With Sober Judgment

Exodus 2: 1-10

Romans 12: 1-8

Sometimes you have to take action and do the right thing without too much forethought, that is trusting that you will do the right thing.  You just never know how you might impact a life or lives.  A couple of years ago I was walking up towards the train platform in Stratford.  A woman was in front of me dragging along a suitcase.  We were approaching about a ten step stairway and I thought to myself, ‘Hmmm, I wonder if she needs help’.  With that a business man zoomed by me and without breaking his stride walked by her, picked up her suitcase and carried it up to the top of the stairs and then continued to where he was going. 

He didn’t stop and ask if he could.  He didn’t stop and wonder if she needed help.  He didn’t even turn around to be thanked.  Of course she needed help (I would have too!).  The point is he acted immediately and without hesitation whereas; regrettably I was more cautious and didn’t act.  It was a missed opportunity for me to help someone and, more importantly, for someone in need to be helped.  Sometimes you have to take action and do the right thing risking vulnerability, without second-guessing yourself or asking permission.  Because it is the right action to take at the time, and you have used your best judgment.

But this was a small missed opportunity in the scheme of life as compared to the opportunities that present themselves for examination in our scripture today.

I could have very easily entitled this sermon ‘Five Moms and a Baby’ since there are five prominent women who take the opening two chapters of the Book of Exodus by storm.  There are the two midwives, Shiphrah and Puah and then three unnamed women of which we will hear more about in a minute.  All heroin’s in her own right.  All took a course of action that would change the events of the people around them.  May their eyes and hearts be blessed for their trust and courage.

The Book of Exodus opens with a new King arising over Egypt.  He could care less about Joseph, the favored of Jacob’s twelve sons.  In fact Joseph and his whole generation were dead.  This was bad for the Israelites who, by now, were tipping the population charts in their favor. This did not make for a happy Pharaoh so he made their lives miserable, more miserable than usual. Forced labor, imposing menial and backbreaking tasks, Pharaoh was ruthless.

So he orders the midwives of the Hebrew people, Shiphrah and Puah, to murder all of their male children right after birth.  But they did not.  They loved God, they feared God and they let the little boy babies live. 

Pharaoh yelled, “Why did you do this?”.  They pleaded, “The Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women”.  “The Hebrew women give birth too fast before any respecting midwife can get to them.”  Sneaky?  Yes!  The truth?  No!  Did they save lives?  Most definitely!

Shiphrah and Puah stood up to the mighty Pharaoh with their civil disobedience, and then blessed by God they had families of their own and the Hebrews became even more prolific and strong.  They exercised sober judgment and upheld what is right and good no matter the cost to them. 

But as we see Pharaoh continued on his murderous rampage even with what Shiphrah and Puah did and life dragged on for the Hebrew people and the baby boys were still in danger.  Let’s pick up Exodus the 2^nd chapter and back to the Hebrew people.

Now a man from the house of Levi went and married a Levite woman.  The woman conceived and bore a son; and when she saw that he was a fine baby, she hid him for three months.  When she could hide him no longer she got a papyrus basket for him, and plastered it with bitumen and pitch; she put the child in it and placed it among the reeds on the bank of the river.

His sister stood at a distance, to see what would happen to him.  The daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, while her attendants walked beside the river. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her maid to bring it.  When she opened it, she saw the child. He was crying, and she took pity on him. ‘This must be one of the Hebrews’ children,’ she said.

Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, ‘Shall I go and get you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?’ Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, ‘Yes.’ So the girl went and called the child’s mother. Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, ‘Take this child and nurse it for me, and I will give you your wages.’ So the woman took the child and nursed it.  When the child grew up, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and she took him as her son.  She named him Moses, ‘because’, she said, ‘I drew him out of the water.’

Enter three more women, all unnamed.  There was the mother of Moses who, later in chapter 6 is named as Yocheved.  There was Pharaoh’s daughter who was the Princess and then there was Moses’ sister whom we later know to be Miriam.  But for now, we don’t know anything of these women.  All we know about is their motherly acts toward this little baby boy.  It doesn’t matter whether one was the birth mother and the others adoptive mothers, all, in some way acted as a loving mother to Moses and secured, unknowingly, the future of the Israelites.

God had a very large stake in our story from Exodus.  God’s providential handprints are all over this story of mothers – birth mothers, adoptive mothers and siblings who chose to seize the moment and act in a ‘Godly’ manner.    They are the ones who will love and nurture Moses, the eventual leader of the Israelites who will eventually bring them out of slavery into the Promised Land. These women were open to promoting goodness and love and they too, like Shiphrah and Puah exercised sober judgment for this future leader.

It was Moses birth mother who unselfishly let him float away so that he could have a chance at life. This is a decision made with compassionate judgment and love for the good of her child. 

It was his sister who so lovingly protected him and watched out for him when his own mother couldn’t be there.

It was Pharaoh’s daughter who was able to nurture him and provide for him, and who was compassionate towards him. Through these women God’s compassionate and maternal nature is shown.  It is through their openness and decision in a very unusual circumstance that these life-changing actions were taken. 

