Gotta Serve Somebody: The God who is faithful (even when we're not!)

There's that one line from this Sunday's Hebrew Scripture Reading (we're only going to read Joshua 24:14-21 in worship).  The one that says"Choose this day whom you will serve...but for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." (Joshua 24:15)

Oh, if it were only that easy.

Let's look at the biblical record.  Moses gives a similar exhortation to the people (it take Moses the entire book of Deuteronomy to say what Joshua says in one chapter):  This is what God has done for you, and how God has told you to life.  Choose God instead of idols.  Joshua says basically the same thing:  This is what God has done for you.  Choose God instead of idols.

Should be so easy right?

God has been so faithful.  All through the wilderness, God takes care of the people - even when they whine and complain.  Even when they make a golden calf. Alright, Moses had to talk God down a bit after that one, but in the end, God remains faithful.

God has been faithful as the Israelites, under Joshua, settle in the land God promised their ancestors.  Spoiler alert:  That doesn't last long.  In the next book - Judges - we'll see that the people who promised so enthusiastically to serve God and only God quickly are distracted by other gods.  And they just don't learn - the whole book of Judges tells the repetitive story of the people worshiping other gods resulting in a foreign army coming against them. They cry out to God.  God raises up an judge to lead them into battle.  They win, and there is peace.  For awhile.  Until they start worshiping other gods again.

Rinse.  Repeat.

Why is it so hard to  choose each day to serve the Lord?

 Maybe you have artwork of Joshua 24:15 displayed somewhere in your house.  I have it in my office.  A daily reminder of whom I have chosen to serve.

And, boy, do I need that reminder daily!  It's pretty easy to walk out of my office (where the verse is displayed) and forget that I have chosen the Lord.  There are so many gods clamoring for my attention.  And they are often so attractive - promising fun, or leisure, or the easy way to my heart's desire.

You know what I mean.  Luther teaches that whatever you set your heart and put your trust in is your god (Large Catechism, first paragraph, especially the last sentence.) At Bible Coffee this morning, one of the participants said for two months each year, as the director of the school play, she worships the play.

Or as Bob Dylan put it way back in 1979, "you gotta serve somebody."

                                          (Yeah - sounds like it came from 1979, right!)
Down about the fourth or fifth verse, he writes:

You may be a preacher with your spiritual pride

You may be a city councilman taking bribes on the side

You may be workin' in a barbershop, you may know how to cut hair

You may be somebody's mistress, may be somebody's heir

But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes

You're gonna have to serve somebody

Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord

But you're gonna have to serve somebody

So, who do you serve?

Cause - make no mistake - you gotta serve somebody!

The good news is that God is faithful, even when we're not.  God is faithful even when we choose to serve another god.  Even when, despite our good intentions and the decorative reminder that "as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord," we follow the gods of security, wealth, leisure, sports, gaming, education, family, relationship, work, house, possessions, etc.  - you know, all those things that consume our time, our attention, that promise to provide security and the good life. 

Thank God that God's love and mercy is not dependent on me holding up my part of the covenant! Thank God that there's forgiveness and grace.  That each day (as Luther says) I can die to the sin of following false gods, and each morning rise again to new life in Christ - daily reliving my baptism, dying to sin and rising again in Christ. 

Each day is a new day.

So, today, who do you serve?

As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

At least we will try to...

God Births a Beloved Community: The Covenant at Mt Sinai

Yes, I misses last week's posting.  Since it was Mission Sunday, I didn't preach.

Rebel Hurd of Church on the Street talked about how God's strong hand and mighty arm reaches out to deliver the the unhoused people in Sioux Falls.  The scripture was how God saved the Israelites by parting the Red Sea. (we only read Exodus 14:5-7, 10-14, and 21-29 in worship). 

BTW - Our synod page has a great article on answering the why of Church on the Street - be sure to check it out.

This Sunday we join God's chosen people at the foot of Mt. Sinai.  God's class on living as free people of God is in session.  The former slaves need to learn a totally new way of life, and God have them covered with a covenant, the promise of relationship between God and the people, and with commandments.

