Sermon for September 30

The reading 

Exodus 14:5-7, 10-14, 21-29

5 When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, the minds of Pharaoh and his officials were changed toward the people, and they said, "What have we done, letting Israel leave our service?" 6 So he had his chariot made ready, and took his army with him; 7 he took six hundred picked chariots and all the other chariots of Egypt with officers over all of them.

10 As Pharaoh drew near, the Israelites looked back, and there were the Egyptians advancing on them. In great fear the Israelites cried out to the Lord. 11 They said to Moses, "Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us, bringing us out of Egypt? 12 Is this not the very thing we told you in Egypt, "Let us alone and let us serve the Egyptians'? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness." 13 But Moses said to the people, "Do not be afraid, stand firm, and see the deliverance that the Lord will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you see today you shall never see again. 14 The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to keep still."

21 Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea. The Lord drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night, and turned the sea into dry land; and the waters were divided. 22 The Israelites went into the sea on dry ground, the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their left. 23 The Egyptians pursued, and went into the sea after them, all of Pharaoh's horses, chariots, and chariot drivers. 24 At the morning watch the Lord in the pillar of fire and cloud looked down upon the Egyptian army, and threw the Egyptian army into panic. 25 He clogged their chariot wheels so that they turned with difficulty. The Egyptians said, "Let us flee from the Israelites, for the Lord is fighting for them against Egypt." 26 Then the Lord said to Moses, "Stretch out your hand over the sea, so that the water may come back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots and chariot drivers." 27 So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at dawn the sea returned to its normal depth. As the Egyptians fled before it, the Lord tossed the Egyptians into the sea. 28 The waters returned and covered the chariots and the chariot drivers, the entire army of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea; not one of them remained. 29 But the Israelites walked on dry ground through the sea, the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their left

The message

Last week, we heard the story of Joseph, where a series of bad events including his being sold into slavery by his jealous brothers and a false accusation of assault that lands him in jail, all work together to save the people of Israel from famine.  As a result of these unfortunate events, Joseph comes to great power in Egypt. In this position, he can settle his family as welcomed and honored guests in the prime lands of Egypt.

Of course, today we hear of Joseph’s descendants and their escape from slavery in Egypt, so obviously something happened between last week and this week. In the first few verses in the book of Exodus, we learn  Now a new king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph.  He said to his people, “Look, the Israelite people are more numerous and more powerful than we.  Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, or they will increase and, in the event of war, join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.   Soon after, the Israelites are enslaved. (If any of this sounds familiar, that’s because we hear it all time, all over the world about immigrants today).  The people of Israel are slaves for almost 400 years. During this time, they remember the promises God made to Abraham, God’s word is in the background of their suffering.   

Moses, who is one of the key figures in the Book of Exodus, starts off life miraculously. He is rescued by some midwifes who refuse to enforce Egypt’s decree that all Israelite children are to be killed.  He ends up in the care of the Pharaoh’s own sister and raised in the pharaoh’s house.  In Exodus 3, we hear one of the most famous encounters with God in the bible, Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian; he led his flock beyond the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.  There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of a bush; he looked, and the bush was blazing, yet it was not consumed.  Then Moses said, “I must turn aside and look at this great sight, and see why the bush is not burned up.”  When the Lord saw that he had turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.”  Then he said, “Come no closer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.”  He said further, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.

From here, God tells Moses I have heard the cry of my people in slavery and will set them free, and you will do this work, you will confront the Pharaoh and his great empire.  Moses, in awe and shock, replies like we honestly might, umm, I can’t, I don’t want to, pick someone else, I stutter and won’t be listened to.  God talks him, well demands him into going and agrees to send Moses’ brother Aaron with him.  Moses and his brother confront Pharoah a dozen times, each one with the same demand the Lord says let my people go”. They follow up each rejection with a plague that wrecks havoc on Egypt (stuff like locusts, flaming hail, frogs, turning the water into blood). The last plague is the death of the first born of Egypt, where the first born of their animals through the first born son of the Pharaoh are killed (this is the event that the Jewish people mark at Passover, when this death passes them over, only affecting the Egyptians).  This breaks the will of Pharoah, at least for a few days and the people of Israel are set free.  They leave Egypt, with a good amount of looting on the way out.  Their trip to freedom is intense, a roller coaster of ups and downs and last minute rescues.

