Open the Word

Adult & All Age

Open the Word

Ideas for sermon preparation

Abraham and Sarah take time out with unexpected visitors and discover God in their midst.

The desert tradition of hospitality was critical — not only was food and drink shared, but those receiving hospitality came with news about the world in an age when people didn’t write letters and there were no newspapers. Thus the process was mutual and gave dignity to both the travellers and the residents of the tent or oasis.

This desert tradition remains evident in areas where nomadic people still travel. We also have nomadic people in our culture — homeless people, refugees, ‘bag people’ and travellers. How would we respond to people knocking on our door and asking for food? How do we respond to beggars in the streets? How would we respond to the idea of living this sort of life? What stories do your congregation have of encountering Jesus in ‘wandering’ people?

Note the time that the meal takes to prepare. This is not a ‘that’ll do’ attitude but a meal that takes hours to put together. It would have been eaten slowly with plenty of time for Abraham to sit and talk with his guests. Well-prepared rest and relaxation — how much of that do we share together? And with God?

Courses such as ‘Alpha’ lay great emphasis on fellowship over a meal. How does your church community exercise hospitality within smaller groups? If you’ve tried it, you will know that the best relationships are grown over food and fellowship — but it takes time and commitment. Perhaps your fellowship could start such a group if this is new to you.

Sarah would not have taken part in the social interaction — she was inside the tent, the men outside under the shade of the trees. How are people who are perceived as less important excluded from the conversations of the powerful in our society? In your church?

Read on in the passage — Sarah laughs — why? To cover grief, embarrassment? When she is reprimanded, just like a small child, she denies her action. This is worth sharing. How often is that our response when God fulfils our wildest dreams with a miracle?

Hebrews 13.2 tells us to be hospitable and may be referring to this Genesis passage: ‘for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it’. Is this a maxim that we live by?

Open the Word

Ideas for sermon preparation

How a word from God can turn lives upside down.

Abraham and Sarah had been travelling for many years. They were childless, both were old and beyond childbearing age. For Sarah, this was the ultimate humiliation — the whole point of her life in her culture would have been as a mother to her family.

Abraham and Sarah are rich in the eyes of the world, but lack the one thing that they truly desire in life — a child of their own. There may be folk in your congregation for whom this is also a painful reality. The condition of childlessness is one that families continue to find hard to address. Childlessness cannot always be sorted out through IVF, and some couples spend their life savings following this path. How do we cope when God doesn’t give us what we desperately want and society implies is now our right? How does your church community embrace such couples and support them? How do you welcome those for whom childlessness is a decision?

Barrenness may not be a lack of children. How many people, looking back over their lives, feel that they have achieved nothing? How many couples have children who have gone ‘off the rails’ or partners they are separated from? Are there people in your congregation who have lost money or businesses? Most people have some ‘barrenness’. How do we let God transform these parts of our lives, which may well be hidden from friends at church?

Retell the story of Abraham and Sarah in order to place this scene in context. What does their story reveal about the way God works? Ponder on the juxtaposition of Abraham’s desert experience and God’s promises to him. Consider, too, Sarah’s reaction to the news she is given. In what ways do we find this ‘God of surprises’ in our own lives and how do we respond? What can we learn from Abraham and Sarah?

Abraham and Sarah were both recognised as old (v. 11). How much does your community value the elderly? Reflect on the history of your church and see how the present older members have played their part over the years.

Old age can be a time to do new things. Many churches would die overnight without the wealth of experience and energy that the older members bring. But does your community encourage the older folk to try new things in church? Or do you stick to ‘you can’t teach an old dog new tricks’? If God was bringing a radical change for Abraham and Sarah, what about us?

The good news of Jesus Christ offers total transformation for all, old and young. A grandmother was amazed to discover there was no upper age limit on baptism and confirmation within the Anglican Church. She immediately asked when the next course began. How is your church valuing the elderly whom you live and worship among?

Children & Young People

Open the Word

Ways of presenting the Bible passage to children and young people

For children

Really? for younger children

Tell the story using play figures and a large box for the tent.

The Bible tells us that long ago there was a man called Abraham. One day he was sitting by his tent when suddenly three visitors appeared. He ran over to them, and asked them to stay with him for a while. He invited them to have something to eat, and they said yes.

Abraham had a wife called Sarah. She was in the tent. Abraham ran over to her and asked her to make some special cakes for the visitors. He then ran to find some meat to eat.

When it was all ready, Abraham gave the food to the visitors and stood with them while they ate it.

Then one of the visitors said to Abraham, ‘Where is Sarah?’ Abraham pointed to Sarah. ‘She’s there, in the tent,’ he said. The visitor said, ‘In a few months, Sarah is going to have a baby boy.’

Our reporter in Mamre for older children

You will need a newsreader (N ), a reporter (R ), Abraham (A ), servant (SE ), and Sarah (S ).

