How's Your Blessing Coming?

Then Joseph brought his father Jacob in and presented him before Pharaoh.  And Jacob blessed Pharaoh...  Genesis 47:7

How's Your Blessing Coming??
By Rev. William Dohle

I had the strangest conversation last week.

Coming back from lunch at our area's Leadership Conference, I walked next to our synodical bishop.  We started talking about the conference and the speakers and about his upcoming visit to our congregation.

When suddenly the strangest thing popped out of my mouth.

"Bishop," I said.  "I just want to tell you what wonderful gifts of administration you have!  You really know how to organize people!  What you said in there... I couldn't say.  And your job is something I couldn't do.  Thank you for your hard work, bishop.  Thanks!"

The bishop looked strangely at me...really strangely...and then walked on.  I'm not sure if he knew what to say to me.  I sure didn't know what to say back.  I hadn't planned my conversation out.  But suddenly I had done something biblical without even realizing it.  I had blessed the bishop!

Blessing people has a long history.  Going clear back to Genesis, people have blessed other people.  God himself told Abraham and his decendants.  "I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.  I will bless those who bless you and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you."(Genesis 12:2-3)

Jacob follows in this tradition.  When he meets Pharaoh, he doesn't receive the Pharaoh's blessing, but gives Pharaoh his own blessing.  Jacob blesses Pharaoh!  And not once either...but twice.  Once when he first meets Pharaoh and once as he leaves!

Now, most of us in the presence of leadership wouldn't dare bless them.  If the President of the United States walked into our office, few of us would approach him with thanks.  Either because we are angry with him or because we don't feel worthy to be in his presence.  Instead we might hope that the man in leadership would pay attention to us or look our way.  But blessing them or thanking them?  How many of us would do that?

But Jacob does.  Jacob doesn't flinch from doing so either.  He knows what his role in life is.  He has been blessed to be a blessing to others...and that's what he does.  Jacob doesn't come to Pharaoh with criticism.  He doesn't tell him to turn away from Egypt's false gods and serve the Lord alone.  And Jacob doesn't expect blessing from Jacob.  He doesn't expect to be told what a great father he was to raise up Joseph who has saved the land.  He doesn't expect to be blessed or thanked or praised by the leader of the known world.  Instead, Jacob knows it is his job to thank, praise, and bless Pharaoh.

So... Jacob turns to Pharaoh and gives him his blessing, saying in effect: "May God bless you...as he has already!  May you be blessed by the Most High God!"

What a radical way to live life!  To be a blessing to others.  And to give our blessing freely...to those in power, to those less fortunate, and even to those we dislike!

A few years ago, I met a man who decided on a whim to write a letter to his favorite actor, Jimmy Stewart thanking him for his work in the movie, It's A Wonderful Life.  The letter writer didn't expect a response.  He didn't really know what to think.  But a response he got.  A personal letter from Jimmy Stewart thanking him for his letter.  Jimmy told him that no one had ever thanked him like that before.  No one had ever thanked him period.  It's A Wonderful Life had been panned by critics at the time.  A flop at the box office.  But Jimmy Stewart had always liked that movie too.  And he told the letter writer that.  He had received many letters but no one had ever blessed him as he did.

When was the last time you blessed someone else?  When was the last blessing you gave to your spouse or to your kids?  To your pastor or to your teacher?  When was the last letter you wrote to your senator, to your governor, even to the President, thanking them for their work?  Too often in this election time we look at the negative.  We focus on all the things we dislike about the people.  And in this way, we curse them!

But Jesus says we are to not to curse our enemies, but to bless them.  "But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you."(Lk. 6:27-28)

Our blessings were given to us to share.  So...share those blessings with those you like...and those you dislike.  Be a blessing to others, just as God has been a blessing to you.  Bless others...and may God cover you with with his grace.

God of Abraham, Jacob, and me!  I thank you that you have blessed me so richly.  May I share that blessing with others, through Jesus Christ my Lord.  Amen. 

