Another Kind of Prosperity Gospel

Have you ever gotten all done with your sermon, gone home, had lunch and a nice nap, and then woke up thinking that you could have said something else about the Scripture reading?

That happened this weekend.  Not that it hasn't happened before.  But we are in the third week (but who's counting) of our grand experiment with the Narrative Lectionary.

Now I am going to come right out and say that I am in favor of almost anything with the word "narrative" in it.  I actually like the word 'story' even better; it's shorter and less pretentious.  So giving the Narrative Lectionary a try was my idea.

Even after three weekends, the stories are playing with my brain a little bit.  I find preaching the stories more challenging than I thought it would be (did I mention before that I love stories?).  I groaned about the "adult content" in the Joseph story, made note of the narrator's repetition of the sentence "God was with Joseph", and ended up preaching about God with Joseph in the thorny ups and downs he is experiencing, about God with Joseph in prison, even.  I was thinking particularly about what it means to be resilient, as people, and as a congregation:  to be the kind of people who don't give up just because there are fewer people in worship, or some of our ideas don't work, or we are criticized for something we believed that God wanted us to do.

Then I preached, and took that nap, and woke up thinking about something else, something that connected back to the story of Abraham, who was promised he would someday be a great nation and be blessed and also, by the way, be a blessing.  People bring this up, sometimes.  Abraham was "blessed to be a blessing."  That is the way it is supposed to be with us, too.

So I took the nap, and woke up thinking not about Joseph in prison, but about God being with Joseph, in Potiphar's house, and in the prison.  Right after the narrator reminds us that God was with Joseph (even though he had been sold into slavery by his brothers and then bought by the Egyptian official), he tells us that Joseph prospers in Potiphar's house.

Or, more accurately, Potiphar prospers because Joseph is there.

Huh.

God is with Joseph, and what this means is that the people around him prosper.  Even while he is a slave.  Even while he is in prison.  So it's not that Joseph himself is doing so well (he is a slave after all), but he causes blessing and prosperity to come to the people with whom he resides.

It's a whole new slant on the "prosperity gospel."  It is the "prosperity-for-our-neighbor" gospel.  Wherever the people of God go, the blessing means prosperity -- for their neighbors.

It makes me wonder what it would be like for us to believe this now.  What if "God was with Joseph" was as much a statement of vocation as a statement of assurance?  What if the words given to us at baptism, "Child of God, sealed by the Spirit and marked by the cross forever" were as much a statement of vocation as they are of assurance (or of eternal destination)?

What if our neighbors experienced blessing and prosperity because of our presence, our words, our actions?

What if we thought that was the reason God created and redeemed us:  so that our neighbors would prosper?

It would be a whole new kind of prosperity gospel.

I am still thinking about it.

The Trinity, Creation, and World War II

This week I was having a conversation with other pastors over coffee about the Trinity.  Specifically, Trinity Sunday was coming up -- again -- what were we going to preach about?  We read together from Matthew 28, from the end of 2nd Corinthians, and finally found ourselves staring at the creation story from Genesis, chapter 1.

Well?

What are you going to preach about this Sunday?

We got to talking about the Days of creation, and God separately Night from Day, and Light from Darkness, and saying that it was good.  We talked about the generative nature of the story -- everything is for the sake of life, night and dark, darkness and light -- even rest.  We moved back and forth from the images in creation to the relationship of the Trinity:  Father, Son and Holy Spirit, all participating with one another, forming community.

For some reason I couldn't help thinking about something I had heard many years ago, while I was living in Japan.  I didn't say anything, because I couldn't think of any way this had to do with Trinity Sunday, although whenever I read Genesis 1, this particular story and image comes up.

I remembered one of the missionaries told me about a Japanese military man who, after World War II, had become a Christian.  The details of the conversation become hazy now, so many years later, but Pastor Luther Kistler told me the story and that this gentleman (I believe was a member of his church).  He said that this man became a Christian because he was impressed by the story of creation from Genesis.  He said that Japanese mythology only has a story about the creation of Japan.  But Genesis -- there is a story about the creation of the whole world.

So.  I was thinking about this story while I was supposed to be thinking about the Trinity (what are you preaching about this Sunday?).  One of the things I was thinking was, "This doesn't have anything to do with the Trinity."  I was also thinking, "You can use a story like this to assert superiority in a sort of tribal way, I suppose.  You know, Our God is better than your God."  Perhaps it is this sort of tribalism that causes "Christians" to go out and kill Muslims in the Central African Republic, in the name of God.

But I was also struck by something else, perhaps for the first time.

There is something anti-tribal about the creation story from Genesis, something that pushes against the old "our god is better than your god" thinking.  If God created the whole world, if that is really true, there is something really expansive about that.  This God does not just care about my tribe or my corner of the universe.  Maybe this is why Jesus said, "Love your enemies."  Maybe it all goes back to the creation story, in Genesis 1.

