EPIC Stories ~ The Story of Joseph

Forgiveness is never easy, so any story of forgiveness is an epic story, but there are some that capture our hearts and minds more than others.

The story of the members of Emmanuel AME Church in Charleston forgiving the shooter last year was an epic story of forgiveness.

The Amish forgiving the man who killed 5 little girls in Nickel Mines PA was an epic story of forgiveness.

Pope John Paul II forgiving the man who tried to kill him in 1981 was an epic story of forgiveness.

Corrie Ten Boom who forgave the Nazi prison guard who worked in the concentration camp where she was housed and where her sister died during WWII is an epic story of forgiveness.

What makes these stories so epic is that they are hard to believe.  How do you forgive someone who killed a loved one?  How do you forgive someone who was involved in the senseless killing of innocent children?  How do you forgive someone who was part of one of the worst atrocities our world has known?  How is this kind of forgiveness possible?

Today we are going to look some of the steps needed in any journey of forgiveness through the epic story of forgiveness seen in the life of Joseph.   Joseph was the son of Jacob, who was the son of Isaac, who was the son of Abraham.  In time Jacob came to be known by the name Israel and as we heard he had 12 sons who came to be known as the 12 tribes of Israel.  Joseph was Jacob’s favorite son because he was the first son born to Rachel, which was the wife Jacob loved the most.  As the favored son, Joseph got special treatment from his father and he was given a beautiful robe.  Genesis 37:3-4.

To make matters worse, Joseph also had a dream where he saw himself placed in a position of power and authority over his entire family and instead of keeping this dream to himself, Joseph shared it with his brothers which made them even angrier.  Joseph’s brothers finally had enough of him and set out to kill him but at the last minute decided to sell him to a group of Midianite merchants to be a slave.  The brothers then went and told their father that Joseph had been killed by wild animals who tore apart his beautiful robe.

I can’t imagine that as Joseph was being led through the desert to Egypt he felt like forgiving his brothers.  Forgiveness was not part of his thoughts as he began his life as a slave.  In the midst of tragedy, betrayal and pain, forgiveness is not the first thought in anyone’s mind which means that forgiveness for most of us is a process.  When we are hurt or taken advantage of, our initial feelings are usually outrage and anger and that’s ok.  Those are very natural human emotions that we all have and it is normal to be feeling those things when we are hurt by others, but we can’t give in to those feelings and we can’t hold on to them because God calls us to forgive.  Joseph moved on from his initial feelings, but it was not an easy journey.

Once Joseph arrived in Egypt he was sold to a man named Potiphar who was an official in Pharaoh’s court and Joseph did very well as a servant in his home.  Everything Joseph did was successful and so eventually he was put over Potiphar’s entire household and he had complete authority.  Joseph was also very handsome and so Potiphar’s wife made a play for him and when Joseph ran away, Potiphar’s wife accused Joseph of starting the whole thing.  In anger, Potiphar had Joseph thrown into prison.

Can you imagine what Joseph must be thinking at this point?  It’s happening all over again.  Just like with his brothers, Joseph has been misunderstood and treated poorly and once again he has been cast down through no fault of his own.  First he went from a favored son to a foreign slave and now he has gone from the top official in Potiphar’s house to being a lowly prisoner in Potiphar’s jail.  How do you forgive in the face of this kind of injustice?  Again, forgiveness was probably not the first thing on Joseph’s mind sitting in jail, but he also didn’t give in to anger and despair.  Joseph didn’t spend time feeling sorry for himself and blame all his problems on others, he keeps his eyes and his heart on God.

Genesis 39:20b-23.  So Joseph thrived in prison.  He moved forward in his life.  If Joseph had given into the bitterness he never would have been seen as someone who was responsible and if his heart and mind were set on revenge there would have been no room for God to bless him the way God did.  So while forgiveness may not have been at the forefront of his mind, letting go of his anger and bitterness and dropping all thoughts of revenge was the first and necessary step Joseph needed to take in forgiveness.  As long as we are holding on to the hurt that others have caused us there is no opportunity to reach out to take hold of the blessing God wants for us.  As long as we are clutching to the pain of our past we cannot grab hold of the life God wants for our future so letting go of anger and bitterness and dropping our desire to get revenge has to be part of forgiveness.

In many ways, this can be good a first step because it doesn’t mean we have to come face to face with those who have harmed us and it doesn’t mean we have to move forward in a relationship with that person, we just don’t let what they have done to us in the past shape our future.  Joseph doesn’t spend a lot of time whining about how his brothers betrayed him or how Potiphar’s wife had set him up – he simply moved forward with the opportunities God gave him.  He doesn’t have to confront his brothers or work for Potiphar at this point, he just needs to let go of the past.

