Calling into Existence Things that do not Exist

Lent 2, Sunday, March 8, 2009
Romans 4.13-25

“for he is the father of all of us, as it is written, ‘I have made you the father of many nations’”

What God did for Abraham, Paul does for us. Turns our whole world upside down. What Abraham thought he knew about the world—his life and work, his family (or lack of it), his gods—God changed everything when God claimed Abraham and gave him a new name and a new identity.

And Paul turns our world on its head. Forging our way in the world with our talents and charm, we think we are the children of our parents, using our heritage as a stepping stone to greater things. I usually think of myself as the daughter of Maury and Marian, making my way through life, bearing what they have taught me and adding my own experience to the heritage they have given me. But Paul tells me I am more; I am Abraham’s child, not who I thought I was at all. This is God’s good news for us all.

In the Holy Land all of this gets played out dramatically by Abraham’s children—a drama of heritage and land—enacted every day in the schools and factories, on the bus, in the market, in the offices for permits, at the checkpoints. If we are ALL Abraham’s children, as Paul tells us, then our God is one.

Who is this God? Paul tells us God is “the one who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.”

Abraham refused to believe that God would not give him an heir, even when his advanced years made the possibility laughable. As heirs to Abraham, Paul tells us, we also are people who refuse to settle for what seems possible.

Right now, peace seems impossible in the Middle East. But we are God’s people, people who, like Abraham, refuse to believe what seems so obvious. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s presence in the region this week is testimony to this faithfulness—that even though peace seems dead, the promise of peace is alive. We have heard that promise proclaimed in our holy book. Our God is one who gives life to the dead…life to dead peace processes, life to weary bodies waiting at checkpoints, life to besieged nations struggling for peace under threats of death.

Our God is the one who gives life to the dead…in Lent we journey toward that day of resurrection. God’s promise is sure.

O God of our hopes and dreams for peace, keep us steadfast in your promises; mold us to be life-givers. Make us your peacemakers, calling into existence those things that do not exist, things we cannot even imagine. Strengthen our leaders for your work of peace in the world. Amen.