Yes, You Did Laugh

Genesis 18:1-15

June 14, 2026

 

The Lord appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the entrance of his tent in the heat of the day.  He looked up and saw three men standing near him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent entrance to meet them and bowed down to the ground.  He said, "My lord, if I find favor with you, do not pass by your servant.  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, and after that you may pass on--since you have come to your servant."  So they said, "Do as you have said."

And Abraham hastened into the tent to Sarah and said, "Make ready quickly three measures of choice flour, knead it, and make cakes."  Abraham ran to the herd and took a calf, tender and good, and gave it to the servant, who hastened to prepare it.  Then he took curds and milk and the calf that he had prepared and set it before them, and he stood by them under the tree while they ate.

They said to him, "Where is your wife Sarah?" And he said, "There, in the tent."

Then one said, "I will surely return to you in due season, and your wife Sarah shall have a son." And Sarah was listening at the tent entrance behind him.  Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age; it had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women.  So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, "After I have grown old, and my husband is old, shall I be fruitful?"

The Lord said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh and say, 'Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?' Is anything too wonderful for the Lord? At the set time I will return to you, in due season, and Sarah shall have a son."

But Sarah denied, saying, "I did not laugh," for she was afraid.

He said, “Yes, you did laugh.”

 

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            There are solemn moments when for some reason somebody starts giggling.  The more they try, the harder it is to stop.  That has even influenced how the Bible has been translated.  There’s a part of II Corinthians where Paul writes about the trials he has come through and the physical punishments that were inflicted on him. He tells of being given thirty-nine lashes five different times and being beaten with rods three times.  In the Revised Standard Version, published in 1946, he goes on to say how he had survived the same kind of brutality that had killed Stephen, the first Christian martyr.  Says Paul:

“One time I was stoned.”  [II Corinthians 11:25]

That made enough teenagers giggle in the 1960’s and 1970’s that when the New Revised Standard Version was published in 1989, the words had turned into

“Once I received a stoning.” 

Sarah found herself in one of those situations because she overheard the promise, solemnly propagated to Abraham, that they would soon have a son, and she found even the thought so silly that it was laughable.  The Bible politely puts it,

“Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age; it had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women” [Genesis 18:11]

Sarah was a little bit earthier than that.

“Sarah laughed to herself, saying, ‘After I have grown old, and my husband is old, shall I be fruitful?’" [Genesis 18:12]

Of course, the mysterious visitor called her out on that.  And, of course,

“Sarah denied, saying, "I did not laugh," for she was afraid. He said, ‘Yes, you did laugh.’" [Genesis 18:15]

It was a “gotcha” moment.  She wouldn’t want to offend a guest by implying he must be crazy – but come on!  Still, she got ahold of herself and must have stifled the chuckling somehow.

It wasn’t forgotten, though.  In a section of the story that we didn’t hear this morning, we learn the outcome:

“The Lord dealt with Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah as he had promised.  Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the time of which God had spoken to him.  Abraham gave the name Isaac to his son whom Sarah bore him.” [Genesis 21:1-3]

The word “Isaac” means “laughter”.  So you could say that God let her have the last laugh.

            It is alright, in fact it is more than alright, to find joy in what God does.  If that joy bursts out in laughter, that’s fine.  Yes, laughter can sometimes be bitter.  Sometimes it can be meanspirited.  I’m not talking about those.  I’m talking about the times when it arises as an aspect of gratitude and of surprise at just how wonderful God can be.  Laughter, like song, can be a genuine, heartfelt expression of praise – and no genuine expression of wonder at God’s goodness and care (let’s use the word “praise”) should never be undervalued.

            We have to learn that, though – at least some of us.  Sarah was living in a world where women were supposed to keep their thoughts to themselves.  We live in a world with its own rules of decorum that find their way even into our spiritual lives.  C.S. Lewis wrote,

“When I first began to draw near to belief in God, and even for some time after it had been given to me, I found a stumbling block in the demand so clamorously made by all religious people that we should ‘praise’ God; still more in the suggestion that God himself demanded it. We all despise the man who demands continued assurance of his own virtue, intelligence or delightfulness; we despise still more the crowd of people round every dictator, every millionaire, every celebrity, who gratifies that demand. Thus a picture, at once ludicrous and horrible, both of God and of his worshipers, threatened to appear in my mind. The psalms were specially troublesome in this way – ‘praise the Lord’, ‘O praise the Lord with me’, ‘O praise him.’ (And why, incidentally, did praising God so often consist of telling other people to praise him? Even in telling whales, snowstorms, etc. to go on doing what they would certainly do whether we told them or not?)” …