This is such an important part of forgiveness because it reminds us that the person most hurt by our unwillingness to forgive is not the person we are mad at or the person who has wronged us, but ourselves.  As long as we are holding on to the past we are not able to move forward into the future and as long as we are allowing pain and hurt to fill our hearts and minds we cannot experience the peace and healing God wants for us.  Joseph learned this as a slave and as a prisoner.  Even though he suffered due to betrayal and false accusations, he let go of the past so he could move forward into God’s future for him

Now let’s jump ahead in the story.  Joseph is set free from prison and is made an officer in Pharaoh’s court where once again he excels and soon becomes the second in command, Genesis 41:41-43.  During the next 7 years there was a great abundance and Joseph wisely decided to store up grain for the future.  After those 7 prosperous years came 7 years of drought and the entire region was in need, but there was plenty of food in Egypt because of Joseph’s wisdom and foresight.

One of the areas hit by the drought was the land of Canaan which was Joseph’s hometown and Joseph’s father, brothers and all in their families were in great need.  When they heard that there was plenty of food in Egypt, the brothers went down to buy some, but what they didn’t know was that it was their brother, Joseph, who was in charge of food distribution.

So Joseph’s brothers come to Joseph to buy food and while they did not recognize him, they assume Joseph died as a slave years ago, Joseph immediately recognized them.  Joseph didn’t let on that he knew who they were at first but he kept them in Egypt for several days and then made them return home and bring back their brother Benjamin who was Joseph’s only full brother.  Joseph is making things hard for his brothers and through this time he might be struggling with what forgiveness looks like here, but what is clear is that his heart desires to forgive.  In Genesis 42:24 it says, Joseph turned away from them and began to weep.  Joseph wasn’t weeping due to anger or pain but from the joy at seeing his family again.  Joseph’s heart had already forgiven his brothers and in time he tells them who he is and that he forgives them, Genesis 45:1-7.

So Joseph was able to forgive his brothers but it didn’t happen right away.  Forgiveness came only after Joseph had been willing to let go of his bitterness and anger and it came after a period of time.  For many of us, time is needed in order to let go of pain and find a measure of healing.  Time is needed for us to work through our past and come to terms with our future.  Time was needed for Joseph and it was part of what helped him to forgive.  Another important part of forgiveness that we see in this story is that for there to be true reconciliation and the restoration of relationships, honest confession and repentance are needed.

Before Joseph revealed himself to his brothers there is a scene where the brothers are in distress and they are talking to one another and Joseph overhears them saying that what they are now experiencing was similar to what they put their brother through.  One brother even says they were having to give an account for their actions against Joseph years before.  What Joseph hears is that the brothers are owning up to their actions and confessing their sin.  For there to be true reconciliation in relationships that comes with forgiveness there has to be real confession and forgiveness.  Joseph’s brothers had to realize their sinful ways and Joseph had to let go of his anger.  Only then could the door open up for an epic story of forgiveness.

Another important part of forgiveness that we see is that Joseph is honest about what his brothers did to him.  Joseph says clearly, I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into slavery.  Joseph doesn’t deny what happened and what his brothers did to him.  Joseph doesn’t act as if it never happened, he is honest about the past but doesn’t hold the past against them.  In fact, Joseph was able to see how God used the past to bring them all to this place in the present and to help all of them move together as a family into the future.

So in every epic story of forgiveness we see these important steps:
• letting go of bitterness
• time to heal
• confession and honesty
• offering of grace and mercy
• desire to move forward together

In all of our lives we are faced with opportunities to forgive.  We will all be hurt or betrayed by those we love.  We will all face some kind of injustice where we will be falsely accused or where people will misunderstand our motives and actions and in each of these situations we are given a choice.  Will we hold on to anger or will we start a journey of forgiveness?  While it’s ok to feel hurt and anger at the beginning, but we can’t stay there – we have to look to God and let go of the past.  We don’t do this alone, however, we do this with God’s help.  Throughout the story of Joseph is the unseen hand of God which leads and guides Joseph each step of the way.

It was God’s hand that saved Joseph from death at the very beginning by keeping his brothers from killing him.  It was God’s hand that blessed Joseph’s work in Potiphar’s house and in prison and in the court of Pharaoh.  It was God’s hand that guided the brothers to Egypt during the drought and it was God’s hand that brought the brothers face to face with Joseph. So God’s hand was part of this entire process of forgiveness and that’s because Joseph allowed God’s hand to be there.  Joseph’s trust in God opened the door for him to forgive his brothers and that forgiveness brought salvation to the tribes of Israel.

