Barrenness is the way of human history. It is an effective metaphor for hopelessness. There is no foreseeable future. There is no human power to invent a future. But barrenness is not only the hopeless condition of humanity. The marvel of biblical faith is that barrenness is the arena of God's life-giving action. Inexplicably, this God speaks his powerful word directly into a situation of barrenness. This is the ground of the good news. This God does not depend on any potentiality in the one addressed. Abraham and Sarah were quite without potential. The speech of God presumes nothing from the one addressed, but carries in itself all that is necessary to begin a new people in history. The speech of God overcomes and overpowers the barrenness of reality.
Walter Bruggermann
Grace flourishes in the soil of brokenness.
