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Sunday, September 27, 2020

“Promise and Purpose: Joseph”

Genesis 37:3-8, 17b-22, 26-34; 50:15- 21
September 27, 2020
Sermon by Rev. Caela Simmons Wood 
First Congregational UCC of Manhattan, KS

Everyone I talk to lately seems to be struggling a bit to find balance. Living through a pandemic is no joke. Doing it in a major election year is no joke. I know so many of you are people with compassionate hearts and a deep thirst for justice and peace. And so you do your best to stay informed, stay engaged with the world around you. You get up each day and try to figure out how you can make a difference in your corner of the world. Thank you. 


Often, the relentless news cycle makes it hard to find balance, though, doesn’t it? How much information is the right amount of information to make us useful? When does it tip over into overwhelm and cause us to shut down? How can we sit with the heaviness we feel when we contemplate the immensity of over 200,000 lives lost in the United States alone in just the past six months? 


It’s a catastrophe that’s hard to fathom. 


Our hearts break and we cry out, “God, have mercy. God, be with us. God, help us.”




One of the things I find helpful is to balance my consumption of current events with older stories. Poetry, art, music, ancient stories that have been passed down from generation to generation ground me. They feel as though they are somehow etched into our DNA. These older stories can sometimes provide the anchoring we need in the midst of a non-stop news cycle. These old, old stories remind us that now is not forever and that we are not the first ones to deal with many of the issues plaguing us today. Within their lines and songs are deep truths about what it means to be human - the unending cycle of tragedy and triumph, sin and repentance, division and reconciliation, slavery and freedom. 


Can I tell you an old story this morning? Can we let the urgency of today slip away for just a few brief moments? Not that today’s stories don’t matter - they do, of course. But it is good to remember the old stories, too. To be anchored in deep truths so that we can have the stamina and courage we need to meet the stories of today. 


Today I’d like to tell you the story of a man named Joseph. 


Joseph has 11 brothers and one sister. And It turns out that Joseph and his brothers don’t get along because Joseph is their father, Jacob’s, favorite son and gets special treatment. Like, you know, that awesome coat there’s a whole musical about. 


Joseph also has dreams and he’s kind of an oversharer. Perhaps the right word is “precocious.” In his dreams he is always the special one and he tells his brothers about these dreams. They get pretty tired of it and eventually they plot to kill Joseph. But Reuben, the eldest brother, intervenes and decides it would be better to just steal his special coat and throw him into a pit. 


While he’s in the pit, the brothers sit down to have their lunch and they hatch a new plan. They can sell Joseph into slavery and make a little money. Plus, they’ll be rid of him for good. Joseph is taken to Egypt, enslaved, and the brothers tell their father Joseph has mysteriously died. 


Years pass and Joseph rises to prominence in Egypt. He is still a dreamer and he has found favor with the elites by interpreting their dreams. He helps the Pharaoh plan for an upcoming famine because he sees it coming in the dreams. When the famine arrives, the Egyptians - thanks to Joseph - have rationed food so that they will have enough in the lean years. 


People in surrounding areas who have not planned ahead flock to Egypt for help. And that is how Joseph, having last seen the faces of his brothers jeering at him as he stumbled away with his captors, comes face-to-face with ten of his brothers once again. Only this time the roles are reversed. 


Just as he had dreamed as a child, Joseph is finally lording over his brothers, quite literally. As the second-most-powerful man in all of Egypt, his brothers do not recognize their baby brother. My guess is he was long-thought to be dead and mostly forgotten. 


But not forgotten by his father, Jacob, who still lives in the land of Canaan and still hopes against hope that his favorite son might still be alive. And not forgotten by God, who was quietly working in and through Joseph’s life in ways that even Joseph doesn’t quite understand. 


Joseph recognizes his brothers immediately and decides to have some fun at their expense. If you’ve ever had a hard time forgiving someone for the pain they’ve inflicted upon you….if you’ve ever dreamed of revenge, well, know you’re not alone. Just look at what Joseph does. 


He accuses them of being spies. And when he learns that his father is still living and his younger brother Benjamin, his only connection to his deceased mother, is still alive, he concocts a plan that will both punish his other brothers and reunite him with his father and Benjamin. He throws the whole lot of brothers, all ten of them, in jail for three days. And then he releases 9 of them - all but Simeon, who he keeps as collateral. “Bring me your little brother Benjamin,” he says, “And I’ll return Simeon to you.” 


