Stephen Crane wrote a poem: A man said to the universe, "I exist." "That may be true," said the universe, "however that has never created in me a sense of obligation to you."

How many, like Crane, have cried out in their pain and despair, and have received nothing in reply? Is there anyone "out there" who cares about us "down here?" Or, in time of pain, are we mostly left to our own devices? When we pray, "Deliver us from evil," as we shall pray before we are done today, do we really expect God to hear, to care, to act? Or, are we only talking to ourselves?

Professor Davies of Australia was the 1996 recipient of the Templeton Prize for progress in religion. He has much to say about how little threat science is to Christian belief. And yet, in his book, he also says that if the Christian faith is to be credible to modern people, we have got to get over the notion of an "interventionist God," that is a God who hears, cares, and acts for our good. Such a God, says Professor Davies, is not only an offense to reason, a rebel against the laws of nature, but also incredible to modern skeptical people. Do we really want a God who, from time to time, steps in, reaches out, and acts?

I want you to keep that question before you as we encounter today's gospel lesson, a story about a God who hears, cares, and acts.