"Connecting"

This Sunday, the sermon in the Sanctuary service (actually, in the Social Hall this week) is a series of conversations with some of the people we commissioned to participate in Triennium, General Assembly, Mt. Outreach, and the Africa mission trip. This follows the model Jesus used with his disciples when he sent them out into the towns, and then they gathered again to tell about what they had encountered in the towns (Luke 9:10; Luke 10:17). That pattern becomes an important model for us. We see where we need to connect in the world; go out into the world; return to share how we connected. The cycle repeats itself.

I am not sure what I will be preaching in the chapel service, but it will grow out of this idea of connecting as well.

As I look to the fall, I am preaching a series (beginning 9/19) on "being the Church in the 21st Century." I would be very interested in hearing what you think are the challenges and opportunities the church has as we live out our calling in the 21st century.

Peace,

Richard

"Remembering" sermon

“Remembering” August 22, 2010; Exodus 1: 1-14 Joseph series

Introduction: Read Genesis 50: 15-20
Rev. Ed cartoon: Beetle Bailey: Two guys are leaving church and passing by the the church sign that has the sermon title prominently posted with an asterisk. “What the asterisk for?” “Read the find print at the bottom.” “portions of this sermon have been previously preached.” “it's a rerun!”
As we finish the preaching series on Joseph, this sermon is sort of a rerun.
My two points have been previously preached.
Move 1: God will remember
a. I had been out of seminary several years before I discovered that that Exodus immediately follows Genesis.
1.I mean, I already knew that in the sense that Exodus was the book immediately following Genesis, but I had not tied the end of Genesis to the beginning of Exodus.
2.Read Joseph lots of times.
3.Read Exodus lots of times.
4.Even had Old Testament in seminary.
5.But there I was, reading through the Bible in a year (like some of us did two years ago here). End of Genesis one day; beginning of Exodus the next day.
6.You've got to be kidding me! I went back and read it again.
7.I sat there stunned.
8.Surely there is something missing.
9.This cannot be happening.
10.Joseph saves Israel by bringing them to Egypt, and then one chapter later the Israelites are slaves in Egypt.
11. Wow!
b. The world changes.
1.Jacob dies.
2.Joseph dies.
3.New leader in Egypt is worried about production; the new leader is worried about those foreigners who are rapidly multiplying (sounds like it's taken straight from today's headlines).
4.New leader cares about production, not salvation.
5.The world has changed for the Israelites.
6.Our world changes, too.
c. When the world changes and no one remembers you, God.
1. When a new Pharaoh is in charge and does not remember Joseph and Joseph's ancestors, God will remember.
2. Salvation comes in starts and spurts because humans have a tendency to forget; but, God will remember.
3. salvation may follow a circuitous route; but, God will remember.
Move 2: Not only does God remember, but God continues to be at work.
a. Follow the story lines.
1. Joseph
2.Exodus
3.Broaden the context
4.God wants to be at work in a loving relationship, so God creates.
5.God wants to be at work with a particular people, so God calls Abraham and Sarah to lead a new people, the Israelites.
6.God wants to save Israel, so Joseph.
7.God wants to lead the Israelites back from their sinfulness, so God works through the prophets
8.God wants to redeem the world, so God acts in Jesus Christ.
9.God wants to continue to be at work in the world, so God sends the Holy Spirit.
b. God will be at work for good.
1.Wicked: Witches before they were witches. They speak of their relationship with a sense of foreboding, but they acknowledge that having known each other had changed them for the good.
2.God has a long history of changing people and situations for good.
3.Joseph and his brothers – saw how they were changed for the good.
4.God is at work in our lives – we are called to be changed for the good.
5.God sends us into the world – to change people for the good.
6.Giving Tree – entering into people's lives in the name of Christ to help them and invite them to new opportunities that can change them for the good.
Conclusion:
1. She had been shopping with her mom in a store. She must have been 6 years old, this beautiful brown haired, freckle-faced image of innocence. It was pouring outside. The kind of rain that gushes over the top of rain gutters, so much in a hurry to hit the Earth it has no time to flow down the spout.

We all stood there under the awning and just inside the door of the store. We waited, some patiently, others irritated because nature messed up their hurried day. I am always mesmerized by rainfall. I get lost in the sound and sight of the heavens washing away the dirt and dust of the world.

Memories of running, splashing so carefree as a child come pouring in as a welcome reprieve from the worries of my day.

Her voice was so sweet as it broke the hypnotic trance we were all caught in.