The epic of story of forgiveness that we see here is also a foreshadowing of the epic story of forgiveness seen in Jesus.  Think of all the ways these two stories parallel each other.  Joseph was the favored son of Jacob and Jesus was the only begotten son of God.  Joseph was betrayed by his brothers and Jesus was betrayed by Judas and then abandoned by the rest of the disciples, his brothers.  Joseph let go of what his brothers did to him and from the cross Jesus looked at the crowds and said, Father forgive them for they know not what they do.  Joseph’s epic story of forgiveness points to Jesus.  Jesus doesn’t hold our sin against us.  Jesus doesn’t hold onto any bitterness or anger but chooses to forgive and it is that forgiveness which brings us life in the midst of death.  Joseph gave his family life in the middle of a severe 7 year drought that would have killed his family.  In Genesis 50:20-21 Joseph said to his brothers…

Couldn’t those same words be said of Jesus?  What the world intended for evil, to crucify the son of God, God intended for good, to accomplish what is now taking place which is the salvation of many lives.  The story of Joseph forgiving his brothers not only teaches us how to forgive but it is a foreshadowing of God’s epic story of forgiveness seen in Jesus and any time we choose to forgive we are telling the story of God.  Every time we let go of bitterness and anger we are telling the story of God.  Every time we seek reconciliation and peace we are telling the story of God and every time we forgive others we are telling the epic story of forgiveness and that is a story that needs to be shared and experienced and told in our world today.  May this be the story of our lives.


Next Steps
The Story of Joseph

1.  What epic story of forgiveness has touched you heart and captured your imagination?  What is it about that particular story that moves you and inspires you?  How does it encourage you to forgive?

2.  The story of Joseph covers 13 chapters in the book of Genesis.  Read or review the story found in Genesis 37-50.

3.  Track the process of forgiveness in the story of Joseph.  Where do you see Joseph:
• Letting go of bitterness
• Finding time to heal
• Being honest
• Offering grace and mercy
• Having a desire to move forward

4.  Where in your life do you need to offer forgiveness?
• Where are you in the process?
• What do you need to do to move to the next step?

5. In what ways has God’s forgiveness touched your life?  Where is confession of sin still needed?

6. Share a story, scripture or picture on facebook that talks about forgiveness and use the hashtag #epicforgiveness.

EPIC Stories ~ The Story of Creation

Photo By Shannon Allison

To experience the story of creation, please watch this video by Joe Castillo.

The Story of Creation

So do you feel like you have just experienced the power and wonder of creation?  What begins in darkness, chaos and confusion ends in a quiet beauty.  At the end of each day there was darkness and yet from that darkness came forth new light and new life.  At the beginning there was a hand giving direction and at the end was a hand giving a blessing and the one constant through the entire process was the movement of hands – the hands of an artist, the hands that shaped the beauty of the world, the hands of God.

This week we are beginning a series on the epic stories of the Bible and there is no other place to start then with the story of creation.  It is an epic story of power and beauty.  It’s a story that tells how order came out of chaos, light out of darkness and complexity of life from the sound of a single voice.  It’s the story of an artist pouring all he has into his work and a storytelling bringing forth life by the power of his word.  This is the epic story that gives life to all other stories and what’s so amazing is that it was actually a story that came to life because of the power of God’s word.  The creation of the world doesn’t begin with God acting, it begins with God speaking.
• God said let there be light and there was light.

Photo By Mindy Methvan

• God said let there be an expanse to separate the waters and there was sky.

Pastel by Susan Nicholas Gephart

• God said let the waters be gathered together and there was the land and the sea.

Photo by Shannon Allison

• God said let the land produce vegetation and there were plants and trees.

Photo by Shannon Allison

• God said let there be lights in the sky and there was the moon and stars.

Photo By Shannon Allison

• God said let the water team with life and there were creatures in the sea.

Photo By Shannon Allison

• God said let the land produce living creatures and there were animals roaming across the land.

Photo By Shannon Allison

• And the God said, let us make man in our own image and men and women were created.

Youth Group Photo by Mindy Methvan

In the beginning God started telling a story and it was the power of God’s words that brought the story to life. That story began with the creation of light and it continues on to this day.  God is still telling his story and it is not just heard in the glory of creation around us, it is being told through us.  We are part of God’s story and each of us has a part in telling the story of God.  We will consider that in a moment but before we do, there is an important question for us to consider… Why did God tell this story in the first place?

Why did God create the world?  Why did God place his children in the middle of it all?  Let’s be clear that God didn’t create the world because he needed us.  In Acts 17:24-25 it says…  God doesn’t need our worship.  God doesn’t need our company.  God doesn’t need anything from us so the world wasn’t created to meet some need that God had, the world was created because of who God is.

Twice in 1 John 4 it says, God is love.  God created the world because God is love and love cannot be contained, love has to be shared.  Love gives and so God’s love spoke and the world was created.  God’s love spoke again and life was given.  God’s love spoke again and children were created and what was unique about God’s children is that they were created in God’s image, so not only were we given authority in God’s creation we were also created to love and love gives and cannot be contained so we were created to love God in return.

The first commandment is to love God.  Jesus said the most important commandment is to love God and love our neighbor and the reason God calls us to love isn’t because God wants us to be nice to people but because we were created to love.  When we are loving God and others we are fundamentally doing what we were created to do.  So God begins a tell the story of love and his words set the world into motion and that story of love has been unfolding until this day and it is a story that will carry on into eternity.

