Laughing With Sarah

"God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me." Genesis 21:6

Laughing With Sarah
By Rev. William Dohle

Thanksgiving is upon us. The season of giving thanks to God has arrived.

But what a world it has arrived into! Already, for weeks now, we've heard, not of thankfulness for what we have, but of want for what we don't as Christmas sales have arisen earlier this year than they ever did before. The Halloween holiday was quickly followed, not by a quiet time to ponder and give thanks, but by the rush of wanting more as stores throughout the country compete for the coveted Christmas dollars.

On top of all of this, we hear of impending government crises, wild protests throughout the country, the stock market's rollercoaster, and the growing din of political jargon.

Where has the time to give thanks gone? Have we forgotten what we are thankful for? Have we been so consumed being consumers in this world that we've forgotten that it's all gift? Every last bit of it?

Sarah didn't forget that! Not in the slightest. As she gave birth to Issac, a boy named "he laughs" she says, "God has brought me laughter! And now everyone who hears about this will laugh!"

God has brought Sarah laughter...why? Because he has done as he promised. In the verses preceding this we read: "Now the Lord was gracious to Sarah as he had said and the Lord did for Sarah what he had promised." God fulfilled his promise to Sarah! And now Sarah laughs! Truly laughs with delight for all the joy that God has poured into her life.

What's more is that she sees this joy, not just affecting her, but affecting all who hear about what has happened to her... including us! "Everyone who hears about this will laugh with me." That everyone includes you...and it includes me. We laugh because God has filled Sarah's life with joy. We laugh because God has done what he has promised to do.

For the same reasons we give thanks this thanksgiving as well. Our blessings are not just our blessings. We are blessed by the stories of old.

We are thankful that God fulfilled his promise to Sarah, just as he said, because it reminds us God fulfills his promises to us too!

We are thankful for the deliverance that God brought to his people Israel, for it is the same deliverance he brings to us too.

We are thankful for his love for his servant David, for it reminds us that God can love us too.

We are thankful this thanksgiving, not just for our personal blessings and what God has done for us and our family, but for what God has done for his people of old and for what he continues to do for his people in this place.

We are thankful for people throughout the world who are working for justice and mercy on behalf of God's people.

We are thankful for pastors and teachers, professors and scholars, who challenge us to see God's Word in a different way.

We are thankful for those who work in public service to others, those who sacrifice their own time to help us, and those who are working for God's kingdom in small ways.

We are thankful for them all!

This Thanksgiving, before you run out and join the consumer throng waiting outside the local store, give thanks for all God's blessings. Give thanks for the farmers who have brought your meal to your table. Give thanks for the workers who will be waiting for you in the stores. Give thanks for all the minds behind all the gadgets you buy. For they are all gifts of God. Give thanks...and laugh...for what God has done for Sarah and for what he continues to do for us.

Lord God, may our laughter join Sarah's laughter as we remember and see how you have so richly blessed us. Give us pause this thanksgiving that, despite the noise of commercialism raging around us, we may truly give you thanks, not just for our blessings, but for the blessings you have poured our on all your people, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Uncertain Motives

"But Lot's wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt." Genesis 19:26

Uncertain Motives
By Rev. William Dohle

There is one question I will never have answered adequately enough. It confronts me daily almost, in every encounter with every person.

That question is: Why?

Why... do people act the way they do?
Why... did they choose this over that?
Why... must you suffer in that way?
Why?

My need to understand the motivations behind behaviors confronts me too in Scripture. For instance, in the story of Sodom and Gomorrah...

Why... did God destroy Sodom again?
Why... didn't Abraham ask for the WHOLE city to be saved?
Why... isn't God merciful in this case?

And most of all...
Why... does Lot's wife look back the way she did?

This last question has always fascinated me. Why DID Lot's wife look back?

Was she disobedient to God's command... as some claim she was.
Did she wish she was back in Sodom with her friends?
Did she just forget?

Why did Lot's wife turn back?