Today, our reading tells the central part of the story. The people of Israel are caught, trapped between the sea and the Egyptian army. There is no way to cross and no way for the people to fight the Egyptian army. Moses tells them to stay still and wait for God to rescue them. It is not in our reading but this advice angers God. The Lord tells Moses, don’t just stand there like a bunch of fools, trust me, know my power, walk through the water. The sea is parted, the people walk across dry land, they escape death, the water that was their doom, that made them angry with God and Moses and cry out why come to the wilderness to die, to lose everything, becomes their way to freedom.  

No clever manuvers, brilliant plans or quick swimming would save them.  They were in a place where only God could help them.  Despite 400 years of slavery, despite being trapped between an undefeatable army and an uncrossable sea, despite having no food or water in the wilderness, despite having no law or leader, God’s promises to Abraham would be kept, they would move on to the promised land, they would become a blessing for all people.  Not one person in that crowd of escaped slaves could look at what happened and say “I did that”, not one leader in the group could claim “remember when I pushed the water away”. This was God’s work. 

Today there are different things that make us cry to the Lord in great fear, to think we are better off where we were instead of someplace new, to understandably choose the suffering we know instead of the unknown, to protest "Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness”.   I want to spend some time looking at other ways we are trapped with no place to run, other waters that God must part so we can walk through safely on dry land.

The people of God walked on dry ground through the sea of sin and death, the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their left. God does that through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. 

But the people of God walked on dry ground through the sea of poverty, the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their left. God does that through commands, challenges to what we value most and generosity

But the people of God walked on dry ground through the sea of fear, the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their left. God does that through promises that are always good, no matter what

'But the people of God walked on dry ground through the sea of racism, the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their left. God does that through declaring there is room for everyone in the kingdom of God.

But the people of God walked on dry ground through the sea of violence, the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their left. God does that through exposing the weakness of violence and the power of peace.

Like the people of Israel could not cross the sea alone, we cannot take these walks alone. These are big things, each of those walks is a leap of faith, taking us from where we are, comfortable to something else and better. 

Sermon for September 23

Genesis 39:1-23

1 Now Joseph was taken down to Egypt, and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had brought him down there. 2 The Lord was with Joseph, and he became a successful man; he was in the house of his Egyptian master. 3 His master saw that the Lord was with him, and that the Lord caused all that he did to prosper in his hands. 4 So Joseph found favor in his sight and attended him; he made him overseer of his house and put him in charge of all that he had. 5 From the time that he made him overseer in his house and over all that he had, the Lord blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake; the blessing of the Lord was on all that he had, in house and field. 6 So he left all that he had in Joseph's charge; and, with him there, he had no concern for anything but the food that he ate. Now Joseph was handsome and good-looking. 7 

And after a time his master's wife cast her eyes on Joseph and said, "Lie with me." 8 But he refused and said to his master's wife, "Look, with me here, my master has no concern about anything in the house, and he has put everything that he has in my hand. 9 He is not greater in this house than I am, nor has he kept back anything from me except yourself, because you are his wife. How then could I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?" 10 And although she spoke to Joseph day after day, he would not consent to lie beside her or to be with her. 11 One day, however, when he went into the house to do his work, and while no one else was in the house, 12 she caught hold of his garment, saying, "Lie with me!" But he left his garment in her hand, and fled and ran outside. 13 When she saw that he had left his garment in her hand and had fled outside, 14 she called out to the members of her household and said to them, "See, my husband has brought among us a Hebrew to insult us! He came in to me to lie with me, and I cried out with a loud voice; 15 and when he heard me raise my voice and cry out, he left his garment beside me, and fled outside." 16 Then she kept his garment by her until his master came home, 17 and she told him the same story, saying, "The Hebrew servant, whom you have brought among us, came in to me to insult me; 18 but as soon as I raised my voice and cried out, he left his garment beside me, and fled outside." 19 When his master heard the words that his wife spoke to him, saying, "This is the way your servant treated me," he became enraged. 20 

And Joseph's master took him and put him into the prison, the place where the king's prisoners were confined; he remained there in prison. 21 But the Lord was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love; he gave him favor in the sight of the chief jailer. 22 The chief jailer committed to Joseph's care all the prisoners who were in the prison, and whatever was done there, he was the one who did it. 23 The chief jailer paid no heed to anything that was in Joseph's care, because the Lord was with him; and whatever he did, the Lord made it prosper.