The Bible has often been called the world’s greatest love story because it is the story of God not just creating the world in love but then in love calling and forgiving and redeeming the world when it turned away.  God creates us in love but we turn away so God calls us back because God is love.  In love God called Abraham and made him his child.  In love God set His people free from slavery.  In love God gave Moses the 10 Commandments to give order and direction to his children.  In love God established the kingdom of David.  In love God gave his son, the Savior, Jesus Christ, to take away our sin and redeem the world.  In love God sent the power of the Holy Spirit into his children so they could live life to the fullest and in love God promises to call us home into a kingdom where we will dwell with God forever.

That is the love story found in the Bible, but the story didn’t end when this book was finished.  In every generation the love of God has been proclaimed and the story of God’s love and grace has been shared and it is this ongoing story of God that still brings life because it is what brings hope and light into the world.  God is love.  The epic story of creation is a story of love and our lives are given to us in love and as children of God we were created to love, but there is more to the story.

Since we have been created in the image of God we are not just given the capacity to love, we have also been given the ability to create and use our gifts to tell God’s story.  The reality is that all of creation tells the story of God.   In Psalm 19:1 it says the heavens proclaim the glory of God .  In Romans 1:20-21 it says, what may be known about God is plain to us, because God has made it plain to us.  For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made.  If the heavens tell the story of God and if all creation reveals the story and truth of God then we have no excuse for not also telling God’s story of love with the fullness of our lives.  As children of God we were created to be story tellers and each one of us needs to tell the story of God’s love but we don’t just tell the story through our words, we can do it using all the gifts and graces and talents and opportunities God gives us.

For the next several weeks we are going to look at how the story of God’s love was told through the epic stories of five people: Noah, Joseph, Ruth and Jonah.  We will see through the lives of these people that God’s love brings forgiveness and second chances as well as forms families and gives courage.  The story of God’s love will be told through their lives and as we learn from them we will begin to see how God’s story of love can be told through our lives.  When we forgive we are telling God’s story.  When we overcome we are telling God’s story.  When we form a family we are telling God’s story and when we love we are telling God’s story.

So as children created in the image of God we are all storytellers called to tell the story of God and proclaim the love of God, but there is one more important lesson for us to learn from this story of creation.  As children of God created in the image of God we have also been given the ability to create and share God’s story through the work we produce.  Each one of us has gifts and talents we can use to create something and God gives us this creative ability to tell his story.  During these next six weeks we are going to see the creative work of many people in the church telling the story of God.

Today it is the amazing art work of Susan Nicholas Gephart.  It is the story of God creating the vault of the sky which brings power and beauty to us every day.  I love that the painting isn’t finished because God’s story in us isn’t finished.  There is always more work to be done.  We have also been blessed with photography of Shannon Allison and Mindy Methvan who capture the beauty of God’s creation for us.  In the weeks to come we will hear songs by the bell choir and chancel choir written by people from the church.  We will see video and dramas written and produced by people in the church and together we will be able to share God’s story through social media.

Every one of us has a creative gift and ability that can be used to tell God’s story and so during this series I want to invite you to discover that gift and use it to tells the story of God’s love.  Write a poem or a story.  Sew a quilt or knit a blanket.  Paint a picture, cook a dinner, sing a song, carve a figurine or build a piece of furniture.  Use the gifts God has given you to creatively tell his story of God’s love and then remember that love cannot be contained so share that story and share your gift with others.  Bring your work to share with us here at the church.  Tell us how you have shared God’s story in an email or testimonial or post a picture of it to our facebook page.  Please find a way to tell the story of God’s love because we were created in the image of God to love and love others and love God using all the creative gifts God has given.  Within each one of us is a creative spirit, each one of us has gifts to use and a story to tell.  It is an epic story because it is God’s story of love.


Next Steps
The Story of Creation


1.  Read the story of creation found in Genesis 1.  How do you see God’s love unfolding in this story?


2.  Read Psalm 19.  How have you seen the story of God’s love in the world around you?  Look for the story of God’s love in the world this week.


3.  Take a picture of God’s creation and post it to our facebook page using the hashtag:  #epiclove


4.  Who told you the story of God’s love?  How did they tell it to you?  Did they use words or actions?  Who do you know that needs to hear the story of God’s love?  Pray for an opportunity to share this story with them through words and/or actions.


5.  We have all been created in the image of God which means we all have the ability to create.  What creative gift or ability has God given to you?  How can you use this gift to tell the story of God?


6. We are all storytellers.  Find ways during this Epic series to learn and share the amazing story of God.

Lessons to Remember

Most adults can remember exactly where we were 15 years ago today.  It was a beautiful Tuesday morning here in PA and I was a new pastor in Lewisburg.  That morning I was sitting in the choir loft talking with our organist and I will always remember the irony of that moment because we were talking about a very petty issue in the choir when the church secretary came in and told us that something terrible had happened in NYC.  For many of us, the events and emotions of that day can come back easily when we see a picture or hear a story because the images are so powerful.  I remember sitting at home and for the first time in my life being afraid to turn the TV on because up until the early afternoon I had not seen any video footage of what happened.  I knew once I saw the video of planes crashing and buildings falling there would be no turning back.