He continued,

“But the most obvious fact about praise – whether of God or anything – strangely escaped me. I thought of it in terms of compliment, approval, or the giving of honour. I have never noticed that all enjoyment spontaneously overflows into praise unless (sometimes even if) shyness with the fear of boring others is deliberately brought in to check it. The world rings with praise – lovers praising their mistresses, readers their favorite poet, walkers praising the countryside, players praising their favorite game – praise of weather, wines, dishes, actors, motors, horses, colleges, countries, historical percentages, children, flowers, mountains, rare stamps, rare beetles, even sometimes politicians or scholars. I had not noticed how the humblest, and at the same time, most balanced and capacious, praised most, while the cranks, misfits and malcontents praised least.”[1]

            Sarah laughed.  Maybe it was inappropriate but it was real.  Maybe it was out of line from someone whose place was to wait silently behind the tent flap until it was time to serve dinner.  God was challenging her reality, announcing that her troubles would be over in an unlikely way.  It was funny.  But it was even funnier that it was true.  She would give birth – at her age! – to a son and his name itself would be a reminder of God’s faithfulness to her and to everyone.

Praise the Lord, then, however you do it, for his unexpected miracles of grace.  Praise God for the shade of an oak tree on a hot day.  Praise him for strangers passing by and for those who offer hospitality.  Praise God for solemn messages of joy or oddly deadpan delivery of good news.  Praise him for late-life pregnancies.  Praise him for safe deliveries.

While we’re at it, praise God for his own Son, born in a yet more miraculous way than Isaac was, and for the rebirth that was his resurrection.  Praise him for the chance he gives us all to be born of his Spirit and to know the freedom that lets us laugh and the joy that makes us sing and clap because we’ve seen for ourselves that “His steadfast love endures forever.” 

Amen.

 

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[1] C.S. Lewis, “Reflections on the Psalms: ‘A Word about Praising’” in The Inspirational Writings of C.S. Lewis (New York: Inspirational Press, 1987), pp. 177 and 179. 

A Complicated Prologue

 

Genesis 12:1-9

June 7, 2026

 

Now the Lord said to Abram, "Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you.

I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.

I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."

So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.

Abram took his wife Sarai and his brother's son Lot and all the possessions that they had gathered and the persons whom they had acquired in Haran, and they set forth to go to the land of Canaan. When they had come to the land of Canaan,

Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land.

Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, "To your offspring I will give this land." So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him.

From there he moved on to the hill country on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east, and there he built an altar to the Lord and invoked the name of the Lord.

And Abram journeyed on by stages toward the Negeb.

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            Genesis is largely a family epic.  Beginning with what we’ve heard today, it tells us about the ups and downs of an extended family that moved around the Middle East, from Mesopotamia to the Mediterranean coast to Syria to Egypt, over a period of generations during the Bronze Age.  We cannot put solid dates on any of it, but we’re talking about somewhere from 2000 B.C. to 1300 B.C., give or take.

            There’s a lot in their lives that is strange to us.  Slavery and polygamy play a big part.  There are examples of fortune-telling and idol worship and echoes of child sacrifice.  We hear about desert chieftans and absolute monarchs.  There are horses, but camels had not yet been domesticated.  Many events hinge on finding enough water and pasture for the sheep and goats.

            Much of the tension comes from situations that are familiar, though.  There are marital arguments.  Parents play favorites.  Teenagers fall in love.  People try to scam each other on business deals.  Some of them become refugees from natural disasters or get caught between warring neighbors.  Disagreements over inheritance turn ugly.  Babies are born and people get themselves cushy jobs.  They worry about aging.  Life goes on.

            That life that continues from generation to generation is defined by the underlying guidance and protection of the Lord who singles out a seventy-five-year-old man named Abram who is living in Haran, in what’s now southeastern Turkey, and living (apparently) quite comfortably, and tells him to leave it all.

"Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you.  I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.  I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." [Genesis 12:1-3]

There is so much missing from this statement.  Was Abram used to hearing from God?  Did he question his sanity?  Did Sarai, his wife, have a word or two to say about this?  They had a nephew who seems to be a part of their household.  What led them to take him with them and what led him to go along?  They had so much going for them:

“all the possessions that they had gathered and the persons whom they had acquired in Haran,” [Genesis 12:5]

and the trip was taking them through some decent land along the eastern Mediterranean, and as they passed through there

“the Lord appeared to Abram and said, ‘To your offspring [which he did not have] I will give this land.’" [Genesis 12:7]

Instead, Abram and Sarai and Lot and the crew kept traveling south toward the Negeb, that is the desert. [Genesis 12:9]

            Everything that happened to them, and to the family that they unexpectedly continued, had the same divine presence and divine promise in the background.  God spoke to some of them, but maybe not to all of them, across the centuries.  At times they are intimately aware of him and at other points they just wonder whether he has been at work without their knowledge behind the scenes, so that when you take not just the lives of Abram and Sarai but also the lives of their descendants all together, what we end up seeing is that rather than God being part of their story, they are part of God’s story.

            Their world was one filled with petty kings who considered themselves mighty warriors and overlapped with an age when the first large empires on earth were taking shape.  Yet it was into the seemingly insignificant and often messed-up family that looked back to Abram and Sarai and in the middle of that particularly chaotic part of the world that the God who had called Abram and Sarai to make some strange choices would himself, through a similarly inexplicable, miraculous birth, take on human form.  At that moment, another descendant of theirs would write,

“The Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s only Son, full of grace and truth.” [John 1:14]

The blessing God gave that family made the way for all people of the earth to be blessed, to be redeemed, to be one family, fully his own.

"An Elemental Spirit"

 

Acts 2:1-21

Pentecost

May 24, 2026

 

            Tom Lehrer graduated from Harvard with a Bachelor’s degree at the age of 18 and his Master’s degree one year later.  He taught math at MIT, Harvard, Wellesley, and UC Santa Cruz but he’s mostly remembered for his comedy songs.  Learning one of those songs could earn some extra credit points from my high school physics teacher.  I never got past the first few lines, unfortunately, and can’t do even those without notes, but here’s part of it:

“There's antimony, arsenic, aluminum, selenium,
And hydrogen, and oxygen, and nitrogen, and rhenium
And nickel, neodymium, neptunium, germanium
And iron, americium, ruthenium, uranium
Europium, zirconium, lutetium, vanadium
And lanthanum, and osmium, and astatine, and radium
And gold, protactinium, and indium, and gallium,
And iodine, and thorium, and thulium, and thallium…”

Then he runs through the rest of the periodic table and finishes:

“These are the only ones of which the news has come to Harvard

And there may be many others but they have not been discovered.”

 

            I definitely would have earned the extra credit if this song had cited the elements as they were identified by classical Greek philosophy of the sort familiar to a Greek physician by the name of Luke who traveled with an early Christian convert and missionary by the name of Paul.  Luke, who wrote a gospel that carries his name and a book about the Acts of the Apostles, would have known this list, too: “Earth, Air, Fire, and Water”.

 

            Luke tells us how, shortly after Jesus ascended to heaven on the fortieth day from his resurrection, Jesus’ disciples had gathered together

 

“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.” [Acts 2:2-4]

 

The Holy Spirit had come like wind and like fire.  When Peter tried to explain what was going on, he reached for the words of the prophet Joel, who had said,

 

“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 on the male and female slaves,

in those days I will pour out my spirit.” [Joel 2:28-29, Acts 2:17-18]”

 

“Pour out” – there’s the water to go with the air and fire, the wind and flame.  And the earth?  That is humankind. That is you and me. 

 

            Way back at the beginning, in Genesis, there are two descriptions of creation.  There is the grand, sweeping one, where it all begins with water and the Spirit when

 

“the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while the spirit of God swept over the face of the waters.” [Genesis 1:2]

 

Then there is the intimate, hands-on version in the next chapter, where

 

“the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being.” [Genesis 2:7]

 

God calls the universe into being through his Spirit like a wind on the ocean.  God brings us to life by breathing into us, sort of like a rescuer giving mouth-to-mouth respiration.

 

            In John’s telling, when the disappointed and terrified disciples, exhausted and lost after Jesus’ crucifixion, were huddled behind a locked door for safety, Jesus appeared among them.

 

“Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.  Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you.  As the father has sent me, so I send you.’  When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’” [John 20:23]

 

And, Jesus being Jesus, he complicated it by telling them that now that they had received the Holy Spirit through him, they had to forgive people the way he does, and the whole business of building up and sustaining and the occasional miracle-working would happen through the very human, dust-of-the-earth bunch like them and like us.

