September 13, 2015, Rally Day

Genesis 18:1-15, 21:1-7

Mark 10:27

Rev. Kristen J. Kleiman

Congregation was invited to tell jokes and many shared some good ones.

There are many reasons why we laugh:

Because someone has told us a really good joke, because we saw something funny

We laugh at ourselves when we do something silly, and we laugh when we are happy.

And sometimes we laugh when something is so crazy it cannot be believed.

How many people have been to Disneyland or DisneyWorld?

People laughed at Walt Disney when he said he was going to build an amusement park in the middle of an orange grove.

People laughed when Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak created this electronic device called the personal computer. What would we want with that, the big companies said? And now we couldn’t imagine our lives without our laptops, tablets, and smart phones.

Sarah laughed when she heard God’s messengers say that she and Abraham were going to have a baby. She had waited a long, long time for a child. It seemed impossible. It was too wonderful to be believed – so she laughed.

We laugh at God’s messengers sometimes, as well. Sometimes, God’s messengers tell us about God’s plans and they seem too wonderful, too amazing to be believed – so we laugh.

Jesus tells us that even when things might seem impossible for people, everything is possible for God.

This summer at Vacation Bible School, our theme was “God is always with us”, and whenever we heard, “God is always with us”, we shouted “Believe it!”

This morning, whenever you hear “For God all things are possible”, I want you to shout, “Believe it!”

Can you try it with me now?

Sarah couldn’t believe that she would finally have a precious child after so many years of waiting, and then Isaac was born. For God all things are possible. “Believe it!”

Our congregation has not done a capital campaign in over 40 years, and we were nervous. We were not sure we could do it, and we have raised $844,335, and in the coming year, we will make our building accessible, safe, and welcoming for all. For God all things are possible. “Believe it!”

We want to make Bristol and Connecticut and the whole world a better place for all of God’s people. We want to follow Jesus and help everyone, but we aren’t always sure how we can help. We think, I’m just one person; we are just one congregation, we can’t make a difference, but there are people amongst us who have dreams, dreams of helping families find homes, dreams of helping children learn to read better, dreams of inviting more people to know God’s love. And people might laugh at our dreams. They might say “That’s impossible.” But we know For God all things are possible. “Believe it!”