Love Makes it all Worth it

Rev. Harriette Cross Englewood-Rust United Methodist Church July 6, 2014 Genesis 24 Love makes it all worth it 4th Sunday after Pentecost Year A What does it take to make a successful marriage? Ann Landers received a letter from a reader that went like this: Dear Ann Landers: Why would any husband adore a lazy, messy, addlebrained wife? Her house looks as if they’d moved in yesterday. She never cooks a meal. Everything is in cans or frozen. Her kids eat sent-in food. Yet this slob’s husband treats her like a Dresden doll. He calls her “Poopsie” and “Pet,” and covers the telephone with a blanket when he goes to work so she can get her rest. On weekends he does the laundry and the marketing. I get up at 6 a.m. and fix my husband’s breakfast. I make his shirts because the ones in the stores “don’t fit right.” If my husband ever emptied a wastebasket, I’d faint. Once when I phoned him at work and asked him to pick up a loaf of bread on his way home, he swore at me for five minutes. The more you do for a man, the less he appreciates you. I feel like an unpaid housekeeper, not a wife. What goes on anyway? —The Moose (That’s what he calls me.) Ann’s response is classic. She responded: A marriage license is not a guarantee that the marriage is going to work, any more than a fishing license assures that you’ll catch fish. It merely gives you the legal right to try. Genesis 24 We have been reading and listening to the stories of Genesis. We have been talking about the importance of family in the formation of our faith. Genesis means origins. It was designed to answer the questions of where we come from, and why things are the way they are. And there is no way to talk about family without talking about love and marriage. Genesis 24 is the love story of Rebekah and Isaac. There are a lot of crazy things that go on in our families, but we have to take the time to acknowledge that love is what holds our families together. God is always the author of a good love story. He doesn’t write romance novels or soap operas, even though life can seem like that. But love stories. After all it is love that makes the world go around and holds the family together. The book of Genesis was intended to answer the questions of where we come from, where our faith comes from. Living in the promise of God Our faith comes from the promise that God made to Abraham – the his offspring would be as numerous as the stars and that all of the world would be blessed through that offspring. Well, looking back we can clearly see how thousands of years later that promise has come true. But for Abraham going through it there were many times in his life, when he did not see any way through how God could possibly fulfill on that promise After all to say that he would have a son, after you have lived over half of our life – and for the promise to be fulfilled at ninety years of age. And now we come to the other side of that story. Isaac has grown into a young man, Sarah has died. And once again he is at a loss of how God will fulfill his promise. As long as Isaac is still single, and he doesn’t have any children – how is the promise going to be fulfilled. After all of that effort, God’s promise will die with Isaac after just one generation. When I think about my life journey and my walk with the goodness of God, I feel a lot like Abraham. I spend much more of my life wondering how God will be able to pull off his promise. I spend a lot of time saying I just don’t see it God – and them in some unexpected way – things turn out exactly as God said that they would. The faith of Rebekah Genesis 24 is the story of how God made a way in an unfaithful world. Abraham sends his servant to his hometown to find a wife for Isaac. Have no idea of what to do to get this total stranger to follow him, the servant prays for success. The servants prayers are answered when a young woman comes to the well. He follows her home and asked her family if he can take her with him. With our modern way of understanding of marriage and family, we may not see the strangeness in this story. The family asks Rebekah if she is willing to go home with this stranger. This is an arranged marriage in a society where women had no voice. No one would have asked the woman if she wanted to get married. If it was in the best interest of the family, negotiations would have been made without her. But in the story of faith – she is given a choice to leave her home. And she says yes. The servant brings her back to Isaac, and they are immediately happy with one another. God is the author of a good love story. And yet the story is designed to help us realize that God comes to us in strange and mysterious ways. If you read this story you will notice that God is remarkable absent from the story. God does not speak to any of the characters, God does not intervene, God has not ordained anything – everyone is given complete free will. As a matter of fact there are no clear answers for anyone – everyone is dependent on blind faith. The servant is dependent on faith to find the right wife, the wife is dependent on blind faith to go away, the husband is dependent on blind faith that this is the right woman for him. And it is through their faith – that God’s promise is fulfilled. And it is through their faith that the promise becomes theirs and not their parents. Another things that makes Rebecah a hero in this story – is that she knew nothing of Abraham’s God. She knew nothing of his faith. she was raised a pagan – and yet she becomes an important part of the family of faith. God never takes a direct role in the story – but God is working in the circumstances, and in the hearts of those involved. God is the author of all good love