I did turn the TV on and then after a few hours I remember telling myself I had to stop watching TV because the images were so intense.  I took a long walk that afternoon and will always remember looking up into the sky and for the first time in my life realizing that there was absolutely nothing up there.  There were no vapor trails of planes anywhere and I realized that this was the first and probably only time in my life that when I looked up into the sky that there was nothing up there but what God created.  I actually spent a lot of time both during the day and night looking up at the sky because I found that thought so compelling.

We can all remember the events of that day and what we did in response to them, but I also hope we can remember the lessons learned on that day.  One of the great things about being a pastor is that even if we don’t keep a journal, we do preach every week and if you want to know what most pastors are thinking about, you can read our sermons.  So I went back and pulled out my sermons from September 16, 23 and 30 of 2001 and looked at what lessons we were learning after September 11th and I was struck by how those lessons are still need to guide our hearts and lives and decisions today.
Perhaps the most important lesson we learned on September 11th  is that in the midst of the evil, horror and the chaos that we often see in our world, love prevails and love will always prevail.  We live in a fallen world where evil is at work all around us.  We often see chaos and confusion and yet right in the midst of our present darkness we also see the light and the power of God’s kingdom.  The message Jesus preached at the beginning of his ministry was to repent, or turn to God, because the kingdom of God was near and in Jesus it was near.  

Every where Jesus went,  the power of God, the love of God, the grace of God and the truth of God was clearly seen and experienced.  Jesus ruined every funeral he attended because he raised the dead.  Everywhere he went, Jesus healed the sick.  He restored sight to the blind and made the lame to walk.  Jesus gave dignity to prostitutes and invited tax collects to follow him.  Everywhere Jesus went he brought a little bit of the kingdom of God into this world and every time we make the choice to follow Jesus and live the way Jesus taught us to live we bring the kingdom of God into our world.

On September 11th, in the midst of the darkness we witnessed that day, the kingdom of God was near.  

When rescue workers ran into buildings as other people were running out, the kingdom of God was breaking through.
 

When people carried those injured and handicapped down dozens of flights of stairs to safety and cared for one another on the streets, the kingdom of God was breaking through.

When shoe stores gave away shoes to people who had to walk miles to get out of the city, the kingdom of God was breaking through.  When restaurants and grocery stores gave away food and water to those passing by and those who were helping at ground zero, the kingdom of God was breaking through.

And the there was the amazing story of the tiny town of Gander, Newfoundland, population 10,000. (click on Gander to watch the video of this wonderful town)

This is the kingdom of God breaking through.  When communities came together to help and donate blood and give money and offer prays for one another, the kingdom of God was breaking through.
The lesson learned from September 11th that we need to remember is that the darkness of evil will never overcome the light of God.  The hatred and division we see in our world cannot overcome the love of God and the love of God’s people.  This is the foundation of our faith.  This is our hope.  The message of the cross and the empty tomb is that nothing can overcome the power and the love of God.  The challenge for us is to make the choice moment by moment and day by day to follow Jesus so that the kingdom of God and the love and power of Jesus can continue to break into the world through us.

How does God want to bring the kingdom of God into the world through our lives?  How can God use us to bring His power and light into our places of employment, into our school and community?  How can we bring God’s kingdom into the issues we face as a state, and nation and world?  Each one of us has the power to make a difference if we will follow Jesus and allow the light and love of God to flow through us.

Looking back on September 11th , there were three things that people needed: family, community and God.  In talking about her experiences on that day, first lady Laura Bush said that the first thing she did was call her daughters to make sure they were ok.  She called them to offer words of support and encouragement and then she called her mother to get words of support and encouragement.  Everyone wanted to talk to their family that day.  People from the airplanes and trapped inside the WTC didn’t call their bosses to talk about business they called their families to say I love you.

For weeks after September 11th we both heard and read those final phone calls and many of them have been included in books and at memorials, like this one.

“Hey Jules, this is Brian.  Ah, listen… I’m on an airplane that has been hijacked… If things don’t go well, and they’re not looking good, I want you to know that I absolutely love you.  I want you to do good, have good times, same with my parents.  I’ll see you when you get here.  I want you to know that I totally love you.  Bye babe, hope I will call you.”
Brian Sweeny from United Airlines Flight 175.

Brian and hundreds of people like him who were able to call and leave messages for their families all said the same thing – I love you.  The lesson from September 11th is that we need to remember and live out every day is to tell the people we love that we love them.  Every day we need to say this to our parents and children.  Every day we need to remind people how important they are to us and how much their love means to us.  Communicating our love for people needs to be a priority every day and not just when we are facing a crisis.  Perhaps a September 11th tradition should be to contact everyone in our family and say, I absolutely love you.

