God Works

Pentecost 7a

July 27, 2014

Genesis 29:15-29

I have said it before, but every time I do, I turn out to be wrong.  I am going to say it again though, this is one of the most difficult texts I’ve ever attempted to preach on.  If we take it just on its own merits, what is there to say?  There is no mention of God.  There is no mention of God’s promises.  There is no mention of the fulfillment of God’s promises.  It’s a continuation of an ongoing soap opera of people deceiving each other and making messes out of human relationships. Where is the good news to be found when a man wakes up one morning and discovers that the woman that he thought he married was the wrong woman?  What connection can we make to God’s promises when a man negotiates a business contract using women as his wages?  Why did the people who assigned the readings for this year even think that this was remotely preachable? Because it is not.

Not on its own anyways.

It seems we have approached a moment in the lectionary where a text without context can become dangerous.  There are many, many, texts throughout scripture that, without context, are dangerous because without context we can do with them what they wish, no matter how badly we mangle what is actually meant by the passage as a whole. 

For example – In 1^st Corinthians 10:13, Paul writes “God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it.” Which is a wonderful, hopeful text…unless you are flailing in the waters of grief and suffering, about to drown because, on your own, you can’t do it no matter how much faith you have.  I’ve heard this text preached in a manner that individuals are encouraged to endure the awful things that life has handed them because God will give them a way to endure it.  But what about the woman in the abusive relationship? What about the employee who is asked to do too much and paid too little but is afraid to speak to his boss out of fear of retribution? What about the person who has been so overcome by depression that death is starting to look like a good way out? If you take a look at the context around it, however, Paul is speaking to an entire community, so when he says you, he actually means “y’all.” So, as a community, you will be able to endure when you lean on each other in times of grief and temptation…and that brings a whole lot more hope when we feel isolated.  Lean in on your community and together you will endure this.

So it can be with this text…one lesson that we can take from this is - if you are willing to work really hard for what you want, you will achieve it and maybe even wind up with more than you expected.  Now, on the surface, there isn’t much wrong with the concept of hard work.  The most rewarding things in life are things that we work hard for, the car we saved up for, the house we built with our own two hands, the first quilt we finished sewing after months or even years of lessons and frustrations.  But then we look around and we see the families with parents working multiple minimum wage jobs just so they can pay their bills.  We see the kids who come to school hungry because the car that his single dad needs to get to work got a flat tire and what money they had left for food was cut significantly so that dad didn’t risk losing his job.  There are lots of people in our country who are working really hard to stay afloat for whom being told that if they just work hard enough, they will get what they want, is a slap across the face. 

Or, one could make an argument based solely off of this passage that using women as a salary option is acceptable…when really, we know that while it was an accepted practice at the time, now…not so much.  I’m pretty sure that you fathers in this room would have a pretty negative reaction if a man doing work for you asked for your daughter as his wages.

If we look at the context, though, we can find so much more…in fact, we have no other choice but to find what else there is to this passage if we are going to talk about God or God’s promises, or even make sense of Jacob’s marrying Leah and Rachel this week and Jacob’s wrestling with God next week.  Two weeks ago, we hear God’s words to Rebekah that her twins would come to be two nations…two nations that would be continually struggling against one another…and that the older would serve the younger.  That is, the promise that God made to Abraham would be fulfilled through Jacob, not through Esau.  And though it happened through Jacob and Rebekah’s deception or Esau and Isaac, Jacob did become the one to whom the birthright and the blessing were given.

Then last week, we heard God’s words to Jacob that God would be with him until his promise to him was fulfilled.  That God would not leave Jacob’s side.  Though we don’t see it directly in the text that we are presented with this morning, I invite you, in this week, to read the passages that follow what we read this morning.  For we will see in the verses and chapters to come after Jacob’s being tricked into marrying both Leah and Rachel was the beginning of a very visible fleshing out of the promise that God had made to Abraham and to Isaac and to Jacob himself.  To make them the ancestors of many nations, the ones who would have descendants as many as the stars in the sky, the grains of sand in the desert, the specks of dirt on the earth.  For it was through Leah and Rachel, and their two maids, that Jacob would become the father of not one or two children…but of 13 children. 12 sons and 1 daughter.  These sons would become the twelve tribes of Israel. 

