Category: Kim’s Blog

“Now Joseph was governor over the land; it was he who sold to all the people of the land. And Joseph’s brothers came and bowed themselves before him with their faces to the ground. When Joseph saw his brothers, he recognized them, but he treated them like strangers and spoke harshly to them. ‘Where do you come from?’ he said. They said, ‘From the land of Canaan, to buy food.’ Although Joseph had recognized his brothers, they did not recognize him. Joseph also remembered the dreams that he had dreamed about them.” Genesis 42:6-9a, NRSV

When Joseph’s brothers came to Egypt for grain, and he saw them, and recognized them, we can imagine that his world was rocked. The ground shifted for him. His reality was suddenly redefined.

For people alive today, it seems like reality is constantly shifting and changing. People are unsettled and anxious. There is so much change and it is happening so fast. Within just a few years, less than 50% of the population of the US will be of European descent. That’s a drastic shift. Sea level rise continues apace and many homes and beaches that we now enjoy will be gone in our lifetimes. That’s another huge adjustment. If you don’t use the internet, you are almost excluded from participating in mainstream society, and you certainly are at a disadvantage for everything from getting a job to buying a car to healthcare. Change. Change. Change.

I have recently heard about a book by Rebecca Traister called All The Single Ladies: Unmarried Women and the Rise of an Independent Nation. This book examines the changing landscape for women in the US given that as of 2009 less than half of the women in the US were married. That’s a huge shift in the social fabric of America. There are all kinds of implications about the greater options for women, having children without getting married, the decreasing stigma of being an “old maid.” It’s great that women are gaining more freedom and equality.

But this new trend also has implications for men. Heterosexual men have been socialized to get married and have a family. They have been shaped to think of themselves as breadwinners for their families. Stay at home dads have made an impact but have not become common. Now with less women choosing marriage, what happens to the men who want to choose marriage, but have a smaller pool of partners to choose from? Less women marrying changes the social landscape for men. So, they need to adjust to changes in their world. As the mother of two sons, white men, I see all the changes that they are dealing with as society shifts around them.

As we see our world rocked and our reality shifting in many ways, we want to remember that others are having similar experiences. It is a time to be compassionate toward one another in this country and around the world. It is a time to focus on understanding and reaching out to see the perspectives of others. We are all having our adjustment problems. It is not a time to be “me” focussed and only see our own anxieties. While disturbing, these changes can also bring us together. Change may be difficult but it also means that we are alive, and we hope, that we are progressing toward a more egalitarian, peaceful world.

Prayer
Life is changing so fast. We seem to face one transition after another. It is easy to want to stop time, go back, to what was more familiar and comfortable and solid for us. As our reality shifts may we look for how it brings us closer to others, may we look for common bonds. May we look to all the possibilities of the future and new things that Love is birthing. Amen.

“When Jacob learned that there was grain in Egypt, he said to his sons, ‘Why do you keep looking at one another? I have heard,’ he said, ‘that there is grain in Egypt; go down and buy grain for us there, that we may live and not die.’ . . . Thus the sons of Israel were among the other people who came to buy grain, for the famine had reached the land of Canaan.” Genesis 42: 1-3, 5, NRSV

And so we learn that through the drought Joseph and his family are going to intersect again. They are going to encounter one another. The brothers who sold Joseph into slavery are going to see that very brother.

Going to Egypt, the brothers are probably worrying about the drought. They are stressed about the lack of food. Do they have the money needed to buy grain? Are they in danger of being robbed on the way there or on the way back? Will the Egyptians sell to them as foreigners or will they keep all of their grain to sustain their own people? We can imagine the many concerns and worries that the brothers talk about on their way to Egypt. Chances are they are NOT thinking or talking about Joseph, unless they pass the pit that they put him in on their way to Egypt. Even so, we would imagine that Joseph was but a dim memory to his brothers.

It is the drought, a devastating lack of rain, a killing cataclysm, that leads to the encounter between Joseph and his brothers. It is often tragedy or hardship that brings people together. A death in the family may bring many relatives together. People who have not seen each other in years. Perhaps people who have not spoken in decades. Maybe family members who have parted company in a hostile manner will be thrown together. A natural disaster can bring unlikely parties together. Maybe the homes of rich and poor alike have been devastated by a tornado and the people are thrown together to work on the clean up. Maybe white police officers and black citizens alike are killed in a mass shooting and the families and community are all brought together in their grief.