 

            Somehow, in fact, it even adds to the wonder that is God that his works are done by people who are mindful of their limitations.  The miracle on the day of Pentecost was not that the disciples could speak in foreign languages, but that people understood what they were saying.  The miracle is never what we do, but what God does, either with or without us, sometimes through us, sometimes for us, and sometimes despite us.  Luke’s friend Paul observed,

 

“For we do not proclaim ourselves; we proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as your slaves for Jesus’ sake.  For it is the God who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

 

But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us.” [II Corinthians 4:5-7]

 

            Consider this little nugget of trivia: Sir Arthur Sullivan, the man who wrote the music to The Pirates of Penzance, including the tune that Tom Lehrer stole for “The Elements”, also wrote the music for “Onward, Christian Soldiers”.  That may mean something.  It may not mean anything.  But it’s worth pondering, and I had to fit it in somewhere.

 

 

 

"A Mothers' Day Job Posting"

 

Proverbs 31:10-31

May 10, 2026

Mothers’ Day

 

¹⁰A capable wife who can find?

She is far more precious than jewels.

¹¹The heart of her husband trusts in her,

and he will have no lack of gain.

¹²She does him good, and not harm,

all the days of her life.

¹³She seeks wool and flax,

and works with willing hands.

¹⁴She is like the ships of the merchant,

she brings her food from far away.

¹⁵She rises while it is still night

and provides food for her household

and tasks for her servant-girls.

¹⁶She considers a field and buys it;

with the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard.

¹⁷She girds herself with strength,

and makes her arms strong.

¹⁸She perceives that her merchandise is profitable.

Her lamp does not go out at night.

¹⁹She puts her hands to the distaff,

and her hands hold the spindle.

²⁰She opens her hand to the poor,

and reaches out her hands to the needy.

²¹She is not afraid for her household when it snows,

for all her household are clothed in crimson.

²²She makes herself coverings;

her clothing is fine linen and purple.

²³Her husband is known in the city gates,

taking his seat among the elders of the land.

²⁴She makes linen garments and sells them;

she supplies the merchant with sashes.

²⁵Strength and dignity are her clothing,

and she laughs at the time to come.

²⁶She opens her mouth with wisdom,

and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.

²⁷She looks well to the ways of her household,

and does not eat the bread of idleness.

²⁸Her children rise up and call her happy;

her husband too, and he praises her:

²⁹‘Many women have done excellently,

but you surpass them all.’

³⁰Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain,

but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.

³¹Give her a share in the fruit of her hands,

and let her works praise her in the city gates.

 

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                College friends of mine formed a band back in the day and tried to produce an introductory tape, as one did then, with an original song in just about every category of music.  There was a punk song, a reggae song, some techno, some heavy metal, a breakup song, and random dance music.  But when I read or hear this section of Proverbs, I think of the country song they came up with.  It was called, “I Need a Southern Fried Woman in This Shake and Bake World”.

            The book of Proverbs is a collection of advice for living, apparently drawn from several sources.  The final section is identified as words spoken to someone named King Lemuel (whom we don’t hear about anywhere else) by his mother. After telling him to avoid womanizing and getting drunk, she tells him to find a wife who fits her criteria, which are demanding.  It’s assumed that she has serving-girls to help her, but managing them is one of the many expectations laid on her.

            She is supposed to provide food, both from the market and from a garden that she should find, buy, and plant.  Part of that is supposed to be a vineyard.  Beyond subsistence, there should be enough produce to sell some off at a profit.  She should stay up late and get up early, always spinning thread to make cloth and clothing for the household and become yet another income stream.    

            This is not the “little lady” who stays home and arranges flowers all day.  This woman is managing her own business as well as the household while her husband is off somewhere else looking impressive in the suit she tailored for him.

            She must be wise, kind, and generous, and teach those virtues to the children.  To draw things together, she should have a healthy spiritual life.  Not everybody will win a beauty contest, but that is the least of it.

“Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain,

but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.”

[Proverbs 31:30]

Honestly, I get exhausted just reading this list. The job description doesn’t mention her cooking, either.  I guess the meals and the cleaning and taking care of sick children and feeding animals and so forth falls to the servants.  She can only do so much, after all.

That, I believe, is the point of this text.  The superwoman is an ideal, probably; sure, we all know women whose energy and breadth of skills are astounding, but it points out how much is expected of the average, ordinary woman and reminds the husband and the family not to take any of that for granted.  Give her the credit she deserves.

