June 14, 2026 – The Third Sunday in Lent

The Rev. Cal Calhoun

In the Name of God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Two weeks ago, was Trinity Sunday. And we talked about the Trinity. We read the first account of creation from the first chapter of Genesis, to find a couple of things, in the Old Testament, that pointed to the Trinity. In the midst of trying to find other places in the Old Testament that might imply Trinity, I had totally forgotten about this encounter from Genesis 18 of Abraham and The Lord.

There is very interesting language around this event. It starts: “The Lord appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre. He looked up and saw three men standing near him. Abraham and the narrator, always refers to the three, as “my Lord.” Singular, not the plural Lords. Abraham does use “yourselves” when he speaks to them, but otherwise he refers to my Lord in the singular. I haven’t done the math or the research, but I doubt there is anyone in the Bible, Old Testament or New, who has had more appearances of God or more conversations with God than Abraham. Moses probably comes close. So Abraham knows God. And he seems very convinced that these three people are God, The Lord.

In Scripture, many of the messages of the Lord are passed on by angels. Angels always start their message with, “Do not be afraid.” So it seems there might be something scary about angels or at least they are different enough to invoke fear. One or two of Abraham’s messages from God or visions start with “do not be afraid.” These three visitors do not start the conversation with “do not be afraid.” And, as well as I can remember, in the other encounters with angels in Scripture, the angels never ate food. So these three are human, or they eat food as humans. So I’m not sure what to make of these three, who Abraham clearly refers to as “my Lord.” We can’t say this is Old Testament proof of the Trinity, but clearly, once again, here, the Old Testament points to the Trinity.

After Abraham has provided a meal, one of them says, “I,” not we, “I will return to you in due season and your wife Sarah will have a son.”  I don’t think Sarah gets a fair shake here. Sarah laughs. But it says Sarah laughed to herself. She didn’t laugh in their face and call them an idiots. She laughed to herself. And if it had ceased to be with her after the manner of women, why wouldn’t she laugh! But she seems to be scolded for it. I don’t think that’s fair. Kind of like I don’t think doubting Thomas gets fair treatment, I don’t think doubting Sarah gets fair treatment here.

We get the continuation of the story from Chapter 21. Indeed, Sarah has a son, and Abraham names him Isaac. In Hebrew, Isaac is translated, he laughs. So there is lingering connection to Sarah’s earlier laughter. It comes full circle, Sarah said, “God has brought laughter for me; and everyone who hears will laugh with me.” I love how the laughter evolves from a smirk or a sarcastic ha, at the one predicting Sarah will indeed bear a son to her laughter after Isaac’s birth, which would have to be much more of a belly laugh.  And we add to that, the delight of others who laugh with her.

A God of love, a God of relationship, has to delight in our joy and in our laughter. Indeed, laughter must surely be one of God’s greatest gifts. God has a sense of humor, but even more, God delights when we are delighted.

If one of the best pictures or models of the Trinity is the Divine Dance, God: arm in arm in arm, in a dance, then God must delight in joy and laughter. Because it is hard to dance, really dance, when you are sad or mad. God walks with us through whatever we have to go through. But, I believe God created us to dance, just as God dances. God made us in God’s image after all.

So I hope life brings you more laughter than sorrow, more smiles than frowns. And whether you have a big family with which to dance or you dance all alone, remember the Trinitarian God is dancing with you.

And, as Lee Ann Womack sang, “if you get the chance, to sit it out, or dance, I hope you dance.” Amen.

Year A  –  The Third Sunday after Pentecost  –   June 14, 2026   –   The Rev. Cal Calhoun