"Mom, let's run through the rain," she said. "What?" Mom asked. "Let's run through the rain!" She repeated. "No, honey. We'll wait until it slows down a bit," Mom replied. This young child waited about another minute and repeated: "Mom, Let's run through the rain."

"We'll get soaked if we do," Mom said. "No, we won't, Mom. That's not what you said this morning," the young girl said as she tugged at her Mom's arm.

"This morning? When did I say we could run through the rain and not get wet?"

"Don't you remember? When you were talking to daddy about his cancer, you said, 'If God can get us through this, He can get us through anything!'"

The entire crowd stopped dead silent. I swear you couldn't hear anything but the rain. We all stood silently. No one came or left in the next few minutes. Mom paused and thought for a moment about what she would say.
Now some would laugh it off and scold her for being silly. Some might even ignore what was said. But this was a moment of affirmation in a young child's life. A time when innocent trust can be nurtured so that it will bloom into faith.

"Honey, you are absolutely right. Let's run through the rain. If God let's us get wet, well maybe we just needed washing," Mom said.

Then off they ran. We all stood watching, smiling and laughing as they darted past the cars and yes, through the puddles. They held their shopping bags over their heads just in case.

They got soaked. But they were followed by a few who screamed and laughed like children all the way to their cars.

And yes, I did. I ran. I got wet. I needed washing.
We may not know the storms we will encounter.
We may not know whether we will stay dry in the rain or get a washing.
But we know the God who remembers us and is at work in our lives and the world.

"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

Sermon notes for "The Blessing"

“The Blessing” August 15, 2010; Joseph series; Genesis 48

Move 1: As some of you may know, I have a collection of teen-age sports books. In fact, when I was single and seemed to have more money than I could spend, I actually scoured out of print lists and book sales to add to my collect (I gave that up to collect a wife and three daughters!).

One of my favorite football stories (The All-American, Johrn R. Tunis) begins with a game between the private school that sits up on a hill and the public school. At a critical moment in the game, two of the star players for the private school team up to cheap shot and injure the star player for the public school team. This allows their team to win.
As the player from the public school lays in the hospital bed from his injury, one of the players who injured him feels guilty. Then, he gets very angry because none of his teammates feel the least bit guilty about injuring another player. So in a rash moment, he quits the team and quits the private school.

When he goes to explain to his father what he has done, he expects his father to be angry with him. He expects his father to argue that he must continue at the private school so that he can achieve his academics goals and get into an Ivy League school. Full of dread, he explains to his father what has happened.

To his surprise, his father responds by telling his own story. A similar thing had happened when he played football in college. He tells his son that he has never forgotten the emptiness of winning by cheating. It has bothered him all his life. Now, through his son, he is able to make things right.

Maybe you remember an event in your life that you have carried with you, that has shaped how you handled things later in your life.

a. Jacob has been shaped by an event that took place early in his life – the stealing of his older brother's birthright.

1.We remember that story, of course, when Jacob, in cahoots with his mother Rebekah, trick his older brother Esau out of the birthright the older brother should have received from their father Isaac.

2.Jacob receiving his father's blessing, instead of Esau.

b. That moment shaped Jacob's life in concrete ways.
1. he had to flee from his homeland to escape his brother's and father's wrath.
2.There his life prospered and he met his wife Rachel.
3.Eventually, he even was able to return to him homeland with lots of resources.
4.He becomes the patriarch of God's people.
5.He had lived into his stolen blessing.

c.I suspect that moment when he stole his brother's blessings stayed with him in other ways as well.
1.Maybe feeling guilty toward his brother Esau.
2.maybe feeling thankful for the way his life had turned out and seeing some connection between that and claiming his brother's birthright;
3.maybe he connected what had transpired in his life with God being at work,including his receiving the birthright that should have been Esau's.

d. at this moment when Jacob stands before his two grandsons, this is more than just a grandfather blessing his grandchildren.
1.when Jacob saw these two boys, he asks his son Joseph who they were.
2.When he hears Joseph's reply, he bursts out, “I never thought I would see my son Joseph, and now I see my grandsons.”
3.A glorious moment.
4.More than that, a chance for Jacob to complete the circle of blessings.

e. In bestowing this blessing on his grandsons, Jacob affirms the the God who relentlessly works in history.

