Delivered April 15, 2007
by Pastor Marilyn Henderson
How old are you? Give each child a bean for each year of their age. How many is 100? Put the rest of the beans together with their beans to make 100.
Today's story is about two people who were almost 100 years old!
A long time ago God appeared to a man whose name was Abraham. One hot afternoon he was resting in the shade of his tent when he noticed 3 men standing in the yard. Abraham and Sarah didn't have a lot of visitors where they lived in their tent, so Abraham was excited to see them. He ran to them, greeted them and asked them to stay for food and rest. When he had made sure they had water to wash up with, he ran to the tent to talk to Sarah about preparing a special meal. They decided that Sarah would do the baking and Abraham would do the barbequing.
When everything was ready, Abraham served his three guests. Then the guests asked where Sarah, his wife, was and Abraham told them. Then one of the guests said, "When it's time, I will return and Sarah will give birth to a son."
Well, Sarah was in the tent, eavesdropping on the men's conversation. When she heard that she was going to give birth, she laughed. Ha! Women her age never got pregnant and had babies because their bodies weren't able to have babies any more. Besides that, she had had plenty of time to get used to the idea that she and Abraham would never have children.
The Bible says that the LORD was one of Abraham's guests. And the LORD said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh? Why did she say, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?' Is anything too wonderful for the LORD? At the right time I will return Sarah shall have a son."
Prayer with the children
"Discovering A New Identity"How many of you were once a baby? So, while we may not remember that time in our lives, we know we all were, at one time, babies. Similarly, how many of you were once toddlers? Again, we all were. And during the toddler stage as well as the baby stage, we were all changing and growing and learning at tremendous rates. At each stage of human development, girls and boys and women and men are faced with the reality of change caused by growth and learning. And at each stage each person must choose those learnings that will become part of their lives and inform their choices and behaviour. What we choose is decided in part by a number of factors - our personalities, likes, dislikes, learning and work styles, perspectives, etc.
"Discovering a new identity." What is an identity? What does that word mean?
The Encarta Dictionary says it means " ... what identifies somebody or something: the name or essential character that identifies somebody or something ..." and " ... the set of characteristics that somebody recognizes as belonging uniquely to himself or herself and constituting his or her individual personality for life."
(Hand out pieces of paper, pencils)As an exercise of interest, use the paper to write down 3 or 4 characteristics that are part of your identity as a person.
If we took the time to share what everyone wrote down, we would probably have a good time! Some characteristics would be quite unique, others might be shared by others. It would be kind of fun. My point is that there are things about each of us - characteristics - that we share with others as well as characteristics that are unique. It is the unique combination of characteristics in each person that makes each of us distinctive from anyone else. It is our identity. As we grow and age, our identities change a bit, but we remain essentially the same.
Sarah was probably a little girl like most little girls of her day. She played with dolls, ran races, played house with her sisters and cousins, did household tasks as she was able. As she grew, she probably dreamed about the day she would marry someone and become a wife and mother. Actually, those were the only options open to women at that time. Every little girl dreamed about being married and having her own babies.
And the culture of that time and for a long time thereafter expected women to produce numerous offspring for their husbands - particularly boys. Imagine the young bride, each month hoping for the sign that she would bear the young Abraham a child in the next year - hopefully a son! And each month, each year, it's harder to remain optimistic for no children are conceived in her womb.
Sarah watched her sisters and cousins and friends all become pregnant. She saw them daily at the well, tummies rounding as their children grew, safe and warm, inside their wombs. Finally, the agony of their labour, the communal sharing of the labour by the women of the family and the joy at the sound of the thin, newborn's cry. But it was always someone else's baby and someone else's joy.
Through the years Sarah efficiently managed the large household through several moves, carefully fulfilling her wifely duties and, all the while, longing for the respite and joy of her own child. Moving around was hard, but in some ways she was glad that they didn't settle down. It was easier to remain in her own household and family rather than be faced over and over by the daily reminders of her barrenness at the well or with other women. Her sorrow remained - her beauty and wealth were nothing. Even the love of Abraham could not fill the emptiness of childlessness.
If Sarah had been given a paper and pencil and asked to write down characteristics that described her, she would have written down BARREN.
But God loved Sarah. God knew her longing for a child and her pain at not giving Abraham a son, a family. God knew the stigma she carried in the eyes of her family, friends and neighbours because of her barrenness. God knew, too, how difficult it was for her to finally come to accept the fact that parenthood was never something she would personally experience.
After all the years of tears and struggle, Sarah had come to a place of acceptance, of peace with her identity of barrenness. And when the LORD said she would give birth at the age of 91, she laughed at the impossibility of it, at the foolishness of it. Well, whatever! If this man wanted to say these things, he could. It probably wouldn't change anything - she had heard this several times before and nothing had happened. This was probably going to be a similar experience and she was not counting on anything, for she was tired of the cycle of hope and despair.