They sacrificed much and gained so much more that affirms the creative presence of God in this world.  Oh that we all could make decent decisions that uplift God’s truth and love and that God’s presence may be sensed and understood.

Sound judgment is what the Apostle Paul urges those early Christ followers in his Epistle to the Romans:

I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.

For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.  Romans 12: 1-3 

He then punctuates this passage with the body of Christ.

What he is saying is to not do or think what most of the world would do, or say, or think about situations but let God be the one to guide you and change the way you think and act about what is happening in this world and around you.  Let the precepts of God be your guide when making decisions in how you will act out your life.  Sober judgment doesn’t mean thinking to the extreme right or left building up barriers and walls that are impermeable but to make judgments that are well thought out and well reasoned even though you have considered all of the facts. 

My friends the world is in dire need of people who will think and act equitably without choosing sides that mostly serve (knowingly or not) to harm others.  The events of these past couple of weeks in Ferguson, Missouri have greatly troubled me.  As you know I am from St. Louis a place that has had a history of racial tension from the 20^th century because of Missouri roots in the Midwest and the South.  I remember watching the protests during the busing desegregation and seeing the ‘white flight’ from urban St. Louis to the surrounding county townships in the 1970’s.  Like many urban areas it can be a place where fear overrides justice and anger quickly retaliates.  Where sounds judgment flies out the window. 

Ferguson challenges us on many levels as a people of faith to examine racism.  Not every action is racist, to be sure, but hatred and fear do lie at the root of many actions and decisions, which destroy opportunities for compassion, empathy and justice making. 

But beyond that, beyond the universal condemnation of the actions of Ferguson, what?

We must start with our own examination of institutionalized attitudes of racism, or any ‘ism’ for that matter, racism, sexism, homophobia, you name it, it doesn’t have to be any of the ‘politically correct’ ‘isms’.  We can only begin with our own hearts and minds and our own honest inner dialogue of what we are afraid of, what makes us feel uneasy.  What fear inhibits clear thinking?  What prejudice curtails reasoned judgment?

If we say we are a part of the body of Christ then we have a stake in our brothers and sisters in Ferguson, Missouri and we must do our utmost to carry out God’s commandment to love our neighbor as ourselves, which includes slow, deliberate, and sober judgment in all of our actions.

Let us today pray for peace and reconciliation in our own hearts so that we might show some degree of understanding and love.  And let us pray for peace and reconciliation in others hearts also so that shalom, wholeness and healing may begin.

From Dawn Until Dusk

Genesis 32:22-31

Have you ever had a night where you tossed and turned, back and forth until the once silky sheets that were so luxurious now seem to wrap you up and suffocate you like a mummy? And maybe you know what’s keeping you awake and maybe you don’t.  Could have been that extra piece of chocolate on top of the coffee you had earlier in the day.  Or maybe you’re worried about the mortgage payment that’s due in a couple of days.  Or maybe it’s something that you just can’t let go of. 

Sleepless nights are inevitable.  Even my dog has had sleepless nights where he whimpers and is up and down, up and down. We’ve all had them and probably we’ll have a few more before we move on.   

Our friend Jacob has had a couple of restless nights not to mention an active nightlife, which could lead to some sleepless nights.  With two wives who kept him busy plus their handmaids, who we know were also active in the propagation of this family, he didn’t get much sleep. 

Then there was that one night where Jacob is on the run from Esau and he stops for the night and puts a rock under his head to sleep.  And when he slept he dreamt of angels floating up and down a ladder all night long. Yep, Jacob’s nights were anything but restful.  But there was one more….

After Jacob meets his wives Rachael and Leah, after he is given their handmaids Zilpah and Bilhah, they had many children between them.  Jacob prospers and he was with his Uncle Laban for 20 years but towards the end there was strife in that relationship.  So they made a treaty with one another and Laban goes home and Jacob picks up and continues his journey.

Now Jacob has some important work to do.  Remember that he was on the run from Esau, his twin whom he duped twice out of a birthright and a blessing, when he when he got sidelined for those 20 years with Laban and made a family.  So he sends messengers ahead of him and his clan to brother Esau.  He waves the white flag and sends ahead his message of ‘truce’ hoping that he will find favor in Esau’s sight. 

But the messengers come back with news that isn’t what he wanted to hear.  Esau is coming to see Jacob, that’s the good news.  The unnerving news is that he is bringing 400 men with him.  Yikes!  He assumes that they are going to attack so he divides his company into two companies, just in case one is decimated and then he prays!  ‘I’m not worthy of your love; deliver me from the hand of Esau because I am afraid.  You promised to make my offspring as the sand of the sea…. so help!’  He’s finally beginning to rely on God.  And he tells the women and children and troops to go on ahead.

So here we find our scripture for today.  You know the Revised Common Lectionary gives us the ‘Cliff notes’ version of this ancestral saga but ‘Cliff notes’ sometimes don’t make sense without context. 

That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two female servants and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions. So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.”

But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”

The man asked him, “What is your name?”

“Jacob,” he answered.

Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.”

Jacob said, “Please tell me your name.”

But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?” Then he blessed him there.

So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.”

The sun rose above him as he passed Peniel, and he was limping because of his hip.

