16 For this reason it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his descendants, not only to the adherents of the law but also to those who share the faith of Abraham (for he is the father of all of us, ¹⁷ as it is written, "I have made you the father of many nations")—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.

As I sat down on Friday afternoon to write this sermon, one line from the reading in Romans kept flashing out at me, "God calls into existence the things that do not exist." That phrase kept flashing at me (like a sign strait out of Las Vegas) and I thought, "do I believe this? Do I have faith that God will call into existence the things that do not currently exist?" I would love to say that I do, but I know that there are a whole lot of occasions when I do not. When I, in fact, look at the world and begin to think to myself, if not say out loud, "this situation is without hope."

One of these situations actually took place 12 days ago on February 5^th, at the board meeting for our Good News Preschool. It was at this meeting that the board had to struggle with how to reconfigure the staffing. To fill in the back story, the school has a whole bunch of, let’s call them, willful kids. They’re good kids, but when you put them all together in the same space and the energy of one feeds into the next, which feeds into the next and before you know it, the room can be tough to control which means that it can be tough to teach and difficult to learn.

This was what the board was looking at and in order to, as Mary Ann Berns so wonderfully said, "have the kids as our highest priority" it was decided to move Audrey back out on to the floor and have her become the lead teacher as well as continue as the director. This would shift the current lead teacher, Jeanette Mondello, who has a wonderful love for the kids, into an assistant teacher role. On the surface, it’s not all that big a deal.

But then we started to look at the financials and what was quickly realized is that this shift would create a deficit of $2,200, and while that amount doesn’t sound like a whole lot, when you have no reserves to fall back on, there was no way, at least no way that was thought of at that meeting, to make up the entirety of that deficit. It was frustrating because the school was going to be okay in terms of its finances for this year, but throughout the meeting I felt that horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach, and that voice that says, "all hope is gone" was beginning to get real loud in my head. I’m looking at all of the profits for the fundraisers that we had back in 2007 and I saw no way to not end up in the red. I’m sure that anyone around that table was able to pick up on where I was at mentally and emotionally. And to be perfectly candid, I think most of the folks were right there with me. It was tough.

However, the board appropriately stayed focused on doing what was best for the kids, and what was best for the kids was having Audrey out on the floor. The decision was made, and a deficit was created.

One week later, on the 12^th, Audrey got a call from Hannaford regarding the Hannaford Helps program (which is where shoppers, when they purchase the right combination of items create receipts that can be stuffed into an appropriately marked box (and you’ve got all of the preschools in town right on up to the various schools in the Red Hook school district) and these receipts are then tallied and given to the various institutions to financially support those various programs). Hannaford Helps runs from September through December and last year it helped the preschool raise a whopping $117. I’m not complaining, I’m just saying it wasn’t all that much money.

After getting off the phone Audrey came upstairs and stuck her head in my office and said, "I need to share some news with you". I turned down the radio and said, "whatcha got?" She continued, with this strange look on her face, "I just got off the phone with someone from Hannaford and she told me the amount that was raised for Good News."

"How’d we do?" And mind you I’m hoping for $300, which would be more than double what we did last year.

This sheepish grin emerged and she said, "$1930." My response? "No way." She countered, "I’m not done yet. That amount was the most raised in all of New York State." To which I again said, "no way." Still not done, Audrey continued, "because it was the most in the state Hannaford is going to add an additional thousand dollars, they’re going to have a photo op with a check handing over ceremony, and Radio Disney is going to come and have some sort of program for the kids." I sat there totally dumbfounded. Audrey was bouncing around like a kid who had just opened the gift that she had been asking for all year long. She continued, "Isn’t our God absolutely amazing? A week ago we were looking at a deficit that we couldn’t make up" and I finished, "and today we have a surplus". Before she floated down the hall, she concluded by saying, "We had faith that this was what God needed us to do, we needed to do what was best for the kids, and a way was created. How great is our God?"

As a pastor, but more importantly as a person who believes in the power of God, I know that God can do miraculous things in our lives. I know that it can happen…it’s just that there are many days when I don’t believe that it will happen to, or around, me. My guess is that there are many of us here today who believe that God can author the miraculous, but struggle to have the faith that says that the miraculous will happen for us.