I still don't exactly know what this has to do with the Trinity, although it seems to me that our talk about God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit can either expand or contract our views of God.  We can speak of God the Trinity in a way that draws the circle smaller or wider, that turns us inward or outward.  But which will it be?

On Monday I will be having another funeral, another funeral of one of our World War II veterans.  This community was founded just after the war ended, and I have been privileged to hear just the tip of the iceberg of their stories, those they can bear to tell.

This particular man served in Europe during the war.  He saw and experienced a lot of unspeakable things.  But one thing his family told me when we met to prepare for the funeral:  He said that he hated how people used the word "nazi" to talk about the Germans.  He said he knew there was a Nazi regime, and that there were SS troops and true believers, but, for himself, he never met a nazi.  He just met soldiers.  He just met human beings, like himself, created in the image of God.

In the Central African Republic, some Christians are killing Muslims.  In the meantime, other Christians are giving them refuge.  It all depends on what you hear and see and imagine when you read Genesis 1.

What are you preaching about this Sunday?

Reading the Bible, Day 4: Genesis 40-50

Okay, guys, don't count on me doing this every day for 90 days.  but for now:

We close the book of Genesis with the story of Joseph.

Two thoughts:

if you ever wondered, just how did the Israelites end up in Egypt, anyway?  -- now you know.

also:  "You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good."

tomorrow:  we begin Exodus

Reading the Bible, Day 3: Genesis 29-39

The print is really small in the Bible I'm reading.  Or am I getting old?

Impressions after reading these chapters of Genesis:

Baby wars between two more strong women, sisters Rachel and Leah.
Jacob becoming prosperous despite his uncle Laban's treachery.
And I have to ask, regarding Rachel stealing Laban's household gods:  why does she want the household gods anyway?  Don't they worship Yahweh?  What's the appeal of the household gods?  I ask you 
Jacob wrestling with the stranger, er, God, on his way back to meet his brother.
The stranger = God.  It does give one pause.

The name of Jacob changed to Israel, which means "one who wrestles with God."

The one chapter devoted to Dinah, the one daughter among the many sons of Jacob.  She is silent. 
Unlike Eve, Sarah, Hagar, Rebekah, Rachel and Leah.  She is silent.
What gives?

Maybe that's the problem. 

Then there's Tamar, Judah's daughter-in-law.  She is not silent, she is not passive, and she fares much better.  Girls!  Don't let the men fight your battles for you!

So now we are on to the story of Joseph, the dreamer. 
At the end of chapter 39, Joseph is in prision, although it seems where-ever Joseph goes, "all things work together for good" for him.

to be continued....

Reading the Bible in 90 Days: Day 2

Yesterday's reading was Genesis 17-28.  God promised an heir to Abraham -- to Abraham AND Sarah.  Abraham Laughed.  Sarah Laughed.  Abraham bargained with God to try to save Sodom and Gomorrah from destruction.  Cheeky of him. 

Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed, but Lot and his daughters escaped.  Isaac (laughter)was born.  Hagar and Ishmael were cast out, but God provided for them.

God asked Abraham to sacrifice his son, Isaac, (Laughter).  No backtalk from Abraham this time.  I confess I'm a little disappointed in Abraham.  If he tries to save Sodom and Gomorrah, why not his own son?

At the last minute, though, God provides for Abraham and Isaac. 

Abraham sends his servant to find a wife for Isaac.  Her name is Rebekah.  She leaves her family (brother Laban -- remember this name!) to go and live with Isaac.  For 20 years she is barren, and then:

Esau and Jacob are born.  Esau means red, and Jacob means heel.  They are twins, but Esau is born first, and so is entitled to a birthright and his father's blessing.  Jacob steals both of them, and then flees.  He has his mother's help in at least some of this.

Then, on the way to visit his uncle Laban, Jacob sleeps with his head on a rock, and sees a vision of angels.

Two things: 
The blessing that Isaac gives to his son -- these are just words, and yet, it is such a calamity that Jacob gets those words, and Esau doesn't.  How is it that words are so powerful?  Why do words matter so much?

for good or for ill, we got some strong women going on here.  Can't help but notice.  Sarah and Rebekah, you are not perfect people.  But you are interesting people. 

Read the Bible in 90 Days: Day 1

I'm already a day behind in posting, but I wanted to encourage those of you who might have begun.  Late yesterday I began by reading Genesis 1-16, and just have a couple of observations:

1.  If you start reading, really reading the Bible, there will be some things that make you go "hmmm."  It's okay to have those moments.  Right now we looking at the grand sweep of the stories.

2.  Other than (perhaps) Enoch, there are no perfect people in the Bible.  At least so far.  There are good people, but no perfect people.  We'll see how that progresses.

3.   We're ending today in the middle of the story of Abraham-Sarah-Hagar.  God sees Hagar, though she is an "outsider" and gives her a promise.  A great place for a "to be continued...."