To begin, I should give you a quick review of the Scripture readings for this Sunday, the Second Sunday of Lent:

First we have the story, in the book of Genesis, where God appears to Abraham. who is ferociously old, and tells him that he and Sarah are going to start their family.  As such, this is the Genesis – the “beginnings” – of the great patriarchal figures of the Bible – Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob – foundational to Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

The second selection is a portion of Psalm 22.  It’s actually the ending of the psalm that Jesus quoted on the cross, the first words of which are, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me!?”  In this part of the psalm, which began in such a forlorn way, the whole mood changes, to a feeling of great optimism and joy, that God will accomplish his work in the world!  I’ll just quote a few of the words here: The Lord “heard” when people “cried to him;” and “…dominion belongs to the LORD, and he rules over the nations.”

The third reading, from the letter of St. Paul to the church in Rome, an extremely important section of it – from which I’ll just quote one line, for now: “No distrust made [Abraham} 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.”

These three selections from the Bible all direct our attention to God’s activity in the world: the “call” of Abraham and Sarah; the psalmist praising God for hearing, helping, and ruling over the world; and Paul pointing to Abraham’s trust in God’s actions, and saying that this trust is our calling, too.  Which will be the main point of this sermon.  But…

There is the Gospel… in which there seems to be a complete change in tone, given that it describes Jesus predicting his crucifixion, and Peter arguing with him about that.  But in fact, the death and resurrection of Jesus is the most amazing of all God’s acts; so the theme of God’s acts in the world actually runs right through all of the readings.  I will make reference to this Gospel selection in a very brief part of the sermon that now follows…

Abraham figures quite largely in today’s readings; particularly in the first reading, and in Paul’s reflections about the event described in that passage.  The passage begins with the assertion that Abraham is 99 years old.  Now, I don’t want you to get too distracted by this incredible number!  Few humans today reach that age.  Yes, the Bible asserts, in fact, that Abraham lived to be 175, and Sarah to be 127.  You can read that for yourself in Genesis, chapters twenty-three and twenty-five, where it is absolutely specific about these ages.  There are lots of technical issues around the extreme ages attributed to the first people in the Bible.  Maybe years were calculated differently three thousand years ago.  But whatever the number, the Bible insists that Abraham and Sarah were well beyond the normal age for starting a family.

St. Paul stresses that point, that they were old – certainly too old for childbearing and raising little kids.  (Speaking as someone who is getting pretty old himself, I don’t know whether I’d be ready to take on a brand-new baby as I turn 80 this year!) So, Paul picks up on that.  Abraham is old!  His wife is old!  And God says, “You’re going to have a baby!”  But Paul says that Abraham accepted it!  He trusted that God knew what God was doing, and that this would be okay.

Paul names this fundamental aspect of Abraham’s character – his trust in God – as being pivotal, central, not only to the story of Abraham, but to the lives of all the followers of Jesus, our lives, as Christians.  Trusting in God.

In fact, it became a rallying cry for the Reformation.  As Lutherans listening to this sermon ¹ may well know, Martin Luther was very strong on bringing this aspect of St. Paul’s teaching forward.  “Justification by Faith” is what it was called, and that rallying cry picks up on the message in both Genesis and St. Paul, that God considered Abraham’s trust to be sufficient.  It was “counted to him as ‘righteousness,’” which, when Paul says it in today’s passage, is a direct quote of Genesis 15:6.  Because of this trust, Abraham was fine – righteous – in the eyes of God.  And so are we, says Paul, not by doing morally wonderful things – being generous, kind, humble, truthful, and faithful to one’s spouse… of course these things are important to do, but, Paul says, they’re not as important as trusting in the Lord our God!

But, many people make a mistake, here, when we start to think in terms of “Justification by Faith.”  They make the mistake of treating “faith” simply as “intellectual assent to religious doctrines.”

“If you believe, then you will be saved!” exclaim some preachers.  If you believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and died for our sins – well, you’ve heard it, surely, in televised sermons, and probably in sermons in this very church.  But the problem is that this messaging blurs what Paul was talking about in his letter to the Church in Rome: our justification by faith!

Of course, being a Christian means to believe certain things – notably the creeds, and teachings about “Father, Son, and Holy Spirit” – but that is not the only meaning of the word, “faith.”

Sam, the politician, says, “Elect me, and I will take care of homeless people!” Jill votes for Sam, and says, “I have faith in Sam.  He keeps his promises.”

So, here, in what the fictional Jill says, “faith” simply means “trust” – “I trust him to do what he says he’s going to do!”  It’s an unusual level of trust, in this case, for who trusts politicians these days!? ²  But that is precisely the point I’m trying to make here: it is hard to trust, sometimes.  And yet, as difficult as it can sometimes be, to trust God is central to our calling.  To have faith in God means to trust God, and that is exactly what St. Paul means by “faith.”

It hardly makes sense for an extremely old couple in ancient times to say, “Okay God, we trust you!  You say we’re going to start a family?  Then we will count on you to do just that, and, moreover, to give us the energy, and help us to live long enough to see that the baby you give us will grow up safely!”  Paul says, “That’s what you and I need to do!  True righteousness in the eyes of God is to trust God to guide you, and to take care of you, throughout your life.”

The entire Bible is about a God who acts in the human world.  And, the “good news” of Christianity is that God helps and guides you and me in the details of our day-to-day existence.