After contacting our families, people needed to come together as part of a larger community.  Prayer vigils sprung up around the nation, joint churches services were held and people seemed to want to talk to their neighbors.  Some of it was that we needed to talk and share our thoughts and feelings, some of it was finding ways to express our grief and pain and some of it was just the God given need we have to be together.  God didn’t just create us to be part of a family, he also called us to be part of a larger community.  God called Abraham to be the father of a nation.  Jesus called together a team of followers and the Holy Spirit helped form the church so we see that the work of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, was to bring people together.  September 11th awoke that need in us and we learned the importance of putting aside our difference and truly joining together as a community – large and small.

I wish we could awaken that need and respond to it without having to suffer through a national crisis.  What a blessing it would be for a community to come together to simply acknowledge our need for each other.  For me, that is one of the blessings of the Christmas Dinner we host each year.  It is an opportunity for the community to come together to serve and celebrate.  Last year part of my job was to welcome volunteers and it was wonderful to see families come to serve and people from beyond the church come and serve and to see everyone come together to help our neighbors.  God created us to be part of larger communities and we are blessed when we come together for a common cause and to serve the common good.

We also needed God.  People of all faiths turned to prayer on September 11th.  Communities came together to pray.  Our own government even came together and believe it or not they turned to God.  After a moment of silence on Capitol Hill, over 150 members of congress broke into an impromptu singing of God Bless America.  In times of distress, turning to God is often what people want and need to do, but the lesson to remember is that we need to turn to God every day and when we do – God is there.  Psalm 46:1- was often used in the days around September 11th but it needs to be used every day.

A lot of people thought that the events of September 11th would wake people up when it comes to their faith and that church attendance would increase, but the reality was that it didn’t.  People may have come together for a while but we soon forgot.  We forgot that we needed God every day.  We forgot that God wanted to bless us and help us and care for us every day and that he was willing and wanting to if we would just turn to Him.  The lesson to remember is that we need God and the people of God everyday and we need to make our faith a priority in life.  We will not drift into deeper faith, it only happens through intentional choices we make to put God first and be an active part of God’s work and mission and church in the world.

On September 11th, all flights were grounded and the day needs to remind us that we need to keep ourselves grounded and focused on what truly matters in life and those things are God, our family and the community in which we live.  The greatest commandment given to us is to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and to love our neighbor as ourselves and we need to make that kind of love a priority.

The last lesson to remember today and everyday is this, life is short and life is precious, so use your life to make a difference.  About 3,000 had their lives cut short which means that tens of thousands of people had their lives forever changed.  We learned that day that life is short and that life is very precious and we not only need to love one another and care for another and make sure we say those things and do those things every day, but we also need to use our lives to make a difference.  People around the world wanted to make a difference in the days after September 11th.  First responders from around the nation went to NY to be part of the rescue efforts.  Rescue dogs from around the world went to help in the efforts.  People sent food to the rescue workers and donated all kinds of goods to those in need.  Money was donated to help people rebuild their lives and foundations were set up to care for the children of September 11th victims.  Everyone wanted to make a difference.

A lesson to remember is that every day we should think about how we can give and work to make a difference.  Blood is still needed so help at a blood drive.  Food is still needed so walk in the Crop Walk.  People all over are rebuilding after natural disasters so go on a mission trip.  Youth in our community need support and encouragement so get involved with the Heidi Lingle Ride to raise money.  It’s not just times of disaster and crisis that we need to think about making a difference, we need to think about it every day and find ways to make a difference right where we are.  Again, this is part of what Jesus told us we needed to do with our lives.  Jesus said, You are the salt of the earth.  You are the light of the world.  What Jesus means by this is that we need to live our lives in such a way that we are making a difference.  Salt enhances and preserves.  Light brings hope and direction.  Our lives need to make a difference.

There are many lessons to remember from 15 years ago today but what we really need to do is put these lessons into practice every day.  Every day we can live out our faith in ways that bring in the kingdom of God.  Every day we can work to connect with our family, our community and our God.  Every day we can live our lives grounded in the commandment to love.  Every day we can make a difference and every day we need to make a difference because life is precious and life is short.  These are all lessons to remember today and they are lessons to live in every tomorrow God gives us.
Next Steps
Lessons to Remember

1.  What lessons did you learn from the events of September 11th?  Share those lessons with others.  How successful are you in putting those lessons into practice every day?

2.  In what ways can your actions help bring in the kingdom of God:
• At work
• At home
• In our schools
• In our community
• In the world

3. Take time this week to tell everyone in your family that you absolutely love them.  Reach out to friends and neighbors to express your love, appreciation and care.

4. Turn to God every morning for strength and love.  Read a Psalm each day to keep your focus on God.  Suggested Psalms - Psalm 25, 27, 42, 46, 57, 63, 67.

5. What changes do you need to make because life is short and life is precious?  Is there someone you need to forgive or ask someone to forgive you?  Is there a step of faith you have been putting off?

6. Be salt and light this week and make a difference.
• Write a note of thanks and appreciation to first responders in our community.
• Donate Blood through the Red Cross.
• Give to the food bank.
• Volunteer with the schools or a community agency.
• Do a random act of kindness for a neighbor.

