Footprints to the Future
Genesis 18:9-15, 21:1-7
April 29, 2007
University Christian Church, Seattle, WA
Rev. Sandy Messick

• “The place to start is with a woman laughing…” Frederick Buechner describes the scene this way: “The place to start is with a woman laughing. She is an old woman, and, after a lifetime in the desert, her face is cracked and rutted like a six-month drought. She hunches her shoulders around her ears and starts to shake. She squinnies her eyes shut, and her laughter is all China teeth and wheeze and tears running down as she rocks back and forth in her kitchen chair. She is laughing because she is pushing ninety-one hard and has just been told she is going to have a baby. Even though it was an angel who told her, she can’t control herself, and her husband can’t control himself either. He keeps a straight face a few seconds longer than she does, but he ends by cracking up, too. Even the angel is not unaffected. He hides his mouth behind his golden scapular, but you can still see his eyes. They are larkspur blue and brimming with something of which the laughter of the old woman and her husband is at best only a rough translation. The old woman’s name is Sarah, of course, and the old man’s name is Abraham, and they are laughing at the idea of a baby’s being born in the geriatric ward and Medicare’s picking up the tab. They are laughing because the angel not only seems to believe it but seems to expect them to believe it too. They are laughing because with part of themselves they do believe it. They are laughing because with another part of themselves they know it would take a fool to believe it. They are laughing because laughing is better than crying and maybe not even all that different. They are laughing because if by some crazy chance it should just happen to come true, then they would really have something to laugh about.” ( Telling the Truth, the Gospel as Tragedy, Comedy and Fairy Tale)
• You’d laugh too….wouldn’t you? After all, Sarah’s 90, according to the story. A woman giving birth at her age would make not only the Guinness Book of World Records but the front page of the National Enquirer. All the experts say, “It can’t be done!” and Sarah knows that too.
• And yet, she dares to hope. What if….What if…
• In Chapter 21 we read that the promise is fulfilled. There is a baby born to Abraham and Sarah. They name him Isaac, which means “laughing one.” And now they really have something to laugh about!
• But I wonder….Do you think there were days when she questioned within herself whether or not she’d made the right wish? After all, there’s a reason we say, “Be careful what you wish for.”
• Did she wonder about her decision when she was 90 years old, with swollen ankles and terrible heartburn and a belly out to here?
• Or when she was 91, walking the floors at night because the baby just wouldn’t sleep?
• Or when she was 99 and sitting in the hot sun at a soccer game and Isaac didn’t even get to play. Or 105, when she was sitting nervously up in the darkened living room waiting for Isaac to come home from a date and he’s way past his curfew?
• Or when she was 112, and Isaac asks her to watch the twins, Jacob and Esau, so he and Rebecca could have a little quality time alone together.
• After all, birthing new life at 90 years old is hard work. So, do you think she regretted her wish?
• No, I don’t think so either. Because the new life gave new meaning to her life. It gave her fresh energy, a new understanding of the present, a legacy for the future.

• So here we are, admittedly, an older congregation.
• And no, I’m not getting personal. But let’s face it my friends, this building isn’t getting any younger. And though we still look pretty good with our stained glass windows and vaulted ceilings, well, we have a few wrinkles here and there.
• And like Sarah, we’re praying for new life. And like Sarah, we better be careful what we wish for.
• Because birthing new life is hard work at any age. It takes time, and energy, and faith, and hope, and vision, and trust.
• But if we see it through, like Sarah, we won’t regret it either. It will be the footprints we leave for the future. It will be our gift for those who come after.
• No, that’s not right. It will be God’s gift for those who aren’t here yet. Because new life, whether in the form of a baby, or in the form of a transformed congregation is God’s gift. We are just invited to help out a bit with the raising and the rearing.

• Today we celebrate our Footprints for the Future. We come forward to dedicate our Giving Cards. We light candles that symbolize our hope. We make commitments to participate in the Transformation Teams. And we believe in God’s promises: Behold I am doing a new thing…now it springs forth, can’t you see it?
• And though we know there is much work ahead of us, we can’t help but laugh. For God is in the promise, and God is in the fulfillment. And all this talk about transformation….well God is in that too.
• Listen….I think I hear footsteps, making footprints, guiding our way. Can you hear it too?
• By God’s grace, may it be so.