− Look up at the sky and count the stars
if you think you can count them.
This is how many children you will have.
Abram believed the LORD,
And the LORD counted it to him
as righteousness (Genesis 15:5-6)
− We don’t know how lucky we are −
When Bishop Kee hears other bishops
talking about closing churches,
closing conference centers,
ceasing publication of diocesan newspapers,
laying off diocesan staff, which isolates
the diocese even more from its parishioners,
Bishop Kee says
− We don’t know how lucky we are −
We’re actually about to double
the accommodations at Camp McDowell.
At this new “Bethany Village,”
even more schoolchildren
will get their environmental education.
Even more children will enjoy
the wonderful summer camps
Even more people with special needs
will be welcomed, loved and treated better
than they have ever been treated in their
life.
More cabins and rooms for grownups
to find peace, and rest and fun.
− We don’t know how lucky we are −
Of course,
if you don’t know how lucky you are,
then you don’t know that you’re lucky;
which means you have to be convinced
that you’re lucky.
That’s the dilemma our hero Abram faces.
− Do not be afraid, Abram,
I am your shield;
your reward shall be very great −
You don’t know how lucky you are.
To which Abram, understandably,
responds – Excuse me?
I have no children,
no one of my blood to come after me,
no one through whom I will live on.
A hired hand will get everything I’ve worked
for.
How lucky can I be?
That leads to the other word of Kee’s
that has stuck with me: “dreams.”
− Where would we be without dreams?
Then he told a story of dreams unfulfilled
that ended with this sad wisdom:
− It’s a long walk when you’re weighed down
by what could have been −
Then Kee did what Kee usually does:
He quoted a song
− Gonna make this garden grow
All it takes is a rake and a hoe
Pulling weeds and pickin' stones
Man is made from dreams and bones.
All of us have the memories
of dreams turned to bones.
And so does Abram,
who according to the story in Genesis
is between 75 and 86 years old,
and is still waiting for a child of his own,
still waiting for his dream to come true.
So, God shows to Abram God’s dream
− Then he brought Abram outside and said,
Look up at the sky and count the stars
if you think you can count them.
He continued,
This is how many children you will have −
Now we know the rest of the story.
Abraham and Sarah have Isaac,
their one and only child.
Abram’s children were not as many as the
stars;
unless we count ourselves, 4,000 years later,
as just a few of those stars in the sky
and Abraham’s children.
Indeed that one man who stood alone
in the worship of one God lives on
in all of us who worship the same God as he.
Abram had a dream that his bones would live,
and so they did in Isaac.
But God’s dream was infinitely greater,
and remains so today.
Pulling weeds and pickin' stones
Man is made from dreams and bones.
All of us have the memories
of dreams turned to bones.
And yet, we still hope
that these bones shall live.
And God would not have us
give up on our dreams.
But God would have us trust his dream for us;
trust that though we will never
count all the stars of God’s dream,
we will see enough, that like Abram,
we believed the LORD,
and the LORD counted us as righteous.
And by that counting,
our dreams, and God’s,
will come true.
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