echo this story, Jesus tells a parable where the strangers are welcomed, and the righteous are surprised at what they have done!

"I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me."

No one expected Jesus would be residing in those strangers. Do we? Do we see the possibility that the strangers we avoid, ignore, and fear might just be our Lord Jesus Christ coming to us as God came to Abraham in these three visitors? Are we ready for such a surprise? That God could be present...here?!

May we join the righteous in surprise and wonder at all the places our Lord meets us each and every day.


God of the wanderer and stranger, you come surprising us with your presence in the faces of ordinary people around us. May we minister to them as we would minister to you, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

A New Name

"No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations...As for Sarai your wife, you are no longer to call her Sarai; her name will be Sarah." Genesis 17:5,15

A New Name
By Rev. William Dohle

One of the joys of parenting happened before our children were even before. Sitting with the possibilities and promises of a new life, my wife and I experienced the joy of naming.

For our first born it was easy. He was named after his two grandfathers. My father being William and Jenny's father being Douglas.

Our middle son, Matthew, got his name almost by accident. We had decided to give him my grandfather's name, Albert, as his middle name, but were torn between Matthew and Timothy for his first name. When we saw him that first morning, though, Matthew made his own name known.

Lynne's name too has quite a history. Our daughter's first name is hyphonated, Lynne-Estelle, a combination of Jenny's middle name and her mother's middle name. Lynne's middle name, Shirley, was Jenny's mother's first name.

Thus our children got the names they carry today.

In the Bible, God doesn't name anyone...until he gets to Abraham. All the animals in the Bible are named by Adam. Even Adam's wife is named by Adam. All the children gather their names from various places, but all are named by their parents.

Then we get to Abram. He named "Abram" by his father. Abram, though, doesn't really fit especially at first when he and his wife, Sarai, are childless. God changes Abram's name, making it even more ridiculous. For Abram's name becomes Abraham, which means "father of many." God changes Sarai's name too. Sarai to Sarah. "A princess" by meaning married to the "Father of many" with only one slave woman's child in their family.

But names mean something...especially for God. God doesn't change names lightly. In fact, in Genesis he changes only three people's names. Abraham...Sarah...and...Jacob(who God calls "Israel") and only after all three of them wrestled with God. This name-change is because of the new covenant between Abraham and God, sealed in circumcision, which binds God to his word and compels God to fulfill the promises he made to Abraham and his family.

Scripture tells us that, not only does God know our name, but he has given us a new name in the waters of baptism. The name of "Child of God." We are born children of the world. In baptism, we are reborn children of God. In the waters of baptism we are adopted into God's family and given a new surname. That name, Child of God, is something we seldom use. Nor do we ever refer to it in public. But it is this name, this part of ourselves, that is forever written in the Lamb's book of Life. It is with this designation, Child of God, that we gain our inheritance among the saints. It is this part of our name that will rise with us on the last day and live with us in God's New Creation.

You are a Child of God, living in the world, even now. And as a Child of God, you have a promise to live out. God has promised you the world. Christ has promised you an inheritance. The Spirit has promised you his presence. Use them! Claim them! Do not forget this hidden part of yourself. Instead be a Christian person out in the world. A Christian worker. A Christian spouse. Be the child of God that you have been named and take your place alongside Abraham and Sarah who believed God and whose faith made them righteous.

Heavenly Father, I am your child. You adopted me, claimed me, and made me your own. I am yours forever. Help me live life, not as a Child of the world, but as your precious Child, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Taking Charge!

"The Lord has kept me from having children. Go to my maidservant; perhaps I can build a family through her." Genesis 16:2


Taking Charge!
By Rev. William Dohle

Of all the fruit of the spirit(love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility, and self-control) I think I have the most trouble with...patience!

It's like this. Patience requires you to wait. If you pray for more patience, basically you're praying to wait a little longer. And none of us likes to wait... At least I don't.

Waiting requires you to have faith in the long-term. It's one thing to believe someone for a short-time. But waiting requires you to believe them for the long haul. To hope and trust that what they say will come true, despite the delay.

Sometimes, when we get tired of waiting, we try to take matters into our own hands. We figure "God only helps those who help themselves..." and we forget that the good things in life are worth waiting for. When that happens, only trouble may ensue.

That's what happened to Sarai, Abram's wife. She had been told by her husband that they would have children. God had even made a pact with Abram in the previous chapter, passing a smoking firepot between the pieces of meat, signing, in the ancient way, the covanent and guaranteeing the promise of descendants. "Look up to the heavens and count the stars--if indeed you can count them," God had said. "So shall your offspring be."

Only God hadn't immediately fulfilled his promise. And Sarai and Abram were getting impatient. So Sarai gives her maidservant to Abram...and out comes Ishmael. The first-born of Abram and the son of Hagar, his servant.

But do things get better? Of course not. This wasn't how God intended the promise to be fulfilled. And Sarai gets jealous. And, though God isn't about to abandon this young woman and her son in the desert, as Sarai wishes he would, God has other plans in mind to fulfill his promise to Sarai and Abram.

We too may get impatient waiting on the promises of God. We hear God speaking through Scripture words like: "I know the plans I have for you. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you hope and a future..." We know that God works things together for good. But we feel lost. Our lives aren't turning out how we think they should.

Maybe we should take the promises of God into our own hands, we think. Maybe we should do something about it. Sure praying is good...but doesn't the Lord help those who help themselves? Doesn't it all depend upon me?

Well it doesn't all depend upon. And, though God works everything together in the end for good, including our attempts to quicken his promises, there is something to be said of waiting too. God always fulfills his promises. God always answers prayer...only not always when and how we think he should. Sarai never imagined she would be the carrier of God's blessing in Issac...just as we never imagine how God will fulfill his promises his us.

So...take heart. God will accomplish his good work in you. There is no doubt about it. Sit tight. Keep the faith. Trust that sometimes prayers might be answered in ways you could never imagine. The end that God has in mind is better than anything you could possibly dream up yourself.

Heavenly Father, your promises to Abram I hear for myself today. Help me trust in your Word. Give me patience to wait. And open my eyes that I might see the ways you are answering my prayer, here and now. Through Jesus Christ my Lord. Amen.