And as the history of God’s people continues, we will continue to see the dysfunction and the sin that will plague God’s people.  How, Jacob will deceive Laban, just as Laban had deceived him before.  How Leah and Rachel will struggle against one another out of jealousy that Jacob loved Rachel more than Leah on Leah’s part, and jealousy that Leah was able to bear more children that Rachel on Rachel’s part.  We will see brothers avenge their sister after she is sexually assaulted and then turn and sell their brother out of jealousy.  And we will see forgiveness and compassion as Jacob and Esau reunite.  As Joseph and his brothers reunite. 

And above all, we will see God at work, fulfilling his promises even in the midst of the messes that we humans make out of relationships. 

The God we know and love and serve is a God who never gives up on his people.  When Adam and Eve sinned, he forgave them and provided for them.  When Cain killed Abel, God protected him from retribution.  When sin survived the flood and God promised to never flood the earth again, God has tried again and again to find ways to get through to us a positive way to make his plans for us come to fruition.  And yet, time and again we deceive ourselves and one another  into thinking that we are doing good enough…but are we?

A man in Minnesota shot a woman the other night for asking him to not ride his lawn mower on her front lawn.  The shootings in Chicago continue to make national news headlines every week.  As long as there is violence and hatred instead of love and peace and justice, we are not living up to the plan that God has for us.  And yet that doesn’t keep God from working.  In those pockets of the world where darkness seems to reign, there is always a light shining somewhere.  In those places that we think are lost causes, somewhere there is hope.  In those locations where violence is seemingly never ending, somewhere there is peace.  Because God hasn’t abandoned them.  Just like God won’t abandon us…

  

On Miscarriage

In May, Chris and I got some unexpected news...that we were going to become parents for the second time. We moved quickly from shock to excitement that January would bring new life to our family.

Then, on July 10th, just one day before we hit the 12 week mark, we heard the word that every expectant parent fears most - Miscarriage.  In our case, a missed miscarriage.  We were told that our little one stopped growing at 8 weeks gestation, which means that while my body had shut down the pregnancy 4 weeks ago, it hadn't followed up with miscarrying on its own.  Instead, the morning sickness, the slowly growing belly, etc., all continued, giving us the impression that everything was alright.  That this pregnancy was a healthy one.  That we would be safe telling the congregation on the 13th of July that Eleanor was going to be a big sister.  Instead, our dreams for this child were dashed in the moment that *that* look flashed across the face of my OB.  Medically, a second ultrasound was required to confirm what we feared, but I knew when that first image popped up on the ultrasound screen that January 2015 would not be our month. Even though I knew in my heart, I prayed and pleaded for a miracle. I cried out that God would intervene and that the next morning there would be a small, but strong little one on that ultrasound screen.  That prayer wasn't answered.

So, on July 13th, I stood before a congregation, only a few of whom had heard any of news regarding our pregnancy and miscarriage, and preached that God can take bad situations in our lives and make good come out of them (see blog post entitled Red Stuff).  God still is at work even when it seems that we have hit a road block.  This is what I believe.  That in the midst of miscarriages and cancer (at least two members of the congregation I serve are actively in the midst of this fight) and the messes that we ourselves have created (oh and there are plenty...have you read the news lately? Kyrie eleison), God is still at work and can take these awful situations and make good out of them. Most of the time, this mean that God calls us to be God's presence in the world. To stand up and speak, or act, when injustice and violence plague our cities, our nations, our world.  To celebrate and mourn with each other in the best and worst moments of our lives. To reach out to the lonely, to lift up the poor, to welcome the stranger...you know, the whole love God - love neighbor thing. We can't just stand around because then we are just getting in God's way.

In the midst of this painful and sad situation, we have been surrounded by love.  A love whose origins come from God.  In cards and hugs and loaves of banana bread and words of comfort and shared tears.  As surrounded as we are, I know that there are many women and their partners, who suffer through miscarriages silently, as if the pregnancy never happened.  I mourn for these women who have been told "we don't talk about miscarriages."  I want these women to know that they are not alone.  That they have a support network.  That they don't have to stay silent.  That the children that they lost matter.

There are plenty of articles that have been written about what to say and what not to say to someone who has suffered a pregnancy loss.  This is not one of them.  I do, though, feel the need to comment on one of "don'ts" as a member of the clergy.