The brothers weep and moan. Surely they are being punished for their ancient sin of selling the long-lost Joseph into slavery. Joseph, overhearing their struggle, turns his face and weeps - ancient wounds reopened, fantasies of what his life might have been if that one moment had just got differently. 


Before they return to Canaan, Joseph has their bags filled with grain. And then, just to mess with their heads and make sure they’re good and scared, he has the money they brought with them to buy the grain placed on top. When they return home they discover it and are terrified. Now they’re really going to be in trouble when they return.


The brothers try to explain the situation to their dad, who - having lost one son already, is not too pleased that Simeon is missing. The brothers say that they have to return with Benjamin but Jacob is not having it. Finally, they convince him to let Benjamin go...but only because the grain has run out, everyone is starving, and Judah pledges his own life as surety for Benjamin’s. He promises Benjamin will return. 


Back to Egypt they go. Again, they encounter the mighty Joseph-that-they-don’t-know-is-Joseph. Joseph is thrilled to see Benjamin but does his best to conceal it. A big party is thrown and everyone feasts together. Joseph orders their sacks to be filled with grain once again and that they should not only be given their money back but extra. 


Overcome with a desperate need to keep Benjamin close, he does the only thing he can think of. Joseph frames his little brother - placing a silver cup inside his bag - and then sends his stewards to go and confront him, telling the men that Benjamin will have to be returned to Egypt - permanently. 


Well, this will not do. Judah, after all, made a promise to his father that Benjamin would return. He explains as much to Joseph. Judah pleads to give himself in exchange for Benjamin. “If Benjamin does not return to our father,” he explains, “It will kill him.” 


Joseph, perhaps hearing the desperation in Judah’s voice, cannot keep up the ruse any longer. He sends everyone except his brothers away and reveals his true identity. The years of pain and grief and anger and anguish have caught up with him and he says, quite simply, “I am Joseph. Is my father still alive?”


So many things that could be said. But he says the two things that really matter to him. First, that he is still Joseph. That has not changed despite years of distance, years of estrangement in another land. And secondly, “Is my father still alive?” No longer a child, but a grown man, he still yearns with hope for that one thing: his father’s arms. 


Once Joseph finally calms down enough to begin to explain all that has transpired he does something that I’ve always found fascinating. He tells the deepest truth of his soul - the thing that has allowed him to keep going all these years in the face of great adversity. Joseph says that it is his belief that it wasn’t really his brothers who were responsible for his life, but God. That in the midst of all this pain and agony, God has been working to guide Joseph and use even the painful parts of his life for good. 


Now that all the secrets have come out, and meaning has been made, there’s just one thing that remains: Joseph must be reunited with his father. When Joseph and Jacob are reunited - well, you already know what it looks like, right? Two big guys falling on each other’s necks and weeping. Finally, Jacob lets go and looks full into his beloved son’s face, saying, “I can die now, having seen for myself that you are still alive.”


And that seems like a good place to stop, but, honestly? It’s hard to know exactly where the story ends. Because there’s more. More tragedy and more triumph, more pain and more reconciliation. That’s what it means to be human and living in the ever-encircling embrace of God, right? That there’s always more. Our stories intertwine and echo down through the generations, going on and on.


I love how Joseph’s story points to The More in several spots:

When Jacob is on his deathbed he calls Joseph to his side and demands that he bring along his two sons. His vision dimmed by his old age, Jacob kisses and embraces his two grandsons. And Jacob says to Joseph, “I did not expect I’d ever see YOU again….and, look here, God has also let me see the faces of your children as well.” 


Amen. 


And then, at the very end of the book of Genesis, we are told that Joseph lives to the ripe age of 110 and lives to see several generations come after him. On his deathbed, he said to his brothers, “I am about to die. But God is not done with us yet. I believe - I know, in my heart of hearts - that one day our people will leave Egypt again. We will be brought out of this place and brought up into the land that the God of our ancestors promised to Abraham and Sarah, to Isaac and Rebekah, and to our own parents. Our people will be brought into that land flowing with milk and honey. God will not forget his promises to us. And when that day comes, you will carry up my bones from here. My bones will also travel that freedom road.” 


Which leaves me, of course, thumbing ahead in my Bible to the book of Exodus to see what’s next. Is Joseph right? Do his bones really travel with the Israelites when they leave Egypt? What’s the next part of the story? Is there More? 


And so the cycle continues….on and on….tragedy and triumph, sin and repentance, division and reconciliation, slavery and freedom. It’s a story of more...and more...and more. And God is with us through it all, weaving our stories together in love, traveling with us through the past, the present, the future. 