“Give her a share in the fruit of her hands,

and let her works praise her in the city gates.” [Proverbs 31:31]

            There’s a story (totally unsubstantiated and probably not true) about how one day Winston and Clementine Churchill were crossing the street in London when a streetsweeper recognized her and called her name.  They talked to each other for awhile, then she took Churchill’s arm and they walked on.  She explained that she had known him when they were a lot younger and he had had a serious crush on her.  Winston laughed and said something about how she might have been a streetsweeper’s wife.  She laughed, too, and said, “No, by now he would have become Prime Minister.”

            This passage throws into confusion the whole notion of a “trad wife”.  I cannot imagine this woman quietly and meekly going along with whatever she is told to do without comment.  I cannot imagine her, living in our day, submitting her judgment entirely to her husband.  If he’s smart, he’ll listen to her.

“The heart of her husband trusts in her,

and he will have no lack of gain.

She does him good, and not harm,

all the days of her life.” [Proverbs 31:11-12]

            The danger of Mothers’ Day is that it can sometimes sentimentalize the effort that goes into family life.  The beauty of Mothers’ Day is that it recognizes the grace of God inherent in relationships of caring, even when they come under great strain.  All the tasks that are listed in Proverbs and all the many others that are parallel to them – jobs like forcing the kids (if necessary) to go to Sunday School; making them eat their vegetables or not eat the M&Ms; driving them all over the place; saying, “No,” sometimes even when every other parent (supposedly) says, “Yes” – are part of the work that goes not only unrecognized but also can be resented until the kids get over it and maybe eventually hear the same words come out of their own mouths.  Those moments surely also deserve recognition.  Again, this job description says,

“She girds herself with strength,

and makes her arms strong” [Proverbs 31:17]

 

which takes a lot of forms. 

            So for all aspects of the calling, and for all who assist in the work, and for all the women who have done or are doing their best,

“Give her a share in the fruit of her hands,

and let her works praise her in the city gates.”

A shout-out online doesn’t hurt either, and a word of appreciation even when it isn’t Mothers’ Day, just because.

"Coming in, Going out, and Finding Pasture"

 

John 10:1-10  

April 26, 2026

 

¹‘Very truly, I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a bandit. ²The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. ³The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. ⁴When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. ⁵They will not follow a stranger, but they will run from him because they do not know the voice of strangers.’ ⁶Jesus used this figure of speech with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.

⁷So again Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. ⁸All who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to them. ⁹I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. ¹⁰The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.

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            Any kind of agricultural work has its rhythms. There is “a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;” [Ecclesiastes 3:2].  In Genesis [8:22], God promised Noah that

“As long as the earth endures,

            seedtime and harvest, cold and heat,

summer and winter, day and night,

shall not cease.”

 

Similar rhythms apply to herding.  There are seasons when the animals go out to graze and seasons when they stick closer to shelter.  There are seasons when kids or calves or lambs are born, and seasons for shearing wool, and seasons when animals travel off to market.  Within that, every day is going to have its rhythms of feeding or milking or gathering the flock or herd together for the night.

            There are going to be variations, of course, but in the grand scheme of things, a prosperous ranch or a healthy farm is going to be one that recognizes these kinds of cycles and that works with them, not against them.  A good shepherd (another term Jesus applies to himself in this part of John’s gospel) is one where there is trust between the animals who have only a short-term view of what happens, and the human who has the long-term good of the whole operation in sight.  Jesus describes a close connection that grows between a shepherd and a flock that others may try to mimic for nefarious purposes but cannot quite reproduce.

“He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. They will not follow a stranger, but they will run from him because they do not know the voice of strangers.” [John 10:3-5]

In other parts of the gospel, Jesus expands upon how he, as the Good Shepherd, even risks his own life when just one of those sheep runs off and gets into a seriously bad spot or into a dangerous place without even realizing it.  Never forget that part of it.

            But today I simply want to point out for us non-agricultural people what it means for our lives (because it doesn’t take much imagination to see that he isn’t just talking about sheep here) that the Good Shepherd helps the sheep to flourish by maintaining the healthy rhythms that are part of life as God’s people.  Specifically, Jesus said,

“Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture.” [John 10:9]

There are times that the sheep need to be in the sheepfold but they cannot stay there forever.  They need to come and go, at the shepherd’s direction and at the shepherd’s discretion.

