Sermon, The Ven. Pat Zifcak, July 27th, 2025
On Tuesdays at Staff meeting, we review the service bulletin and the lectionary when there are decisions to make about the text. On Tuesday we were all agreed that the reading from Genesis was a much more positive choice than the reading from Hosea which speaks in graphic terms about the people of Israel and their failure to be faithful to their God. So, Genesis, but wait-the story of Sodom and Gomorrah! Another difficult text to understand but our reading from Genesis this morning should help.
Our text follows God’s promise to Abraham that his wife, Sarah, will bear a son, Isaac, with whom God will establish an everlasting covenant. The promise of a son to Sarah in her old age is repeated by the three visitors to whom Abraham shows great hospitality.
After a time, the men set out from Abraham’s tent and travelled toward Sodom. Although none of this is part of our reading this morning, there is an important connection that, I think, will give us the context for our text. In chapter 18: 17-19, Yhwh has made the decision to test the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah and the gravity of their sin. The Lord wonders whether to tell Abraham that the men that brought him such amazing news are now on their way to destroy Sodom, if the stories are true. And the Lord, who has chosen Abraham to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice, tells him what He intends.
Then the question that Abraham came near to ask, “Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked?” Abraham is questioning Yhwh’s sense of justice. “Far be it from you to do such a thing, to slay the righteous with the wicked.... Shall not the judge of all the earth do what is just?” And in the story that follows of the destruction of Sodom, Lot and his family are spared for their righteousness. God remembered Abraham who interceded for the sake of the innocent. He asked for Divine mercy. As Abraham bargained with fewer and fewer righteous God said, I will forgive the whole place for the sake of ten. what Yhwh would once have destroyed without regard for the righteous, Yhwh now spares for their sake. Perhaps if Abraham had asked Yhwh to spare the city for the sake of four- Lot and his wife and two daughters- Sodom would not have been destroyed.
Abraham came near and said,.... With trust and confidence as strong as the psalmist’s, Abraham questioned and challenged God. Trust that God’s desire is always to have mercy, that God’s grace will preserve us through our troubles, and that love is God’s sustaining gift.
Can we hear the Gospel and not believe in Jesus as Abraham believed in God? Can we hear the Gospel stories and not understand what they have to teach us? Is our faith our sure foundation? We are learning to answer “yes!”
Teachers have great intuition for teachable moments. They are those unexpected, spontaneous opportunities to teach a valuable but unscripted lesson. Very often they are shared in response to a particular circumstance and allow us to talk about respect, kindness, friendship, living in community, and decision making. Teaching four-year- olds gave me minute by minute moments to stop a lesson and teach. I recently learned that our Bishop and I have the same response to the importance of spatial awareness. In the gym, little humans learn about their bodies in space by crashing into things, including other people. The teachable moment comes when a friend is in a heap on the floor and an apology is necessary. For the Bishop, the teachable moment lies in asking for ample space at the altar as she celebrates.
Over and over, I am struck by what a wonderful teacher Jesus was. This morning’s Gospel is a perfect example of a teachable moment. One of the disciples asks, “Lord, teach us to pray....”Jesus has been praying in their presence and in a place apart throughout his ministry yet they ask “how do we do it?” Isn’t that familiar to us? One resource identifies 19 times that the Gospels specifically recall Jesus praying. The source goes on to say that in every recorded prayer, Jesus addressed God as Father. Not formal, not laboured, not planned-simple, spontaneous, honest, open to response. Jesus says, “When you pray, say, “Father in heaven, hallowed be your name....” The one to whom we pray, teaches us how to pray.
We are not in the habit of using our Book of Common Prayer in worship but I want to remind us that at the back of the book are prayers for every occasion and they are so beautifully written. While we learn to trust our own prayers, prayed in moments of joy or sadness, anger or doubt, we can rely on our prayer book to answer our need.
Remember when I suggested that a simple prayer spoken in the midst of our daily lives is sufficient to open our hearts to God? Come, Lord Jesus is one.
For me, that prayer is Lord, have mercy. No matter the circumstances that provoke me to pray it, I immediately know that God has heard me and that I have summoned the God that knows and loves me. That prayer gives voice to my feelings, helps me take a deep breath, and gives me confidence that God is with me. Praying even the simplest of prayers is an invitation to a conversation, it is an act of conviction that Jesus is the foundation upon which we build and live our lives, it is a testimony to our belief that God loves us, and it is an act of faith in Jesus’ promise: “Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.”
Be brave! Be Bold! Here ends the teachable moment!