"It is all a part of God's plan.  You know that better than anyone else, Pastor"
I may have earned a Masters of Divinity.  I may be an ordained leader in the church.
             I have no better idea about God's plan than anyone else. 
Scientifically speaking, I know that there may be an explanation for why our baby died. However, I cannot and will not say that this was God's plan.  I do not believe that the God whom I have come to know and to love in my faith journey is a God who wakes up in the morning, checks the list of new pregnancies and marks off which ones will result in a live birth and which ones will not - which pregnancies will fulfill dreams and which ones will dash hopes and dreams altogether.
We learn in scripture that death is a result of the power of sin in the world and the powers of sin and death are the very things that God sent his Son into the world to destroy. We also learn in scripture that God's desire is for his creation, a very good creation, to flourish and have abundant life. Finally, we are told in Revelation that God's final plan is to make his home on earth among us on a day in which death and pain and suffering and mourning will be no more (Revelation 21).  I have no idea why our baby died or why God didn't step in. What I can say that I know, though, is that in death our child is resting in God's arms and that God is with us as we mourn the loss of a child that we will never meet in this life.

In the mean time we will mourn and grieve.  We will continue to give thanks for our daughter - the light of our lives - as she continues to grow and amaze us.  We will hope to, one day, add another child to our family.  We will never forget our Snowpea (I have a thing for cute nicknames so I don't have to call baby "it") and we will look forward to the day when we will be reunited with our 2nd child in God's presence.  We do this knowing that we are not alone, which brings with it a level of gratefulness that cannot be expressed.

Red Stuff

July 13, 2014

Pentecost 5

Genesis 25:19-34

This morning, I want to talk a bit about instant gratification.  It’s a pandemic.  If you carry a cell phone of any kind with you, anyone who has your phone number can get ahold of you at any time, day or night.  If you have a smart phone, not only can they call or text you any time, but they can also e-mail you, send you a message via facebook, twitter, snap chat, or Instagram…and, more often than not is it at least hoped for, if not outright expected, that you will respond somewhat quickly.  And it’s not just technology that has us hooked on instant gratification.  Got bad credit? No credit? No problem, we want to sell you something right now.  You know you want it, so come by our store today and drive home with a brand new thing for $25 a month for the next 60 months (plus tax and interest fees).  There was even a commercial that ran at Christmas time advertising an online company that would allow you to buy extravagant Christmas presents on credit and pay it off over the next 12 months…at which point Christmas comes around again and you start all over…but you’re the cool aunt for buying your nephew the ps4 he has been wanting since before it came out. 

The problem with instant gratification is that it wears down on our ability to wait for things and our willingness to work hard in order to achieve our goals.  I once got into an argument with my grandmother because she was boasting about one of my distant relatives who had gotten ordained online so he could do a wedding for a friend.  She couldn’t understand, until I explained it to her, my frustration that she was so proud of him for spending 30 minutes online to get ordained when I was in the middle of a 4 year master’s program which would ultimately result, but not guarantee, my ordination. 

The other problem with instant gratification is that it creates the illusion that we have more control than we actually do. 

As we arrive at this part of chapter 25 of Genesis, we get to a place in the story of God’s people where, if you blink, you will miss something.  We go from Rebekah being barren in verse 21, to Esau and Jacob’s birth in verse 25 to seeing her twin boys as teenagers in verse 28.  These are two boys that never got along, even in the womb.  The Lord tells Rebekah, in the midst of a difficult pregnancy, that her babies would later become two nations, nations that would struggle against each other, but that the older would end up serving the younger.  And when they were born, it was quite apparent that they were different. Esau was born covered in red hair while Jacob was born with smooth skin, though eager to not fall too behind his brother in meeting the world.  As they grew, the differences between Jacob and Esau became more and more pronounced.  Esau, grew up to be a hunter…a real man’s man, where as his little brother, Jacob, preferred a more introverted and refined existence living in the tents where he became quite the cook. 

And the thing that probably intensified the division between the two boys what that mom and dad picked favorites.  Isaac loved Esau because he had a taste for game, whereas Rebekah loved Jacob.  Not usually something that you want to do if you hope that your already feuding kids will get along in the future…or even the present. But so it was.

