God Laughs, Weeps and Loves

God Laughs, Weeps and Loves
Lent 2; Genesis 17:1-17, Mark 8:31-38
One theological truth I affirm:
God has a sense of humour
and we are made in that image too.
Bless the Lord who laughs, weeps and loves.

God made Abraham a solemn promise
and adjusted his name to mean
"father of a multitude", so Abraham
fell on his face and laughed,
for he was ninety-nine and not virile.
God had the last laugh (at least in English)
adding "ha" to "Abram", and God said
their son would be "Isaac", meaning
"May God laugh in delight!"

Sarai became Sarah, and "I" was lost to "ah!"
She would have cried a long "ah" in childbirth,
being old and stiff. Oh she laughed,
overhearing the promise:
perhaps in the scant hope of pleasure,
or mocking the men for their dreaming.

Jesus named his offsider "Peter", meaning "rock",
rock to build a church on, but maybe also "rocky",
as in denial in the courtyard of hierarchy.
Insightful Peter named Jesus Messiah;
fallible Peter was rebuked as Satan
for tempting his friend once more
with the lure of safety, fame and power
in place of a cross outside the walls.

Jesus would have sighed, laughed, and forgiven
Peter's rockiness, but Peter's inheritors
often chose safety, fame and power
in place of cross and resurrection.
In prayer on mountain tops,
looking out at flawed beauty,
and on the plains, suffering our failures,
Jesus and God laugh, weep and love.
Though our choices endanger the world,
we are not yet too old for new birth.
      Barbara Messner 22/02/2024