Preached on June 14, 2026, at First Presbyterian Church of Rolla. Based on Genesis 18:1-15, 21:1-7.
I’ve mentioned before that I’m trying to preach other parts of the Bible outside of the Gospels this year. Today, we’re in Genesis, which covers the huge span of time from Creation up to the time when the patriarchs for the Twelve Tribes find themselves in Egypt. Today’s selection is in the Abraham cycle, which traces Abraham’s call, covenant with God, and ultimate establishment as the father of a great nation.
Abram starts life in Ur of the Chaldeans, probably in southeast Iraq, and then travels with his father to Haran, probably in far northwest Iraq. At the age of 75, after his father has died, God calls to Abram and proclaims that he will be the father of a great nation, if only he will go where God tells him. He traveled by stages, ultimately to Egypt. After a little trouble there, he goes back up to the Negeb in southern Israel, and then to Bethel, a city near Jerusalem that figures prominently in the early history of the Israelites. There, the LORD promises Abram all the land that he sees, and offspring like the dust of the earth.
At that point, there is a little skirmish among the kings of several cities. In the process, Abram’s nephew Lot is taken captive, so Abram leads a counterattack that is victorious. In return, he is blessed by the king of Salem, Melchizedek, a priest of El Elyon, God Most High, a priest-king who prefigures Christ.
Up to this point, Abram has been gaining wealth, including slaves and livestock, but his wife Sarai is still barren. A second time, God makes a promise to him that he will have offspring like the stars in the sky. God and Abram enter a covenant, the foundation of Israel’s role as a priestly nation.
Yet Sarai is still barren, so how will Abram father a great nation? They decide that it’s time to take things into their own hands. Sarai has a slave, Hagar, and arranges for Abram to father her child, Ishmael. This does not go well. It was Sarai and Abram’s plan, not God’s plan. Ishmael turns out to be a patriarch, but not of the priestly nation that God has in mind.
Yet again, at the age of 99, Abram receives a promise from God that he will be the father of a great nation. His name is changed from Abram, which means “high father,” to Abraham, “father of multitudes.” God promises and promises and promises, three times, and yet Abraham is still waiting.
And what about poor Sarah? Even if things had turned out OK with Ishmael, he would have been Hagar’s son, not Sarah’s. She would still have mourned her inability to be a mother, which would have been a great source of shame in that culture. God had deferred the promise so long that Sarah went through menopause and still hadn’t given birth. So in today’s story, when she hears yet another promise that she’ll have a son, she laughs ruefully. She’s too old! She can’t do anything new at her age! Whatever she might accomplish in life is behind her. Having a child wasn’t her destiny, so she’ll just have to accept her role as life companion to Abraham.
But nothing is impossible for God! It’s as if God purposely waited until it seemed to be impossible in order to demonstrate the miraculous nature of her son, Isaac, in a way that foreshadows Mary’s virgin motherhood. Never doubt that God can do great things through you, whether you are too young and inexperienced or too old and worn out. God is moving in you, in me, in all of us.
I’ve been thinking these last couple of weeks about legacy. Sarah thought that she would leave no legacy. In that time and place, the only legacy a woman could leave was her children, and she was barren. After God blessed her, she gave birth to Isaac, the inheritor of the covenant who carried forward the lineage of Abraham into the nation of Israel. Sarah did leave a legacy.
What is my legacy? It’s too easy to say that my kids are my legacy, and anyway, it’s not fair to burden them with all of my expectations. I think about my work. Recently, I was named IEEE Fellow, which essentially recognizes researchers who have left a legacy. I did a couple of things fifteen years ago that had some impact on the field. Realistically, though, in twenty or fifty years, nobody will remember them.
So if my research accomplishments aren’t my legacy, what about my leadership as department chair? Probably not. In fifty years, I’ll be a picture on the wall. My accomplishments as an instructor? Maybe. I’ve influenced hundreds of students, probably more than a thousand. Some of them may remember me; some of them may be different people because of something I taught them. I think I influenced a few of my grad students dramatically. A handful.
When I really think about it, though, the one thing I’ve done that will leave a legacy is LGBTQ+ Rolla. Six years ago, it was just an idea. Now we have an annual Pride celebration and a community center. Even if we shut down tomorrow, the impact we have had together will carry on for years and decades. Being in a university town, we have impacted people who are now scattered around the nation and the world. For example, I had a meaningful impact on a student who returned to Taiwan recently.
How did we do it? How did I do it? Well, I looked around and said, “Someone should do something!” Then I thought, “I’m someone!” So I found some like-minded people and away we went. Nobody does anything great on their own, but someone needs to get the ball rolling.