Love without end. 


Amen. 





Sunday, September 13, 2020

“Genesis: In All Things”

Genesis 2:4b-7, 15-17; 3:1-8

September 13, 2020

Sermon by Rev. Caela Simmons Wood 

First Congregational UCC of Manhattan, KS




In All Things

by St. Francis of Assisi


It was easy to love God in all that 

was beautiful. 


The lessons of deeper knowledge, though, instructed me 

to embrace God in all 

things. [1]




I’ve been chewing on this poem all week. So short, but so much there to savor. 


St. Francis of Assisi knew quite a lot about finding God in the easy and beautiful parts of life. He was born to a wealthy merchant family and lived the first part of his life privileged and with ease. But even as a child, there were signs that he was also intimately aware of human struggles. 


There’s a story about how, as a boy, Francis was selling cloth at the market with his father and, after a day’s work, ran to find a man who had been begging for money earlier in the day. The young Francis emptied his pockets, giving away all the money he had taken in that day. He was mocked by his friends and punished by his father who didn’t understand why he would do such a thing. 


Francis eventually chose to live in poverty and was cut off from his family and friends. He intentionally walked into the pain of the human experience because he believed he might more fully experience the presence of God in ALL things...not just in the beautiful and easy parts of life. 



I appreciate so much how St. Francis devoted his life to nurturing a relationship with God. Though his own life changed so dramatically over the years, God was a constant force of love throughout it all. It seems that it didn’t matter to Francis if things were going splendidly or his life was on the rocks….God was there through it all, reaching out to Francis in love, and Francis was humbly aware of God’s love and willing to receive it. 


This Sunday we are beginning our journey through a new year in the Narrative Lectionary cycle. We will be traveling through vast portions of the First Testament this fall, exploring God’s promises to humanity...and our purpose and calling as we respond to God’s grace in our lives. 


We begin, of course, at the very beginning. Genesis. Not just an awesome band from the 80s, you know. Genesis as in generations, generativity. Our ancestors - created by God and creating with God. Our origins. Our beginning as humanity. 


A deep dive into Genesis always requires a lot of unpacking because there’s so very much baggage that we’ve picked up along the way with these texts. And so, as we begin with one of the creation stories, a briefr word about what I believe this story is and is not. 


Is this story a scientific account of how humans came to be on this planet? No, it is not. Just as we wouldn’t pick up a book of poetry to find a recipe for dinner tonight, we shouldn’t come to this book when we need facts about biology.


Instead, the creation stories in Genesis were written by our human ancestors as they tried to understand big questions like why are we here? Where did we come from? What’s our place in this world? Big questions. Important questions. And so, though this isn’t a science textbook, it DOES contain vitally important truths about things that really matter. And so we give thanks for the wisdom in these pages AND the continued generativity of truth that we experience when we dive into these sacred texts together. 


Reading these texts in community is important because most of us, if left to our own devices, will continue to simply read them as they were originally taught to us. And most of us learned things about Adam and Eve that simply aren’t in the text at all. For example, people often call this story “the Fall” and say it’s about “Original Sin.” But Biblical scholar Frank M. Yamada points out that the language of sin doesn’t appear in the text. [2] And the concept of original sin wasn’t invented until centuries later!


Also absent in the text: the Devil. Not there. You can go back and check. There’s a snake and the Hebrew word to describe the snake is cunning, which might have had a very positive connotation. Wise and knowing. Fun fact, courtesy of Biblical scholar Beth L. Tanner: the same Hebrew word is used in the Book of Proverbs and translated as”sensible” or “prudent.” [3]


It turns out the snake is pretty smart, after all. The snake tells the humans, “Go ahead and eat this fruit. You won’t die. You’ll grow in knowledge.” 


And it turns out, the snake is right. After the eat the fruit, they don’t actually die like God said they would. They simply have their eyes opened and learn more. This story reminds us that although we often think of learning as a positive thing, it can also carry with it lots of pain. Many lessons are hard-won. Many of us have been talking a lot lately about all the things we are learning in 2020. Most of us have had to learn how to do lots of new things and live in entirely new ways. And this has not always been fun or easy. At times we want to say, “Okay! Enough learning. We’re good. Just let us stop learning for a bit!” Perhaps there are things you’ve even learned in 2020 that you rather wish you hadn’t. Ignorance can be bliss, and all that. 