That question we'll never know the answer to. But there is one possible explanation I like. It tells of Lot's two other daughters, both married, who were stuck in Sodom at the time of its destruction. Lot's wife, remembering her other children were suffering in the city, turns back in grief. Her grief is so great that it turns her into one big tear, one large pillar of salt.

I wonder if we, being in her shoes, would have done the same. Would we have pressed our eyes firmly toward the uncertain future that God had for us? Or would we take a glance backward, maybe more than a glance in that general direction, distracting ourselves from the future God has planned and promised with the suffering that was behind us? Would we have the faith to see what we still had or would we focus instead on what we lost?

Ironically, when faced with turning his back on the destruction of others or pressing onward, God himself in Jesus Christ turns back to us. And not only that but Jesus doesn't just turn back to look at our suffering, but enters into the burning city of Lot himself, marking himself with our death, carrying us on his shoulders out through the flames of wrath, to life eternal with him. So that, in Jesus Christ, we are not pillars of salt, turned toward the suffering world, but salt itself, full of the taste and smell of our loving God!

Gracious and merciful God, as you did not leave this suffering world but gave your life up for it, may we too turn back toward the suffering of others, that we, filled with your grace, might give a taste of your mercy and love, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Standing Up...For Others!

"Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?" Genesis 18:25b

Standing Up...for Others!
By Rev. William Dohle

I love Dr. Seuss! I love the way he words things and the flow of words that he uses. I love the stories he tells of the ordinary things. And I love how they sound so parabolic!

My favorite story of his is probably The Lorax. In this tale, an old man(the Once-ler) tells the tale to a young man of when his valley was filled with life and trees. Foolishly the Once-ler got so greedy he ended up destroying the valley and chasing off the life that lived there. The story features a curious character called "The Lorax" who speaks to the Once-ler about what he's doing.

"I speak for the trees," The Lorax says. "I speak for the trees 'cause the trees have no tongues.

The Lorax speaks for the trees. He pleads for the trees. He takes their cause upon himself. He suffers for them. He rallies for them. He does the same to all the life in the valley. He knows them all and pleads on their behalf.

The Lorax reminds me of Abraham. Just before Sodom and Gomorrah are destroyed, Abraham has a heart to heart talk with God, pleading for mercy on behalf of the people of Sodom.

"Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked? What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people in it...Far be it from you! Will not the Judge of all the earth do what is right?"

Talk about bold! But Abraham gets his way.

"If I find fifty righteous people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place?

But Abraham doesn't stop there. "...what if the number of the righteous is five less than fifty? Will you destroy the whole city because of five people?"

God relents again. Abraham pressed. Forty? God relents. And how about twenty? God agrees. Finally Abraham makes his final plea.

"May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak just once more. What if only ten can be found there." And God gives in all because Abraham spoke out.

Another character too speaks out, only this time for us. Christ Jesus himself stands before God, pleading on our behalf. Much like Abraham did before, he takes our cause upon himself. He pleads our case. He knows our suffering and our weakness. He knows our failings and our shortcomings. He knows us. He's been in our shoes. And he pleads for us before God. He speaks for us.

So...who do you speak for? Who do you plead for? When your prayers are said to God, who are you praying for? Are your prayers centered solely around your family and your own problems? Or is there something more to them? Are there people whose problems touch your heart and your life? Would you be bold enough to stand up before God himself to ask him to grant them mercy and grace?

The Lorax leaves one word behind when he's lifted away. The word "Unless." The Once-ler figures what out what means. "Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not."

Take a cue from the Lorax...and Abraham...and even Christ Jesus himself. Start caring! Start caring for God's creation. Take just a corner of it to latch onto. Start caring for God's people. You don't need to take the world on your shoulders. Just share the burden. Start caring about what happens in this world. You are the righteous in Christ. You are Abraham's children. Stand up as Abraham did, take their cause as your cause, and truly be Christ to your neighbor.

God of Abraham, make us bold enough to stand up in defense of others. Forgive our stubborn, selfish, judgemental natures. Make us like your servant, Abraham, and your Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

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.