One day Jacob was cooking some lentil stew and Esau came in to the tent from the fields hungry and demanded a bowl of that “red stuff.”  Jacob consented, but cunningly changes the subject and begins bargaining for Esau’s birthright.  Esau agrees to Jacob’s proposal and, for the cost of his birthright, meaning, his right to double the inheritance and to take the place as the spiritual head of the household after their father died, Esau got a bowl of stew and some bread…but to a teenage boy who thinks he is about to die from hunger, what does that mean when you can have a bowl of lentil stew now? Nothing.

Now, we could do what comes naturally when reading this story and shake our heads and wonder what in the world Esau was thinking for selling his birthright for a bowl of stew…and it must have been some pretty amazing stew.  Esau’s agreeing to sell his birthright for a bowl of stew demonstrated that, in that moment, he cared more about being able to control his hunger right now than he did about his well-being in the future.  He wanted the instant gratification of a full stomach after a day of hunting and farming so much that he wasn’t thinking about the future implications of the deal he made with his brother.  As so he forfeited the privilege of  later becoming the head of the household, of the property and land and wealth that came along with it because he was so fixated on what he could get now that would make him feel better.

Esau is not the only one with issues in this story.  Jacob lived up to the second meaning of his name “the one who deceives” when he took advantage of his brother’s desperate situation.  He knew that Esau was at a weak point due to hunger, and so he took his chance to claim not only the spiritual and material blessing of the birthright, but in this case the promise to Abraham of many descendants and nations was at stake…and who wants to let that go when you have the opportunity to grasp it sitting right in front of you at the cost of only a bowl of stew?

Which begs the question - What’s your red stuff?

 Is there anything that you can think of that you have been offered in the past that offered up so much satisfaction in the here and now that you didn’t even think about the implications for the future? 

Have you ever offered up red stuff to someone else as a way to achieve something that you didn’t think you could get on your own?  No need to answer now…but give it some thought.  We all have our red stuff…the substitute forms of food that feed us immediately and that are within our control…the things that give us that sense of instant gratification.  Things that we are willing to compromise our faith for, for the sake of easier gain. We’ve been offered it…we’ve offered it up to others. 

But here is where the catch comes in.  We may shake our heads at Esau’s quick willingness to sell his birthright for a bowl of stew…we may even shake our heads at Jacob’s taking advantage of his brothers extreme hunger in order to secure the birth right.  But even in the midst of this family feud and the feud caused when Jacob truly steals not only Esau’s birthright but also his blessing, God’s plan is working itself out. This wasn’t simply a brief exchange in which one brother profited in the long term while the other brother profited only temporarily.  The Lord had told Rebekah directly that her older child would serve her younger child, and in the selling of a birthright for a bowl of stew, the Lord’s will was done.  Jacob would be the one through whom the promise to Abraham would be passed down, not Esau.  And so, in this strange interaction between two brothers that never got along in the first place, God’s work still got done. 

God’s work gets done in the strangest circumstances…in the selling of a birthright for a bowl of stew…in the selling of a brother over some extreme jealousy…in the selling of the location of where the Lord’s own son would be praying the night before his crucifixion.

And so the take home here is the in the midst of the bad situations we get ourselves into, God’s GOOD plan is going to work itself out.  And that’s the definition of the Gospel…it is God’s good news in the midst of our bad situations. 

Faith of our Fathers

July 6, 2014

Genesis 24: 34-67

Pentecost 4A

On July 3, 1776, John Adams wrote a letter to his wife Abigail in regards to the proceedings that took place on July 2nd. It was on the 2nd of July, 1776, that the Second Continental Congress voted on a resolution that legally separated the thirteen American colonies from British control. In the letter to his wife, John Adams wrote: “The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more.” Mr. Adams was two days off in his guess at when the birthday of the United States would be celebrated…however, for the most part, the majority of what else he wrote to Abigail has happened and continues to occur when we celebrate our nation’s birthday. 

President Adams was a person of faith living in a time of significant transition as the 13 colonies were moving from being subject to British authority to their own autonomy as a country.  What is interesting about this letter to Abigail is that while he was realistic about what declaring independence would mean in the future, he had faith that ultimately the ends would justify the means and that God would grant his blessing upon this new nation.  He continues “You will think me transported with Enthusiasm but I am not. -- I am well aware of the Toil and Blood and Treasure, that it will cost us to maintain this Declaration, and support and defend these States. -- Yet through all the Gloom I can see the Rays of ravishing Light and Glory. I can see that the End is more than worth all the Means. And that Posterity will triumph in that Days Transaction, even although we should rue it, which I trust in God We shall not.”

