After they had been in custody for some time, 5 each of the two men—the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt, who were being held in prison—had a dream the same night, and each dream had a meaning of its own.

6 When Joseph came to them the next morning, he saw that they were dejected. 7 So he asked Pharaoh’s officials who were in custody with him in his master’s house, “Why do you look so sad today?”

8 “We both had dreams,” they answered, “but there is no one to interpret them.”

Then Joseph said to them, “Do not interpretations belong to God? Tell me your dreams.”

Joseph’s place in prison for a crime that he did not commit prompts any thoughtful person to face the likelihood that we will all find ourselves in a difficult situation not of our own making.  Once the predictable angst and frustration is expressed, it probably serves us well to consider how best to thrive in a bad experience.  Certainly pouting or raging against the injustice has its limit.

Joseph’s story is filled with a gutty determination that conquers difficult moments. His imprisonment is the latest and it affords him opportunity to be introduced to the cupbearer and the baker of the Pharoah of Egypt. While in jail both of these men, (I presume they are men), have dreams that are so impressionable that each is pondering the dream long after waking.  As Joseph interprets these two dreams, one of the men receives good news while the other gets some not so good news.  But Joseph is honest and helps them face the circumstances that now stand before them.

The Good News of Jesus is that by his own actions he shows, like Joseph, his ancestor, that each of us has a dream and that dream has been poignantly placed into our heart and soul like a dna strand.  That dream is not a fluffly, ethereal piece of undeciferable code but rather a melody or imprint of story placed in us by a loving God.  This loving God tells us the truth about what leads to destruction and what leads to life.  When we listen we can face the dissonance between the dream and the present circumstance.  When we don’t, we will spend a lot of time hunting down another method for breaking the dream’s meaning.

Make no mistake, I believe that God created a beautiful story in my life and it is finished well when I finish with Him in mind.

FB Meyer in his character profile about Joseph and his technicolor dreamcoat asks, “Would you rather, like Joseph, be living in difficult circumstances with a clear confidence or like Joseph’s brothers; successful but with blood on your hands and guilt in your heart?”

This week’s sermon points out that Joseph made a difficult situation a success. Forced into slavery by his brothers, he went to work in a strange land and produced success for his boss, Potiphar. Potiphar saw Joseph’s success and also Joseph’s partnership with God. It was clear to a non-believer that Joseph took his marching orders from his God.

Joseph also experienced the prospect that success can create temptations. The temptress in this story was Potiphar’s wife and she doesn’t even get her name mentioned.  But it is clear in the telling that she was bored by the success found in affluence. Though she had everything she wanted, she cannot keep her hands off Joseph. She wanted him as a plaything.  Joseph resisted the seduction but was forced to flee without his coat. Again.  The coat became the evidence used against him and he was thrown, yet again, into a pit.  This time with other prisoners. Do you see it?  The only one virtuous and faithful was the one who was punished. Bad things do happen to good people.

Finally, Psalm 105 reminds us that although Joseph ended up in the pit, there was a  promise in the making.  The Scripture says in vs 18 that as a result of his imprisonment, “iron came into his soul.”  Joseph, even in the most bleak of moments, was being sustained and strengthened for some future calling.  A calling that would be more demanding.  It was in this moment of difficulty that he received the constitution that he needed for future success.

Thanks, Matt Judkins for the reminder of this exhibit in the British Museum:

“An interesting map is on display in the British Museum in London. It’s an old mariner’s chart, drawn in 1525, outlining the North American coastline and adjacent waters. The cartographer made some intriguing notations on areas of the map that represented regions not yet explored. He wrote: “Here be giants,” “Here be fiery scorpions,” and “Here be dragons.” Eventually, the map came into the possession of Sir John Franklin, a British explorer in the early 1800s. Scratching out the fearful inscriptions, he wrote these words across the map: ‘Here is God.’”

The story of Joseph doesn’t start off very promising. As a seventeen year old, he finds himself ratting out his lazy older brothers to his dad.  Not only does dad punish the sons but rewards Joseph with the famous coat of many colors.  J is definitely a fink (or a snitch in today’s parlance) in the eyes of his bros. J has made it even more insufferable by conveying his visions on the guys, “You will all, one day, bow down to me.”  Good one little bro.

