Reader's Guide: "The Word for Today" Sunday, September 16, 2012 Read - Genesis 17 & 18 How patient are we when it comes to trusting in God’s promises? As the story continues we hear once again about God coming to Abraham with the promise that he and Sarah will have a son through whom God will fulfill the promise of creating a people of promise. We might not notice it but at least thirteen years have passed since the encounter between God and Abraham when the covenant was made and Abraham was promised that his descendants would be as many as the stars of heaven. For thirteen years nothing has happened – Sarah remains barren and now Abraham is 99 and Sarah is 90. God comes promising again and it is no wonder that Abraham “fell on his face and laughed” at God’s bold promises. It is no wonder that when the angels of the Lord came visiting with the promise still one more time that Sarah laughed as she listened from within her tent. Who wouldn’t laugh at such foolishness? But God has the last word – a son is born and God says to name him “laughter” – the meaning of the Hebrew word Isaac. Who says that God does not have a sense of humor? Even before Isaac is born God adds a new wrinkle to the covenant – a sign of the covenant that all of God’s people from that time forward were to keep – the circumcision of every male. When we come to the New Testament story we will discover that this was one of the most difficult challenges the followers of Jesus needed to deal with. Is circumcision required or not? But we will need to wait until we come to that part of the story to encounter that challenge.