Genesis 15:1-6<\/span> Psalm 33:12-22<\/span><\/p>\n Hebrews 11:1-16<\/span> Luke 12:22-34 (35-40)<\/span> Homily<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Some of us know — and if you don’t, it helps to know — that some of the smartest people around us, full of wisdom and perspective that runs rather deep, and often with hidden talents and skills, are janitors. Some years ago when I served as a university chaplain, we had a cleaning lady who I occasionally referred to as one of our college\u2019s \u201cmost insightful and articulate theologians.\u201d Not only did she have something to say, but she had an interesting way of saying it.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 This cleaning lady had experienced some profound events during the course of her life: not only had she buried her husband; she had also for many years given care to a son who eventually died from his disabilities. She had seen, like many of you, up-close-and-personal, from the inside and out, ups-and-downs in life. One day she was telling me about some health troubles happening to her sister, and finally, this cleaning lady leaned into me closely like she had either a secret \u2013 or something real important — to say, (or both,) and in a voice that sounded like a John Wayne-character (in a movie) getting ready to face insurmountable odds, she declared, \u201cLet\u2019s face it, Pastor: There ain\u2019t none of us gettin\u2019 outta here alive!\u201d It was both humorous \u2013 in the way she said it, and also startlingly true.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 An end to life as we know it<\/em>, the unknown before us, as certain, as inevitable, and as unavoidable as it is, can be \u2013 sometimes is \u2013 in a sense paralyzing to some individuals. A few years ago, a fellow I know nearly lost his marriage and family because of fear of death and the unknown \u2013 not because of fear of his own<\/em> immediate death, but his father\u2019s. His mother had died suddenly and unexpectedly. He went to his parent\u2019s home (of course) for the funeral, and then \u2013 wouldn\u2019t leave! He was afraid of losing his father. He didn\u2019t out-right admit he was afraid of his father\u2019s death… and that\u2019s the way it is: often we\u2019re not \u201cin touch with\u201d our fear of death, yet it can control us; this fellow kept claiming (with some truth) that his father\u2019s health troubles and physical needs determined that he (the son) needed to stay there with him. The folks at his job were startlingly patient with him (giving him a leave of absence), and so was his wife \u2013 up to a point! But finally, after a few months of this, after his wife went to him and confronted him, his dad told him: \u201cSon, you are not going to prevent me from dying. It doesn\u2019t matter what you do, or how much you stay here with me, you\u2019re not going to prevent me from dying<\/em>.\u201d Some years later, when the fellow\u2019s father finally did die, the son told me that, his father\u2019s earlier words \u2013 \u201cyou are not going to prevent me from dying\u201d \u2013 were the most freeing words he had ever heard in his life. They were true; and they were permission to him to move on.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The end of life as we know it here<\/u><\/em>, is inevitable. So is our growing-up and moving beyond our teen-years; so is, for us parents, the growing-up and moving on of our children; and those kinds of developments are familiar and recognizable. But as for the end of life as we know it here<\/em>, to move on to something completely different that we have never experienced before!: even for those of us who have seen it happen with our parents and other people, it can be still, nonetheless, a frightening prospect.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 However!, there is<\/u><\/em> someone who has been<\/em> there, and has come back to us to tell us about it. In fact, the person who created all our lives and our stories tells us repeatedly, through sacred writings and through his messengers: \u201cDon\u2019t be afraid.\u201d Relatively early-on in the Bible, in Genesis chapter 15, among the first words of today\u2019s scripture reading, we encounter the Lord God saying to our ancestor Abraham, \u201cDo not be afraid<\/u>.\u201d In the midst of our gospel reading for today, and from the heart of St. Luke\u2019s gospel, are the words, \u201cDo not be afraid.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The end of this life\u00a0 as we know it<\/em>, just like the end of certain chapters of our lives, is inevitable. And as we are traveling<\/em> to that end, when we arrive <\/em>there, and also beyond<\/em> that point: God is with us. God is (as he states to Abraham) our shield and protector. We may not always feel<\/em> like we are being shielded and protected; but we are. God is with us always, in this life as we know it, and beyond, and in fact, much of what happens in this life as we know it, is to prepare us for the life beyond. There, we shall be part of a community, a kingdom, of security, of plenty, freedom from worry, filled with kindness, and peace. And today the Promiser, the one who guarantees the promise, Christ Jesus, who has overcome death, comes to us to give us a foretaste of the feast and the life to come.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.<\/span><\/p>\n ___<\/span> AD 2022 –\u00a0Pentecost 9\u00a0| 07.08.22 | Gen 15:1-6, Heb 11:1-16 | Andrew F. Weisner, Ph.D. | Genesis 15:1-6 After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram\u00a0 in a vision, \u2018Do not be afraid, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.