The striking part of this scripture is that Jacob is alone and it is at night.  And the person that Jacob wrestles with is not able to triumph so he breaks Jacobs hip.  But the dawn prevails and Jacob engages his night visitor in conversation in this dawning light.  ‘Bless me, otherwise I will not let you go.”  But the man asks a counter question, ‘What’s your name?  Your name will not be Jacob but from now on it will be Israel.’  Then the man blessed him right there on the spot and was gone.

Marc Chagall

Then the sun rose and Jacob limped off.  But he was different than before that night, a change in him has taken place and now he is ready to meet his brother Esau after many years.  Transformation happens with the dawning of a new day.  It is that moment, after you have been awake for a considerable amount of time, that when you look outside the light is different and you realize that the dawn is coming.  Objects are no longer just black silhouettes against a midnight blue sky but they begin to take shape because light is casting its first rays upon creation.  Morning has broken and your restlessness ceases because you get up to face the day.

Many folks like to psychoanalyze this scripture saying that Jacob was wrestling with his inner demons and such, but that is inadequate, the fact is Jacob is awake, he never falls asleep, it’s not some dream that he is having. It is a struggle more than of just conscience.  He is fully engaged in a physical struggle.  And Jacob stands his ground and faces his God who chooses to come to him at this critical juncture in his life and be physically present too.    

With this match perhaps God is sharpening Jacob’s faithfulness for more serious challenges that are ahead of him.  Who knows, we don’t know God’s intention.  All we know is that God is in the middle of Jacob’s struggles and in the end Jacob is blessed because of it.

New Testament scholar Richard Pervo reflects on Jacob’s struggle saying, “What kind of God will get into a night time brawl with a mortal and come out no better than even?, the kind of God we need.”  We don’t need a God who ‘bests’ us.  We need one who will be with us, the prophet Jeremiah reminds us, “I know the plans I have for you, plans for your welfare, not your harm.”

Our struggles are neither orderly nor tame and God seeks us out and wrestles with us to ready us for the challenges ahead.  Our deepest struggle sin life do no lack divine presence, God is always there.  In fact we need to remember that God is there in our most restless nights.  Here we can ask those painful questions.

And while we may not be given answers – Jacob didn’t get answers; Job didn’t get answers – we know from this text that God is with us pronouncing blessings, which is to say extending us grace.  God’s steadfast love in the darker times of our lives.

So the next time you lay down to sleep and you toss about like a tiny ship in the sea remember that you are seeing God face to face in your encounter.  God is wrestling WITH you and your trials.  And when dawn comes, as it always does, walk away with the knowledge that you have been blessed. 

Amen.

When Setbacks Happen

Genesis 29:13-28

Our community has suffered a very tragic set back this week.  No doubt you have heard, it’s been all over the news.  A 22 year old young man took the life of his mother on Wild Rose Road.  This is heartbreaking and dreadful and a real set back to our community.   I’ve come to understand the Orange community as a tightly knit town who genuinely cares for one another and comes together in times of distress.  And now this.  While you may not have known this family personally, you have to agree that something like this plays with your psyche.  Murder and Orange in the same sentence just don’t compute.

Set backs happen. We know that.  In the global community, in the local community and in our lives we can be assured that when we think we have boarded the train for New York City we wake from our catnap and find ourselves in Rochester.  That’s the nature of life and that’s what we’ve got to work with.  We thought we were a bucolic community outside of crime-ridden New Haven and while we are outside of New Haven, we are crime ridden too and it is a set back because we now need to rethink things as we go forward.

We are still reflecting upon the epic narratives of Jacob who has been exiled and in Haran.  Remember last week he had this dream of angels and a ladder to heaven and a visit from God letting him know that all will be well, all manner of things will be well and that he was going to be the father of many nations.  Remember also that throughout all of these stories we have delved into this summer, God has been faithful all along the way.  With Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, and now Jacob, their son.

It seems that Jacob is just getting his life back on track.  He makes it to Haran and by chance meets some of his kin once again at a well.  Here he also meets the love of his life, Rachel, Laban’s daughter…Laban being his uncle.  He has reached his destination.  Let us here today’s word of God from the NIV, the book of Genesis the 29^th chapter….

As soon as Laban heard the news about Jacob, his sister’s son, he hurried to meet him. He embraced him and kissed him and brought him to his home, and there Jacob told him all these things. Then Laban said to him, “You are my own flesh and blood.”

After Jacob had stayed with him for a whole month, Laban said to him, “Just because you are a relative of mine, should you work for me for nothing? Tell me what your wages should be.”

Now Laban had two daughters; the name of the older was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel. Leah had weak eyes, but Rachel had a lovely figure and was beautiful.  Jacob was in love with Rachel and said, “I’ll work for you seven years in return for your younger daughter Rachel.”

Laban said, “It’s better that I give her to you than to some other man. Stay here with me.” So Jacob served seven years to get Rachel, but they seemed like only a few days to him because of his love for her.  Then Jacob said to Laban, “Give me my wife. My time is completed, and I want to make love to her.”

So Laban brought together all the people of the place and gave a feast. But when evening came, he took his daughter Leah and brought her to Jacob, and Jacob made love to her. And Laban gave his servant Zilpah to his daughter as her attendant.

