The Last Laugh

“VERY FUNNY”
Genesis 18:1-15
Faith United
June 15, 2008


As many of you know, I’ve been at Annual Conference
most of the week
Wednesday night was my first night
at the hotel where we were staying
for the Nebraska Annual Conference session
in Lincoln
Sarah and I had just walked back
from having supper downtown
when the skies started looking pretty ugly
Before we got to the elevator,
we were instructed by others
to follow them into the basement
because there was a tornado warning
and everybody was supposed to head
to the lower level
We gathered in a big meeting room downstairs
where there were tables set up
as if this were just another meeting
Some people came in soaking wet
having been caught in the downpour
others were carrying drinks from the restaurant
more than a little put off that their supper was interrupted
Most of us down there were from the Annual Conference
but there was a few other hotel residents
who were obviously business men and women
staying there for other reasons
At one point, I saw a little old lady
with obviously red dyed hair
she was a little bent over and very frail
but she was frantically looking for her husband
in the crowd
Obviously she was upset
not knowing where he was
as they’d gotten separated in all the excitement
I saw some hotel workers comforting her
and then the wonderful moment
when another worker
wheeled her husband in his wheelchair
He, too, was very frail, and bent over in his chair
He held onto two poles that helped him move his chair
like two walking sticks
The woman’s face was one of pure elation and relief
as she slowly shuffled over to her precious husband
and gave him a kiss on the cheek
and lovingly petted his head
It wasn’t long before someone in that room full of mostly Methodists
decided we needed to sing
So William Williams, a former District Superintendent from this district
stood up and invited us to pray
an African American woman clergy
stood up with him
to lead us all in singing
We sang all the good old hymns
and a few of the new ones that we could remember
I looked over at the little old man and woman
She sat in a chair beside him
with her hand on his forearm
as if to keep him from getting away again
The man held up his sticks in the air
and waved his arms
as he boisterously sang
along with “How Great Thou Art”…
People knew enough to just stay clear of him
and his waving walking sticks
At the end of the hymn
he waved to William
and William and someone else
helped the man up out of his chair
You could tell he didn’t spend much time out of it
His legs were wobbly
and unsure underneath him,
but he propped himself up
with his two sticks
William got us all to be quiet
and the old man gestured excitedly with his arms
occasionally having to steady himself
He said he wanted to testify
And he told us
that he and his wife were celebrating
their fifth wedding anniversary
He said she was a war bride
as they got married at the beginning of the Iraq War
He proudly declared that he was 95
and his young bride was 92
He said loudly, gesturing with his trembling hands
that they were both going for 100
He also told us that this was his 80th time
attending Annual Conference
and that the Lord has been good to him
all his life
It was just then that the siren went off again
over the intercom
telling us we could go back to our rooms
The old man waved us off
and said it was ok, he was done
and as he stumbled back into his wheelchair
his bride stroked his bald head lovingly
as he gave loud thanks to God that we were all safe

I gotta tell you, that was one of the highlights
of my time at Annual Conference
Somehow, in the basement
no one was more important than anybody else
we WERE one in the Spirit for a little while
and when we came back to the basement for a second warning,
within minutes of departing,
we got the news of the tornado
hitting the Boy Scout camp in Iowa
and we were hushed into prayer
and more reflective singing
and the bride and bridegroom held onto each other
for life

It’d been 24 years since God first promised Abraham a son
24 years
I imagine Abraham and Sarah had finally given up
She was 90,
he was 100
I mean, let’s be realistic
They’d hoped for so much
and they’d had such a hard life
and they’d gotten old
They’d traveled for years,
being nomads
never settled anywhere
always on the move
They’d been strangers in foreign lands many times
there were those awful times
when Abraham had insisted Sarah was his sister
and she was handed over to strangers
like a possession
so that Abraham’s life could be spared
I imagine she’d gotten very bitter over the years
hardened in her old age
hardened by disappointment
hardened by a wandering life
hardened by being used
hardened by never having a child in her womb
even after God had promised
so many years ago
and seemed to have forgotten them

Then three strangers show up at their tent
by the oak trees of Mamre
It was a given in the Jewish culture
that you received strangers and took care of them
that you fed them, gave them shelter
washed their feet
There was no question about it,
no thought as to whether they were dangerous
it was just what you did if you were a Jew
And not only did you feed them
but you gave them your best
Serving meat was a rare delicacy
and a costly sacrifice
but it was a sign of deep respect for the stranger
So Abraham, though he surely could have fed himself
and his own people
with that meat
instead he got Sarah to prepare a feast
for their guests
He didn’t know what they wanted
if they were just passing through
he didn’t know if they would hurt him
but he did what he was taught to do
from his people
And so the men ate, and Abraham watched
As they ate, one of them said,
“Where is your wife Sarah?”
Abraham nodded toward the tent
as Sarah moved back out of sight
as she watched and listened
One of the men, wiping his hands on his robe said,
“I will return to you in due season,
and your wife Sarah shall have a son.”

That old joke again!
Abraham smiled and said nothing
It wasn’t that long ago
that he’d had a vision of the Lord
and the Lord had said to him the same thing
that Sarah would give birth
and he had fallen on his face with laughter
I mean, he didn’t even try to hide it
it just struck him as hilarious
and he could hardly breathe for laughing
yeah, right, he’d said to himself
My 90 year old wife is going to give birth
Ok, whatever, God….
He didn’t say anything out loud
but had just laid facefirst in the dirt
wiping the tears from his face
This time,
Sarah let out a burst of laughter from the tent behind them
and then quickly covered her mouth
and held her breath
She held her empty belly
and must have thought how childbirth would surely kill her
at this age
“After I’ve grown old and my husband is old
shall I have pleasure?” she said to herself, still giggling
One scholar said the passage could be translated,
“Even though I am withered, shall I become ripe again?”