   

The message

Two weeks ago, we started our  long Advent (3 months instead of 4 weeks). This is the wait and preparation for Christmas, for the kingdom of God to fully enter our world, for the word of God to be made flesh and dwell amongst us in Jesus. The past 2 weeks were about God’s promises, First, that God would never again send a flood to wipe out all life, spoken to Noah and confirmed by a Rainbow. After this, it is the promises of land, blessing and descendants spoken to Abram a few generations later.  The rest of our long Advent will be about God keeping these promises. Today, we hear a part of the story of Joseph, an example of how God’s promises will be kept, despite sin, interference, Jealosy, questionable decisions, people abusing their authority, taking advantage of others and looking out for themselves.  The story of Joseph is also filled with social justice issues we still face (or look away from) today.  

We have passed over a lot in the 25 or so chapters of Genesis between last week’s reading and todays.  We have missed the story of Jacob (he will be the focus of today’s bible study after church) but I wanted to share some brief history, to help understand how Jacob’s youngest son Joseph got to Egypt.  Jacob is a major figure in the history of Israel (Jacob’s name is later changed to Israel and his 12 sons become the 12 tribes of Israel).  He is the son of Issac and Rebekah and the grandson of Abraham and Sarah.  Jacob is the second of twins  (his slightly older brother is Esau).  Jacob tricks Esau out of his birthright. Jacob travels to several places, experiences 2 strange visions (Jacob’s ladder and wrestling with an angel)  finds wives (you could have a bunch back then) and has children.  Joseph is the 12^th and youngest of Jacob’s children but is favored (unusual, unexpected for the time, the first born was supposed to be favored).   Joseph’s brothers are jealous, go on a trip with him, leave him to die in the wilderness and tell Jacob he was killed by a wild animal. Joseph is picked up by slave traders and ends up being sold to Potiphar, an officer in Egypt, which is where we are introduced to him this morning.

Today’s reading is not the most popular or well known part of Joseph’s story.  Joseph’s story, his life, faithfulness and work are set as an example of God’s providence, of God working to bring good from bad, of God keeping those promises even when it seems impossible. Despite being in prison and accused of a serious violation, Joseph will once again find favor with very powerful and important people, this time, the Pharaoh himself. Joseph interprets a dream for the Phaorah which predicts 7 years of abundance followed by 7 years of famine in the land. Like he was in Potifar’s household and in prison, Joseph is put in charge of something very important, this time, it is the food reserves of Egypt (that’s a big deal during a famine). Joseph sells and trades this food and ends up buying all of the land and animals of Egypt for the Pharoah (which are sort of leased back to the people in a fair way). Joseph has climbed well above Potifar, his former owner. When famine hits Israel and Joseph uses his authority to bring his father Jacob and his family to Egypt, where they can eat and live. All of the betrayals, lies and bad actions come together and serve to save Israel from starvation.  Joseph looks back on his experiences, his murder by his own brothers, the lies of Potifar’s wife and his wrongful imprisonment and says this was all done so I could save my family. In Genesis 45,we hear one of those powerful moments of revealing, when Joseph tells his brothers who he is (they before him in fear and begging for food)

 Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Come closer to me.” And they came closer. He said, “I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt.  And now do not be distressed, or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life.  For the famine has been in the land these two years; and there are five more years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest. 7 God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors.  So it was not you who sent me here, but God; he has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt.  Hurry and go up to my father and say to him, ‘Thus says your son Joseph, God has made me lord of all Egypt; come down to me, do not delay.

The whole story of Joseph is one of trust in God, admitting there are things we do not understand and embrace of the fact that God’s will be done.  Today’s selection is not meant to stand on its own, it plays a role in a much bigger picture. Without being falsely accused of sexual assault, Joseph would not end up in jail, without being in jail, Joseph would not have had the opportunity to interpret the Pharoah’s dream, which directly lead to his rise to great power in Egypt, a position more than sufficient to save his family from starving and settling them in a new place.

