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“Then Joseph said to his brothers, ‘I am about to die; but God will surely come to you, and bring you out of this land to the land that God swore the Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.’ So Joseph made the Israelites swear, saying, ‘When God comes to you, you shall carry up my bones from here.’ And Joseph died, being one hundred ten years old; he was embalmed and placed in a coffin in Egypt.” Genesis 50:24-26

So ends the book of Genesis and the saga of Joseph. Joseph wants his body to rest where it first came into the world. He wants to end where he began. Full circle. Fully rooted in his family, land, culture, and religion of origin.

Joseph began in Canaan. His brothers sold him into slavery. He ended up in Egypt. In Egypt, he was a servant. He was imprisoned. He was put in charge of the country. His family came to Egypt and he was able to sustain them through the drought with the grain stores of Egypt. Joseph is reconciled with his family and they settle in Egypt. But still, Joseph wants his final resting place to be in his original homeland of Canaan. He still longs for what he considers his home.

We live in a time of much migration and mobility. People move from place to place for jobs, for weather, for retirement, to be near kids, for school, for lifestyle, for culture, for love. There is also much migration that occurs because of violence, war, and drought. Migration may be caused by severe weather events, like Hurricane Katrina. Many people left New Orleans and did not go back. With rising sea levels, there will be even more migration.

Our faith teaches that our true home is in God. And God is everywhere. So we can be at home everywhere. We also affirm that God is within us. So wherever we are, God is with us, and we can learn to be at home. We think of Jesus always going from place to place. And everywhere he went, he was at home. May we find our way home to God this Lenten season.

Prayer
The Earth is full of the glory of God. May we look for that glory everywhere, even within ourselves, and certainly within others. Aware of the presence of God, may we find our true home. Amen.

“God spoke to Israel in visions of the night, and said, ‘Jacob, Jacob.’ And he said, ‘Here I am.’ Then God said, ‘I am God, the God of your fathers; do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make of you a great nation there.’” Genesis 46:2-3

Jacob/Israel was coming to the end of his long life. He was old and had a large family. We can well imagine that his intent was to make his transition from this life in his comfortable homeland of Canaan. That was where he was familiar and entrenched. That’s the land he had spent his life on. That is where the people were that he knew.

Maybe Jacob/Israel thought that he was winding down; that God was pretty much finished with him. He had done his job, been faithful, followed God’s way. Now it was time to coast to the end. A gentle landing. But instead, he finds himself moving to a new country;  family, flocks and all. It’s a huge transition but not the one he was expecting to make ending his life on earth. This is a big, unexpected change into a new future here in this life.

Sometimes we may feel that God is not active or present in our lives. We may feel that God is quiet in our lives. We may wonder why we don’t get more direction or intimation of a godly nature in our lives. But maybe we are getting the signals and we are ignoring them. Maybe we are being called to make great changes but we are comfortable with things as they are. Maybe we are being sent in new directions but we are turning off our GPS to God because we don’t want to head that way. We like how things are going. We don’t want our apple cart upset. We don’t want to be bothered with drastic change. We just want to coast. But there can be a lot of friction to deal with when we coast against God.

Prayer
When life is good and we are happy, we may resist change. When we are struggling, we may resist the kind of change God intends for our good. May we keep listening with openness and a sensitivity to our resistance. Amen.

“So they went up out of Egypt and came to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan. And they told him, ‘Joseph is still alive! He is even ruler over all the land of Egypt.’ He was stunned; he could not believe them. But when they told him all the words of Joseph that he had said to them, and when he saw the wagons that Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of their father Jacob revived. Israel said, ‘Enough! My son Joseph is still alive. I must go and see him before I die.’” Genesis 45:25-28

Jacob was giving out. He was an old man with wives and children. He had flocks and holdings. He had done what he needed to do. Then he hears about his son Joseph being alive. And his life suddenly takes a new turn. We are told that he revives.

It is easy for us to simply go into a coast mode. We have what we need, we go long, we plod from day to day. We pay the bills, we go to the doctor, we go through the motions. Our spirits flag. Our passions ebb. It may be gradual, so much so that it goes unnoticed. We may be disengaging and loosing interest and not even really be aware.

Joseph gets word of the son he thought was dead, and suddenly he once again has a passion for life. Pope Francis suggested that people give up apathy for Lent. This is a time to ask ourselves if we are apathetic. If we have lost interest in things. Do we need to be revived? Do we need to regain our passion? What is the condition of our spirits?

If we notice some ebbing of spirit, there are things we can do to engage. We do not just have to sit around and wait for something amazing to happen in our lives. We can dip our toe in the water. Try getting involved in something you care about. Try investing yourself more deeply in a relationship. Try a new hobby or a new subject or activity. Or pick up something you have not done for a long time. Spend some time in nature. Volunteer somewhere. Write a letter about an issue that you care about. Eventually you will find something that revives you. That excites you. That impassions you.

Prayer
Jesus went to the wilderness to discern his mission and his passion. In this Lenten season, may we consider our passion. May we see more clearly how we are being called to be engaged in the enterprise of faith. Amen.

Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Say to your bothers, ‘Do this: load your animals and go back to the land of Canaan. Take your father and your households and come to me, so that I may give you the best of the land of Egypt, and you may enjoy the fat of the land.’ You are further changed to say, ‘Do this: take wagons from the land of Egypt for your little ones and for your wives, and bring your father, and come. Give no thought to your possessions, for the best of all the land of Egypt is yours.’” Genesis 45: 17-19, NRSV

In the story of Joseph, we see the Pharaoh listening to Joseph and following Joseph’s counsel. Joseph is a foreigner. He is an outsider. He is an alien. And he begins his time in Egypt as a slave. He is from the bottom of a rigidly tiered society. And yet Pharaoh takes Joseph’s advice and recommendations seriously, he respects Joseph, and does what Joseph suggests.

How often would a national leader in the US take the counsel of a low class, foreigner who has spent time in jail? We would probably just be trying to deport the person!

In the recent session of the Florida State legislature, there was a bill presented to allow people with concealed weapons permits to carry their guns openly. There was also a proposed bill to allow people to carry concealed weapons on state college and university campuses. It is hard to see how these bills could do anything but open the door to more shootings and violence. Thankfully, both of these bills failed to be passed and will not become law though they had substantial support in some quarters. But it is hard to conceive that these bills were even seriously considered and yet they were. We can see how the world gets the impression that America loves guns.

Recently, an international $1 million dollar prize was awarded to Hanan al-Hroub for excellence in teaching. She is a teacher in al-Bireh just outside of Ramallah in the West Bank. Al-Hroub is a Palestinian, an Arab, and a woman. And yet she won this prestigious award. She is committed to teaching peace. Her mantra is ‘no to violence’ and she stresses the need for dialogue. She is absolutely committed to creating peace through non violence and this is the focus of her educational efforts. Chances are she probably wouldn’t win a teaching award in the state of Florida. [See Tampa Bay Times, 3/14/16, “Palestinian wins $1M Global Teacher Prize”]

Maybe we should wise up like Pharaoh and listen to this foreigner, this person of low status, this outsider, this woman. Maybe we should be taking her seriously and listening to what she says, and implementing her vision. She is showing us the way to being a free, safe, democratic society.

In the UCC we say that God Is Still Speaking. We don’t limit where this speaking comes from because we do not limit God.

Prayer
May we listen to what we need to hear, even when it is difficult, or comes from an unlikely source. Everyone can be a voice for Divine Love and healing. Amen.