So now we come to the core, the “meat” of this sermon:

It’s one thing to say that you and I are to trust God to take care of us, and to guide us, but, how do we do that!??

The Bible seems to describe God appearing to people like Abraham, somehow visibly, and, in this case, telling Abraham what is going to happen, and what he is supposed to do!

I’m here to tell you that, although God does not appear, physically, to too many people, He does make His presence known.  How?

It’s what we call the “conscience” – that quiet little voice that says, “Y’know?  You should do this…” or, “No, you really shouldn’t do that!”  It’s that familiar cartoon figure of a tiny angel sitting on one’s shoulder, whispering.  The Conscience is an aspect of our physical abilities – I mean, the thoughts and emotions and “feelings” that we have.  We get a “feeling,” from our Conscience, that this or that is how we are supposed to go in our life, it is something that God wants.

So, you pray, “O God!  What am I supposed to do!??”  And, the answer may come in a number of ways: a friend’s phone call; a text in a book; even words on a billboard as you drive by.  Or it might be something your spouse says….  My wife said to me, yesterday, “Have you called your brother!??”  (his wife recently died).  Of course, many people think that the wife’s voice is the voice of God! ³  But, in all seriousness, something happens, and the inside voice says, “Uh-huh!  That’s something that I need to pay attention to, and do something about.”  Conscience.

Now, we’re not born with a high-functioning conscience.  It is learned… just as we have to learn to talk and to ride a bike.  Jesus himself, despite the fact that we believe that his origin was in the very heart of God, also had to have his conscience trained!  Think of it: God chose to be a baby!  His mom had to potty-train him, and teach him to use a knife and fork, and look both ways before he crosses the street!  He had to learn everything!

Most significant, his mom took him to Synagogue, where he heard the Torah read – so that the words of Scripture became part of his bloodstream.  As well, the community around him, in that Synagogue – people who were concerned to be obedient to the Law of God – a community that desired to follow God’s ways – taught him, and influenced him about living faithfully in the world.  Go!  Be in Synagogue regularly, pray, say Grace before meals, learn the Ten Commandments – all this had to be taught to Jesus, as to any other boy or girl in the Israel of his day!

Jesus absorbed what came to him by this means, and he grew up to be a rabbi, and a master of the Scriptures.

Now, not only are thoughts and decisions part of God’s acts in our lives, there are also actual “Acts of God:” small coincidences; chance encounters; surprise events; answers to prayer; even miracles.  Since I have already mentioned my wife, Heather, in this sermon, I might as well add this: I have always felt that on the day I met her, God had organized a “gift” for me, for the rest of my life.

We often recognize this by the fact that we practice Thanksgiving.  “God, thank you for this blessing that has come my way! … a wife, a child, a job, good food, a lovely trip…”  We know, deep down, that somehow God helped that happen, made it happen!

Very, very rarely, and not to everyone, God actually appears, or is heard, as a voice.  But this is very rare – once or twice in a lifetime, if that.  And usually it comes when really, really serious and difficult stuff is happening.  But it is the well-developed conscience that helps us to understand when a particular event is a clear case of God working in our life.  The Conscience says, “Ahh!  That!  That is what I’m supposed to do!  That was God’s hand!”

Now, it is important to say that while many of the things I have given here as illustrations are wonderful things, things that we can be thankful for, things that help us to get through from day to day, it ain’t always lovely!!!  And that’s why the Gospel fits with today’s (and this sermon’s) theme: for in today’s Gospel reading, we have Jesus saying that he’s going to be framed, viciously tortured, and crucified… and he says that this is part of God’s plan!!  And the Bible is full of passages which suggest that sometimes God allows horrible things to happen to us!  Here I am, standing before you in the middle of a plague!  It has been permitted.  And I still say to you that God acts.

Peter couldn’t understand and accept that a crucifixion could be part of God’s glorious plan!  Good gracious, no!  God does good things… right?

And Jesus said to him, “Get behind me, Satan!” for indeed that is what had to happen!

And, things happen to us that we sure wish would not happen!

And yet… and yet… a person with Abraham-like faith… this old man who is going to have to put up with kids for the next twenty-five years… this stressful, difficult thing!  And he said, “Yes, I trust that God will hold on to me, and take care of me through this process.”  So, in the not-good things, we see the Hand of God, too.  He promises to be with us, to guide and support, in good times and in bad!  And, in the Age to Come, everything will finally make sense.

What I have been presenting here is that we have been promised a divine companion, an unseen guiding hand that we simply must learn to trust.  A skeptic may well say, “What!?  You’re telling me that I’m supposed to have an invisible friend, just like some little kids have!??”  Yes, I am.  Exactly that.

You know your Bibles enough, I trust, to know that Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the Kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it!” ⁴  So, we are to be kids, holding the hand of God, our unseen companion.  And, think of all the ways that we have heard that message, Sunday after Sunday, service after service.  My mind goes to material that is often referred to as “Children’s Hymns”….  “Jesus loves me, this I know;”  “What a friend we have in Jesus;” and one that is based on the story of Mary Magdalene meeting the risen Jesus in the Garden of the Tomb, “… and He walks with me, and He talks with me, and He tells me I am His own…”

So, the message to us, from the Scriptures today, and from me to you, my friends, is: God is to be trusted.  We are called to be like Abraham, and to trust… And, when we trust, God says, “That’s right!  That is ‘righteousness’!  Even if you’ve sinned and done wrong things… you must trust me.  Hold on!  Hold on tight!  Here we go!”