    

Throughout the story of Joseph, we hear the same thing over and over again, whatever Joseph did prospered, Potiphar quickly realizes that Joseph runs a great household, puts him in charge and goes to sit by the pool.  The man in charge of the jail realizes Joseph runs a great jail, turns it over to him and goes to sit by the pool with Potiphar, Even the Phaorah, the most powerful person in the world, realizes despite famine and difficulty, Joseph can run the Egyptian empire pretty well, turns it over to him and goes to sit by the pool with the other 2 (well pharaoh probably has a nicer pool he can go sit by).  Joseph does not sit by the pool, choosing what is right and faithful over what is easy or comfortable. The city of God, the community formed by God is rooted in doing the right thing, confronting wrong and evil.  

In more ways that we might expect, today’s reading is today’s headlines and we have lots of chances to be like Joseph. Major parts of the story of Joseph and his brothers involve issues we face today. There is human trafficking, bringing people from their homes to be slaves, to be abused in a new, strange place, cut off from loved ones.  There are more slaves in the world today than ever before.  We deal with false imprisonment. . In the U.S. we have an incarceration crisis,  The U.S. represents five percent of the world’s population, but houses twenty-five percent of the world’s prisoners. Conditions in prison are way below world standards and the system does not seem to work in terms of deterrence or rehabilitation. People abuse laws, traditions, wealth and status to get what they want.  The story of Joseph will soon turn into an immigration crisis, a few generations after Joseph and the famine, the people of Egypt will protest that the Israelites are too many, too rich and not assimilating. In response the descendants of Joseph, who saved Egypt from the feminine, are enslaved.

The issues are still here and so are people doing the right thing.  I think of the new Nike Ad,  featuring Colin Kapernick, the NFL quarterback who has been blacklisted, not playing due to his protests over police brutality (through kneeling or sitting during the national anthem before games). The ad says believe in something, even if it means sacrificing everything.  Something in this goes beyond agreeing or disagreeing with his view or approach. The faithful part here is that Kapernick could easily go sit by the pool and let someone else do it.  He is not yelling God has blessed me to get another touchdown, he is not claiming God has blessed me to win the super bowl.  Instead, It is God has called me to do what is right, to speak up on behalf of others, to not accept these things. . The city of God, the community formed by God is rooted in doing the right thing, confronting wrong and evil.   Let’s go and do the same.

Sermon for September 16

Genesis 12:1-9

1 Now the Lord said to Abram, "Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. 2 I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." 4 So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. 5 Abram took his wife Sarai and his brother's son Lot, and all the possessions that they had gathered, and the persons whom they had acquired in Haran; and they set forth to go to the land of Canaan. When they had come to the land of Canaan, 6 Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. 7 Then the Lord appeared to Abram, and said, "To your offspring I will give this land." So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him. 8 From there he moved on to the hill country on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; and there he built an altar to the Lord and invoked the name of the Lord. 9 And Abram journeyed on by stages toward the Negeb.

The message

We are now in the second week of our very long Advent, a 3 month walk through the Old Testament leading us from creation to the birth of Jesus, the long awaited Messiah. We remain with the Book of Genesis.  Last week, I mentioned that the book of Genesis could be divided into 2 parts. Chapters 1-11 are a sort of primeval history, focused on cosmic events, mysterious and profound stories about the origins of life, sin and God’s earliest communication with us. This is the view from an airplane from 30 or 40,000 feet up. This is attempts to explain cosmic things with regular words.

I still remember the first time I flew and saw what highways look like from a few thousand feet, the great distance that they stretch across the land.  Since you can only see a few miles ahead of you and get on and off roads, you don’t notice this when you are driving on them.  This first section of Genesis includes creation, Adam and Eve, the disobedience and fall, Cain killing able, Noah and the flood and the tower of Babel.  It is rather impersonal, we do not know the name of anyone who dies in the flood, the size or technology of any city destroyed and we do not know who tries to build the tower of Babel. It seems like a lot of this primeval history is forgotten when Abram is called. People were not worshipping God who sent the flood, stopped the tower or created the world. There were various polytheist religions that people were following, Parthenons with all kinds of different gods and monsters. 