The men nodded toward the tent,
“Why did Sarah laugh?” one of them said
Sarah moved forward out of the shadows
and straightened her face,
“I didn’t laugh,” she said
and the man said, “Oh yes you did.”

Try to imagine the conversation between Sarah and Abraham
after the three visitors left
Maybe Abraham raised his eyebrows, elbowed his dear old wife
and she slapped him on the arm
calling him an old fool
Maybe he shrugged and left the dishes for the servants
as he and Sarah went into the tent
on the off chance the strange visitors could be onto something

They would look back on that day
many years later
and tell the story a different way
they would be sure that one of those men
was an angel of the Lord himself,
if not all of them
That the angels had a message for them
a message of hope
that finally, after all these years
of waiting and losing hope
of struggling and searching
and wondering
and growing old and bitter
FINALLY, God would deliver on his promise
And later, Sarah would say
“God has given me laughter,
and all those who know me will laugh me,”
when that 91 year old woman
gave birth to a baby boy
and it didn’t kill her
God gave me laughter, she said,
after she’d grown old and bittered by years
Our culture is so focused on youth
as if aging is a fate worse than death
we are lured to pay all kinds of money
for all kinds of stuff to look young, to stay young
or to hide our age
as if in shame
And yet the Bible lifts up aging
as a time of wonder and hope
Age is revered as a sign of favor
In fact, many of the heroes called by God in the Old Testament
were senior citizens
THEY were the ones who changed the world
and helped form the people of God
“After I have grown old,” Sarah says,
“shall I still have pleasure?”
She’d given up
She’d resigned herself to the idea that her life was over
and she would wait to die
that she was just an old woman
who could nothing anymore
much less know joy
and pleasure with her husband
“God gave me laughter,” Sarah said
as she held her newborn baby later on
in her thin, and wrinkled arms
“And all who hear of it, will laugh with me…”
all who hear of it, will know the joy of God
that breaks into our despair with hope

Abraham and Sarah didn’t know
who those strangers were
until later
They were, as it says in Hebrews,
they were entertaining angels unaware
They were welcoming a life-transforming presence
in the stranger
In our world,
we’ve learned to never trust the stranger
to even avoid the stranger and shut them out
In the Disciple Bible Study program
there’s an assignment
to all those involved
to welcome a stranger
To do something you’ve never done before
and perhaps hoped not to have to do
Visit a nursing home,
go to a soup kitchen and serve a meal
Talk to a homeless person
and give them something to eat
As a pastor, there weren’t too many choices
that I hadn’t done
so what I ended up doing
was visiting a prisoner
on Death Row down in Missouri
A woman
It was incredibly scary to me
They patted me down, emptied my pockets
ushered me through a series of doors
that shut and locked behind me
and I sat at a table, that was fastened to the floor
with an older woman who was sentenced to die
We weren’t allowed to talk about
what she was accused of
but at her own initiation
and not knowing that I was a pastor,
she started talking to me about her faith
as she lit up a cigarette
She talked about the joy that her faith brought her
how she led Bible Studies
and tried to minister to other inmates
who were sometimes hostile to her gift
Her eyes shone
her face was hardened by a lot of experience
a lot of pain
by imprisonment
I was scared to death the whole time
but I also came to believe
that it’s important to step outside your safety zone
to meet the stranger
and that the more you do that
the more you see that people are people
everywhere
and the stranger is no longer a stranger
but a child of God

Dennis—(our local homeless man) was a stranger to me
He made me very uncomfortable
and that was precisely why I wanted to visit with him
His smell made me sick
His lifestyle confused me and repulsed me
but every time he showed up
I kind of held my breath
and made him a cup of coffee
or a bowl of soup
and sent him on his way again
and tried to imagine the face of God
in his face
coming to me for mercy and a little kindness
I truly believe God sent Dennis across my path
to show me another side of God’s face

You never know when God is going to show up
and no matter what you’ve been through
how tough life has been for you
or old your body feels
or old ancient your spirit might feel
embittered by disappointment and loss
regrets and unhealed hurts
God can still come in
if you stand at the entrance and let him in
We have many opportunities daily
to welcome God
and trust that God has come to us
in whatever form
whether to bring a promise or a lesson
or to use us to be a blessing
on some stranger’s journey
There’s a medieval saying that says
“God draws straight lines
with crooked sticks…”
We are not from around here
we’re just passing through
we’re not true citizens of a world
that values youth over wisdom
and thinks that one can only have sex appeal
if their skin is unwrinkled and perfect
and their stomachs flat and firm

We’re citizens of a world that knows
that these bodies are temporary
and the life is eternal
and that joy is always possible
if we open the door
to God’s wondrous sense of humor
and God’s enduring ability to bring hope out of hopelessness
and joy out of sorrow
So welcome the stranger
do something you thought you’d never do
don’t be afraid to be uncomfortable
look again at the person you thought you knew
and let yourself be surprised
take another look at the stranger’s face
and look for the face of God
who, I assure you, always has the last laugh…