Frank Yamada reminds us, though, that this story helps us to remember something important. He says, “Genesis 2--3 suggests that knowledge, a necessity for human life, is something that is acquired painfully. Ignorance may be bliss, but it is certainly not the mark of human maturity. When humans understand what it means to be fully human--that is, when they have complete knowledge--the realities of life come into full relief in all of their complexity and difficulty. Knowledge is both enlightening and painful.” [2]


It’s puzzling that God tells the humans they will die if they eat the fruit...God seems to be wrong, lying, or unreliable. How do we explain that? Was God just trying really hard to get them to avoid the pain they were about to experience? What’s going on there? 


We don’t typically think about God being wrong, lying, or unreliable. 


Except….you know, sometimes maybe we do feel like God is like that. Surely you’ve been mad at God before, right? When things fall apart? When you don’t understand what’s happening or why? When you desperately wish everything could be different? When you’re DONE LEARNING and ready to just STOP GROWING for a while?


I think it’s only natural - only human - to squint our eyes and wonder about God’s reliability from time to time. Perhaps our faith ancestors wanted to get the story straight by naming right here in the beginning of the Bible how utterly normal it is to look at God sideways from time to time. 


That most foundational of all relationships - the relationship between God and us - isn’t always smooth-sailing, you know. God may have created humans and called us all “good” but there are plenty of stories in the Bible where God gets frustrated with us, disappointed in us, sighs and shakes her head at our actions. We may call God our source and ground of being, but our sacred texts are full to the brim of humans questioning God, yelling at God, even cursing God. Even here in the very beginning of our Bible, we can see the relationship between the Creator and the Created is going to be bumpy. It’s not all roses. 


Bumpy….but not fragile. 


Because the thing that comes shining through in this story is that we - that is God and humans - are in it together for the long haul. We may not always understand each other. We may cause deep signs of dissatisfaction from time to time. But we are a we. Together. Us. Creator and created. Family. We can never be torn apart. 


Even in this story, when the humans disappoint God, when it doesn't go the way God had planned. Does God throw up his hands and say, “That’s it. You were a terrible mistake. I’m done with you.”? No, God does not say that. God does get pretty mad at the snake and does some cursing there. 


But, like a loving parent, God gives the humans a lecture and then packs them up and lovingly weaves new clothes for them to wear. The humans have outgrown the garden and are onto the next phase in their journey. And God goes with them, perhaps pacing the floor at night and wondering what kind of mischief they’ll get into next. 


I don’t mean to make light of this argument between the humans and God. God is clearly displeased that the humans chose to do exactly what they were told not to do. And we can hear our faith ancestors grappling with all those big “why” questions when they put words into God’s mouth. “Why is it so hard to be human? Why do we have to work so hard? Why are so many parts of being human, like giving birth, difficult and dangerous? Why does it sometimes seem like even the earth is against us, when crops are hard to grow?”


The people who shared this story centuries ago seemed to believe the answers to these questions lie in the basic truths of what it means to be a human. To be human is to struggle sometimes. To be human is to mess up sometimes (okay, often, if we’re being honest). To be human is to have lots of questions about why it all has to be this way. To be human is to have companions for the journey - other humans plus animals and the natural world. To be human is to be curious. To be human is to have the desire to explore. To be human is to always be growing and maturing and developing. To be human is to know - really KNOW - that sometimes growing and maturing and developing is INCREDIBLY hard work. 


To be human is to always, always, always be accompanied by God. The One who loves us fully even when we’re at our most people-y. When we whine and complain. When we cry and yell. When we do exactly what we were told not to do. When we stamp our feet and refuse to make things easy on ourselves. 


I can imagine a version of St. Francis’s poem written from God’s perspective instead of ours:


It was easy to love humans in all that 

was beautiful. 


The lessons of deeper knowledge, though, instructed me 

to embrace humans in all 

things. 



I believe that God continues to embrace us in all things. In the beauty and the frustration. 


This story of our genesis reminds us that we humans are not alone. We live in God’s world. Who has created and is creating. Who loves us fully. Who journeys with us through every single season of life. Who watches us grow and change and mature. Who cheers us on when the work of being human is so very hard. Who wants the best for us, always. Who accompanies us always and everywhere. 


As it was in the beginning. Is now and ever shall be. Love - complicated, wondrous, overflowing love without end. Amen and amen. 




NOTES:

[1] found in Love Poems from God by Daniel Ladinsky

[2]  http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=35 

[3] http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=1462