“Then one said, ‘I will surely return to you in due season,

and your wife Sarah shall have a son.’”

–Genesis 18:10 

I firmly believe that God is always at work. The Bible makes clear that such activity can happen in dramatic ways, but I suspect it occurred then and now far more often in the small, everyday moments of life. I also am convinced that the Divine One is nudging, whispering, and orchestrating events far more frequently than we recognize. Scripture doesn’t record every moment of God’s activity from the past and I suspect we miss many of those moments today far more often than they occur as well. Yet thankfully, there are also these occasions when God’s work and our awareness come together beautifully, leaving us to wonder “What just happened?” 

A number of years ago, I had one of those moments at a bagel shop. For a while after moving to Pennsylvania, I would leave our home early on Sunday morning for coffee and two toasted blueberry bagels with butter. After enjoying the food and quiet, I would then head for the church and its morning of preaching, teaching, and pastoring.  

I began that routine when we still lived in North Carolina and after relocating here scouted out options before settling on my favorite place. Long before retirement that visit stopped being part of my Sunday morning pattern. The quality of food and ambiance was still wonderful. I’m not saying my routine changed due to having a registered dietician in the family, but will leave it up to you to connect the dots!

At any rate, in those initial years, I was such a regular presence at this particular bagel shop that after a few weeks of being the first customer, one of the owners asked me to name my favorite flavor. On hearing my answer she then promised always to have blueberry bagels ready by 7 a.m. and did. I realized later how intent she was in honoring that vow as one morning when I went to the cash register to place my order she said “You’re the first thing I think of when I wake up on Sunday mornings.” My blank expression must have revealed I wasn’t quite sure how to respond. She quickly added “Oh, you know, the blueberry bagels!”

One morning, I walked in just as the shop opened, paid for my purchase, and then moved toward a table to eat and go over my sermon. I sat there quietly, looking over my notes and mouthing a few words, while occasionally gazing out the window. As I walked outside minutes later to get into my car, another customer was getting into an adjacent vehicle. We had not spoken inside, but as we caught each other’s eye then he said “Good luck with your message this morning.” I replied “How do you know what I’m doing?” He smiled and said “I’ve delivered enough of them in my own lifetime to recognize the clues. I hope it goes well.”  He then got into his car and left.

While I initially began to wonder if I had been talking out loud at the table or if he had noticed the bulletin or if my wearing a suit made me more noticeable, I soon let the mystery of that encounter simply stand on its own. As the words from that stranger (who I never saw again) left me strengthened for the day ahead

There was a similar result for Abraham and Sarah at the time of the conversation shown above. By that point, they had been waiting twenty-four years since God promised to make a great nation of them. By any standard then or today the window of biological parenthood would seem to have closed, for on the day recalled in our text Abraham was 99 years old and his wife a decade younger.

Three visitors appear. Abraham is sitting at the entrance to his tent when he looks up and sees the men standing nearby. Acting on the sense of hospitality still valued in that part of the world, he urges the men to stay and offers food, water, and a place to rest. When they accept, he rushes to Sarah who prepares the meal. He takes it to the guests and stands as they eat. A conversation begins.

“Where is your wife Sarah?” Abraham points toward the tent as one visitor says, “I will surely return to you in due season, and your wife Sarah shall have a son.” 

With that word, it is clear that one of these guests is God. Sarah overhears his promise from inside the tent. She laughs quietly to herself. “After I have grown old, and my husband is old,” she muses, shall I have pleasure?” God asks Abraham “Why did Sarah laugh…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.” As that scene winds down, the woman denies laughing and is told (by either God or Abraham) “Oh yes, you did laugh.” 

It’s a wonderful scene. The laughter from Sarah becomes memorialized in the name of the son borne the following year, as Isaac literally means “he laughs.” Thus, every time Abraham and Sarah called his name in the years that followed they gave voice to a natural response after some incredible news from God.  

Driving by my previous bagel destination doesn’t make me laugh these days, yet it still reminds me of a brief conversation from long ago. Stay alert to such encounters today or ones from your  past. You just never know how and through whom God will choose to speak yet.

God of the stranger, I am blessed by the diverse ways you appear in the ordinary events of my life. Keep me attuned this day to your activity that I might hear and respond. Maybe, even with laughter. Amen