1.In a way, think how ridiculous it is for Jacob to be offering any blessing.
2.His family are strangers in the land of Egypt.
3.They are the nation so desperate to be saved that they turn to the Egyptian powers.
4.They have now given up their homeland to come live in Egypt.
5.What kind of blessing can Jacob offer his grandsons?
6.But, Jacob does have a blessing.
7.He has a reminder that they ache a hope in their God
8.The promise is still alive. God holds a future for them that is different than anything that Egypt can offer them.
9.God has not forsaken them.
10.They can look to a future blessing because God will be true to God's promises.
So Jacob dares to bless his grandsons

Move 2: but notice what Jacob does.

a. He crosses his hands and ends up blessing Ephraim, Joseph's younger son, instead of Manasseh, the oldest son, who should have received the blessing.
1.I have never done it, but this would be like me using the wrong name of a baby when I baptized him or her (Walter Brueggemann introduces this illustration in his Interpretation A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching Genesis (362)
2.The right blessing – wrong person.
3.Once again, Jacob defies patriarchal rules of that time.
2.Joseph intercedes and tries to set things straight. Imagine a parent interrupting the baptism to say, “Richard, you've got the wrong name.”
3.But Jacob will not be denied. He continues blessing the wrong grandson.
4.Again, imagine in a baptism, I ignore the parent telling me I used the wrong name and continuing.

b. How can Jacob bless the wrong grandson?
1.Is this the mistake of an elderly grandfather? The text tells us that Jacob eyesight had gotten rather poor.
2.Or is this the action of a master manipulator who has stolen a birthright himself, so would think nothing of giving the blessing to the “wrong” person.
3.Or, as some scholars suggest, is this part of the story a later edition, added by someone who noticed that Ephraim had become the greater tribe, so they wanted to retell the story in a way that would suggest God had planned this all along.
4.4. Or had God somehow told Jacob that Ephraim should be blessed, and Jacob is just following God's direction?
5.Take your pick.

c.Regardless, this story speaks to the about our God, who cannot be bound by our expectations and worldly rules.
1.Society may say that the oldest son gets the blessing, but society cannot bind God's actions.
2.WE may try to package God into a stereotype of our liking, but God will not be contained.
3.If you like your stories neat and by the book, you better skip reading the Bible.
4.If you want your world to unfold precise and orderly, find another God.
5.Or, you can choose to follow the God of Jacob and Joseph.
6.The God who can save Israel from starvation through some crazy story like Joseph's.
7.The God who offers hope to Israel, even as they are strangers in the foreign land of Egypt.
8.The God who saves the world by coming in Christ and dying on the cross.
9.Those are not neat, orderly stories – those are hard to believe, messy, can't quite figure it out stories about the God we cannot fully understand or know, but the God who loves us and saves us.

Conclusion: I I Peter, the early church is told “it is for this that you were called – that you might inherit a blessing.”
We lay claim to the calling and God's blessing.

Reflections on "The Blessing"

I enjoyed Sunday's sermon as much as any sermon I have preached recently. At the park, the opportunity to have two of the young disciples kneel down while I illustrated how Jacob crossed his hands when he blessed them really added to the sermon. The baptism illustration seemed to work as well (I am indebted to Walter Brueggemann for the connection between messing up the blessing and messing up a baptism).

I think the image of God as one who cannot be bound by us or our rules and the sense that God always brings us hope are true to who God is. Perhaps a concrete illustration of an unbridled God at work might have been helpful. I find it hard to give concrete examples of God at work for fear of trivializing God's actions.

What worked for you in the sermon?

What needed more explanation or insight?

Peace,

Richard

The Blessing

Sunday's text, Genesis 48: 8-22, exemplifies what is so exciting and exasperating about reading texts from the Old Testament (maybe the whole Bible). Jacob blessing Joseph's grandsons has wonderful connections to other stories -- a reminder of Jacob stealing his brother Esau's blessing; a complete restoration of Joseph in Jacob's eyes; the power of blessing in that patriarchal society; and the power of God's promise to the Israelites that lives on in each generation, to name a few.

But, the story also contains the interplay between Jacob and Joseph when Joseph notices that Jacob has crossed his hands and bestowed the blessing on the younger son. Is that foreshadowing that Ephraim will become the greater person and his family will have more prominence (this turns out to be true). Is it another example of Jacob's shenanigans? If so, what does it say that God will seems to move through deceptive acts and rascals like Jacob? Has an editor added this piece to the story later (after Ephraim has become the more powerful nation)to show that God, through Jacob, had ordained this to happen.