Last week we heard about the story of the binding of Isaac.  How Abraham and Sarah had become so enamored with the child that they had waited so long for, that they placed him above God, the one who had provided for their every need.  So God put Abraham to the test, and without questioning, Abraham proved his faith and his trust in God.

That faith and trust carry over to today’s lesson.  We pick up in the middle of the story in which Abraham sends his servant to Abraham’s brother’s house in Haran to find a wife for Isaac. 

Sarah has died and Isaac was nearing 40, which was well passed the typical age in which folks got married at the time.  Abraham did not want Isaac to take a wife from the women of Canaan, the land in which they lived, and he did not want Isaac returning to Abraham’s hometown for fear that he would find a wife there and settle down in Haran, failing to return to the land which he was set to inherit through the promise that God had made to Abraham.

So Abraham sends his servant to Haran, making him promise to bring back a wife for Isaac from Abraham’s brother’s house.  When the servant reaches the city of Abraham’s brother, Nahor, he stops at the well to pray.  His prayer is that God will grant his success in finding a wife for Isaac and asks that the woman that God had set apart for Isaac would come to the well and offer not only to water not only him, but his camels as well.  Before even completing this prayer, we meet Rebekah, who has come to the well to fetch water.  She offers to water Abraham’s servant, as well as his camels. 

Upon completing this task, Abraham’s servant places gold bracelets on her arms and a ring in her nose, which was a way of claiming her for Isaac while also serving to show Rebekah and her family that Abraham would be more than able to pay a bride price for Rebekah.  Rebekah then runs home to tell her family about what had just happened, decked out in the gold that Abraham’s servant had given her.

Our reading picks up here, with the Abraham’s servant’s testimony of God’s enduring loyalty to Abraham by leading the servant to Rebekah, Isaac’s future wife.  His testimony wins the consent of Rebekah’s family and Rebekah agrees to return with the servant to Abraham’s house to become Isaac’s wife.  Rebekah’s agreement to this arrangement is without question, which we will discover later is not surprising considering her decisive nature.  So Abraham’s servant returns to Canaan with Rebekah and her entourage, and she is delivered to Isaac to takes her as his wife and loves her, finding comfort in his love for her in the midst of his sorrow over his mother’s death. 

Faith and trust is an important thread in this story, as it is in many of the stories of Genesis.  Abraham had faith that God would provide a wife for Isaac from the house of his brother.  Abraham’s servant had faith that God would make him successful in his quest to find such a wife, which he saw as a sign of God’s faithfulness to Abraham and wasn’t afraid to tell others about it. Rebekah’s family had faith, upon hearing the testimony of Abraham’s servant, that Rebekah was being called to become a matriarch of many nations and that God would bless her in her travels and into the future.  

And, finally, there is the faith of Rebekah, a faith that cannot be overlooked, because it is faith with which Rebekah makes the decision to leave her father’s house and travel to a land she has never seen before to marry a man she has never met before all based upon the testimony of a stranger she met at a well.  It is her faith which allows Isaac to be comforted after the death of his mother and it is her faith that helps shape the future for her son Jacob, who will later become Israel.  

It was a faith that, similar to Abraham, allowed Rebekah to lean in on the promises that God would provide.  She depended on God above all else, even when it meant that sometimes it meant taking action to help ensure that God’s promises would be fulfilled. 

As we come to the end of a weekend of celebrating out nations independence from British rule, as we walk through a time in which the words independence and freedom are being bandied about in dangerous ways, as we look out upon a nation that is increasingly divided, we are called to look to Rebekah as an example of faith and of dependence on a God who provides and a God who saves.  To lean in on the promises that whether we see it or not, and regardless of the folks who claim that God has folded to the laws of man and agreed to be kicked out of our schools and places of government, that God is still here, still providing, still blessing.  We are called to walk by faith, to believe in the promises of things that we have yet to see, trusting that just as God has made good on his promises in the past, God will continue to make good on his promises to us now and in the future.  

John Adams was right when he wrote Abigail 238 years ago.  He got the date wrong, but he was right about the celebrations, right about the cost of independence, and right about God’s being present in and faithful to this nation, just as God is in every other nation on earth.  And for this we give thanks.