Grace in the Wilderness

Introduction

Yesterday, our nation observed Juneteenth.

Juneteenth is a celebration of freedom.

But it is also a reminder that human beings have an incredible capacity…

…to build systems that benefit some people while pushing others into the wilderness.

For generations, slavery was not simply the prejudice of a few individuals.

…it became a system.

…a way of organizing society.

…a way of concentrating power and wealth while denying the dignity of others.

...and even after freedom was declared, many found themselves facing a new wilderness...

...free, yet vulnerable...

...free, yet uncertain...

...free, yet struggling to survive...

That reality should sound familiar...

...because Hagar did not end up in the wilderness because of a bad decision.

She was pushed there...

By people with power...

By a family system that benefited from her labor...

...and her body...

...only to be discarded when she became inconvenient...

Most of us do not have to wander a desert to know what a wilderness feels like.

A wilderness can be poverty...

…it can be illness...

A wilderness can be violence...

…or grief...

A wilderness can be systems that make some people invisible while others flourish.

There are times when life pushes us into the wilderness.

When such occurs, Scripture reminds us that God hears the cries of those the world has forgotten.

Which raises an important question...

How does God’s grace help us remain resilient in the wilderness?

God Hears Us

God’s grace helps us remain resilient in the wilderness by reminding us that God hears us.

Imagine a single mother sitting at her kitchen table after the children have gone to bed.

The bills are spread out before her.

The rent has increased.

Groceries cost more than they did a year ago.

The utility bill keeps climbing.

She has already picked up extra hours.

…already stretched every dollar.

She has already made difficult choices.

Yet the numbers still do not add up…

So she lowers her head and prays.

“God, I don’t know what to do.”

Hagar knows something about reaching the end of her resources.

By the time we meet her in Genesis twenty-one, she has been cast out from Abraham’s household and sent into the wilderness with her son Ishmael.

Theologian Wilda Gafney reminds us that Hagar is not simply a servant in Abraham and Sarah’s story...

She is a mother trying to keep her child alive.

Eventually, the water runs out...

The resources she depended upon are gone.

The future she imagined for her son begins slipping away.

She places Ishmael beneath a shrub and sits at a distance…

…because she cannot bear to watch him die.

It is one of the most painful scenes in all of Genesis.

Yet it is precisely there that God speaks.

In this moment, Sarah is silent...

Abraham is absent…

The family system that benefited from Hagar’s labor and her body does not hear her...

But God does.

In fact, the name Ishmael means “God hears.”

...before the well appears...

...before the situation improves...

...before a way forward becomes visible...

God hears.

Friends, many people know what it feels like to be unheard.

Sometimes it feels like you’re waiting for a call back from Social Services.

Sometimes you’re trying to navigate the healthcare system.

Sometimes you’re telling your story for the fifth time, wondering if anyone is really listening...

Sometimes you’re carrying burdens nobody else can see...

The good news of this text is not that God only hears the powerful...

But… God hears Hagar.

God hears Ishmael.

God hears those the world has forgotten.

...and if God hears them...

...then God hears you.

Knowing that you are not alone and you are not unheard is a gift of grace in the wilderness.

God Opens Our Eyes to Grace

God’s grace also helps us remain resilient in the wilderness by opening our eyes to the grace we could not see before.

Consider a tree. Friends, what does a tree need to grow? ((pause for engagement))

A tree needs water.

A tree needs sunlight.

A tree needs nourishment.

Without those things, it cannot grow.

It cannot provide shade.

It cannot clean the air.

It cannot become what it was created to be.

Nobel Peace Prize recipient Malala Yousafzai observed, “Looking after yourself is looking after others.”

A healthy tree becomes a blessing to everyone around it.

...but first it must receive what it needs to live.

After God speaks to Hagar, the story takes an unexpected turn.

The text tells us, “Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water.”

In her despair, Hagar could see only death.

God helped her see a future.

In her exhaustion, Hagar could see only what had run out.

God helped her see what remained.

In her fear, Hagar could see only the wilderness.

 God helped her see the well.

What changed was not the wilderness.

What changed was Hagar’s ability to see God’s provision within it.

Friends, that is often how grace works.

Grace changes our circumstances.

Grace changes our perspective.

Grace helps us recognize that God has been at work all along.

For example… the friend who showed up.