Now, In Genesis Chapter 12, things get personal, people get named, their decisions and daily lives become very important. God calls out to Abram, giving him instructions (to leave home for an unidentified place) and making 3 great promises, Descendants (“I will make of you a great nation”) Land (“To your offspring I will give this land”) and blessing (“I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing). This is a major change, not only for Abram and his family but for all life. A few chapters later, Abram gets a new name, becoming Abraham. This promise will be at the heart of the history of Israel, God will not be known as the God of Adam and Eve or the God of Noah and Shem, God will be known as the God of Abraham, Issac and Jacob, this will be God’s community. One of the issues with the tower of Babel, the attempt to build one mega city for all people with a shared language, which is told  right before this story of Abram’s call, is that it was people, not God, building the great city and community.  This is a very important moment, God will act though this family.    

We are getting a little ahead of ourselves though, there is an obvious question we need to ask, Why Abram, why did God choose this guy?  The only information we know about Abram is his geneology, he is a descendant of Noah’s son Shem, but so are many others.  Abram and his family leave for a new place, a common decision a family might make to find a better life and one his father was probably the main decision maker on.  During this move, Abram is called by God. There is really nothing in his life that is mentioned that makes him the right person to choose or seem like a good choice for this awesome responsibility. Over time, Abraham proves himself. He obeys God, trusting to the point that his is willing to sacrifice his son Issac, who was born to him and Sarah by God’s intervention (a killing God calls off at the last second). St. Paul picks up on Abraham’s faithfulness, noting that before the law, Abraham believed and it was accounted to him as righteousness, but here in today’s story, there is nothing.  This question, Why Abraham has puzzled and challenged people of faith for a long time.  There is either something we do not know, something outside of the bible or this choice is simply grace.

For many people, there needs to be a reason, some virtue or power Abraham has that makes him worthy of this honor, there has to be some pre-knowledge God has that makes this choice wise.  While preparing for today, I read through a commentary on working preacher and learned that in Jewish traditions, rabbis have said, it was because Abraham was the first monotheist. Rabbinic literature tells a story not in the Bible itself:  She writes: Abram’s father, Terah, was a maker of idols (Joshua 24:2 said to all the people, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Long ago your ancestors, including Terah the father of Abraham and Nahor, lived beyond the Euphrates River and worshiped other gods. ). Abram, while still in his father’s household, discerned that the idols were false gods and that there was only one true God. So one night he went into his father’s workshop and smashed and burned all his father’s idols. Therefore, the rabbis concluded, he was worthy of God’s choosing.    Of course, like I said a few moments ago, this is not in the story of Abram or anywhere else in the Bible. This is an ancient attempt to answer the question “why Abram”.  

One of my professors at seminary would always respond to a question by asking “why do you ask that question”.  It would reveal some misunderstanding or issue, most of the time, it would reveal some drive or desire to earn salvation, don’t we do something to set ourselves aprt.. Asking this question, why Abram, reveals a lot about people, about our desire to be important.  King david centuries later, turns the question around, pointing us to an all powerful God, David will ask  When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established; what are human beings that you are mindful of them,  mortals that you care for them. 

Today, our reading at the start of this very long Advent, is an invitation for us to sit with the idea that Abram, the great pataricah, is not so worthy or special and therefore, you and I are not so special. Instead, we are invited to be thankful. Abram does not celebrate; brag, make a statue of himself for others to worship, ask for tribute, sell this great news, try to gain power or throw a party, he builds an altar to God, 

This story is not about Abram, it is about God’s promises.   Over the years, I have helped families mourn and celebrate the life of loved ones probably 70 and 80 times with prayers, conversation and funeral services. I have said virtually the same thing at each of them, I have a 3 minute version for graveside services, an 5 or 6 minute version for funeral homes and a longer one for at church services. I talk about 2 promises, Jesus has gone to prepare a place for us when we die and God is present with those who mourn.  I say this with different bible verses and things about the person who died but it’s the same promises . God is with you in the storms of life, God is with you in the valley of the shadow of death,  nothing can separate you from the love of God, not even death, not even being unworthy.   

 

Next week, we move ahead to the story of Joseph, which fills about 13 chapters of Genesis, God’s providence in keeping these promises, in unexpected ways.