In dealing with fear and the challenging emotions it invokes, most of us react somewhere in the middle between the two extremes of fight or flight.

Transcription

1 August 13, 2017 Genesis 37: 1-28 Rev. Joy R. Haertig May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all of our hearts, be acceptable in thy sight O God, our strength and our redeemer. Our reading began with the words: This is the story of the family of Jacob. It is not simply the story of Joseph, the son with the technicolor dream coat --- whom the Broadway Musical has made famous. This is the continuation of the story of the family of Abraham and Sarah; Isaac and Rebekah, and their descendants. All of these ancient stories from Genesis remind us of how challenging it can be to maintain healthy relationships in families by blood and the global human family. Things can and do get complicated, even in the best of families. Jacob is one of the twin sons of Isaac and Rebekah, his blended family offers some unique challenges: Jacob s sons include six by his wife Leah, four by his concubines Bilhah and Zilpah, and two sons (Joseph and Benjamin) by his favorite wife Rachel. Complicated indeed! While I expect it is safe to say that none of us come from a blended family quite like this one I know that these stories can still remind us of our own family issues. Jealousy, envy, and vengefulness are difficult to sort through; they are part of the human experience all across the world and can impact us even across miles of separation. Aren t all or most of these intense emotions often triggered by fear? Jealousy is the fear of abandonment or some other threat to a valued relationship. Envy is the fear of not having or being enough, and the desire to have what somebody else has. The brothers of Joseph were struggling with these to the point of real and serious danger and their response took a frightening and life-threatening turn. In dealing with fear and the challenging emotions it invokes, most of us react somewhere in the middle between the two extremes of fight or flight. 1

2 I read in an article from the New York Times about Vengeance by Kate Murphy how an Australian entrepreneur created a service that allowed a person to send an enemy an envelope full of glitter. When opened, bits of sparkly spite would fall out and stick all over the person as glitter and grudges both tend to do A rush of customers crashed the company s website within 24 hours! The owner then made a tidy profit, selling the days-old business for $85,000. (NYT, 2/7/15) Murphy writes: Mailing a glitter bomb may seem petty, but the demand points to a larger issue of revenge and its pervasiveness Settling scores marks political, business and personal relationships. And of course, at its most extreme, the desire for vengeance fuels murder and terrorism. Isn t this what we are witnessing now in Virginia? Perceptions of inequality that have been bubbling under the surface for years and are now coming to the surface as domestic terrorism? Whenever we encounter the demands of human emotions and relationships--- the challenge before us is whether we respond with fear or love. The brother s act of vengeance reflected their fear. They feared the loss of their place in the family the attention of their father perhaps their inheritance and in turn, feared for their future. Their anger and resentment built and built inside of them until Joseph was no longer their brother. He became someone who had taken something from them someone who was a threat. Joseph became the enemy someone they could inflict harm on. There is no doubt that Joseph was full of himself --- he was too big for his britches --- as they used to say And yet As people of faith, we are challenged to meet these challenges armed with love rather than revenge. Even tough love love that confronts and gets angry, but does not act in destructive or vengeful ways. The ethics of our Christian path challenges us to ask a core question: What would love look like in this highly heated relationship? 2

3 How does being a part of the larger family of God challenge ALL OF US to consider how we deal with the human emotions that are triggered in complicated human relationships and situations? It is easy to turn to fear and retribution. Our faith journey challenges us to face that fear with love. The Executive Minister for Justice and Witness in the United Church of Christ gathered with others in Charlottesville for an interfaith prayer and praise service to a God of love and justice prior to the protests on their streets. They were seeking the strength to be the face of love in the midst of the global human family of God before they took to the streets as part of the counter-protest against white nationalism. As they were doing this, members of the KKK surrounded their church with torches. On Wednesday this past week, a small group of us watched a documentary called The Armor of Light about the increasing gun violence in our country and the response of two very different Christian people whose lives have been impacted by it. Lucy McBath whose unarmed teenage son was murdered in Florida and Reverend Rob Schenck, an anti-abortion activist who began to question whether being pro-gun is consistent with being pro-life. The documentary gave us insight into some of the fear that is behind the increase in gun purchases. Lucy and Pastor Rob, shaped and inspired by their faith in Jesus Christ, are doing everything in their power to foster and teach others to put on the armor of Christ s love rather than fear and packing a gun, even if it might mean the loss of their own lives in the process. For Pastor Rob, the answer to end this increasing turn to violence is not politics but the ethical call of Jesus and the belief in the sanctity of life from birth through death. Closer to home --- I see this same Christ-inspired action in the work our Magnolia churches are doing with the members of Tent City 5. On Tuesday I attended a meeting of the Port Commissioners with Sue Olson where they were listening to the request for Tent City 5 to continue their stay in Interbay but to move to a larger piece of property which is owned by the Port of Seattle. We know there are some people who are fearful about the presence of TC5 yet the study that was recently done by the city reflects 3