My dear friend Lucy has already established a legacy. A little over a year ago, a group of people got together because they were upset about the plight of ICE detainees in Phelps County Jail. Someone should do something to help these people! So Abide in Love was formed. Lucy ultimately became the president. Some of the detainees have been deported, others returned to their communities as they seek asylum. But all of them have known God’s love through the efforts of Abide in Love. All of them have had their humanity embraced at a time when they felt hopeless and alone.
Several years ago, the pastor and members of the Vineyard saw a need in the community: homeless people who had dirty bodies and dirty clothes. They installed a shower and some washing machines and dryers in their basement and invited people in to use them. It turned out that they were just scratching the surface of the need in the community. Over time, they added more services to care for the whole person. What started as a ministry of the Vineyard became an independent organization, The Rolla Mission. My dear friend Ashley was a volunteer there, and one day she realized that she was called to lead The Mission. She became their first paid employee in 2018, and they have skyrocketed since then. They have 24/7 operations now and work hard to get people into permanent housing. Unfortunately, while The Rolla Mission was growing, Vineyard was shrinking. COVID was probably the last straw. By 2021, they could no longer sustain operations.
Yet out of that death came new birth. Around that same time, Patrick Wilson was starting a new church that needed a home. CrossRoads ultimately moved into the space vacated by the Vineyard and has embraced The Rolla Mission. The Vineyard of Rolla may be no more, but their legacy lives on, in The Rolla Mission and, in a sense, in CrossRoads.
What do these all have in common? First, a need. Someone recognized a need in the community, and decided to fulfill it. Second, a team. I didn’t start LGBTQ+ Rolla on my own, Lucy didn’t start Abide in Love on her own, Ashley didn’t start the Rolla Mission on her own and wasn’t even there at the very beginning, Patrick didn’t start CrossRoads on his own. Each of us was part of a larger group, leaders but not loners. Third, a willingness to learn. As a straight ally who is an engineer, I know literally nothing about leading an LGBTQ+ nonprofit. Lucy will be the first to tell you she doesn’t know what she’s doing, or at least she didn’t when she started. Ashley has grown tremendously, right along with the Mission. Patrick has a DMin and years of experience as a pastor, but knew nothing about church planting when he started CrossRoads.
Most importantly, in every case, the timing was right. How do I know? Well, you can’t see it while it’s happening, but you can see it as you reflect on what has happened. Starting a social organization in the midst of a pandemic turned out to be the perfect time, as people realized the deep need for human connection. Starting Abide in Love just as ICE activities were ramping up allowed them to learn and grow while policies and processes were established.
My first question to you is, what is YOUR legacy? Sure, if you’re a parent, you can say it’s your kids, but that’s too easy. What else have you done, or are you doing, or will you do that will make a change in the world? Think about that for a minute. What are you proud of? What accomplishment, whether in your past or in your future, will have a lasting impact?
Now let’s broaden our perspective a bit. What is OUR legacy, together? Someday, the people in this room will no longer be worshiping here. It’s possible that this congregation of PC(USA) will cease to exist. What have we done, or what will we have done, that will leave a legacy?
Let me tell you what I think our legacy is: the preschool. In 1993, as I understand the story, Carol Jessop saw a need and worked to establish a preschool to fill it. Some years later, due to staffing issues, the preschool was no longer able to operate. After a short hiatus, we hired a new director who has revolutionized its operations. The preschool has extended their hours, expanded their capacity both in number of children and in age range, and expanded from an academic calendar to year-round operations. Because of Tracy’s efforts, as well as so many others who are committed to its success, the preschool has an enormous impact on the community.
Paul wrote to the Corinthians,
6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. 7 So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. 8 The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and each will receive wages according to their own labor. 9 For we are God’s coworkers, working together; you are God’s field, God’s building.
Our legacy is the result of God’s grace flowing into the world. Again and again, throughout the Bible and throughout history, we see that God’s grace flows through God’s people. Salvation doesn’t happen to us so much as through us. In Corinth, God gave the growth, but only because Paul planted and Apollos watered. In the same way, God gave the growth to LGBTQ+ Rolla, to Abide in Love, to The Rolla Mission, and to CrossRoads, but only because people looked at the world and saw a need that God could fill through their efforts.
The promise, though, is that God’s grace WILL flow through us, if we are open to it. Abraham and Sarah said “yes” to God’s call. In the end, the promise was fulfilled. Sarah conceived and bore Isaac, who fathered Jacob, who fathered the patriarchs of the Twelve Tribes of Israel.
We are inheritors of that promise. We may not be blood descendants of Abraham, but we have inherited the promise through the Spirit. We Gentiles have been made a part of God’s family. And so, we are called to be part of the priestly nation that Abraham fathered.
How will we respond to that calling? How will each of us leave a legacy, and how will this church leave a legacy of love, of God’s grace poured out on our community?
I leave you now with a famous Greek proverb: A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they shall never sit. May God bless whatever you plant and give it growth so that it may sustain God’s kingdom long into the future. Amen.
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