WORK

Labor Day is an interesting holiday because what we associate it with is the end of summer and the beginning of school, two things that for many people are not enjoyable, but Labor Day began as a day to celebrate work.  It seems strange to have a holiday to celebrate work because for many of us work is not something we celebrate.  In fact, work for many of us is just a necessary evil or one of those four letter words we would rather purge from our vocabulary, but work should not be seen as something evil but rather as something good and honored because we were created to work.

If we go back to the story of creation in Genesis 1 we see that for six days God worked.  God worked in the heavens and created the stars and planets.  God worked on the earth and created the land and the seas.  God became a gardener and planted grass and trees and all kinds of plants.  God then worked and gave birth to all kinds of birds and fish and animals to fill the oceans, fields and sky.  For six days God worked and God worked hard enough that on the seventh day God chose to not work but rest.  God not only worked but he loved his work because at the end of each day God would look at what he did and say this is good.  When we love what we do, then at the end of our work there is a sense of joy and satisfaction where we can look at all we have done and call it good.

So God worked, God worked hard and God enjoyed His work and then God created us and placed us in the world that he made  What makes us unique in all of creation is that we were created in the image of God.  Being children of God, we were created to work and to work hard to enjoy the work God has for us to do.  That we were created to work is made clean when the first thing God did with his children was to put them in the garden to work, Genesis 2:15

So work is a fundamental part of who we are.  We were created to be productive and many times throughout the Bible God lifts up the virtues of hard work.  The book of Proverbs is filled with sayings that remind us that hard work is honored and blessed by God.   Look at Proverbs 10:4-5, 31:15-19 and 28-29

Adam and Eve passed on the value and importance of work to their children, look at Genesis 4:2b – Now Able was a keeper of sheep and Cain a tiller of the ground.  Cain and Able had jobs and what we see from them is that from the very beginning there was a division of labor so that people could do the work that they enjoyed.  We don’t know why Able kept the sheep and Cain tilled the ground but I like to think it was because Able was drawn to animals from a young age and Cain had a green thumb.

While we were created to work and work hard and enjoy the work we do, the reality is that not all work will be enjoyable to us.  I am always amazed that there are some people who find certain kinds of work enjoyable.  For example, we have a group of ladies who love to sew and the work they produce is simply amazing.  Our prayer quilt ministry is fabulous and our Healthy Steps group which help make lap robes and pray shawls are filled with many gifted people who love to sew and knit and work with their hands.  They actually find pleasure in this work which I don’t understand because when I try to thread a needle in order to try and sew a button on a shirt I get stressed out, frustrated and usually just give up.  Sewing is a burden to me, but for others it’s a joy that hardly seems like work

We have some here who love to cook and they will be in the kitchen throughout this football season cooking and de-boning countless turkeys and while they will be working hard they will also be enjoying what they do.  Other people would find that work a burden.  For whatever reason, I love to wash dishes.  It was one of my first jobs and in every church I have served I eventually drift toward that job in the kitchen not because I want to seen as some kind of true servant doing the work no else wants to do but because I honestly enjoy washing dishes more than any other job in the kitchen.  And no I am not interested in coming to your home to wash dishes.

The church I served in Lewisburg did a big Apple Dumpling sale every fall and all the ladies of the church would come together and make the dough, roll it out and make the dumplings.  They were having a great time and they loved doing it and so they invited me to make some with them.  I worked on one dumpling and like threading a needle, I found it one of the more frustrating experiences of my life.  I couldn’t get the dough to roll out just right so I would start over again and again and all the ladies were telling me I couldn’t do that because the more you roll out the dough the tougher it would be, but it never looked good and I really didn’t enjoy it and I was so glad when I finished that one dumpling because it meant I could go back and wash all the pots and pans.  At our football dinners (which start this Friday!) I would rather wash dishes than do anything else and when I am done and the dish washing area is all clean I can step back and call it all good.

There are jobs that we love to do and when we do it, it hardly seems like work.  For some people it is to work in the garden and when you are out cutting grass, pulling weeds or tending to the flowers or vegetables you are in your element and loving life.  My Dad loves to do woodworking projects so I tried my hand at it once in high school.  I bought an antique mirror that I was going to take apart, strip off the paint and refinish it  I took it apart but stripping paint of paint was not easy and it required patience that I didn’t have and so when my parents moved out of that house many years later, all the pieces of mirror still had bits and pieces of paint on them and they were all thrown away.

We were all created to work and to enjoy the work we do but we weren’t all created to do the same job because we don’t find all work enjoyable.  The truly blessed people are those who are able to take what they love to do and do it for their entire lives.  My sister Carrie is like that.  Carrie knew from the time she was a little girl that she wanted to be a children’s librarian and other than an after school job in High School working at McDonalds, Carrie has always worked in a library and she loves her work.  I’ve talked to people recently who really don’t want to retire because they love what they do – why should they retire.  When we tap into that God given gift of work and find what God created us to do and then find a way to do it with our lives – it is a true blessing, but the reality is that for many of us work is that not like that.