In addition to those fascinating questions of the text, I think it also leads to questions for ourselves: how much is at stake for us for there to be a clear link between Ephraim prospering and God having blessed Ephraim over Manasseh his older brother? What do we think about God, if God does not abide by the rules of society? Okay, that may sound a bit crazy to expect God to follow our societal patterns, but think about the implications of following a God who may choose to follow a different plan than we expect, and in fact, seems to follow no set pattern. Where do we find certainty in the God of the unexpected?

As you may guess, all these questions keep floating in my head, which is making sermon development a bit more difficult than I imagined. I have continually found in this Joseph series that I begin thinking "what a great story," and then end up discovering that the story is really so complex I'm not sure how to articulate it as a sermon.

Peace,

Richard

Reflections on "God's Plans"

The title fit the original idea, God's plans work are still at work in the midst of our bad decisions, better than the final version of the sermon.

AS is often the case, when I push myself on what to say to the Young Disciples, I discover the heart of the sermon (maybe there is a sermon preparation lesson to be learned in that!). I found the power of the sermon to be in the point that Judah's self-giving set the stage for Joseph to act to save Israel. That, of course, would seem to mimic an expectation God might have for us -- we respond to God's self-giving my acting in ways that reveal God to the world.

I struggled with concrete illustrations for self-giving ways that reveal God. The story of the young boy was okay, but it felt more like a serial Internet story (which it probably was) than a powerful testimony to how one responds to a self-giving act. I loved the final line, "Are you God's wife," which is why I ultimately kept it in the sermon.

I made generic references to a parent's death bringing together estranged siblings and hospital situations where people discover God being revealed through the actions of others. The generic allusions lack the power of a particular story. The problem with particular stories is that I have been in Troy so long, that most of my stories are about situations I have experienced here in Troy. I have a problem telling those stories in a sermon because of confidentiality issues and because I do not want to create the impression that everyone's life story is a future sermon illustration.

Can you think of some stories where someone's self-giving act revealed God's presence in your life (I'll assume if you post it in a comment you have given permission for it to be used at some later time!)?

Peace,

Richard

"God's Plans" sermon notes

Here are my unedited sermon notes from last week. Some of you may recognize the sermon in there!

“God's Plans” August 8, 2010; Joseph series Genesis 45: 1-14

Introduction: Joseph cannot take it anymore.
the charade comes to an end.
Joseph clears the room; bursts into tears; tells his brothers who he is.
Joseph reveals himself to his brothers.
His brothers are speechless. Not sure what to do or say. Maybe not even sure they can believe what Joseph is telling them.
But Joseph has acted and now his story will finish on a happy note.
The family will be reunited.
Israel will be saved.

Move 1: In this act of self-revelation, Joseph also reveals how God works in the world.
a. As Joseph retells the story of what has happened to him, he begins by noting that “you sold me into slavery.”
1.A clear reminder that the brothers were the ones that perpetrated this act on Joseph.
2.Not God wanted you to sell me into slavery.
3.Not God wanted Potiphar's wife to get me in trouble.
4.Not God put me in jail.
5.Joseph does not a view of the world that believes God makes bad things happen to people so that they can learn a lesson, or grow up or be better people.
b. but, Joseph quickly notes that God works in the world to bring about good.
1.God sent me to Egypt.
2.God made me Pharaoh's right hand man.
3.God sent me to preserve life.
4.An understanding of the world that clearly sees God at work, but God leading us to new life, rather than God sending us difficulties.
5.Christian Century article discussing how God is at work in the world. The article quoted a passage from renowned historian Theodore White's biography: in discussing death of Israeli Prime Minister Rabin. Biography about Theodore White (Theodore H. White and Journalism as Illusion) “”’History was not predestined. Individuals not only could but inevitably did redirect the locomotive and alter history. Not only did individual choices matter, they were the thread of history itself.’ Individual actions do alter history, but God still reigns over history. Rabin’s murder will dramatically affect the struggle for peace. At this moment, evil may appear to be winning. But, while there may be setbacks in the negotiations, evil will not prevail”
6.We remember that Paul writes to the Romans: “God makes all things work together for good,”
7. Paul knows this first-hand. He was a persecutor of Christians whom God transformed into a great leader of Christians.
7.God works to transform situations so that God's grace can be revealed.
8.I have visited with people who have been in accidents or had unfortunate things happen to them and have heard them tell stories of how God's grace has been found in those situations – a sudden death of a parent brings together two estranged siblings; an accident and long hospital stay become the opportunity for friends and family to rally together. The stories are not about how God did not something bad in their lives, but how God's saving grace was revealed in those terrible times.
Joseph's self-revelation reveals how God works for good in the world.