The Grand Family Reunion

“As soon as he appeared before Jacob, Joseph threw his arms around his father and wept for a long time.”  Genesis 46:29

The Grand Family Reunion!

By Rev. William Dohle

Growing up I use to think I come from such a large family.  My family numbered thirteen of us in all.  It included… Me, my three siblings, my father and mother, my aunt and uncle, their three children, and my grandmother and her husband.  Thirteen of us in all.

I use to think that was a pretty large family.  Now I know that my family was really quite small.

I have met people whose families are huge!  Families who number in the hundreds with all the kids, their spouses, grandkids, aunts and uncles and cousins.  Talk about a family reunion!  Of course they don’t see each other except on family reunion days which makes their numbers manageable, but still.   Wow!

Well…  imagine a family reunion.  A big, huge family reunion.  Imagine being just one person in, say, 70 brothers and sisters, all with their own children and wives.   Imagine the chaos moving that group of people.  Planning for their arrival.  Imagine how lost you might feel in such a crowd.  “Who notices me?” you might say.  “I’m a nobody.”

Joseph might have thought that before his homecoming.  Seeing his family at a distance with, I’m sure, more people there than when he left, Joseph very well could have felt overwhelmed.  “What does my father care about me,” he could have thought.  “I’m just one person in this crowd!”

But that was not the case.  Joseph was special.  Joseph was unique.  Joseph…was Jacob’s son!

And so, as his family made their way into the region of Goshen, Joseph had his chariot ready to meet his father.  And, as soon as the two saw each other, Joseph and Jacob threw their arms around heach other and wept.

Jacob says: “Now I am ready to die, since I have seen for myself that you are still alive.”

And the family reunion commences.

But we must remember  that this isn’t a happily ever after.  Problems still exist in the family.  The homecoming is sweet, but the journey into Egypt has just begun.  And there’s still Joseph’s brothers’ guilt to contend with.

But for now there is joy!

Our family reunions can feel like the same mixture of things.  We are glad when we can gather together, but, as often happens, our sinfulness can impede our true joy.  We remember how annoyed we are Aunt so and so and how she doesn’t seem to care for us.  We get upset with our cousins and how they treat us and each other.  We growl at our mother-in-law and wish she’d get out of our business.   We snarl at our daughter-in-laws and how they are raising our grandkids.

And in the end we’re all so grateful to be in our own cars driving away from the family reunion we’ve looked forward to all year long.  So much for the joy of the family reunion.  Now we'll have twelve more months to forget about all the hassle our family truly is.

But what if there was a way to bottle what we love about families reunions.  To have the reunion of the century without all the headache that comes with the family?  What if there was a way that we could live in that moment of joy forever?  To enjoy a family reunion and not be burdened with all the baggage our sinfulness brings?

Perhaps our heavenly homecoming will be such a grand family reunion.  Perhaps heaven is really a grand party where we meet our immediate family and see how we are connected with everyone else in the family of God.  Perhaps there all the baggage that divides us from each other will be taken away.  Perhaps we will see our family members how God sees them.  And, just perhaps, there’s enough family members that if you were to meet and know them all it would take an eternity just to meet them all.

What a family reunion that would be!

And, of course in such a place, the first person to meet you at that grand party isn’t a staunch St. Peter with a book full of wrongs you have done, but Jesus Christ, his arms open wide running at you to scoop you up for the biggest bear hug in the world, just as Jacob did when he saw his son he thought was dead coming to him that day so long ago.

God of Jacob, we see in your Joseph’s homecoming a foretaste of our own homecoming in heaven.  Forgive us in the meantime and give us strength that we might love our families as you love us.  Amen.  

The Promise follows YOU too!