For many people work truly is a four letter word.  50% of people are not satisfied with their jobs.  Many people today are under-employed meaning they aren’t working up to their potential and earning what they need because of the job market.  Other people are working in a job just to make ends meet and pay the bills and they really aren’t finding any meaning or joy in what they do.  Some people are working in jobs that are killing them because so much is being demanded and the work place is unhealthy or even hostile.  While we were created by God to work not all work is Godly and certainly not all work environments are a blessing and if you are in that situation, it is a difficult place to be.

I wish the answer could be as easy as telling people to quit their jobs and find work that is enjoyable, but it isn’t.  That is a radical step that many people have chosen to take at times but if you are unhappy in your job today please don’t quit and tell people that I told you to do it.  Quitting our job is often not the answer, but there are some things we can do to make work more of a blessing than a curse.  In Colossians 3:23 it says, Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord.  It doesn’t say we will love all our work but that we are to put our entire heart into our work and look at it as service to God.

We can take any job and any situation and use it as an opportunity to serve God.  We may not enjoy what we are doing but we can look for ways God can use us where we are.  The summer I worked in Yellowstone national park I never enjoyed the work I did.  I was constantly trying to find a new job that I would somehow enjoy more and all that happened was that I was miserable in every job I had.  I finally gave up the search for the perfect job and looked at how I could accomplish what God wanted for me in the job I had.  I started looking at the people I worked with and found ways to serve them.  I suddenly realized that one woman I worked with was really hurting in her life and I had the opportunity to simply reflect the love of God to her.  A manger I had was always pushing herself and God showed me ways to be a blessing to her.  When the work we do is a burden we need to look at the blessings God is making available to us in the opportunities we have with the people around us.

In every work situation we are called to treat people with value, worth and respect and sometimes it can be our attitude that can change a work situation.  In Ephesians we find instruction given to slaves and masters and while the work of a slave was not a blessing, the instruction God gave wasn’t to stop working or to revolt but to have a different attitude.  Ephesians 6:5-9.

In every job, we can work hard, give more what than is asked of us and treat people with respect.  If we are the boss or a manager of people there is a special burden on us to treat others with value because we have been given positions of power and authority and God will hold us accountable on how we use them.  

The other thing we can do in every work situation that we find difficult or a burden is to pray.  Yes, we can pray for a new job, but we can also pray for those we work with and pray for those who are a problem.  Prayer can move the hand of God but prayer can also change us so that our attitudes change right where we are.

If you are in a bad work situation and don’t have a way out, let me offer one other suggestion, in your time off from work, find some kind of work that you love to do and do it with all your heart.  Serve in the church or community in some kind of work that will bring you joy and meaning and purpose so that you can experience God’s blessing that comes with work.  If you love to cook, help at our football dinners which start on Friday.  If you love to bake, make a pie or cake for the dinner.  If you love to wash dishes, there is always room for more.  If you love to sew, join the quilting group.  If you love to work with clothing, volunteer at the faithcentre where there are mountains of clothes to sort.  If you love to work with animals, volunteer at paws or walk dogs for your neighbors.  Find what you love to do and do it so that when you step into the work environments that are difficult you have the energy and faith to keep going.

Work is a blessing of God because we were created in the image of God who found joy in work.  If you are not experiencing joy in your work, then make this Labor Day a time to discover what God created you to do.  Discover what you love to do and find ways to do it as an act of service for the community.  If you love what you are doing and if you get to the end of each day satisfied with your work and able to call it all good – then take this labor day to acknowledge this gift and blessing of God and give thanks.

Happy Labor Day.

 
Next Steps
WORK

1. Read the story of creation (Genesis 1) and identify all the ways that God worked.
• What aspects of God’s work in creation do you find intriguing?
• How can you tap into that work in the world today?

2. Read these Proverbs which talk about the value of work:
• 6:6-11,   10:4-5,   12:14, 24,   14:23,   18:9,   20:4,
• 22:29,     24:30-34,   26:14-15,   28:19,   31:13-31

3.  How can you make your work (job) a better experience for those around you who might find it a burden?  Identify one person that you can encourage in their work this week and then work at it.

4. If you don’t enjoy your job, consider what it means to work as if you are working for the Lord.  Colossians 3:23
• What can you do in your work to be a blessing to your boss and co-workers?
• What prayer needs to be offered up this week for your work place?
• What volunteer work can you provide during the week to give your life added meaning, purpose and joy?

5. Not all the work God calls us to do is for a paycheck.  What work do you need to do in order to be a blessing to God and others?  What work will bring God’s blessing into your life?  

Faith Church has many opportunities for work and service.  We invite you to work in the church in ways that will be a blessing to you and others.  Stop at the connection table or talk with Cassie Marsh-Caldwell to find ways to get to work.