When morning came, there was Leah!  So Jacob said to Laban, “What is this you have done to me? I served you for Rachel, didn’t I? Why have you deceived me?”

Laban replied, “It is not our custom here to give the younger daughter in marriage before the older one. Finish this daughter’s bridal week; then we will give you the younger one also, in return for another seven years of work.”

And Jacob did so. He finished the week with Leah, and then Laban gave him his daughter Rachel to be his wife.

Ouch!  I suppose you could say, “What goes around comes around” or “What’s good for the goose is good for the gander.”  Pick your favorite idiom!  Jacob coerces Esau out of his birthright and then, with the help of his mother Rebekah he deceives his father Isaac for the blessing.  Guess there is some proof for interfamilial conflict and actions that repeat themselves. 

Deceit is in the lifeblood and DNA of this family and now Jacob; his own Uncle Laban deceives the master of deceit!  He asks for Rachel, he gets Leah.  He gains two wives in one week and has to work as an indentured servant for seven more years for a total of 14 years.  Don’t think this is what he bargained for, do you?   And yet he does it, in what seems to be in his estimation, a heartbeat.  Polygamy back then was not unusual and it still exits today in some cultures.

But we see that in all of this dysfunctional and crude behavior God is steadfast to the promises made so very long ago, that Jacob would be the father of many nations.  Leah gives birth to Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulan and one daughter Dinah.  Zilpah, Leah’s handmaiden gives birth to Gad and Asher, Bilhah, Rachel’s handmaiden gives birth to Dan and Naphtali, and finally Jacob’s most beloved Rachel births Joseph.  Thus completing the twelve tribes of Israel and God’s promise.  You guessed it, Jacob was a busy man and not to mention a fertile one.

But that deception lurks in the background.  Deception always destroys.  In fact it has ruined friendships and shattered marriages because it chips away at your trust in someone who before you may have risked your very life.  It was Sir Walter Scott who once said, “Oh what tangled webs we weave, when we practice to deceive.”  Lie upon lie upon lie, the web of deceit grows and Jacob is now the one caught.   He can’t move forward, in fact he is set back 7 years.

I think that we often find ourselves in a situation that is similar to Jacob’s.  You’ve had some vision or awakening, you’re on the path into your future and BAM, something happens.  A set back occurs. Could be of your own making or not, that doesn’t matter.  A tree falls in front of your path and it’s going to take you longer to get to your destination, if that is even the destination where you are supposed to be.

You get down to a week before graduation only to find out you are missing three credits.  A relationship that you thought was rock solid disintegrates before your very eyes.  Life is full of setbacks, there is just no way around it and you might just commiserate with Jacob, you’ve worked hard for something then something else happens and you have to work even harder to find some relief.

It is in this very spot that you feel alone and helpless and that God is simply not responding to you.  It’s here that your faith might be at one of its lowest points because our spiritual lives and our emotional lives are twined together.

But it is here in these moments and disappointments also that we remember the words of Paul in his epistle to the Romans…..

Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God’s Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don’t know how or what to pray, it doesn’t matter. ‘The Spirit’ does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our…condition, and keeps us present before God. That’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.  ‘The Message” Romans 8: 26-28

Deepless sighs that is what will pull you through when a major setback, a life-altering event happens to you.  Because with the deepless sigh, ruah, the Spirit of God intercedes and set you on your way once again.  It’s just different than you expected!

Understanding God’s call for you to head into a different future than you had anticipated may be difficult and you may go into it kicking and screaming.  It will take time and effort. But it will turn out because you are a beloved child of God, and God’s got you covered.

When setbacks happen accept and embrace them.  Jacob didn’t turn around a run home to mommy and daddy; he didn’t take revenge or become an embittered man.  He took it in stride and walked faithfully into a future of blessing.  And you will too.

As one theologian prayed, “Help me see the good and the bad, O God, as equal opportunities to lean closer into your loving embrace.”[i]  Let that be our prayer for today.

Amen.

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[i] From www.revblogals.com.  Week of July 23-27

Rock Solid

Genesis 28: 10-19
I have a collection of rocks that grows with each trip I take.  They are not pretty rocks per se.  And I don’t try to balance them or stack them like Bill Dan out in Sausalito, California who balances all sorts of rocks on top of one another in an amazing feat.  In fact quite the opposite, I have them in small bowls and trays.  They are not rocks with turquoise ribbing or rocks that are studded with garnets.  Most of them are everyday pebbles that you’d usually just walk by or over. 

I collect them because I want to remember a particular place that I am in and so to take one home is to take that very special place with me.  I’ve even asked friends to collect a rock or two for me from places they are going.  Recently a friend brought back pebbles from the Iona Community in Scotland.  They are so smooth and beautiful I love holding them; I feel peace. 

I’m sure many of you have bent over to pick up a stone just because it called to you or it glistened in the water or maybe it was a memento of some very special moment or place in your life.

