Cupped Hands

(Genesis 18:1-15, 21:1-7) – The LORD appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the entrance of his tent in the heat of the day. He looked up and saw three men standing near him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent entrance to meet them, and bowed down to the ground. He said, "My lord, if I find favor with you, do not pass by your servant. Let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree. Let me bring a little bread, that you may refresh yourselves, and after that you may pass on -- since you have come to your servant." So they said, "Do as you have said." And Abraham hastened into the tent to Sarah, and said, "Make ready quickly three measures of choice flour, knead it, and make cakes." Abraham ran to the herd, and took a calf, tender and good, and gave it to the servant, who hastened to prepare it. Then he took curds and milk and the calf that he had prepared, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree while they ate. They said to him, "Where is your wife Sarah?" And he said, "There, in the tent." Then one said, "I will surely return to you in due season, and your wife Sarah shall have a son." And Sarah was listening at the tent entrance behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age; it had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, "After I have grown old, and my husband is old, shall I have pleasure?" The LORD said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh, and say, 'Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?' Is anything too wonderful for the LORD? At the set time I will return to you, in due season, and Sarah shall have a son." But Sarah denied, saying, "I did not laugh"; for she was afraid. He said, "Oh yes, you did laugh."

The LORD dealt with Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did for Sarah as he had promised. Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the time of which God had spoken to him. Abraham gave the name Isaac to his son whom Sarah bore him. And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. Now Sarah said, "God has brought laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh with me." And she said, "Who would ever have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age."

In the desert there is a code of hospitality. Human survival relies on it. A stranger who presents himself in the desert has a right of hospitality and the host a duty to serve the stranger, for who knows, one day this host may be traveling in the harsh climate and be dependent upon another's welcome. From such roots spring the elaborate traditions of oriental courtesy in the Middle East.

So Abraham runs to greet the three strangers and serves them himself with a substantial fare. He does not know that the stranger is God. Trinitarian Christians have treated this scene with great devotion in the painting of our icons, seeing Abraham's three visitors as the visitation of God the Holy Trinity.

Abraham and Sarah are an old couple. It is said that he is nearly one-hundred, she is post-menopausal. So when one of the strangers says "I will surely return to you in due season, and your wife Sarah shall have a son," it is a laughable proposition. When the unexpected blessing comes true, they name him "laughter" -- Isaac. An old promise fulfilled, even though the odds seemed insurmountable. From that child "Laughter," born to a barren and aged couple, shall come the nation Israel. Little things; big consequences.

There is a story that gets passed around the internet. It was written by a mother during a terrible drought. Crops and cattle were dying and water was rationed severely. Without rain, this farming family would soon lose everything.

One hot day she noticed her six-year old son Billy walking carefully toward the woods with serious purpose, walking with deliberate stillness. He disappeared into the woods for a few moments, then came running back toward the house.

Some time later there he was again, walking slowly and carefully toward the woods. Into the woods. Then the run back to the house. It went on for an hour. Curious, the mother crept out of the house to watch Billy, cautious to avoid his seeing her spying on him.

She could see his hands cupped in front of him. He walked carefully so as not to spill the water he held, maybe two or three tablespoons in his tiny hands. He ignored the branches and thorns in his face as he entered the woods.

Then she saw several large deer in front of Billy. He walked right up to them. She nearly screamed seeing a huge buck with elaborate antlers dangerously close. But the buck didn't move as Billy knelt down. There was a tiny fawn lying on the ground panting from dehydration and heat exhaustion. The fawn lifted its head with great effort and lapped up the water cupped in Billy's hands. When the water was gone, Billy dashed back to the house.

Still hiding, his mother followed him behind the house to a spigot to which they had shut off the water. Billy opened it all the way up and a small trickle began to creep out into his cupped hands. She remembered having lectured Billy the previous week for playing with the hose and wasting water. She watched silently as it took almost twenty minutes for the drops to fill his hands.

When Billy stood up, his mother came out from hiding. His eyes began to tear, "I'm not wasting!" That's all he said. As he walked back toward the woods, she joined him with a small pot of water from the kitchen. Giving him the extra water, she stayed away and let him finish. It was his job. Standing at the edge of the woods, her love for her beautiful son welled into tears that rolled down her face and began to hit the ground. Suddenly, her tears were joined by drops, and more drops, as the sky began to open and brought the rain that saved their farm. (An anonymous story passed along)

There are so many problems that seem beyond our means. It can be depressing to read the newspaper, especially one of the rare periodicals that gives extensive international coverage. So many of our problems closer to home seem chronic and intractable. It's like we've gotten used to unemployment, violent cities, homelessness, poverty, and a health care crisis. There are cultural and political divisions that tear at the fabric of our common humanity. And in our homes, so many people live with their own unmanageable problems in their personal lives. Trying to do something to solve these things can feel as helpless as a six-year old bringing tablespoons of water in a drought.

The Daughters of the King, an Order of Episcopal women who give themselves to prayer and service, has this as their motto:

I am but one, but I am one.

In that spirit Joyce Brown and others began to respond to the unmet health needs of our neighbors several years ago and started what is now the Community Clinic at St. Francis House which hosts over 12,000 visits annually from uninsured people with health and dental problems. In that spirit, Helen Amussen and others worked with our friends at Central Methodist to start Community Meals which will serve over 22,000 meals from St. Paul's kitchen this year. In that spirit Kimberly Gross and others started Seven Hills Homeless Center which will offer a welcome for over 8,500 visits this year. In that spirit T. Fuller and others organized the monthly Angel Food ministry which will distribute over 600 boxes of low-cost quality food a week from Saturday.

Each of these may seem like a tablespoon of water in the face of the massive problems of poverty, homelessness, access to health and dental care, or just making ends meet in a difficult world. But these are acts of hope and compassion that change the face of the world and open the gates of grace.

Outside of these particular organized ministries of outreach from our congregation, there are so many other small random acts of kindness and senseless acts of beauty that you offer in your everyday life -- at work, at home, through church, in the community. So many cupped hands bringing modest gestures of hope and compassion to different parts of a suffering creation. Are you making a difference? When you look at the big picture sometimes it seem laughable. There are 60,000 people in Northwest Arkansas who don't have health insurance. It's easy to see our clinic as some kind of joke in the face of those odds. Why not laugh it off? Who could believe that we could make a difference? Who could believe that old Abraham and Sarah could have a baby? Go ahead and laugh. But you never know. You never know what a little water and a little hospitality can bring. Some have entertained angels unawares. You never know what impact a six-year old's hard work can have on others, as I hope it has today.

Come to your spiritual home at God's altar. Fill your cupped hands with the bread of life, and quench your parched soul with the cup of salvation. Then carry that out into the woods to bring relief and compassion to an aching world. And come back again next week to fill your hands and soul, and travel back out to do your work of caring. You never know how God can take just a bit of compassion and sacrifice and make it into something unimaginable. Little things; big consequences.

Benedictine sister Joan Chittister has written: We are each called to go through life reclaiming the planet an inch at a time until the Garden of Eden grows green again. For three strangers in the desert, the tent of Abraham was a garden. For a thirsty faun, a little boy's cupped hands was salvation. For thousands of people, the compassionate caring ministries of this congregation are an oasis. And for countless others, your small acts of random kindness and sacrificial care are reclaiming the planet an inch at a time. Inch by inch the garden grows; inch by inch the kingdom of heaven comes nearer.

I am but one, but I am one.