“I am God, the God of your father,” he said. “Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you into a great nation there. I will go down to Egypt with you, and I will surely bring you back again. And Joseph’s own hand will close your eyes.”   Genesis 46:1


The Promise Follows YOU too!
By Rev. William Dohle

Its hard to believe, but I am somewhat of a travel-bug.  In my 37 years of life, I have lived in nine different states.  Arizona, New Mexico, California, Colorado, Nevada, Utah, Montana, Minnesota, and now, Illinois.  I have moved some eighteen times, lived in that many residences.  Everything from a little apartment, a trailer, a dorm room, and three houses.  I have boxed my things up more times than I care to admit.  And lived out of a suitcase on more than one occasion.

Traveling is fun.  It's cool to meet new people and see new places.

But the one question I always get.  The one that I have a hardest time answering is perhaps the simplest one of all...

"Where is home for you?"

That question has haunted me on most of my travels since leaving home.  Where is home?

I use to say that home was Utah.  "Utah!?" they'd say.  "Why aren't you Mormon?"

Then I'd have to explain that Utah wasn't really HOME...it was just where I grew up.  It was where my parents and my siblings all live.

"Ahh," they'd say.  "So...where is home for you then?"

Home is really hard to define, especially when you've lived in so many places.  Is it the place you grew up?  Or the place you spent most of your time growing up?  Is it where your parents reside or where your siblings still live?  Is it the place that you go to when you're in trouble?  Or the place that you call when you need someone to talk to? Is it where your family is?  Or where your kids are?

Since having kids, myself, I have received that question less.  Perhaps because kids make my home stable.  Home is where the kids are.  But I still wrestle with that question, especially living as a nomad out here in the midwest while my parents and siblings all reside in the intermountain western United States.  Where is home?  There or here?

That is the question I think Jacob was pondering as he was packing up for Egypt.  You see, Jacob had by this time already received God's promised land.  He was living in Israel.  His kids all had grown up there.  The well his family would have for generations to come had already been dug.  Jacob was set.

But then this nasty famine struck and his sons all went to Egypt for more grain and then they found Joseph, Jacob's lost son, and then came the request: "Come on Dad!  Move to Egypt!"

I can only imagine what was going through Jacob's head at the time.  "What?  Move?  Are you kidding?  We're living in the PROMISED land!  The land that God swore to grandpa and dad and me!  This is our land!  We're not going anywhere!  We can't leave God's promise!"

Perhaps these thoughts are what prompted God to visit Jacob.  God, so far throughout the last few chapters of Genesis, has been relatively quiet.  We haven't heard a peep out of him since before Joseph's story began.  But here God comes with a message for Jacob in God's typical fashion.

"Jacob... Jacob!  Get up and go, Jacob!"

"But God," Jacob says.  "You said that this was the promised land that I'm standing in.  Why should I leave?"

"Don't you think my promise can travel?  Besides, no one said what that promised land thing really meant anyway?  Don't worry!  My promise travels.  And I will go with you!"

And so, Jacob leaves with everything, his wives, his children, and all his possession.  After living in the Promised Land all his life, Jacob goes to Egypt.

But what Jacob doesn't realize, and what this text fails to say too, is that God has already gone ahead of Jacob.  He's already in Egypt.  He's been with Joseph since the beginning.  And God is there, waiting for Jacob to arrive!

Throughout all my moves and all my travels, I have known this to be true too.  God has always gone on ahead of me.  He's been there at every truck stop we stopped at, at every rest area we visited.  He was there when we pulled into our new home.  He had everything ready for us.  He was there when we met His people in our new location.  He went on ahead of us...just as he promised.

No matter where life takes you and what moves are ahead for you in the future...there is one thing that is certain.  "The Lord your God himself will cross over ahead of you...Do not be afraid...he will not leave you nor forsake you." (Deut. 31:1-8)

That is a promise for you...whether your next move is out of the country.  Or your next move is to a nursing home.  That promise is for you.  He has gone ahead of you, wherever you are going.  And he will be there when you arrive, a smile on his face, and a "welcome" banner across the front step.  And one day, when your travels take you out of this life, you'll find he's gone on ahead of you there too, to prepare a place for you with all the saints of God.  That welcome home celebration will truly be a treat.  For you will have finally arrived at your true home away from all the temporary homes on this earth.
 