Move 2: Secondly, we notice that a self-giving act compels Joseph to reveal himself.
a. Judah's self-giving act creates the opportunity for Joseph to reveal himself.
1.Remember what happened when Judah and his brothers selfishly send Joesph off into slavery? Turmoil ensues.
2.When Judah offers himself to save Benjamin, Joseph bursts into tears and is compelled to reveal himself.
3.Imagine the power of that moment.
4.Not just setting the record straight – I am Joseph. But, Joseph seeking to be in relationship with his family again; Joseph, risking rejection again (he may have the power of the Egypt behind him, but his brothers can still reject him); Joseph offering new hope and new life for his family; Joseph begins the process that will rescue Israel.

b. When Joseph reveals himself, he reveals God.
1.Judah gives of himself; Joseph gives of himself; God's saving grace arrives.
2.No surprise, I suppose, since God's clearest revelation was when God came in Jesus Christ – God's gift of self for us; followed by Christ's gift of himself on the cross for us; followed by our discovering God's saving grace for us.

c.Can you think of any self-giving acts you have witness ed where someone gave of himself or herself, thereby revealing God's saving grace?
1. An Eye Witness Account from New York City, on a cold day in December... Hopefully, this is the kind of thing that happens frequently, everywhere..... A little boy about 10 years old was standing before a shoe store on Broadway, barefooted, peering through the window, and shivering with cold. A lady approached the boy and said, "My little fellow, why are you looking so earnestly in that window?" "I was asking God to give me a pair of shoes," was the boys reply. The lady took him by the hand and went into the store, and asked the clerk to get half a dozen pairs of socks for the boy. She then asked if he could give her a basin of water and a towel he quickly brought them to her. She took the little fellow to the back part of the store and, removing her gloves, knelt down, washed his little feet and dried them with a towel. By this time the clerk had returned with the socks. Placing a pair upon the boy's feet, she purchased him a pair of shoes, and tying up the remaining pairs of socks, gave them to him. She patted him on the head and said, "No doubt, my little fellow, you feel more comfortable now?" As she turned to go, the astonished lad caught her by the hand, and looking up in her face, with tears in his eyes, answered the question with these words... "Are you God's Wife?
2. What Judah did for Benjamin, God has done for us.
3. Can you imagine the power of a moment when someone self-giving would cause you to break out into tears or kiss your brother?

Conclusion: Joseph's story reveals a God at work in the world; a God who works through giving of self. A God who calls us to do the same.

Posting sermons

a couple of you have asked if I would publish my notes from the sermon on the blog. I am toying with the idea.

Pros: give those of you who were not here a chance to read the sermon; gives more content for reflection

Cons: what is in my notes is often different than what gets preached; I am not sure I want to make the commitment to revising notes before posting them each week.

What do you think?

Peace,

richard

Revealing God

This week in the story Joseph reveals himself to his brothers. In part, I think, he reveals himself as a response to Judah's self-giving act of offering himself in place of the younger brother Benjamin. I note that this is so different than how Judah joined with his other brothers in getting rid of Joseph years ago; now, he acts to save the younger brother. Did that act of self-giving compel Joseph to reveal himself?

Joseph's self-revelation is not just about himself. When he reveals himself, he reveals God's plan to safe Israel. Thus, we can make the case that Judah's self-giving act allowed God's grace to be revealed through Joseph.

Any good stories or illustrations out there about how we act in ways that reveal God's grace?

There is also the continuing theme of God working through human failings and mistakes to transform the situation into one of God's saving grace.

Peace,

Richard

Stepped Out

As I was reading the text in worship and preaching the sermon, I had the feeling that I had missed the point. Instead of focusing on Judah and his speech, perhaps I should have focused on Judah's offer of self-sacrifice leading to Joseph's self-revelation. The good news is that I am preaching the next section this week, so I can bring that thought into the mix. I suppose that's one of the good things about preaching a series.

I thought the illustration of "accidentally" stepping forward as shown in the Time with Young Disciples and referenced in the sermon worked well. From a technique standpoint, I continue to realize that the the stronger connection between the Time with Young Disciples and the sermon about to preached, the better things work. The Young Disciples get a sense of what their parents will hear, and the congregation gets a concrete example that will show up shortly in the sermon.

Although it may have been the least developed (or most poorly) point of the sermon, I still look back at Judah's act of stepping out and find it compelling. It may be an artificial imposition on the text to connect his act with an act of faithfulness, but I think the question still resonates with us -- what compels us to step out in faith? Can you name the last time you stepped out in faith?

Peace,

Richard