The fact is rocks (I’m not talking about crystals and healing stuff) are significant in many, if not most cultures and in many ways. Unfortunately they can be used to harm others or they are used in positive ways like memorials, or directional devices, maybe even as makers to indicate that someone has had an experience with the divine, which we will see in today’s scripture because Jacob uses stones for that very purpose.

We are continuing the Ancestral history of the founding mothers and fathers of Israel as recorded in Genesis 12-50.  They are great epics and sagas that are beautifully stitched together like a family’s heirloom patchwork quilt. 

Today’s scripture is purely about Jacob.  There are no other people, just him and as we will see, his dream and his God.

Jacob left Beer-sheba and went towards Haran. He came to a certain place and stayed there for the night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place.

And he dreamed that there was a ladder set up on the earth, the top of it reaching to heaven; and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. And the Lord stood beside him and said, ‘I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring; and your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and all the families of the earth shall be blessed in you and in your offspring.

Know that I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.’ Then Jacob woke from his sleep and said, ‘Surely the Lord is in this place—and I did not know it!’ And he was afraid, and said, ‘How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.’

So Jacob rose early in the morning, and he took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up for a pillar and poured oil on the top of it. He called that place Bethel.

Marc Chagall

Jacob is now in Haran, the land from which Abraham and Sarah, his grandparents migrated.  Why did he go back there?  Because he’s on the run!  Why is he one the run?  Because Jacob cons Esau into selling his birthright to him for a measly bowl of lentil stew.  That doesn’t make for good family relations and then the family runs into hard times because there was a famine in the land and so Isaac, Jacob’s father, goes to Gerer in the land of the Philistines ruled by King Abimelech! 

But Isaac turns that around and farms the land and becomes a very wealthy man but the King wasn’t so happy so Isaac and his family leave that place and go to Beersheba.  It is here that the human art of deception rears its ugly head once again. 

Jacob is not an exemplar by any stroke of the imagination.  He tricked Esau out of his birthright and on top of that Jacob and Rebekah trick Isaac into giving Jacob his final blessing another big deal like the birthright.  Twice duped out of a birthright and a blessing Esau is, understandably so, angry, and angry enough to kill his brother.

So Jacob flees as an alien to the land that he will soon be inheriting.  It is funny how, at this clear-cut moment in time God chooses to come to Jacob and confirm his status, not condemn his actions.  God knows that Jacob is the one to bear Israel’s name in spite of Jacob’s less than honorable actions. 

My how God works through the most unlikely people.  Like a two year old child trying desperately to gain independence, or an adult with dementia trying to tell you what’s on his mind, or a 12 year old dog who unconditionally loves and accepts love, God is present and real and works really hard to make God’s self known through all sorts of people and situations.  God goes into overdrive to show us this amazing love that is for our taking.  But there is more. 

Jacob up until now knows nothing of God’s presence.  He can’t hear God, feel God, see God or even notice God in his life until now.  And after dreaming about angels climbing up and down a ladder to heaven he awakes from his dream and knows for sure that he has been visited by the one and only God of Isaac and Rebekah, of Abraham and Sarah and now him.  He went from unknowing to knowing, from blindness to sighted, from ignorant to aware.   

Let’s not ‘psychologize’ and try to interpret his dream in today’s parlance.  Let’s understand that the dream was divine communication.  God came to him in his dream in this place of exile, this place where he was alone and probably very frightened since there was a bounty on his head.  God came to him even though he had unforgivingly twice tricked his brother and father to further his status in the clan’s family tree.  

He was never alone, not for a minute.  And he places a rock in the sand and anoints the rock with oil because God was surely in that place and now he knows it.  And he calls that place Beth-el which means, House of God because God sought him out and still loved him after all that he had done and then God made promises to Jacob for an abundant future.  

Now that’s my kind of God!  Two thumbs up, if I were on Facebook at the moment.  I think all of us can relate to Jacob’s story in some way – think back to a time in your life when you felt exiled and removed from everything familiar, when you woke up and thought how did I enter this scary drama where I don’t know the characters or when it’s all going to end.  Or perhaps at some point in your life you made a serious mistake that hurt yourself or someone that you dearly love. You feel unloved, and dispensable, maybe you even feel unforgiveable and despicable.

But please think again.  Our God is a compassionate, forgiving and loving God and we learn from Jacob’s story that God will seek you out when you least expect it and in the most unlikely of places.  Like Jacob, you are beloved.  

The rock structures, carin’s left around the landscapes of this world can attest to those individuals who have known and have experienced the presence of divine grace no matter where they happen to be in this awesome world or in their own little world; no matter how much luggage they carry with them.    

God loves.  God forgives.  God is present.  God is here.

 Jacob's Dream in the ancient city of Jaffa, Israel

Amen.

With a Heavy Heart

Genesis 25: 19-34

It was early November of 2007 and the sun had set; it was dark.  I had just come back to my apartment from a long walk on a blustery, Jerusalem afternoon.  My lights were on which indicated that I was home and I heard a knock on my door.  I thought it was unusual since I knew all of three people in Jerusalem having just moved there in October.  So I carefully opened the door, just a crack.  A young man dressed in a sweatshirt and jeans with a very official looking clip board looked at me and said “Shalom.”

