J Is for Joseph - Sermon for the Fifth Sunday after Pentecost - Summer Series: "The Good Book"

J Is for Joseph

Pentecost 5 – Summer Series “The Good Book”

June 23, 2024

St. Ansgar, Cannon Falls, MN

Genesis 50.15-21

I’m a second career pastor, ordained 28 years after being in the business world 16 years. There was a point in the later part of that career where, after success and promotions, the work wasn’t going well and I was trying to figure out what I was going to do next. We were living in the Northern Virginia area of Washington, DC at the time. I learned of a job opening in Chicago for which  I was excited because I was perfectly suited for the work. It would also put us closer to our Minnesota home. Cindy and I were “wined and dined” by the president of the company and his wife and I took a trip to Northern Wisconsin to meet the owner at his cabin. I thought all was well until I learned the owner went with a younger, less qualified person who was already in-house. The president was apologetic and clearly wanted to hire me but was overruled by the president. I was devastated and didn’t know what I was going to do.

That wasn’t the only dream of mine that wasn’t fulfilled, or I should say was fulfilled in an unexpected way. That brings us to the story of Joseph. (How many of you are thinking about Donnie Osmond in “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat?”) A brief recap of the story is in order. Joseph, of course, was the favored son of Jacob born of Jacob’s favorite wife Rachel. In his younger days, Joseph was a bit of a clueless jerk, flaunting his “technicolor” coat and telling his 10 brothers about a dream he had and which he interpreted as them bowing down to him. Not smart.

His brothers had enough and planned to kill him, but thankfully one of the brothers convinced the others to sell him into slavery to some traders instead. They then made it look like an animal killed Joseph by tearing up his precious coat and smearing it with blood. Jacob is inconsolable, but Joseph lands at the house of an important man in Egypt only to be accused of assault by the man’s wife. Potipher knows Joseph is innocent, but has no choice but to put him in prison where Joseph’s administrative skills earn the trust of the jailer. It’s also where he continues to interpret dreams, one for Pharaoh’s cupbearer and the other for Pharaoh’s baker. Both interpretations become true, and the cupbearer remembers Joseph when the Pharaoh has a dream that no one can interpret.

Pharaoh dreams of seven fat cows being swallowed by seven skinny cows and only Joseph can interpret it. Joseph informs Pharaoh that there will be seven good years for harvesting grain followed by seven years of famine. Pharaoh is so impressed he makes Joseph his right hand administrator and places him in charge of storing grain. When the famine comes as Joseph predicts, it reaches all the way to his homeland. His father Jacob hears there is grain in Egypt and  sends his 10 sons to buy grain. His brothers don’t recognize Joseph but Joseph recognizes them and he toys with them for a time. Even so, Joseph ultimately brings the whole family to Egypt.

Joseph’s family is welcomed by Pharaoh and flourish in Egypt. All is well until Jacob dies. Joseph’s 10 brothers not only become fearful, but they revert to lying and manipulation, saying that Jabob told them to tell Joseph to forgive them. Joseph responds with two amazing statements: “Am I in the place of God?” (Which, in some ways, is ironic because as the second most powerful person in Egypt Joseph might as well be a god to them.) The second statement, “Even though you intended to do harm to me, God intended it for good…”

This is a rich, multi-layered story that one sermon couldn’t do justice, with at least two themes. First, there is the theme of forgiveness, especially within families, that I explored in the Children’s Sermon. The other theme has to do with the interplay between our plans for life and God’s plans for us.

I went to college thinking I’d become a medical doctor and then a probation officer. I had no idea I’d end up in the business world. I also thought I’d marry a woman with long, dark hair and instead I married one with short, blonde hair. My life reflects the aphorism, “If you want to make God laugh, tell God your plans.” If true, God has laughed a lot at my efforts. In my most charitable moments when I don’t know what to do, I ask God what I should do, “A or B.” It’s nice to give God options, right, except that God invariably tells me “X.” “X” wasn’t even on the list!

The takeaway for me in the Joseph story is that God frees us to make our plans and dream our dreams while realizing that those plans are provisional and we are to be open to God’s leading. And in the midst of life we are to understand that God may be working in ways not yet evident. How many of us have ended up in life where we thought we would as young people? The same is true for churches: would your forebears have predicted where you are now?

