Loving God, you show us through the Scriptures that you keep your promises, even when they sound impossible.  Help us to grow in faith and trust by the power of your Spirit, through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

            Today we have heard part of the story of God’s covenant with Abraham and Sarah that will lead to all the families of the earth being blessed.  As part of this covenant, God has promised them numerous descendants – as many as the stars.  However, there is one problem.  Abraham is now in his nineties, and Sarah is approaching eighty, and they still don’t have any children.  This makes it even more amazing that Abraham (then known as Abram) believes God’s promise.

          However, lest we think that Abraham has some sort of super-human faith that is unlike other people, we also hear about Abraham and Sarah’s doubts throughout the book of Genesis.  They even take matters into their own hands at one point and decide that Abraham should have a child with Hagar instead of Sarah, since she still hasn’t conceived.  However, in spite of their doubts that are mixed in with their faith, God keeps all of God’s promises – even the ones that take many years to be fulfilled.

          Today, as Aidan and Kaiden affirm their baptism, we remember that God also made a covenant with them when they were baptized.  As part of that covenant, God made some promises to them.  They were set free from the power of sin and death by being united with Jesus Christ.  They were reborn as children of God and inheritors of eternal life.  They were given the Holy Spirit.

          Today, Kaiden and Aidan are both saying that they want to claim those promises, and continue to live in the covenant that God has made with them.  Just like Abraham and Sarah, they might still have doubts, but they also have faith – and I’m going to invite each of them to share that faith with you now.

(Faith statements)

          Aidan and Kaiden, God has continued to be active in your lives, helping you to grow in faith and in love.  None of that ends today.  Just as Abraham and Sarah still had lots to learn after their early expressions of faith, so all of us continue to learn and to grow in our relationships with God and with one another.  It is the Holy Spirit who helps us with all this, which is why we will pray today that the Holy Spirit will be poured out on you anew and will renew you in God’s love.

          All of us, including Abraham and Sarah, sometimes have doubts and sometimes try to take matters into our own hands rather than trusting God.  However, God’s love for us never wavers.  God always waits for us with open arms, waiting for us to turn back to God when we wander and receive forgiveness and healing.  For we have been reborn as children of God and inheritors of eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Saviour.  Amen.

Pentecost 16 (NL 3) / Confirmation         Genesis 15:1-6

September 20, 2020

St. Luke’s Zion Lutheran Church

Pastor Lynne Hutchison

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