The question remains: How to respond? Take the opportunity to reconcile? Seek common ground? Share the pain? Allow our common humanity to bring us together? Or maintain hostilities. Keep the wall up. Perpetuate the alienation. These are the choices that may face us when we encounter those from whom we are estranged.

As we will see, Joseph seems to need some time to think the whole thing through. He is so taken aback at the sight of his brothers. The tables have turned. He holds their lives in his hands. What will he do?

Prayer
All people suffer. All people experience alienation from others and from their true selves. Sometimes extreme circumstances can provide the opportunity for us to pursue reconciliation and wholeness. Sometimes a broken heart lets the love out. Sometimes pain exposes our vulnerability and healing can ensue. May our eyes be open to see possibilities for reconciliation. Amen.

“And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh, and went through all the land of Egypt. During the seven plenteous years the earth produced abundantly. He gathered up all the food of the seven years when there was plenty in the land of Egypt, and stored up food in the cities; he stored up in every city the food from the fields around it. So Joseph stored up grain in such abundance – like the sand of the sea – that he stopped measuring it; it was beyond measure. . . The seven years of plenty that prevailed in the land of Egypt came to an end; and the seven years of famine began to come, just as Joseph had said. There was famine in every country, but throughout the land of Egypt there was bread. When all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread, Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians, ‘Go to Joseph; what he says to you, do.’ And since the famine had spread over all the land, Joseph opened all the storehouses, and sold to the Egyptians, for the famine was severe in the land of Egypt. Moreover, all the world came to Joseph in Egypt to buy grain, because the famine became severe throughout the world.” Genesis 41: 46-49, 53-57, NRSV

What is the proper role of government? In this season of presidential primaries, we are hearing a lot about that. One of the things I liked about early candidate Rand Paul was that he was consistently for small government. Other candidates seem to want small or no government on some things, but then they want to insert the government into people’s lives in other ways that many think should be private, personal matters. So we think about what is the appropriate role of government? In viewing many of the films at the Eckerd College Environmental Film Festival this week, this issue came up repeatedly relative to global climate change. What is the proper role of government?

In the story of Joseph, we see the government of Egypt very much in control of the food situation in the time of fertility and drought. If the people were left to themselves, even with warning about the drought, would they have stored the grain they would need? Would they take the situation seriously? Would they have the wherewithal as individuals to make provision for seven years of drought? Could they stock pile so much grain? It’s hard to know. And what about people who were poor or underfed during the time of plenty. You know they are going to be in an even worse situation during the drought.

Government stepping in on behalf of the welfare of the population regarding something as basic as food seems to be a proper role for the government. Our Constitution protects our right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. You can’t enjoy those rights if you are starving to death and there is no food to be obtained. Seeing that all citizens have access to safe shelter, food, healthcare, and the other basic necessities of life seems a reasonable expectation of government. Overseeing a safe and plentiful food supply seems a proper role for government. Ensuring access to safe potable water seems to be a proper activity of government. Making sure there is clean air to breathe also appears to be a reasonable function for government. These are basic needs for life and people should expect their government to protect these life sustaining rights.

Given the state of global climate change, a case can be made that our government is falling severely short on these responsibilities. There are issues with food additives and pesticides, land usage, subsidies, and consumption of meat that are contributing to agricultural problems and an unhealthy food supply. There are already water wars and water shortage issues in the US, which again relates to agriculture and food supply as well as to drinking water. Sea level rise is also continuing apace and will wipe out many coastal cities potentially within our lifetime. And air quality, while it is better here than in, say, China, is deteriorating as the significant rise in asthma and other respiratory ailments shows.

In this election season, we must ask ourselves, what is the proper role of government and is our government really protecting our right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness?

Prayer
Separation of church and state in America has led to a rich and thriving religious landscape in this country. We are grateful for our freedom to worship as we choose. As people of faith, we pray for our government and our leaders that they may protect not only our freedom of religious expression but also our freedom to breathe clean air, drink safe water, eat healthy food, and live safely in these beautiful United States. Amen.

“Pharaoh gave Joseph the name Zaphenath-paneah; and he gave him Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest of On, as his wife. Thus Joseph gained authority over the land of Egypt. Joseph was thirty years old when he entered the service of Pharaoh king of Egypt.” Genesis 41:45-46a, NRSV

What do you want to be when you grow up? This is a question we often ask kids. And the answers are fun. Ask a high school or college student and it can be more anxiety producing because they are worrying about what to do with themselves when they imminently enter the big wide world.

What did you think you wanted to be when you grew up? What kind of life did you expect to lead? Are you on the path you thought you would be on? Did things turn out pretty much as you expected? Or have things unfolded differently? Is your life going in an unexpected direction?