Then he said something to me in Hebrew.  It was undecipherable.  Now I had taken conversational Hebrew for an entire year at the synagogue in Fairfield but, somehow it just didn’t prepare me to really speak the language.  “Ahh, Anglit??” I asked. English?  “Yafo, OK.” he said.  We both looked at one another.  Then he said, “I’ve come to take your gas mask.” 

Now, I heard him as plain as could be but transcribed it very quickly in my mind to, I’ve come to read your gas meter.  Then I realized, rega (wait a minute), my apartment is electric, not gas and there was no meter for him to read.   I thought he was mistaken and asked him again what he said.

“Your gas mask,” he repeated, “from the war.”  I just looked at him.  Then I said that I had only lived in Jerusalem for a month and had the apartment.  I’m not sure what that had to do with the situation but it was the only thing that I could think of and compute…in English! 

He then asked me how long I had been in Israel to which I replied, “only a month.”  And somehow we surmised together that I didn’t have a gas mask to turn over to him.  I shut the door and then realized, this is ISRAEL.  And this was where I had chosen to live for a year.

I was alarmed to realize that the government needed to give out gas masks to its residents in case of attacks.  Then, I was comforted that, if in fact there was a war, I’d have a gas mask.  Then, I was panicked that, the gas mask which I didn’t possess, had to be given back.  What if I needed it, what if another war broke out tomorrow while I’m here?  Will they bring me a gas mask in time?  How do you work those things anyway?  Do they have instructions?...in English? 

The reality is, living in Israel, the HOLY land is, at best, tenuous and as we can see violence and conflict has once again flared up between Gaza and Israel. No doubt you have seen and heard many reports of the very recent uprising. 

And so I come today to you with a very heavy heart because of this beloved place that I called home for a year. But conflict is not new in this part of the world and we see that from the beginning even the ancestral stories of our faith have been fraught with discord and difference.

The story of Jacob and Esau that we will examine today is one of conflict and strife from the womb, and about sibling rivalry and the ways in which family can become distorted and dysfunctional.  Today’s scripture is one of sibling rivalry at its very worst. This is a portrait of a family divided, and an archetypal story that has repeated itself many times.  Yet it consistently tells of a God at work with the human race and condition.

Last week we heard the endearing story of how Isaac met Rebekah.  One of Abraham’s servants dutifully went to the well in the middle of Nahor, not in the land of Canaan but in the land of Abraham’s ancestors to find a suitable wife for Isaac.  By now they have been married for many a long year and here is where we pick up our story.       

These are the descendants of Isaac, Abraham’s son: Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah, daughter of Bethuel the Aramean of Paddan-aram, sister of Laban the Aramean. Isaac prayed to the Lord for his wife, because she was barren; and the Lord granted his prayer, and his wife Rebekah conceived. The children struggled together within her; and she said, ‘If it is to be this way, why do I live?’

So she went to inquire of the Lord. And the Lord said to her,
‘Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples born of you shall be divided;
one shall be stronger than the other, the elder shall serve the younger.’ When her time to give birth was at hand, there were twins in her womb. The first came out red, all his body like a hairy mantle; so they named him Esau. Afterwards his brother came out, with his hand gripping Esau’s heel; so he was named Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them.

When the boys grew up, Esau was a skilful hunter, a man of the field, while Jacob was a quiet man, living in tents. Isaac loved Esau, because he was fond of game; but Rebekah loved Jacob.

Once when Jacob was cooking a stew, Esau came in from the field, and he was famished. Esau said to Jacob, ‘Let me eat some of that red stuff, for I am famished!’ (Therefore he was called Edom.) Jacob said, ‘First sell me your birthright.’ Esau said, ‘I am about to die; of what use is a birthright to me?’ Jacob said, ‘Swear to me first.’ So he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew, and he ate and drank, and rose and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.

Who, in their right mind would make their brother sell their birthright for a measly bowl of lentil stew?  On the other hand, who in their right mind would sell their birthright for a measly bowl of lentil stew?  Enter the sordid and tragic twin brothers Jacob and Esau and a birthright that would grant the inheritor an extra special portion of daddy’s estate - the sovereignty and priesthood of the entire clan.  A big deal.  How many families have you seen fall apart when it came time to the reading of the will?  So this isn’t so far fetched that there is contention over a birthright.

And not far behind, or perhaps the instigator of all of this disharmony was their mother Rebekah.   Yes, that meek and lovely, covering her face with a veil Rebekah. That beautiful bride that Isaac fell madly in love with many years before.

You see motherhood came late in life for Rebekah and even later for Isaac.  Aging out at 40 he needed progeny so that the Abrahamic covenant could be fulfilled, that is to become a great nation, and to be given some very special land to call home and to be blessed in it all. 

So far so good but when the birth of their twins became a reality, Rebekah drastically changed and we begin to see a much different face of Rebekah and not one that is very pretty.   She was now mother to two very different boys, different in temperament, aspirations, occupation, in just about every way, these boys were  polar opposites.  Esau the elder was a wonderer, and was daring, and a hunter, Jacob was a tentbody, introverted with epicurean instincts.   And sadly, what Rebekah couldn’t do was to love them equally and neither could Isaac.