The opportunity we never expected.

The strength we did not know we possessed.

Looking back, we realize the well was there before we saw it...

One of the lies many people have been led to believe is that receiving help is a weakness.

That asking for support is selfish...

That caring for ourselves means we are neglecting others.

...but a tree that receives water is not selfish.

It has become what God created it to be.

Hagar needed the well.

Ishmael needed the well.

Their future depended on the well.

Friends, some of us know exactly what it means to discover a well in the wilderness.

Sometimes the well looks like food shared with a neighbor.

Sometimes the well looks like clothing for a growing child.

Sometimes the well looks like a church that opens its doors and says, “You are welcome here.”

God opened Hagar’s eyes to a well.

...and sometimes God uses people like you and me to become part of that well for someone else.

Friends, over time, we discover both are true…

            …there are seasons when we need the well…

            …and there are seasons when God uses us to become one.

God’s grace is not only about helping us survive in the wilderness....

God’s grace provides what we need to flourish within it.

Resilience begins by recognizing and receiving the grace God has already placed before us.

God Sustains Us for the Journey

God does more than open our eyes.

God’s grace helps us remain resilient in the wilderness by remaining with us as we grow.

Anyone can admire a mature tree.

Its trunk is thick...

Its branches stretch wide...

Its shade provides comfort on a hot day...

Its presence blesses everyone around it.

What we often forget is how long growth takes...

...years of sunshine...

...years of storms...

...years of drought...

...years of roots reaching deeper into the soil...

Growth is gradual...

Year after year, the tree continues to grow because its roots keep finding water.

After Hagar discovers the well and gives Ishmael a drink, the story could have ended there.

The crisis has passed.

The immediate danger is over...

Yet… Scripture continues...

“God was with the boy as he grew.”

That simple sentence may be one of the most important verses in the story.

God did not simply provide a drink.

God provided a future.

God did not simply rescue Ishmael from one difficult day.

God remained with him through the years that followed.

The well solved an immediate problem.

God’s presence sustained a lifetime.

One of the gifts of the Wesleyan tradition is the reminder that grace...

...is not only something God does for us...

Grace is also something God works within us.

God’s grace grows us...

...shapes us...

...forms us over time...

Hagar did not leave the wilderness fully healed...

Ishmael did not become a nation overnight...

The future God promised unfolded gradually...

...one step...

...one day...

...one year at a time...

Friends, many of us wish God’s work happened faster.

We want immediate answers...

...immediate healing...

...immediate solutions...

...yet God’s grace often works like a growing tree...

...slowly...

...gradually...

...faithfully...

Perhaps that is why this story ends with growth.

Some of us have walked or are walking through the wilderness for a long time...

Some burdens have lasted longer than we expected...

Some prayers have taken longer to answer than we hoped...

The promise of this text is not that God will only be with us on the day we find the well...

The promise is that God remains with us as we grow.

The same God who heard Hagar’s cry.

The same God who opened her eyes to the well.

…is the same God who remained with Ishmael as he grew…

...and that same God is not finished with us yet.

Kerygmatic Fulfillment

Friends, the good news of this story is that God’s grace is greater than the wilderness.

When a parent sits at the kitchen table wondering how the bills will get paid...

God hears...

When medical debt piles up, and the future feels uncertain...

God hears...

When someone is waiting for a call back from Social Services, wondering if anyone is listening...

God hears...

When grief settles into a home after the loss of a loved one...

God hears...

When a person cannot see a way forward...

God opens our eyes to grace.

When a neighbor shares a meal...

When this church offers support...

When a stranger becomes a friend...

When hope appears where none seemed possible...

God opens our eyes to grace...

...and when the journey is longer than expected...

When recovery takes time...

When healing comes slowly...

When growth feels almost invisible...

God remains with us as we grow.

Friends, there are times when life pushes us into the wilderness.

When such occurs, Scripture reminds us that God hears the cries of those the world has forgotten.

...and if God hears those the world has forgotten...

...then so must we.

...if God opens eyes to grace...

...then so must we.

...if God remains with people in the wilderness...

...then so must we.

This year, our Bishop has invited us to Rise Up and Love Boldly.

Perhaps that begins by becoming a well in the wilderness.

The wilderness is real...

...but it does not get the last word…

God’s grace does.

In the name of our Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer. Amen.