stories. Because God loves us all – God wants us all to be a part if his family – and God works behind the scenes to show his love and bring us closer and closer to him. But the message for us in the story of faith is that love always has two hidden partners, working behind the scenes. Those two partners are obedience and commitment. Without them love can not do much alone. God can love us, but we have to be obedient and committed in order to make it work. Rebekah was obedient to God’s call and committed to making her marriage a success. We have to be obedient to God’s promise and committed to make it a reality in the world. God’s love will do the rest, and will get us through those times of doubt and confusion. Praying hands Richard Lee writes in his book, Windows of Hope, about two young German artists and friends in the 1400’s who found themselves in a desparate situation. They couldn’t eke out a living to keep food on the table or art supplies for painting. One friend named Hans made a drastic decision. He concluded the he would drop out of school, and his friend, Albrecht, would then continue and graduate. After Albrecht’s graduation, he would then help Hans through art school. So the decision was made. And Hans laid aside his brushes and began manual labor. Years passed and Albrecht began selling his paintings. He became extremely successful. His integrity intact, he kept his promise to his friend Hans and made arrangements for him to attend art classes. However, the years of hard labor had gnarled and deformed his hands. He would never be the artist he had hoped to be in life. Albrecht thought about what he could do to repay his close friend for his years of sacrifice. He did the only thing that he knew best – he painted a picture. He immortalized the callous hands of his friend by painting them and entitled his piece the praying hand. It stands today as a tribute to the love and devotion of a friend. Who are the people who are a part of your family story? What are the love stories that hold our family together? Who are the partners who stand in the shadows – so that your light can shine? Jesus Christ is one of those persons, who sacrificed everything so that you could have it all. It is Christ love that truly makes a difference in the world. Let us respond to the love – with obedience and commitment. Amen Children’s Sermon Greater Than A by Brett Blair and Tim Carpenter Passage: Genesis 15:1-21 • Lectionary: Lent 2, Proper 14, Proper 14 Item 3 of 3 | Back to Results Exegetical Aim: God has made the greatest promise of all. Props: None. Lesson: I have a question for you this morning. What is a promise? (response) That's right. A promise is when you say you are going to do something and you really mean you are going to do it no matter what. How many of you have ever made a promise? (response) When you made your promise did you do anything extend your hand as if you are shaking hands with someone with your hands? (shake hands). Everyone shake hands like you are making a promise and you really mean it. Are there other things that people do when they make a promise? (response) What's the one where you say, "Cross your heart...? (hope to die, stick a needle in your eye. Ok, everyone do it with me. Everyone cross your heart. (response) Now, hope to die. (response) Ok, stick a needle in your eye. (response) I don't know what that's all about but it sounds like someone is pretty serious about keeping their promise. When I was a kid there was one way to seal a promise that was extra strong. If someone sealed a promise this way, you knew that they wouldn't break it. Do you know what it was? (response)It was called a "pinky promise." How do you do it? Who can show me? (response) Good! If you ever make a promise, remember to keep it. Especially if it's a "pinky promise." Application: In the bible God made some pretty serious promises. One time he made a promise to Abraham and Abraham wasn't so sure God was going to keep his promise. So God made a very serious promise and do you know what kind of promise it was? (response) I like to call it a "heifer, goat, ram, turtledove, pigeon promise." Do you know what a heifer, goat, ram, turtledove pigeon promise is? (response) Well, when Abraham lived they didn't shake hands or make pinky promises. They would sacrifice an animal-the bigger the animal the more serious the promise. So God made a promise to Abraham and sacrificed not just one animal but five: a heifer, that's a cow, a goat, a ram, a turtledove, and a pigeon. What do you think Abraham said? (response) He said, "Wow God you must be serious!" Pinky promises are pretty good but a heifer, goat, ram, turtledove, pigeon promise from God is even greater. Let's Pray: God you have made such great promises not only to Abraham but to us as well. Amen. Old Testament Children's Sermons, Brett Blair and Tim Carpenter, ChristianGlobe Network, Inc, 2001, 0-0000-0000-1 Back to Results | Item 3 of 3 Extra illustration I remember an old story about a little boy who was out helping dad with the yard work. Dad asked him to pick up the rocks in a certain area of the yard. Dad looked over and saw him struggling to pull up a huge rock buried in the dirt. The little boy struggled and struggled while Dad watched. Finally, the boy gave up and said, "I can't do it." Dad asked, "Did you use all of your strength?" The little boy looked hurt and said, "Yes, sir. I used every ounce of strength I have." The father smiled and said, "No you didn't. You didn't ask me to help." The father walked over and then the two of them pulled that big rock out of the dirt. One of the great Biblical truths seems impossible. Liberty comes through being yoked with Christ. Billy D. Strayhorn, Freedom through the Yoke