My reading of it is that he is so reviled by his brothers that it is no longer safe to go out into the fields with them. He’s staying home in some familial witness protection program when his crotchety old father sends him back into the fray.  “Go out and check on your brothers,” was the instruction.

Sure enough, the brothers do have it out for him and his dreamcoat, and his fancy dreams of one day being their object of worship and respect. Those dreams don’t leave much room for the traditional family line and inheritance protocol.  The brothers conspire to kill him and only a last minute suggestion by Ruben keeps Joseph alive and thrown into a well.  We know the story, he is then sold off to a traveling band of merchants headed for Egypt.

There be dragons in Egypt. and scorpions and there might as well be giants too.  A hellish circumstance for anyone and completely confusing when you measure the dreams against the reality.  But of course, we know how the story goes and what we all love is a comeback.  This is the pit of a story that ends well. But not before it goes badly first.  I think you know where I’m headed on this.

“If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it.”   Luke 9: 24

Dreams are great, they can carry us on a bad day but when God has a hand in it, there’s dividend besides.  There’s a dangerous but predictable moment when we wonder where is God in all of our difficult moments. But the collaboration that is taking shape in the midst of our doubts, our setbacks and our sufferings is the fruit of God’s presence. We’ll see it when it’s over if not before.

Richard Rohr calls this, “mature second half of life stuff.”  The reality of death and doubt as a life affirming and redeeming force.

This is a question I often pondered while serving as chaplain at juvenile correction facilities. Young boys and girls who seemed innocent at the core found themselves in jail because of the malevolence of others. I would wonder if they could see the errors of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Could they grow and adapt to more positive modes of behavior? Could they resist the influence of older schemers.

During the winter and Easter season, I will be walking my fellowship through a study of Joseph’s life found within the pages of Genesis 37-50. It’s stock filled with twists and turns, highs and lows, family deception and redemption.

The truly human soulcraft that I have called ‘making promises’ includes a whole range of processes; deliberation, mediation, the social contract. Everything that goes into the creative process of our interactions. When you think about it, making decisions that affect others, appealing to a common good and the communication effort toward that end consists of an exotic, complex arrangement.  And the perversion of that process is equally fascinating.

An example or two.  When I was in college several of us got interested in backgammon.  We carried boards with us all the time.  At the drop of a hat we would bring out the board and have a game.  We’d do tournaments on Friday nights. We were obsessed.  We had been taught the game by an old Armenian man who was second generation in the Central Valley. He had been taught the game by his immigrant father, who insisted that a TRUE gamer not only played the game but also excelled at cheating at the game.  It was a virtue to cheat at backgammon but only if you successfully got away with it.  We tried to cheat each other but we didn’t do it very well. It just wasn’t ingrained as part of the reason we played the game.

My son, Erik, while in Thailand, went to see the great temple in Bangkok.  On his way in, a policeman and a tour guide were talking at the gate.  The conversation ended when Erik walked up.  The tour guide told Erik that the temple was closed for prayers and that he could take Erik to another temple for a visit until the prayer time was over.  Erik agreed as the policeman walked away.  Two hours later, Erik realized he had been duped as the tour guide had shuttled him through several shops miles away from his original destination.

Let’s face it, in order to see personal promise-making or political truthfulness as a virtue, we’ve got to see a higher order at play.  And what we put at the top of that order makes alot of difference on how we live it out. If we feel that the common good is the order of the day, maybe we can all agree that Bernie Madoff was a despicable character but if we see that our God given freedoms include the creation process that goes into making and keeping promises then we have a new sense of integrity.  A higher calling.

These are the issue I’ll explore through these verses and I hope you give some thought to what it means and, please, weigh in if you have a thought or two.

31 “It has been said, ‘Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.’ 32 But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, makes her the victim of adultery, and anyone who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.”

Ok, the Sermon on the Mount is pretty well known, even to the non-religious. But once we get past the Beatitudes, the verses become less familiar. But still not controversial, at least for a few verses. I get it. Murder. bad. Murder in the heart, ok, bad, too. Adultery. bad. Lust in the heart? uh, well Jimmy Carter can tell you how publicly acknowledging that one works.