One way to think about this interplay between our plans and God’s plans is to ask the “God questions.” The first question is, “What is God up to here?” And the second follows, “What does God want to do in, with, and through us in this place?” Sometimes that means trying things, little experiments, and seeing how they turn out. Sometimes it means looking in those places where we don’t often expect to find God and see what’s there for us. Ironically, sometimes it means waiting for God to speak as we pray for discernment.

When I was devastated at not getting that perfect job, I was not able to see it as a closed door so that God could open up a door to go to seminary and become a pastor. Even as I did so, I didn’t dream I’d be an associate pastor along the way and now interim pastor. I also became a doctor, just not the kind thought. And that short-haired blonde, we’ve been married for almost 44 years. As I look back on my life, I’m grateful that I’ve been able to see how God has used my experiences for God’s purposes. My prayer for each of you is that you’d also be able to say, “God has intended my life for good.” Because that’s the story of the cross of Jesus Christ, that God can take the worst that life has to throw at us, even death, and bring about God’s purposes, which is new life. Thanks be to God, Amen.

This sermon was preached at St. Ansgar's Lutheran Church, Cannon Falls, MN. For the "live" version of the sermon, click here.

The Lord's Prayer: Our Needs - Sermon for the Fourth Sunday after Pentecost Summer Series

The Lord’s Prayer: Our Needs

Fourth Sunday after Pentecost – Narrative Lectionary Summer Series

June 16, 2024

Our Savior’s, Faribault, MN

Luke 11.2-4; Psalm 23

Quite a few years ago we received a card in the mail offering a “free” dinner at a local restaurant. I decided to go even though I knew there was going to be a sales pitch, but Cindy wisely declined. Indeed, the organizers showed a scary movie about fires to get us to buy an alarm system. When I came home and described the evening to Cindy, her only comment was, “We’re not buying.” Of course, I knew that, but the pull was strong and it is evidence of our culture of wanting things. Now, it’s not a sin to want things, unless it’s other peoples’ stuff. That breaks at least a couple of the Ten Commandments.

The Lord’s Prayer and Psalm 23 seem to be at odds with each other. On the one hand, Jesus is commanding us to ask God for what we need while on the other hand, the psalmist is telling us we are not to want for anything. There’s the additional tension that we have a very short sermon to handle the abundance of riches in these two texts. We’ve spent one week each on God as Father, God’s holy name, and God’s kingdom. We could easily use three more weeks, one each on the remaining three petitions. As for Psalm 23, the latter could take its own multi-week series.

So, with these items in mind, I’m going to give you some broad strokes as food for thought. 

First, in praying the Lord’s Prayer and reciting Psalm 23, we remind ourselves that we live in a culture that teaches us to not only want everything but also perpetuates the myth that we can “have it all.” Not only can we not have it all, we know that having does not bring happiness. Happiness flows from a life of gratitude for what we have. Second, inherent in our asking God for daily bread is the reminder that we are to neither be anxious for what we need nor are we to pile up for ourselves more than we need. The lesson to the Israelites in the wilderness is that God gives us our “manna” each and every day. Finally, both the Lord’s Prayer and Psalm 23 encourage us to ask while making us mindful Who it is that gives us what we need.

Today is Father's Day and like many of you, my dad was far from perfect. But one thing I’m always grateful for is how hard he worked to provide for us, to get us what we needed. In fact, I hated to ask for anything because I knew we didn’t have much. Yet our heavenly Father tells us otherwise, that we are to ask and be assured that God gives us what we need. For God so loved the world that he even gave us his Son Jesus so that we might have life and have it abundantly.

That Son gave his life to repair the broken relationship between us and God so that we can do the same with one another and we can live as God intended us to live. God forgives us so we can forgive others. That God continues to give God’s self as we are seeing today, first in the waters of baptism that washed over Beau and Tyler. In baptism, God “anoints their heads with oil.” Then in the Holy Table that God spreads before us “in the presence of our enemies,” we are fed with God’s very self. Jesus is both the Good Shepherd who pursues us “through the goodness and mercy that follows us” and our daily bread that sustains us as we “dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” Thanks be to God. Amen.