\u2019 \u00a0 But Abram said, \u2018O\u00a0Lord God, what will […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8529,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,59,2,845,157,853,108,110,1015],"tags":[],"beitragende":[],"predigtform":[],"predigtreihe":[],"bibelstelle":[],"class_list":["post-12725","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-genesis","category-hebraeer","category-at","category-andrew-f-weisner","category-beitragende","category-bibel","category-current","category-engl","category-kapitel-15-chapter-15-genesis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12725","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12725"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12725\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12741,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12725\/revisions\/12741"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8529"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12725"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12725"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12725"},{"taxonomy":"beitragende","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/beitragende?post=12725"},{"taxonomy":"predigtform","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/predigtform?post=12725"},{"taxonomy":"predigtreihe","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/predigtreihe?post=12725"},{"taxonomy":"bibelstelle","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bibelstelle?post=12725"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nAfter these things the word of the Lord came to Abram\u00a0 in a vision, \u2018Do not be afraid, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.\u2019 \u00a0 <\/span><\/em><\/span>But Abram said, \u2018O\u00a0Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?\u2019<\/span><\/sup><\/em>And Abram said, \u2018You have given me no offspring, and so a slave born in my house is to be my heir.\u2019 But the word of the Lord came to him, \u2018This man shall not be your heir; no one but your very own issue shall be your heir.\u2019 He brought him outside and said, \u2018Look towards heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them.\u2019 Then he said to him, \u2018So shall your descendants be.\u2019 And he believed the Lord; and the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness.<\/span><\/sup><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n
\nNow faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.\u00a0<\/em>2<\/sup><\/em>Indeed, by faith our ancestors received approval.\u00a0<\/em>3<\/sup><\/em>By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible. <\/em>4<\/sup><\/em>By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain\u2019s. Through this he received approval as righteous, God himself giving approval to his gifts; he died, but through his faith he still speaks.\u00a0<\/em>5<\/sup><\/em>By faith Enoch was taken so that he did not experience death; and \u201che was not found, because God had taken him.\u201d For it was attested before he was taken away that \u201che had pleased God.\u201d\u00a0<\/em>6<\/sup><\/em>And without faith it is impossible to please God, for whoever would approach him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.\u00a0<\/em>7<\/sup><\/em>By faith Noah, warned by God about events as yet unseen, respected the warning and built an ark to save his household; by this he condemned the world and became an heir to the righteousness that is in accordance with faith.\u00a0<\/em>8<\/sup><\/em>By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to set out for a place that he was to receive as an inheritance; and he set out, not knowing where he was going.\u00a0<\/em>9<\/sup><\/em>By faith he stayed for a time in the land he had been promised, as in a foreign land, living in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise.\u00a0<\/em>10<\/sup><\/em>For he looked forward to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.\u00a0<\/em>11<\/sup><\/em>By faith he received power of procreation, even though he was too old\u2014and Sarah herself was barren\u2014because he considered him faithful who had promised.\u00a0<\/em>12<\/sup><\/em>Therefore from one person, and this one as good as dead, descendants were born, \u201cas many as the stars of heaven and as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.\u201d\u00a0<\/em>13<\/sup><\/em>All of these died in faith without having received the promises, but from a distance they saw and greeted them. They confessed that they were strangers and foreigners on the earth,\u00a0<\/em>14<\/sup><\/em>for people who speak in this way make it clear that they are seeking a homeland.\u00a0<\/em>15<\/sup><\/em>If they had been thinking of the land that they had left behind, they would have had opportunity to return.\u00a0<\/em>16<\/sup><\/em>But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; indeed, he has prepared a city for them.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n
\n22<\/sup>He said to his disciples, \u201cTherefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear.\u00a023<\/sup>For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing.\u00a024<\/sup>Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds!\u00a025<\/sup>And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life?\u00a026<\/sup>If then you are not able to do so small a thing as that, why do you worry about the rest?\u00a027<\/sup>Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these.\u00a028<\/sup>But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you\u2014you of little faith!\u00a029<\/sup>And do not keep striving for what you are to eat and what you are to drink, and do not keep worrying.\u00a030<\/sup>For it is the nations of the world that strive after all these things, and your Father knows that you need them.\u00a031<\/sup>Instead, strive for his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.\u00a032<\/sup>\u201cDo not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father\u2019s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.\u00a033<\/sup>Sell your possessions, and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys.\u00a034<\/sup>For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.\u00a035<\/sup>\u201cBe dressed for action and have your lamps lit;\u00a036<\/sup>be like those who are waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet, so that they may open the door for him as soon as he comes and knocks.\u00a037<\/sup>Blessed are those slaves whom the master finds alert when he comes; truly I tell you, he will fasten his belt and have them sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them.\u00a038<\/sup>If he comes during the middle of the night, or near dawn, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves.\u00a039<\/sup>\u201cBut know this: if the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into.\u00a040<\/sup>You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n
\nThe Rev. Andrew F. Weisner, Ph.D., <\/span>
\nThe North American Lutheran Church (NALC)<\/span>
\nAntioch Lutheran Church, Dallas, North Carolina<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"