For Nothing Will Be Impossible with God.
Pentecost 3; Genesis 18:1-15
Those three visitors came in the heat of the day
and old Abraham knew them: one Lord who was three.
“Rest and eat now,” he offered, “then pass on your way.”
So they ate and then promised a blessing to be.
“Where is Sara your wife? She will bear you a son.”
She was past menopause with her longings grown cold,
so she laughed though it hurt. How could age be undone
to let pleasure and birth in due season unfold?
Sara scoffed to herself but those visitors heard.
“Though you laugh at this wonder that we have foretold,
know the Lord who creates with the Spirit and Word
can bring life through your loving although you are old.”
What of us who are old in a church in decline?
Will God ask us to foster the seeds of new birth?
Will we doubt in our doorways, resisting God’s sign,
or dare offer what’s left of our nurturing worth?
After Sara gave birth with great risk and much pain,
the old patriarch thought God required sacrifice.
If our labour is hard, will what’s born be God’s gain,
or will old ways make youth pay the ultimate price?
In our time-honoured worship, the old words prevail
and the poets of now search in vain for a chance,
while our rules and traditions let fresh insights fail.
Will the Three draw us into their life-giving dance?
For the Spirit is willing and blows where it will,
Jesus teaches that mercy transcends ancient laws,
the Creator brings life out of tombs that we fill,
and no walls cause their outflowing loving to pause.
Barbara Messner 10/06/2026
Barb, poet priest 