Yet God had a Plan for a new identity for Sarah. He wanted Sarah to know how much he loved her and needed her. And God wanted Sarah to understand how much the world needed her. Sarah's story was not merely her story. Sarah's story is part of a much bigger story - the story of God's Kingdom and the new identity all people are offered as members of God's Kingdom.
Jane is a young woman in her thirties. She is personable, articulate, passionate about God, her husband and the plight of disadvantaged children. She has her master's degree in social work and has been a case worker with a church youth service as well as working in the state government for the welfare of children and families.
Jane knows what a gift Christian families are to the world, for the world needs people who have been raised in loving families by Kingdom principles. And Jane and her husband long for children of their own, to raise and love and teach about God and God's call to love and care for all people.
But Jane and her husband, probably two of the best candidates for parenthood, cannot physically have children. The system in which she worked for so long doesn't seem to recognize their excellent suitability as prospective parents for they have even been "rejected" as adoptive parents more than once.
And their pain is almost visual - one feels it intensely. Isn't it interesting that Jane, who grew up in a world where the acceptable roles of women were expanding exponentially, who is well-educated and well-read, continues to identify so completely with the pain of Sarah's barrenness?
Yet Jane has accepted God's invitation to join both the family and Kingdom of God. Jane lives her life as a daughter of the King, believing that she is serving the King's purpose in some way she cannot yet see or understand. In spite of her pain, she continues to seek God's leading because she continues to trust God. Jane believes she has been invited to be a part of something much larger and more world-changing than she and her husband are by themselves - the same Kingdom to which Sarah and Abraham belong. Sarah's and Jane's stories are part of a much bigger story - the story of God's Kingdom and the reconciliation and healing God offers to all people.
The Bible is full of examples of folks who chose a new identity as part of God's Kingdom - Noah, Joseph, Deborah, Samuel, David, Huldah, Simon Peter and the rest of the Twelve, Joanna, Susanna and the many others throughout the entire biblical story. Paul‘s conversion to a Kingdom identity is probably the most well-known as well as one of the most dramatic. Paul hunted down, tortured and killed followers of "The Way" - the early Church. After his "total life makeover" experience with the risen Christ, Paul said, "I am not ashamed of the gospel; it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith" (Rom. 1.16). Paul's story is part of a much bigger story - the story of God's Kingdom and the reconciliation and healing God offers to all people.
The story of PMC began long ago. It began in the Reformation in the early 16th century in Switzerland and Germany. It began in Russia where Mennonites decided to emigrate to Canada. It began in Lancaster County, PA, where Mennonites needed more good farm land. It has roots in the Netherlands and England before and during WWII. PMC began in the Netherlands and England; in Ontario and Manitoba and Saskachewan and Atlantic Canada, even in northern Indiana and southern Michigan. PMC has been enriched by those who come from the Catholic, Anglican, Baptist and Pentecostal Christian traditions. PMS has also been enriched by those who come from varying Mennonite traditions.
Thirty years ago some pioneers left their families and friends and neighbours and came to Atlantic Canada seeking affordable farm land for themselves and their children. They met together in their homes in order to be with a like-minded community of believers. OPAL, one of this group's first ministries to those in the community, was begun with the belief that followers of Christ serve others and that all people have value.
We have chosen to identify ourselves with this community. We identify with people who believe that God's values and ways make a difference in our daily lives. We identify with a community where all people have worth and are loved and cared for. We identify with a community where there is safety and comfort and peace.
Is it easy to belong to God's Kingdom foremost? Not when the kingdoms of North America are in conflict with the values of God's Kingdom. Not when our lives are full of temptation and hardship. And it is definitely not easy when we are called to consider new ways of thinking and being and doing as individuals and as a group. We make mistakes. We procrastinate. We second-guess. We hesitate. We go when we should wait. We sin. We ask for forgiveness and help to live differently. And God is gracious. And God continues to identify us as God's children. We continue to embrace our identity as members of God's Kingdom.
And yet, underneath and behind and around and at the core of it all, we belong to God. We belong to God's Kingdom. We aren't perfect - we know that and God knows that. But we have finally found our identity. We have finally discovered who we are. Our story at PMC is part of a much bigger story - the story of God's Kingdom and the reconciliation and healing God offers to all people. Is anything too wonderful for the LORD? God has brought this group of people together from all over North America and Europe, using all our former lives and experiences to mold us together into a community covenanted to each other and identified with God and God's Kingdom. Amazing! Is anything too wonderful for the LORD?
Petitcodiac Mennonite Church