Meditation on Genesis 12, 18, and 21, selected verses
Pastor Karen Crawford
First Presbyterian Church of Smithtown
June 18, 2023
We had the Sunday School picnic at the manse last Sunday. It was amazing! The weather was perfect. Many of the children, families, teachers, and children’s ministry leaders came and stayed several hours. We ate and watched the children play. They ran around on the grass, did cartwheels, jumped rope and played tug-of-war, blew bubbles and threw bean bags, and raced through the manse looking for my dog and cat!
The most memorable thing of all to me was when a whole group of them climbed a tree. With no adults involved, the children helped one another up into the tree—one by one, small ones were lifted up. Hands reached out to grasp other hands.
Little boys, bigger boys, little girls, bigger girls—everyone was welcome to come to the tree and stay awhile.
I will never look at that tree again without remembering that special day—when moms and dads were working hard in their callings to be Christian mothers and fathers. Is it OK to claim that word for Presbyterians? We are Christians! And we aren’t ashamed for the world to know it!
This is my second Father’s Day with you. I have to admit that it is a little intimidating preaching on Father’s Day—as a pastor who has never been a father. Probably your first pastor who has never been a FATHER. I can’t pretend to understand all that men go through when they are fathers. Being a father is a special calling—and it’s not my calling. But it IS my calling to encourage you as you seek to be faithful.
I have been blessed with a wonderful father and a wonderful husband, who has been a terrific stepdad to my 3 boys—now men—for nearly 18 years. I watch fathers—how they interact with their children and how the interactions change as their children grow up. Fathers and sons, like mothers and daughters, can also become friends.
My husband and his son, Danny, text often. They talk about politics, economics, sports, and the granddaughters—their favorite topic. Danny sends photos and video messages, which we so appreciate. It touches my heart to see Danny, who is a Ph.D. biochemist, working hard to serve his family, including a professional wife, who is a researcher and staff physician at Boston Children’s Hospital and instructor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School.
Danny isn’t the father of Father Knows Best or Leave It to Beaver, where the husband comes home in a suit and tie, and says to his wife, wearing pearls and lipstick, dress and hose and, of course, an apron, “Honey, I’m home. What’s for dinner?” Danny is the one who gets the girls ready for school in the morning—gets them out of bed, including the youngest one, Maddie, who is 5 and not a morning person. He makes their breakfast, sees that they are dressed appropriately, prepares their snacks and lunchboxes, and gets them to their respective schools on time. He also shops and cooks dinner and does so many other tasks—quietly, behind the scenes, without complaint. He is involved in school and after school activities, as his wife Hiu-fai is. They play with their children, taking them out on weekends, when they are not involved in gymnastics, soccer, hockey, softball or other sports. They go on bike rides to parks, playgrounds, museums, and community festivals. They go on family vacations.
Men, of all ages, I see you working hard to care for your families, to support them in their interests and help them grow in every way, and most of all, to nurture their lives of faith in a time when, frankly, it’s not cool for guys to be in church or talk about church involvement, let alone their faith. Is it? It’s not cool.
The biblical example I offer you is the one whom Paul in his letter to the Romans calls the “Father of us all.” Let’s consider the faith of our Father Abraham. He writes in Romans 4, beginning at verse 13,
“For the promise that he would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or to his descendants through the law but through the righteousness of faith… For this reason the promise depends on faith, in order that it may rest on grace, so that it may be guaranteed to all his descendants, not only to the adherents of the law but also to those who share the faith of Abraham (who is the father of all of us, as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”), in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.
“Hoping against hope, he believed that he would become ‘the father of many nations,” according to what was said, ‘So shall your descendants be.’ He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was already as good as dead (for he was about a hundred years old), and the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, being fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.”
Abraham’s call story begins in Gen. 12—when he is 75 and hears God’s voice telling him to leave his home and kin and go off into the wilderness to a place God would show him. He hears a God that nobody else hears, a God who is near to him, a God who is gracious and loving, a God who makes promises and keeps them, even when Abraham and Sarah take matters into their own hands—and, frankly, make a mess of things. They just didn’t understand, like we don’t always understand, that sometimes, God calls us to wait and wait and wait…
Finally, at the age of 100, Isaac is born. Abraham had already had another child, Ishmael, with his wife’s Egyptian servant, Hagar. But Ishmael, at Sarah’s insistence to protect the inheritance of Isaac, is sent off to live in the wilderness. Isaac is the one who would be the next patriarch in the faith that would then be passed on to his younger son, Jacob, whom we also know as Israel, who would have 12 children with 2 wives and 2 concubines—now that’s an interesting story—and all would become the 12 tribes of Israel. His favorite son, Joseph, would carry the faith to Egypt, when he was taken as a slave—and he would become second in command to Pharaoh and save the lives of many people in a famine, including his family.
While God called Abraham to be a father, he was first and foremost a man of faith—hearing God’s voice and obeying without question, even when that meant the possibility of sacrificing the long-awaited son, years later, in a divine test on a mountain. In Abraham’s fatherhood, his offspring would be a blessing to all the nations, all the families on the earth.
This is a promise that all fathers have today. You are chosen, as well, in Jesus Christ. Your calling to fatherhood means that you are nurturing your offspring in the faith and life of the children of God. Wheww! It’s hard work in this busy time, when some days, you are just trying to juggle all the tasks that a person does to work and care for families.
Today, especially, on Father’s Day, may the knowledge of your special calling give you joy and peace. Because in your daily lives, though you are unaware of it, you are continuing the blessing of Abraham, as we are grafted into the family tree through our Savior! You are continuing to bless all the families of the earth through your offspring and their offspring, who every day, are a joyful witness to the faith and hope of Jesus Christ, without necessarily even talking about it. Thank you, Fathers, for all you do for your families and the Family of God.
And now, what about the men whose children are grown and, like my kids, live far away? Or maybe, you are a single man—not yet or never married, with kids. You still have a calling to be a father in the faith! That’s why you are here today—to be encouraged in that calling. You are needed to encourage other men, particularly younger men, in their walk with God. Don’t be shy about it! The Spirit will help you! Thank you, Fathers in the faith, for all you do for the Family of God.
My brothers in the Lord, may you always be people who care, people who listen with love and good humor, without judgement, when other men are sharing how weary and discouraged they are. Because men get tired, and they worry about their families all the time. I am sure some of them lie awake at night, wondering and worrying about the future.
My sisters and brothers, may we all be people who care, people who listen with love and good humor, without judgment, because, like Abraham, we all make mistakes! But our gracious Lord offers new mercies every morning.
We serve a God who always keeps God’s promises, though we may have to wait and wait and wait to see the promises come true.
Let us pray. Will you pray with me?
Heavenly Father, thank you for your tender love for us, sending your Son, Jesus Christ, to lead us back to you when we had gone astray. Thank you for the call of Abraham and the example of a faithful but very human man, hearing your voice when no one else in the world could hear you—and obeying immediately, without question. We lift up all the fathers in our community and world today. They have many challenges. It’s hard to be fathers and it’s harder still to be Christian fathers. Give them wisdom and strength, courage and endurance to live out their faith as you lead them and to help their children and children’s children grow in every way—including spiritually. Stir us all to believe in your promises and encourage the “fathers” in our lives. In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit we pray. Amen.
Sharing God's Love and Grace 