I then wonder how these verses on divorce would go over today in the public square. With the marriage statistics showing more than 50% of marriages ending in divorce, I imagine that most people would acknowledge that divorce is a bad thing. But not necessarily the worst thing. So Jesus’ words about contributing to adultery by way of divorce would seem like it wouldn’t get many votes on the sentiment meter.

This is where my experience as a destination wedding officiant would help the discussion.  With more than 400 weddings to my officiate credit, I can honestly say that hope reigns supreme.  Most couples are still starry-eyed when they say their vows.  Most still look like they are standing before the most important person in their life. Almost all previously married, then divorced, hope that they have been forgiven and have grown past their former missteps in life and love. Almost all are grateful for a second chance and they act and move as if this present promise is for life.

In my wedding homily I often quote Friedrich Nietzsche when he says that what makes us human is that, “we make promises.”  This, to me, is the core of what makes us noble and marvelously made.  Humans can look at another and say, “I do.”  We can then choose to act and live with that future promise in mind.  Our greatest pains are found when someone who has said, “I do.”  turns and acts out, “I won’t.”

God’s great gift to us in our ability to make promises is also our deep pain when those promises are violated.  It tears at us and separates our identity from its moorings.  For the person who has left the promise, it forces them to re-cast themselves into another person.  For the person violated they, too, must pick up the scraps and look for a new source of hope without scars limiting the range of hope. This is no small feat. Most are in for a rough road with many long nights and difficult days unpacking the rhythm of past relationships and then putting healthy focus on the new life ahead.

The only way to recover from this desperate state is to discover the goodness of God and His powerful promise making and keeping.  He said; “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”  For many second marrieds, this gift is found in another patient promise maker.  It’s even more helpful if the couple put their focus on the Ultimate,
Benevolent Promise Maker.

In Puccini’s opera, “Turandot,” any potential suitor to the Princess must answer three riddles.  Answered correctly, he wins her hand in marriage.  The wrong answer results in getting the axe.  The first question is what is born at night and dies during the day. Calaf, the orphan boy, gets the answer (and eventually the right to marry Turandot) by correctly answering; HOPE.

The cycle of hope is similar to the outrageous road map that Jesus lays down in these verses. Even when the day’s events grind us down and convince us that there is no real foundation for hope, we find ourselves waking the next day feeling the possibility within reach.We maintain hope even in the face of little evidence.

Justice and mercy are seemingly at odds as well. How can we live in a world of law and still exercise mercy? From a philosophical level, Jesus is helping us all remember that the inherent nobility found within the human heart is rendered dissolute without a clear resolution between justice and mercy. Law given by a Divine hand must be the standard but how does the human race live up to the law that is impossible to keep?  The answer is not to do away with the law but to reform the lawbreaker.  To bring new life into law by the power of love.

Hanging on to our divine rights as people is a deadly prerogative. Insisting that we are noble people to the extent that we insist on having our own way is self-destructive and dissonant to society. However, serving others in the way of Jesus keeps the law and offers redemption to the one who has lost hope.Jesus said it this way, “Whoever wishes to save his life must lose it.”  It’s this kind of crazy making that will redeem the world and satisfy the inherent law of our heart.

Salt and Light

¹³“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.

   ¹⁴ “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. ¹⁵ Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. ¹⁶ In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

Erich Auerbach’s seminal works were intended to scan the lexicon of literature and present various methods that have been used to represent reality.  His initial example comes from classical literature and the story of Ulysses.  His argument is that Ulysses is the prototypical tragic tale.  Homer’s intent, Auerbach insists, shows Ulysses tragically but bravely sailing off at the end of his life in search of one last element of a ‘bucket list.’ This is nobility at its most virtuous.  To die being true to oneself.

Auerbach further points out that just as Greek stories present tragedy as the highest form, Jewish thought presents an alternative view.  That comedy is the highest, most virtuous form.  Comedy is not about some nobleman rising to the occasion but that life begs to show some ordinary bloke coming from rags to riches. Abraham has the audacity to believe that he has been called out by God, tapped on the shoulder to leave the comfort of Haran and make his way to prosperity in the deserts of Judea.