            We are never outside Jesus’ care and oversight, but for our own good – and the good of the world around us – we need to be guided through the rhythms that are part of a healthy spiritual life that bring growth and fruitfulness, where we “come in and go out and find pasture”.

            On a daily basis, there should be some set time of quiet, one-on-one time with God.  Within that, he speaks to different people in different ways and adjusts to what we, his people, will best respond to.  Silent prayer is good.  So is spoken prayer.  Maybe listening to music or singing a hymn is the best way to connect.  For some people, keeping a journal is an effective way of examining whatever is in their heart; for other people it always turns into a to-do list.  But every day there should be some moment consciously set aside to touch base.  That is part of what it means to be at home with the Lord.

            On a weekly basis, there should be time set aside to be with God’s people.  We, no less than cattle or lions or Canadian geese, do not survive long on our own.  Anthony of Egypt, considered the father of Christian monasticism, discovered out there in the desert that even hermits dedicated to solitary prayer needed to worship together at least once a week.  Part of it was just practical – if someone didn’t show up, somebody else would know to check on them to see if they were sick or had broken a leg or whatever.  Part of it was to encourage one another in faith.  Part of it recognizes that even extreme introverts have to get out of their own thoughts sometimes for their own mental health.

            On an annual basis, the church year provides for seasons that are more inward-directed than others.  Advent is supposed to be one of those, although the world does everything it can to take away the thoughtful, reflective side of the season and turn it into a consumerist binge.  Lent is the most obvious, however, with a forty-day emphasis on introspection and review. Then there are times of celebration: Christmas and Easter, when we center on what the Lord has done for us and respond with thanks and joy. 

            Those are followed, though, by times of being led out into the world every day and every season to share the good news and to serve others.  Just like every day has prayer-time, every day has work time. Sunday gives way to Monday, and we go out to live as God’s people in the world.  That is when we discover the presence and power of the Holy Spirit in places of opportunity and need alike.  It’s when we discover, in serving others and in simply being with and among all kinds of people, the vast resources that the Lord provides, not just for our own benefit but (through us) for the benefit of the world.

            I wonder, too, if there isn’t also a rhythm that only appears to God when he looks on entire lifetimes and sees more than we ever have the chance to see when we are busy living our lives.  Childhood is (or should be) a protected time.  Teenage years involve a lot of steps and missteps beyond the safe and familiar patterns.  Eventually, adult life involves a lot of work to balance being in the world without becoming overwhelmed by its side-paths to nowhere and its confused messages. 

“Even though I walk through the darkest valley,

I fear no evil;

for you are with me;

your rod and your staff – they comfort me.” [Psalm 23:4]

 

Then after that, by God’s grace, there comes a time when the Good Shepherd’s voice starts to grow clearer, even as life’s details grow a lot murkier.  It’s a point when people begin to appreciate just how much help they’ve already had and still have.

“You prepare a table before me

in the presence of my enemies;

 you anoint my head with oil;

my cup overflows.” [Psalm 23:5]

 

It’s a season where people have lived by faith long enough to feel safe relying on the Source of All for the rest of the journey.

“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me

all the days of my life,

and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord

my whole life long.” [Psalm 23:6]

 

(That’s the most recent translation.  I’m still going to say, “forever.”)        Amen.

"It Rings a Bell"

 

Luke 24:13-35

Third Sunday of Easter

April 19, 2026

(Note: This was written for a service during which we would be celebrating the ministry of our handbell choir.)

 

Now on that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, ¹⁴and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. ¹⁵While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them, ¹⁶but their eyes were kept from recognizing him. ¹⁷And he said to them, ‘What are you discussing with each other while you walk along?’ They stood still, looking sad. ¹⁸Then one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answered him, ‘Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place there in these days?’ ¹⁹He asked them, ‘What things?’ They replied, ‘The things about Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, ²⁰and how our chief priests and leaders handed him over to be condemned to death and crucified him. ²¹But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things took place. ²²Moreover, some women of our group astounded us. They were at the tomb early this morning, ²³and when they did not find his body there, they came back and told us that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive. ²⁴Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but they did not see him.’ ²⁵Then he said to them, ‘Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared! ²⁶Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?’ ²⁷Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures.

