Laughing Hope
Text: Genesis 18:1-15
Aldersgate UMC
I.
Bring greetings
a. from our world wide church
b. the
c. and Bishop Peter Weaver
d. Jim Forbes,
i.
Plane ride
conversation
1. Where you going?
2. Where you from?
3. peanuts or pretzels?
4. What do you do?
a. pastor
b. “I raise the dead!”
e. Proclaim to you today with a laughing hope that we
can indeed raise the dead
II.
Sarah and
Abraham
a. Twice now this couple has received promise
i.
in previous
chapter to Abraham
1. he laughed
ii.
now in this
chapter
1. Sarah laughed
b. Why?
i.
not sure about
Abraham, although he was 98
ii.
I know about
Sarah who was 90
1. she knew what these men did
2. well past the time of childbirth
a. menopause
b. laughed because she is old
iii.
all these years
she was barren
1. the promise of children had been given before and not
fulfilled
2. she had hoped when she was twenty, then thirty, and
maybe even forty
3. but now she was 90 and it was no longer possible
iv.
could her fondest wish, her greatest desire be possible?
Huh! Not now in her old age.
v.
she would have
had hope earlier, now all she has is laughter
vi.
Sarah and
Abraham laughed
1. questioning the promise of God
2. doubting the power and will of God
vii.
yet nine months
later
1. we know Sarah and Abraham were still laughing now
with hope
2. they named the child Isaac
a. means laughter
b. hope fulfilled through laughter
c. story gives rise to the laughing hope of the gospel
i.
gospel good news
in this reversal of birth
1. yes, there is gospel even in Old Testament
ii.
what was
impossible proves possible with God
III.
Laughing hope
a. causes me to believe some day separation between rich
and poor will lessen
i.
because the
people are willing to share
ii.
in spite of
evidence to the contrary
iii.
and rational
thought, I believe
b. suggest that some day humanity will live in a world
of no war
i.
Because we have
beat our swords into plow shares
ii.
we have learned
to share the land that God has entrusted to us
c. I know the world scorns this kind of hope,
i.
yet gospel of
Jesus Christ
1. is good news to the poor
2. Release to the captives
ii.
He calls us to
proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord
1. more equitable distribution of the world’s resources
IV.
Apostle Paul
speaks about laughing hope
a. A spiritual hope deeper than even our best wish
b. Comes from as a result of
i.
Or in spite of
ii.
Our suffering,
our endurance
iii.
Character-building
experiences that nearly break us
c. This hope is gift of faith that remains when all the
evidence around points to despair
d. Hope is strength within us that surprises
i.
In Grueling
times of loss and heartache
1. we somehow make it through
2. we believe better times coming
e. hope planted deeply within our souls
i.
by power of Holy
Spirit
ii.
building up to
give us courage when need most
iii.
Jesus provides
assurance that hope is more than wishful thinking
V.
Laughing Hope at
AC
a. passed a resolution that asking us to observe
National Hunger Awareness Day in June
i.
“until hunger is
eliminated from our land”
ii.
laughing hope
helps imagine some day the problem of world hunger will be eliminated
b. adopted a resolution that encourages divesture of
investments in companies that benefit from the violence between Israeli and
Palestinian
i.
laughing hope
gives me the courage to believe that this conflict can be resolved
ii.
that after 40
years, we might help to encourage the Palestinian and Israeli governments
toward peace
iii.
some evidence
from past that this type of influence can work
1. years ago many called by faith to participate in
boycott of Nestle products
a. helped to encourage this company to stop promoting
formula feeding of babies in developing countries where mothers did not have
access to clean water
2. more recently divestiture of companies dealing with
the apartheid So Africa
a. led in part to reform
c. thirdly, I was given a laughing hope that we could go
from 39 %of churches not contributing their fair share to our shared Conference
expenses
i.
to a future
where every church paid fair share
ii.
maybe not
tomorrow, but soon
iii.
much work has
been done as result of the financial resolutions we worked on last year
d. Peter Smyton and I shared a
little laughing hope when we heard about the pledges made by the seven pilot
churches to our Conference Capital Campaign
i.
We knew the
miracle that had happened
1. that they had two short months to run a capital
campaign
2. yet out of a hoped for Conference wide goal of ten
million
3. these seven very average churches have pledged 2.4
million
VI.
Our greatest
laughing hope
a. in God of salvation
i.
who will not
forget us
ii.
who walks with
us through the deep valleys
iii.
who raises even
us from the dead
iv.
and encourages
us to become the raisers of the dead
b. reminded of this when Saul Cortez and Hairo Lezama were introduced to
Bishop Weaver
c. our faith in this God of Jesus Christ
i.
calls us to be
in relationship with the poor
1. in
2. in our own communities
ii.
to look for just
living
iii.
to live with
righteousness or acts of right living
d. our faith in Jesus Christ calls us to offer good news
to a hurting world
i.
right here in
ii.
partnership with
those in need
1. to raise the question of affordable housing in our
community
2. to walk with those who do not have money to buy food
3. more than charity, we’re looking for partnership
e. listen to Jesus’ words when he sends his disciples
into the world
f.
laughing hope
encourages us into the future trusting in God’s new creation
i.
letting go of
the past evidence to the contrary
1. evidence that gives no hope
2. letting go of those voices that tell us there is no
hope,
3. that tell us to just accept the ways of the world is
ii.
we have to let
go, so we can take hold of God’s promise
1. for reversal
2. promises that give laughing hope
3. and embrace the laughing hope of the gospel
4. to believe that we can indeed raise the dead