We look at our job and think, "this place is literally sucking the life out of me. But what can I do? I don’t have any other options. I have to do this."

We look at a relationship with our spouse, or maybe our kids, or a parent and say, "I wish that we could be closer. But this monotonous way of life is the best that we can do. It feels like I’m stuck."

We look at our finances and think, "how on God’s green earth are we going to get out from this hole that we are stuck in. There is no way that we can get out from underneath all of these debts."

I would venture to say that on an almost daily basis we, the people who believe in the God who raised Jesus from the grave, and offers us the gift of life eternal, we lack the wherewithal to take that step from belief that God can, to the faith that God will. Imagine how different our scriptures would be if Abram heard that call from God and said, "you know, that whole father of a great nation thing, I don’t think that’s going to work. I’m older. I’ve got no kids. I’m way to nervous about living in a foreign land. I’ll have to take a pass on that one God."

Now, I admit that as you read Abraham’s story, there were a whole lot of points along the way when he worried, when he doubted, when he wondered, "am I going to be okay?" He absolutely had those points when he believed in God but did not have faith in God’s calling. It’s when he started thinking those sorts of thoughts that he got himself, and his family, into trouble.

The inverse is also true, when he had faith in what God was placing before him, not just belief but faith, it was then that, as Paul wrote, "God called into existence the things that did not exist." Abraham, even through all of his fits and starts, ultimately placed his faith in God’s calling, and the impossible came into being.

I have faith that the same is true for each one of us. I have faith that what God has called us to will be able to be accomplished, not because of who we are, but because of the God whom we worship. Even those things that do not currently exist, if we have been called and we truly place our faith in that Divine calling, they will be created. All things are possible with God.

Several years ago, at a gathering of the General Synod of the Reformed Church in America, the Rev. Eric Titus, the very happy and content pastor of the Fishkill Reformed Church, heard the calling of God, and it came through the heavily accented voice of a Seminary president, a seminary president from Croatia. The president said, "Rev. Titus, we need you to come to teach and lead our students so that the work of God might be able to take place, even in our war scorched land." Eric heard that call and I have no doubt thought, "how can this possibly be? How can I accomplish this task?"

But then a shift took place, a shift that went from asking, "God, how can this happen?" to "God, if this is your will, how will you make this come about?" As that shift from belief to faith took place the doors began to open and the Titus’s realized that those things that had not yet been created were in the process of being formed. As we know, the Titus family is now in Croatia, serving as God has called them to do. And while I am sure that there are occasions when they have to wonder, "did we make the right choice", in their writings they continue to document the many ways that despite difficulties, God is calling into existence that which did not exist and as they look at those various miracles they know that what was placed before them is where God would have them be.

Each of us faces a multitude of moments where our faith wavers. As mentioned earlier, maybe it’s in regards to your job, a relationship, or your finances. But, realistically speaking, ‘it’, that thing that causes you to doubt, can be almost anything. We look at ‘it’ and think, "there is no hope".

Well, as I read the scriptures, and as I have been reminded in a really big way this week in regards to the Preschool, with God, whatever that ‘it’ is, if you have been called to it, it will exist. You may not see how it’s possible, but in God, that which does not exist will be created and called into existence. But we need to allow the Holy Spirit to move through us so that we might be able to have faith.

We need to be like a child who is just learning how to walk. Think back to your own kids or grandkids, or just watch one of the many little ones who roam these hallways. There is that call within them to get up off their hands and walk. It starts out slowly, and there are many falls along the way, but eventually they begin to get it and walking becomes their number one mode of transportation.

It’s the same with faith. We need to stretch ourselves everyday to move beyond the mold of thinking that "God can, … but not in my life", to "God will." But we have to work at it and be forgiving on ourselves when we do fall down, when we do doubt. I don’t know about you, but I’ve been walking for 30 plus years and I still have moments when I trip. But instead of thinking, "what’s the point in walking", I get back up and start walking again.

Walking a life of faith is not without its stumbles (that’s life), but in faith God will create that which did not exist.

Holy God, you have shown and promised in the words of scripture that when You call, if we have faith, that You will create. God, empower us so that we might be able to live such a life. Embolden us, so that we might step out in faith and know that where You have called us, You will create, even to the point of creating that which did not exist. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.