"Remembering"

Okay, the funny moment of the sermon preparation. This morning when I began to type up my sermon notes, I could not remember the title, so I asked the church secretary, "What is the title of my sermon this week? I can't remember!" To which she replied with a smile and a laugh, "Remembering."


I picked this text to finish the Joseph series because I have always been fascinated that Genesis ends with Joseph proclaiming that what the brothers meant for bad God turned to good; but, turn the page to Genesis and we discover that when Joseph saved the Israelites from starvation by bringing them to Egypt, it merely set the stage for bondage in Egypt and the Exodus. What was God thinking? Or maybe we should not blame God. So how do we make sense of the salvation story in Genesis that becomes the bondage story in Exodus?

This sermon also builds on (maybe repeats) two themes we have discovered already -- God working for salvation in the midst of difficult circumstances and God remembering when no one else seems to remember.

As I write this, a tune from "Wicked" is racing through my brain. I can't think of the lyrics, but maybe I will by Sunday! Something to do with "for good."

I do remember someone once telling me that their problem with Christians is that we want God to have it both ways -- that is, we give God credit for the good, but then don't blame God for the bad. I ponder that comment often. I also wonder what God would claim as having done vs. what we claim God has done. Not sure those thoughts get me closer to a sermon, but they will be in the background as I write the sermon.

Peace,

Richard