Dante is yet another character who fits this second mold. Drummed out of Florence on trumped up charges, Dante the character is banished forever from family, friends and his beloved city.  But it is in this tragic moment that he takes his improbable journey (is it metaphorical or did he actually go to hell, purgatory and heaven?) from destruction to redemption.

Dante’s improbable redemption tale is made possible by Abraham’s radical covenant with God. This covenant   is teased out even further by Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount.  “Blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are the meek.”  Why? Because “they shall see God.”  It is an outlandish, incredible, DUMB way to think unless it’s true.

These next eight messages are pointing the way thru the Sermon on the Mount to the behavior that is provoked by such outlandish, dumb possibilities.  It is crazy to think that we can be the salt of the earth or the city on the hill.  But the good news is that we are just exactly that.

11 See what large letters I use as I write to you with my own hand!
12 Those who want to impress people by means of the flesh are trying to compel you to be circumcised. The only reason they do this is to avoid being persecuted for the cross of Christ. 13 Not even those who are circumcised keep the law, yet they want you to be circumcised that they may boast about your circumcision in the flesh. 14 May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which[a] the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. 15 Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is the new creation. 16 Peace and mercy to all who follow this rule—to[b] the Israel of God.
17 From now on, let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus.
18 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers and sisters. Amen.

It happened today for only the second time.  A couple can’t use me to do their wedding ceremony because they couldn’t complete a dissolution of divorce before marrying each other.  The woman had been separated from her first husband for more than ten years but they hadn’t divorced. By law, I’m prevented from executing the new marriage ceremony.

This whole law and relationship business is a wild one these days.  Gay rights advocates are fighting tooth and nail over the right to marry.  Seniors are finding it necessary to live together rather than marry because their benefits from deceased spouses are keeping them financially solvent.  Many stand to lose hundreds of dollars each month if they re-marry.

Young couples are living with their partners without the benefit of marriage even though the statistics show an overwhelming projection that this choice will harm their chances of staying married or together for that matter. And now, it seems, there is a growing trend among Christians to forego the civil process of obtaining a marriage license and choosing instead to go through a ‘sacred union’ ceremony.  This union is intended to show that their vows are before God rather than a civil authority which they believe should not regulate family and relational issues.

Paul’s summary verses wrap up his epistle to the Galatians by reminding those of us who walk by faith that the life lived under the law is a lifestyle based upon governing consumption and utility.  Laws govern our boundaries and therefore, what we may use and not abuse. On the other hand, Grace and Love guide freedom and creation. Laws put limits, Love and Grace promote possibilities.  There is no shortage of constraint in Love and Grace but that constraint is intended to bring fruitfulness to bear.

Serving each other in love is the greatest freedom we can experience and that is a big “get” in a world desperately seeking the key to peace and harmony.

6 Nevertheless, the one who receives instruction in the word should share all good things with their instructor.

7 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. 8 Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. 9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. 10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.

When I built my first family room, I received a great gift. That gift was the admonition of Dave McIntosh when he said, “Preparing to build is half the task.” I was like alot of do-it-yourselfers in that I wanted to take off and start building. Dave helped me discover the task of surveying the need, estimating the removal of obstacles and then start the building.  Today the 525 square foot family room sits beautifully on the property and my son, Erik, maintains his home in that house.

Paul has done the same thing for the Galatians and for us.  He has warned us that half measures or merely serving our innate interests produces a crop of less than perfect fruit.  It becomes such because of several different possibilities. First, there is the possibility of sowing the wrong seed; seed which will produce a bad fruit.  Then the possibility exists that our fainthearted effort at being a farmer will result in half-finished effort.

I’ve started many things in my life which grew difficult because I began with the wrong materials, the wrong motivation or the simply because I was easily distracted. Paul has invited us to take a serious look at the task of love and the complete dedication that it takes to produce a harvest. While forgiveness is an essential element of our life task, so too is dedication. “Don’t grow weary in doing good.”