Esau could care less about his birthright and what it meant.  To Esau it was worth only a spoonful of stew. To Jacob the birthright was of sacred significance.   Jacob was more attentive to God than Esau and we see from later scripture that Jacob was the Lord’s preference for becoming a nation.  But both of them act in ignorance of God’s work at hand.

Now there is much more to the story that we will fill in over the next few weeks as I continue these stories.  But today we will focus on divisiveness and conflict and how we understand it in light of the Biblical text, the current uprising in the Holy Land, and our lives as a Christian body gathered.   

I have come to understand from living in the Holy Land that peace over there is something far from which you and I can envision.  Peace will not be people living equally and free together according to our American democratic ideals.  So it is not fair to judge by our standards and what we see in the media.  This is a more complex situation than that and what gets reported is distorted on both sides. 

There are multiple layers of historical significance which contribute to this very old conflict and compounds the intense feelings that the Palestinians and Israeli’s have for this very minute piece of real estate in the world.

Even in time of ceasefire getting from East Jerusalem to West Jerusalem is a nightmare. 

Both sides have made mistakes and caused harm to the other. Yet we are looking at legitimate claims on both sides and outside of extremists on both sides, people like you and me who just want to live and love and grow their children.  Israel has a right to exist, to defend themselves and to continue to develop this land that God has entrusted to them.  But being chosen does not mean that you are free to act without regard to any consequences.  The Palestinians have a right to establish themselves as a nation but without terrorist intervention and intimidation.  Peace, at best, will be carving out borders of this blessed and ordained land that will moderately satisfy, and those words are used loosely, both Palestinians and Israelis.  To compromise will be a necessity but that will take courage and strength.

We learn from the story of Jacob and Esau that there will be strife, dissension, and discord when two brothers dwell in such a small space and that the decisions we make today can drastically affect our future.  We also learn from their complex and difficult journey that God is present in all of this.  God’s doing the best that God can given us humans that God has to work with. 

And that is the point.  It is God’s abiding love that will bring resolution out of conflict eventually, when and whereas we cannot not envision it.  And this is the faith and the hope that we need to always believe and rely on. 

That when we ourselves cannot see the good, envision an end or see the light of day, God can.

We can’t rewrite holy history of a land or of our lives but we can look back and choose to see the work of our benevolent God and then carry that knowledge with us into the future.  There in lies God’s totality and wholeness, which is my friend, Shalom.

Baruch atah Adonai Elohein melech ha-olam.

Blessed are you O Lord, our God, sovereign of the Universe.

Amen.

Risking for the Greater Good

Genesis 24 selected verses

Who can forget the words, “Matchmaker matchmaker make me a match, find me a find, catch me a catch…. matchmaker matchmaker look through your book, and make me a perfect match”?  Those words from “Fiddler on the Roof”, are what Tzeitel crooned as Yente, the town’s matchmaker, came to find her a suitable husband.  You see she was in love with Motel, the tailor but Yente had arranged for her to marry Lazar, the wealthy butcher.  Not good!

 Naples Players

Folks will do anything (almost) to find a spouse.  Someone with whom you can grow old with, enjoy life with, kick back and feel the ocean breezes with.  Perhaps you used a matchmaker like Tzeitel, or used Match.com, or Speed dating, or even the old fashioned ‘blind date’ to find your lover and friend.  Maybe your marriage was an arranged marriage, which still happens in some cultures. It’s always interesting and intriguing to me to hear how people meet because people meet in all ways.  Some meet by happenstance and some work very hard to capture the heart of someone else. 

Today’s scripture is just that, the story of how Isaac, son of Abraham and Sarah, and Rebekah came to be husband and wife.  Each generation has to discover God’s faithfulness and promise anew and now it is Isaac’s turn.

We are following the Ancestral Stories of Abraham and Sarah in the Book of Genesis that will continue through Exodus.  Last week we heard about Sarah and her unlikely pregnancy at a very advanced age.  She laughs at the idea, I would too, but God delivers her a beautiful son Isaac, who is Abraham’s heir to the covenant. 

Now Isaac is all grown up, about forty years old scholars estimate and it is time for him to be a marryin’!  The $64,000 question is, ‘where do I get a wife’?  And that is what the entirety of Chapter 24 is about in the Book of Genesis.   FYI, Chapter 24 is the longest chapter in the Book of Genesis, that’s for free!! 

Abraham was old and richly blessed - read - rich.  He commands his servant to get a wife for Isaac, his 40 year old bachelor son, NOT from the land of Canaan, a foreign land but a wife from their homeland, the home of his ‘peeps’ in the 21st century vernacular.  There was some negotiating between Abraham and the servant and the servant takes off confident that if he could not deliver a wife under Abraham’s condition he wouldn’t be held responsible. Fair enough! That was a good deal.  It was also promised that an angel would accompany him.   And so the servant set out with camels, riches and lots of gifts and some heavenly guidance.