²⁸As they came near the village to which they were going, he walked ahead as if he were going on. ²⁹But they urged him strongly, saying, ‘Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over.’ So he went in to stay with them. ³⁰When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. ³¹Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight. ³²They said to each other, ‘Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?’ ³³That same hour they got up and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven and their companions gathered together. ³⁴They were saying, ‘The Lord has risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon!’ ³⁵Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread.

***************

 

            Once upon a time, there was a village high up in the Swiss alps, whose small but beautiful church stood on the town square.  To the left of the church door stood a tower, and inside the tower a winding staircase led up to a chamber where the ropes were found that rang the bell on the steeple above that.  For years and years one man had rung the bell for every service and for special occasions.  Then one morning he didn’t show up, and was found to have died peacefully in his sleep.

            That was when everyone realized how central and important this one small task was to the life of people up and down the valley, who had listened for the bells morning and evening, marking the day into morning, noon, and night.  There were people who could fill in temporarily, but the town council wanted a permanent successor to ring the bell announcing the funeral a day or two later.  They sent word out to neighboring villages as well as their own, looking for the next kappelbellmeister.  

            The next morning a man they didn’t know arrived in town, asking about the position.  They were glad to see him, but he had no arms.  Before they even got his name or his story, they asked him how he thought he could ring the bell.  He assured them that he had done the job many times in his own village, and offered to demonstrate.  They weren’t so sure, but thought it was only fair to give him a chance, and they all trooped up the stairs to the room with the ropes.  Once there, the applicant kept on going, up to the steeple where the actual bell was.  They were confused, but he shouted down the steps to them, “I’ll show you how it’s done!”

            He went over and pressed his forehead to the bell and pushed until it started to swing, then stepped back.  “Bong!” went the bell.  On the backswing he ran up to it again, and pushed.  This time it rang twice.  “Bong!  Bong!”  He was developing a rhythm.  The councilmen below were impressed and began to applaud.  Unfortunately, that distracted the man and he lost his footing this time and fell out of the tower to his own death in the square beneath.

            As people gathered there, someone in the crowd asked and obvious question: “Who is this man?”  The mayor felt awful about the whole event, and responsible for the accident.  He was also embarrassed how little he knew.  All he could say was, “I didn’t get his name, but his face rings a bell.”

            There is a follow-up section to this tale, which I will spare you now.  The point is that someone here has heard this story before and has been sitting there politely thinking, “Oh no! Not this old one!” and someone else is hearing it for the first time and is thinking, “I’ve got to remember this for the next time I see so-and-so.  He loves dumb jokes.”

            Our brains are built to make connections.  More often than we realize it, there is something that “rings a bell”, that sets things off so that we realize what may be going on behind the scenes or just out of sight, and we have an “Aha!” moment.  “Oh!” we say, “That was her sister!” or, “I always thought he was up to something,” or, “Now it all makes sense!”

            On the road to Emmaus, two disappointed disciples of Jesus – not part of the inner circle, but familiar with them, and with Jesus himself – were plodding home, sharing their grief and loss at his death.  As they told a stranger who struck up a conversation with them, they were thinking

“about Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and leaders handed him over to be condemned to death and crucified him.  But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel.” [Luke 24:19-21]

That was when the stranger began to help them make the connections that would stitch their hope back together.  He reminded them of things they had already heard in the scriptures, but helped them hear them in a new way, a way that spoke of a Messiah who would overcome through suffering, not violence.  He helped them see that what Jesus had undergone pointed not to defeat, but to the fullest testimony of God’s love.

“Then he said to them, ‘Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared!  Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?’” [Luke 24:25-26]

The bells began to ring.  Later they would say,

“‘Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?’” [Luke 24:32]

            What finally clinched things for them, the last, loud clap of the bell, was what happened when they reached their destination and invited him to stay as their guest.

“When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them.   Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight.” [Luke 24:30-31]

They recognized Jesus.  He reminded them – they remembered him – in the way that he had told his disciples to do when they were all gathered together for one last supper.  Only now they knew that it was not truly the last supper.  Now they knew that when he said that when two or three of his followers gather together in his name he would be among them, he really would be among them.  That would be true on the road and true around the dinner table.  It has been true in prisons and in hospital rooms and at summer camps and Sunday School picnics and on street corners and playgrounds and in thousands of places we would never expect.

            Keep your eyes and ears open, folks.  It may be that you find yourself somewhere in some position, good or bad, where something totally unexpected and wonderful happens and you don’t know who brought life and joy into the room, but you have your suspicions that Jesus has been there.  Something just rings a bell.