N	Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the …o’clock (insert appropriate time) news. Exciting news is coming from our reporter in Mamre, so let’s go over live to (name) .
R	Thank you (name) . You join us here where an extraordinary story is beginning to unfold. It concerns Sarah, the wife of Abraham, but let’s hear first from Abraham himself. Abraham, can you tell us exactly what happened?
A	Certainly. I was sitting by my tent in the middle of the day when I suddenly saw three strangers standing there. I ran over to offer them hospitality, some water to wash their feet and something to eat. They accepted, and then I ran to the tent to ask Sarah…
R	(interrupting) Thank you, Abraham. Let’s hear from Sarah what happened next.
S	Abraham came rushing in and asked me to make some special cakes for the visitors. I had to go and get the expensive flour out of the store.
R	And then what happened?
A	I ran and found a calf that was ready to be killed and eaten, and gave it to the servant to cook. By the time it was ready, it was getting late!
SE	Yes, I can vouch for that — I spent a long time preparing it.
R	So, let’s talk now about the visitors. After you had eaten — I understand they revealed some very strange information.
A	Yes, they told Sarah that in a few months she would have a baby.
R	And what was Sarah’s reaction? After all, she’s a bit old to be having a baby now.
A	She laughed.
R	So there you have it (name of newsreader) . Sarah has been told she will be pregnant soon; perhaps we will return to this strange story in a few months’ time. This is (name of reporter) reporting live from Mamre.

For young people

You said what??

Invite the group to read verses 9 and 10. Divide them into pairs to produce a short scene to continue the conversation started in these verses. What might Abraham and Sarah have said to each other? Give the pairs five minutes to practise their sketches and then let them perform for the rest of the group if they wish.

They looked so…

Use a whiteboard or flipchart and invite the young people to show how Abraham might have felt at different points in the story. Read the story, stopping after verses 2, 5, 7, 8, 9, and 10. At each point, invite the young people to draw a simple face with the expression that best represents how Abraham may have felt.

Honour

Invite the young people to read through today’s Bible passage and make a list of all the words that are to do with honour and status. Where do we hear those words today? Are they words we use in everyday life? To whom do we give honour and status?

Status

Abraham refers to himself as a servant — he puts his full resources into meeting the needs of his very important visitors. Invite the young people to come up with ideas of how they might serve people around them — start by thinking about how they might serve each other or others in the church.

Get on with it

Sarah is far from the star of today’s story, yet she plays an essential role in the events of these verses. Abraham is the one who appreciates the situation and decides on how to respond, but it is Sarah and the servant who do a lot of the actual work to make preparations. Talk with the young people about the ways in which we can help others and serve God without being in the limelight.

Drama: Abraham's visitors

Alternative narration of the story (for children)

Cast: Narrator; Abraham; 1st, 2nd and 3rd visitors; 1st, 2nd and 3rd servants;

Narrator One day Abraham was sitting by his tent. Suddenly he looked up and saw three visitors standing there. He ran to meet them.

Abraham Hello! Please don't go any further, stay here for a bit. I will go and find something for you to eat.

1st visitor (bowing) Thank you.

2nd visitor (bowing) That would be very nice.

3rd visitor (bowing) Yes, we are tired after our journey.

Narrator Abraham hurried back to the tent, and spoke to Sarah, his wife.

Abraham Please make some cakes quickly and please make sure they are the best you can make!

Narrator Then Abraham hurried to find something else to eat. He asked the servants:

Abraham Please will you cook something really tasty for our visitors?

1st servant Of course.

2nd servant We will cook some meat.

3rd servant We will do it quickly.

Narrator The servants cooked the meat, and Sarah made the cakes. They brought the food out to the visitors, who sat and ate. Then one of the visitors asked:

1st visitor Where is your wife Sarah?

Abraham She is in the tent.

2nd visitor Soon your wife Sarah will have a baby son.

Narrator And the Bible tells us that Sarah laughed when she heard this, because she was too old to have a baby!

Story: A long wait

A true story (narrated for children) about God's help in an 'impossible' immigration situation. The names have been changed.

Elizabeth was so excited that she wanted to shout out loud. She looked at the letter in her hand. 'Your application to allow your two daughters, Grace and Elena, to enter Britain has been successful.' She hadn't read any further, that was all she needed to read. At last, after nearly two years of letters, phone calls and meetings, she had done it – she would see her children again.

Two years previously, after her husband was killed, Elizabeth had been forced to leave her home town in Africa and come to England, because her life was in danger. She had to leave quickly, and Grace and Elena had been left behind with their grandmother. Elizabeth had missed them dreadfully. But now, they were coming! Now they were going to live with her; she was so excited!

'This is a miracle,' she said to herself. 'I thank God for it.'

So Elizabeth began to get everything ready for her daughters' coming. She cleaned and polished, she cooked celebration food, and she spent ages at the hairdresser so that she looked her best when they arrived. 'I have to let them see how special they are,' she said.

The big day arrived. Elizabeth went to the airport to meet Grace and Elena. She wasn't sure that she would recognise them, as she hadn't seen them for two years, but she had a recent photo of them so she hoped they hadn't changed too much.

And suddenly, there they were. They were much taller than she remembered, and they looked very grown-up, but it was definitely them. It was difficult at first, and the girls felt awkward, but gradually on the way home they began to talk.

'We thought we would never see you again. There were lots of girls in our school whose parents had been forced to leave them, and they never saw them again. When our grandmother told us that we were going to England to live with you, we just laughed. That was impossible, we thought. That just couldn't happen.'

'But it has,' said Elizabeth, 'and now you are here. We're going to have a big party to show you how glad everyone is that you have come.'

And Elizabeth, Grace and Elena celebrated with all their friends, thanking God for the miracle that had happened.