My sermons don't always preach as they are written. For video of the sermon with the entire service, click here.

The Lord's Prayer: Holiness - Second Sunday after Pentecost - Narrative Lectionary Summer Series

The Lord’s Prayer: Holiness

Second Sunday after Pentecost – NL Summer

June 2, 2024

Our Savior’s, Faribault, MN

Luke 11.2-4; Psalm 8

Last week Pr. Maria Markman had a terrific sermon to kick off this four-week series on the Lord’s Prayer. In preaching on the introduction, “Our Father,” she reminded us that this prayer is both a comfort and a challenge. It’s a comfort because of the intimate, relational nature as God invites us to come and pray, even if our relationships with our earthly fathers have been less than ideal. It’s also a challenge because we do not “My Father.” Rather, we say, “Our Father,” and when we do so we are reminded that we pray with people we may not like or usually associate with. “Our Father” is the hallmark of inclusivity.

Pr. Maria also reflected on her personal experience of the Lord’s Prayer in this aspect, which prompted reflections of mine. When I was an pastoral intern at St. Matthew’s Lutheran Church in York, PA I visited a young woman in a care facility. Linda had severe cerebral palsy, was confined to a wheelchair, and largely non-communicative, though she could make some sounds. It was awkward because she couldn’t talk. I think I got a smile from her when I told her that I was a registered Girl Scout. I don’t remember if I was able to give her Holy Communion, but I do remember praying with her. When we got to the Lord’s Prayer I could clearly hear her “saying” it right along with me. That’s how deep the Lord’s Prayer is. I’ve been in memory care units with residents who are non-communicative, but when I pray the Lord’s Prayer they join right in. Those are holy moments.

“Father, hallowed be your name,” is the phrase we contemplate today realizing as Pr. Maria reminded us last week, how often we breeze over the words without thinking about them. In this petition, we recognize God as both Holy Other and Wholly Other, who we worship as One who stands outside us. This is the God who appeared to Moses in the burning bush reminded to remove his sandals because he was on holy ground. Then, as Moses encountered God on Mt. Sinai in the wilderness to receive the Ten Commandments, came down changed in appearance because of this encounter. This is the God who Isaiah fell down before when God called him to be a prophet saying, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of his glory.” And we hear as the Psalmist declares, “O Lord, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth.”

As Martin Luther adds in the Small Catechism, we assert that “God’s name is holy in itself, but we ask in this prayer that it may also be holy in and among us.” Furthermore Luther reminds us lest we forget, we don’t always honor God’s holiness. We dishonor God’s name by using it inappropriately or by putting other gods first, gods of consumerism, materialism, and busyness. Finally, we acknowledge that we don’t always live holy lives according to God’s holy name.

How do we live holy lives? There’s an aspect to holiness that helps us understand more what it is we pray for. This aspect is found in the root meaning of holy as something that is set apart for a specific purpose. God is holy because of who God is, not because what God does, and we are holy because God has set us apart. Hear the Psalmist again: God has made us “a little lower than God and crowned us with glory and honor.” God has given us responsibility for all of creation, has set us apart, and has gifted us for this work accordingly.

Today we are honoring our High School graduates and I want to direct these last comments to you. When you were baptized, God made you holy by setting you apart to serve God and neighbor. You are called to this holy work through whatever vocation you pursue, whether that is furthering your education, taking a gap year, serving in the military, or entering the workforce. If I were to give you some advice it would be this. I’d ask you to be open to the Holy Spirit and its leading, the One who God set aside to guide you in your life ahead, to consider ways that God is calling you to live your holy life. Find strength in a community of faith, a holy people set apart to help you. Partake in Holy Communion where God sets apart bread and wine to give God’s very self as strength for your journey.

One last thing, to you and all gathered here: remember there’s no expiration date on your baptismal certificates. (I know, because there is no space for that.) All of us are called to be God’s holy people until God calls us home, to continue to live out God’s calling on us. So, I encourage you to hallow God’s name by embracing the gift of the Holy Spirit in your lives. God’s blessing to you as you pray with your lives, “Father, hallowed be your name.” Amen.

My sermons don't always preach as they are written. For video of the sermon with the entire service, click here.