4 what a positive experience it has been for the neighborhood as well as the residents of TC5. As we arrived early to the meeting I was touched by the warm and sincere friendships that were so evident between the members of TC5 and the various Magnolia church and mosque members who were in attendance. It was evidence of how the power of love can indeed dispel fear. A week ago the Seattle Times reminded us that we marked another anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The photographs and the stories of the effects of the bomb are a stark reminder of the impact of war. Not on those who decide to go to war, but on the innocent civilians whose lives are lost or forever changed. At the very same time we heard the President speak of fire and fury like the world has never known as our response to the threats of North Korea. While international and national relationships are incredibly complex and take great care and wisdom, I fear this response fosters deep fear and increased risk of horrific violence rather than safety and peace. I know others see it differently Yet as members of the family of God, we cannot deny the ethic of Jesus that teaches us: Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God. (Matthew 5:9). Or Gandhi who wrote: An eye for an eye and soon the whole world is blind. Jealousy, envy, fear and vengefulness are a very real part of the human experience from early childhood to our elder years. While I do not believe we can rid ourselves of these very human emotions and reactions our faith journey challenges us as members of the family of God to be honest about what we are capable of doing and make a conscious effort to sort through our emotions and reactions so that we might act from a place of love for neighbor, self, and planet. In this is our true strength. We cannot afford to sit idly by while our global family and planet are in such jeopardy. May we each find ways to choose and be love in these challenging times. In closing today I would like to share with you the following from a young seminarian, Lauren Grubaugh who was part of the counter-protest in Charlottesville yesterday: My Beloved All Saints Family, I could tell you about the clusters of young, white men walking militia style through the streets of Charlottesville, clad in white polos and khakis, crowned with baseball helmets and 4

5 motorcycle helmets, bearing clubs and Confederate flags and homemade Captain America shields. And if you want me to tell you what I saw, in the days to come, I will have gotten some rest, and some distance from the strange horror of it all, and I will recount this day when hate strolled through a city without remorse. And I am exhausted by the hate and the fear and the violence and the death. So the first thing I wrote when I returned home from Charlottesville was a prayer, because I needed to remember God after what I saw today. I have struggled to pray today. The image of God to which I so often default an image that has been instilled and reinforced by white supremacy and patriarchy is a white, male god. Over the years, incorporating inclusive language into my prayer has helped me reimagine God in color and warmth and light. But today s events (and the events of the last year), were a somber reminder that the racist, patriarchal god is still deeply embedded in my psyche, and all the more so in that of our nation. This is a prayer to the God whom we have forgotten, and whom we had best remember. *** To the God whom we have forgotten; To the God who is not male and is not white; To the God who takes no pleasure in violence; To the God who is Love; To the God who is tender-hearted and warm embrace; To the God who is not deaf to Her children s cries and is moved to tears by their suffering; To the God whose law is love of neighbor, hospitality for the stranger, care for the weak; To the God whose touch is healing, whose gaze is compassion; whose way is lovingkindness; To the God who is Justice; To the God who tramples fear and hatred under Her feet; To the God who convicts our hearts, stirs our spirits, transforms our minds; To the God who revels in the joyful dance of community and invites us to do the same; To the God whose own child s lynched body hung limp on a tree, not by Her own hand, but because of the fear and hatred of those human beings who feared the kind of world they were promised would be ushered in and hated the changes they would have to undergo to get there; Our memory is so short: Our failure to remember the sins of our parents, 5

6 Our aversion to repentance, Our refusal to make reparations, Is killing us. Our souls are wasting away. And black, brown, female, queer, trans, Muslim, differently abled bodies Are dying. Every day, so many. O God whom we have forgotten, We do not even know how to call on your name. We have not seen you in the faces of our sisters and brothers. We have not felt you in the pain of our neighbors, strangers, friends and enemies; O God whom we have forgotten, Do not let our imaginations be infiltrated by war-mongering forces of violence. Do not let our spirits be colonized by the depressing fear of our oppressors. Transform our minds that do not know how to think of you Existing without these heavy chains we have placed on ourselves and on each other. Amen. (From All Saints Church in Charlottesville 6

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