Good, gracious, and giving God.  What a joy it is knowing that you go on ahead of us.  That wherever we are, you have been, even death itself.  Teach us to trust you, wherever life takes us, in Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen. 

It's Still All God!

"Therefore our hope is in you, for you are the one who does all this." Jeremiah 14:22b

It's Still All God!
By Rev. William Dohle

I have learned there are certain things you DON'T say in public or around certain people and they usually revolve around the two unmentionables: religion and politics.

I know, for instance, that to mention the "p" word in front of certain members of my family, will only court a disastrous conversation.  And to mention the "r" word, even suggesting sometimes that certain people in my family take that "r" word a little more seriously than they do...that too will cause a huge uproar in the family.

Why is that the case?  Why is it that, with those we are closest to, we are the most nervous to talk about what matters the most?  Why do we protect topics like this?  Is it perhaps that the truth is disturbing?  That if we sit down together in a reasonable conversation that BOTH of us might change our views?  Or do we need to protect our relationship and the reputations of those we speak of?  What are we afraid of?

I often wonder that when speaking of God, even in common Christian community.  There are certain things you DON'T say about God.  Certain things that, when suggested, cause an uproar of disagreement.  Like this one:

God is behind the "bad things" in your life.

Speak this even in common Christian company and you'll hear a variety of "defenses" for God.  Like:

God doesn't do anything bad.
It's not God.  It's our own free will.
It's sin at work among us!  God didn't do it!

Surprisingly, though the Bible agrees with the original statement.  God is somehow behind the "bad things" in your life.

Take the story of Joseph we've been following for instance.

Joseph had every right to deny God’s involvement in what had happened to him.  He could have said: “It was your fault, you nasty brothers of mine.  YOU did this to me!”  He could have played the blame game all day long.  And he would have been right.  For his brothers had, of their own free will, seized Joseph, taken his coat, thrown him into the cistern, and sold him to the slavers.  It had seemed to be sin at work, creating havoc and destroying families as it does.

But Joseph doesn’t say that.  He doesn’t blame their “free will” or even sin.  Instead, Joseph, three times, points to God.

• And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you.(v5)

• But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.(v7)

• So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God.(v8)

Three times, in the span of a few verses, Joseph points to God!  God was the one who sent Joseph there…not his brothers.  When all is said and done, it was God who did all of that to Joseph.

That viewpoint can only come through intensive forgiveness.  Joseph couldn’t have said that at first, I don’t think.  As the slavers were taking him away, I don’t think Joseph thought: “I’m so glad God’s doing this to me!”

But afterward he did.  Afterward, Joseph recognized the hand of God(or perhaps the boot of God kicking him in the pants).  He recognized that God was at work in all that happened, leading him to Egypt where he could help with what he’d been given.

Can you say that to God?  Can you praise him, not just for the good things that have gone right in your life, but for the bad too?  Can you see God’s hand at work in the words of your employer, urging you to find another job?  In the broken relationships you had before you found “the one”?  Can you see God at work in the broken roads and the broken promises and in all the things that went wrong in your life?  Can you say to those who have hurt you “This was God leading me here”?

There’s a country song that speaks of such things.  It speaks of God blessing the broken roads that led us to where we ought to go.  It goes something like this:

I set out on a narrow way, many years ago.

Hoping I would find true love along the broken road.

But I got lost a time or two, wiped myself, kept pushing through.

I couldn’t see how every sign pointed straight to you.

Every long lost dream led me to where you are.

Lovers who broke my heart, they were like northern stars.

Pointing me on my way, into your loving arms.

This much I know is true: That God blessed the broken roads

That led me straight to you.

That view can only come after forgiveness.  May God help you forgive so you can see His hand at work, even in the terrible tragedies that befall your life.

God of Mystery, you are present with us, everywhere we go, working all for good.  Teach us to trust you even when times are bad.  And help us see your hand, through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.