He arrives at the city of Nahor and cleverly goes to the well in the middle of the city to water his camels because that is where the women went to gather water.   Reading from the Contemporary English Version:

The servant explained:

I am Abraham’s servant. The Lord has been good to my master and has made him very rich. He has given him many sheep, goats, cattle, camels, and donkeys, as well as a lot of silver and gold, and many slaves. Sarah, my master’s wife, didn’t have any children until she was very old. Then she had a son, and my master has given him everything. I solemnly promised my master that I would do what he said. And he told me, “Don’t choose a wife for my son from the women in this land of Canaan. Instead, go back to the land where I was born and find a wife for my son from among my relatives.” 

The servant had a penchant for repeating himself….and interestingly enough this story is told from the servants perspective...and we’ll see that he is a man of faith.

When I came to the well today, I silently prayed, “You, Lord, are the God my master Abraham worships, so please lead me to a wife for his son while I am here at the well. When a young woman comes out to get water, I’ll ask her to give me a drink. If she gives me a drink and offers to get some water for my camels, I’ll know she is the one you have chosen.”

Even before I had finished praying, Rebekah came by with a water jar on her shoulder. When she had filled the jar, I asked her for a drink. She quickly lowered the jar from her shoulder and said, “Have a drink. Then I’ll get water for your camels.” So I drank, and after that she got some water for my camels. I asked her who her father was, and she answered, “My father is Bethuel (Be - tu - el') the son of Nahor and Milcah.” Right away I put the ring in her nose and the bracelets on her arms. Then I bowed my head and gave thanks to the God my master Abraham worships. The Lord had led me straight to my master’s relatives, and I had found a wife for his son.

Rebekah then runs to her mother’s household and her brother and father appear.   The text repeats the entire story thus far.  This is often the case when a story from the oral tradition finally gets recorded on papyrus.  And the servant asks of her father and brother:

Now please tell me if you are willing to do the right thing for my master. Will you treat him fairly, or do I have to look for another young woman?

They called her and asked, “Are you willing to leave with this man right now?”

“Yes,” she answered.

So they agreed to let Rebekah and an old family servant woman leave immediately with Abraham’s servant and his men.

They gave Rebekah their blessing and said, “We pray that God will give you many children and grandchildren and that he will help them defeat their enemies.” Afterwards, Rebekah and the young women who were to travel with her prepared to leave. Then they got on camels and left with Abraham’s servant and his men.

At that time Isaac was living in the southern part of Canaan near a place called Be - er'   la - chai'  ro - ee', or “The Well of the Living One Who Sees Me.” One evening he was walking out in the fields, when suddenly he saw a group of people approaching on camels. So he started toward them. Rebekah saw him coming; she got down from her camel, and asked, “Who is that man?”

“He is my master Isaac,” the servant answered. Then Rebekah covered her face with her veil.  The servant told Isaac everything that had happened.

Isaac took Rebekah into the tent where his mother had lived before she died, and Rebekah became his wife. He loved her and was comforted over the loss of his mother.

Eliezer and Rebekah by Chagall

Ahh, what a beautiful story.  If we were to stop here that would be enough!  Isaac finds a wife, his servant has done an extraordinary job of being faithful and obedient to his master’s word, and God’s covenant, and we could intuit that there would be enough progeny as there are stars in the magnificent sky. Because God keeps the promises the God makes. 

But beyond that, this is a story of taking risks and leaving home.  Isaac’s servant travels a distance to find the perfect bride, Rebekah offers extraordinary hospitality to a stranger.  They both take risks and they both leave home which is what I think our learning is for today.

Leaving home can be interpreted in different ways if literally taken.  A five year old leaves home and trot’s off to kindergarten.  A preteen goes on an overnight somewhere else for the very first time.  A high school graduate leaves home to seek his or her fortune at college and gets her own apartment.  All of these seem like natural and positive leave takings.

But I think it is so much more because what is home?  It is a place where we are comfortable.  A place that you don’t have to think to much about, a place where you can ‘scratch where it itches’ sort of place, a place where routine becomes carved in stone sometimes and we really don’t have to change.  But at times it is necessary to ‘leave home’ for the greater good and that takes a fare amount of risk.

The servant had to leave home in order to fulfill Abraham’s request of him.  And he did.  Rebekah had to leave home in order to become Isaac’s wife.  And she did.  Both left home, their ‘happy places’ and what they knew, for what was yet to be.  And God blessed them both, indeed God was with them both as they set their course for the future.

But they had to take the first step.  Indeed Rebekah took a big step. She risked leaving her family and her surroundings because she had faith and because she believed that her life would be better and would fulfill the great good of God’s purposes. 

Sometimes risks need to be taken.  Now I don’t mean ‘Evil Kneval’ risks or risks that could bring harm or injury to yourself or another.  I mean risks that could show you a whole new horizon for your life.

I believe that God wants us to fulfill our highest potential; that is to dream big and go after it.  To have the courage and faith to chase after something that is just out of reach because you just never know how it may change your life and maybe even change the world and those you love. 

Believe with your heart that God will be with you during these times of transition and change.  And then go forward step by step if you have to, with God’s guidance and God’s presence.  There is not one place that you can go that God has not already been.  If you believe that God is everywhere then God has been to where you are headed.

Isaac and Rebekah marry and are blessed with many children, two of which we will hear about next week, all because she risked her present for her future.

Amen.