Joseph was from a large family of shepherds with huge flocks living a semi nomadic life in the land of Canaan. He could never have imagined living in Egypt letting alone being in charge of the farming and crops for an entire country, being the second in command after Pharaoh, and being married to an Egyptian woman.

Sometimes things just don’t turn out the way we expect them to. This may happen because we need to be doing things with our lives that we had not anticipated. New circumstances and directions appear and we know it is what we are supposed to do. Sometimes things don’t turn out as we expect because we make a mess of things. We make poor choices and get into trouble and find ourselves derailed from what we intended. Sometimes we may know what we are being called to but we simply say no or ignore what we know. Through the course of our lives, we may find ourselves in each of these situations, looking back.

Joseph did the best he could under the circumstances. He shows an adaptability, an acceptance of where his life takes him. And whatever state he is in, he finds God, trusts God, and lets his light shine so that others see God in him.

There are some who believe that Jesus knew what was in store for him from the beginning. They beleive that he knew he would face opposition, be betrayed, face an unfair trial, and suffer a humiliating, excruciating death through crucifixion. Some believe Jesus knew his whole life’s path from his birth, or certainly from his baptism on. For me, it makes Jesus stronger and more impressive in his moral imagination to think that he was choosing over and over and over again the way of love, healing, and reconciliation without specifically knowing what the outcome would be. For me, it makes Jesus more of a model I am challenged to follow to think that he did not know what the future would hold. He was like us, trying to discern God’s will and live by it. And he did it and got it right over and over again. He trusted God and did not falter. For me, that way of looking at Jesus is more inspiring and makes a deeper impression.

Lent is a time to think about how we may be resisting something or ignoring something. A tug, a pull in our lives. Maybe it’s a time to let go of something and free ourselves to take a new path. To trust and be surprised.

Prayer
Each day dawns with new possibilities. We may think we know what’s ahead. But changes come. Circumstances present themselves that were unanticipated. What does not change is Divine Love working in the world and in our lives for the good of all. May we release our imaginary control and trust. Amen.

“Removing his signet ring from his hand, Pharaoh put it on Joseph’s hand; he arrayed him in garments of fine linen, and put a gold chain around his neck.”  Genesis 41:42, NRSV

This week we witnessed another presidential candidate debate. And it was fiery. And, as usual, the topic of immigration was talked (yelled) about. In addition, this week Former Mexican President Vicente Fox got into the act with choice words for Donald Trump who gave it right back to him. The wall will be 10 feet higher. Maybe all the candidates should watch the 2004 movie “A Day Without a Mexican.” In this movie, Californians awaken to the discover that everyone of Hispanic heritage has inexplicably disappeared. It could definitely influence one’s thinking on immigration policy. And does the US really want hostile relations with our neighbor on our southern border? It’s one thing to be at odds with a country across the ocean. It’s quite another to be in a contentious relationship with the country next door or across the river.

What does it mean to be foreign? To be considered an alien? To be an outsider? The film “Charlie’s Country” was shown this week at the Eckerd College Environmental Film Festival. The movie takes place in Australia. At one point, a white person, clearly of European descent, refers to Charlie, an aboriginal person, indigenous to Australia, as a foreigner. Wow! Talk about losing perspective.

I was born in the US, as were my parents. And I consider myself mainstream American. But there are times, like when listening to some of the recent political tirading, that I feel like I am an outsider, a foreigner in this, the land of my birth. I don’t feel that I belong or fit in with much of what I hear. Do these candidates really not realize that there are hardworking, decent, citizens of America who believe a woman should have access to a legal, safe abortion paid for by her health insurance plan? If someone is against abortion, don’t have one. That should be respected. Where is our respect for differences even within the mainstream American population let alone with regard to those who are “foreign”?

In the story of Joseph, we see that Joseph is sold into slavery and taken to a foreign land. In Egypt, he is an alien. He is of a different culture, religion, and language than the Egyptians. He worships a different God. Yet as the story proceeds, Joseph rises to being the number two man in Egypt. It is not held against him that he is foreign and a victim of human trafficking. His background and difference do not impede his being entrusted with power and authority. Evidently, he is judged, to use the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., by the content of his character. Imagine that!

Prayer
In this season of Lent, we examine our character. May we endeavor to see humanity as one family. May we strive to eradicate our prejudices, stereotypes, and privilege that separate us from each other. May we grow in our respect for those who are not like we are and learn from them. And like Joseph, may all see God in us. And may we see God in everyone. Amen.