We call them "commandments", and consider the ten of them (however you number them) rules for life.  Our Jewish siblings call them the "Words." Much life in the beginning when God spoke, there was life, these ten Words from God bring life.  I rather like that - not rules that we aren't supposed to break, but words that bring life. 

Another interesting difference between us and our Jewish siblings is the numbering of these ten words of life.  My then-7th-grade daughter was surprised to find that her Christian friend numbered the 10 Commandments differently than she had learned in confirmation class.  "Which is the right way?"  She was astounded to learn the Bible doesn't number them at all. Seriously - I had to get out a Bible and show her!

I used to wonder if perhaps there were actually 9 Commandments and in our human effort to make things neat and tidy we split one of the 9 into two so there would be 10 (you know how we love things in tens!).  The Lutherans combine "no other gods" and "graven images" into one commandment but split the "coveting" into two commandments - which my confirmation students says makes no sense since both essentially mean "be happy with what you have." The other numbering system combines the coveting, but splits "no other gods" and "no graven images," which would seem to be a subset of "no other gods."  And rather problematic in a world of ubiquitous selfies!  Then again, maybe they have a point....

Anyway, my system of 9 Commandments was elegant.  No messy divisions to arbitrarily come to a total of 10.  Besides, it made sense.  Three is the number of God, right?

3 x 3=9.  All good. 

Until...

I learned that the rabbis teach there are 10 "Words".  They don't split anything ("no coveting"  counts as one Word,  "no other gods" and "no graven images" combine to one Word).  So how do they come up with 10?

They include verse two:

Exodus 20:1 Then God spoke all these words: 

2 I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

These 10 Words of Life start with relationship.  "I am the Lord your God."  I am yours and you are mine.  We belong to one another.

These 10 Words of Life start with grace: "who brought you out of Egypt, our of the house of slavery,"
I came to you and rescued you because I love you." 

"I know that you don't know how to life as free people. You've been slaves for 400 years.  I know you don't know how to live as my people.  The forces that enslaved you have blinded you to what is true, and pure, and right.  So here you go, this is what the life I created you to have looks like....."

Relationship. Grace.

Love. Life.

That's what these 10 Words are all about.

I like how Jesus sums it all up later (Luke 10:27):
“You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.”

That's it.  The first 3 (or 4, depending on how you count them) commandments are what it looks like to love God with all your heart and soul and mind and strength.  The rest of the commandments are what it looks like to love your neighbor as yourself.

These 10 Words are a picture of what life in the Beloved Community of God looks like.

The community that God birthed through the waters of the Red Sea,

and the community that God birthed through the waters of baptism.

It's pure grace and loving relationship - parent to child, and between members of the family.

Words of Life.

Words of Love.

Relationship and Grace.

When Life's Not Fair, God's Still There: Sermon on Genesis 39:1-23

    This is the sermon for Sunday, September 23, 2018 at Langford Lutheran Parish.

    Scripture readings are Genesis 39:1-23. Psalm 105:1-6, 16-22 and Matthew 5:11-12

When Life's Not Fair, God's Still There

Note: This is my first attempt at recording and posting a sermon, so any comments to let me know how the audio worked would be greatly appreciated!

#metoo #whyididntreport: Joseph and Potiphar's Wife

Trigger Waring:  sexual assault, abuse

If you are a victim of sexual assault, please call the National Sexual Assault Hotline 1-800-656-4673.  There is someone there waiting to hear your story, to believe you.


I'm wrestling with the readings for this Sunday's sermon.  How do I preach Potiphar's wife's sexual harassment of her servant, Joseph and her false accusation that lands him in jail? (You can read this part of Joseph's story here.)

It's a story that seems ripped from the headlines.

It's a story that is too close to home for too many of us.

One of the major concerns in the many online preacher discussions of this test is the specter of a woman giving false accusations against a man.  Will this story give fuel to the fire of those who insist Ms. Ford is giving false accusations against Supreme Court nominee Kavanagh?  Will this story only reinforce the ages old myth that women often falsely accuse men of sexual assault and rape? Doesn't this scrpture passage prove that all the #metoo stories are just that - stories made up to harm the accused in some way?

Using these false accusations against Joseph to promote this myth of the untrustworthiness of the female victim is to do violence not only to the victim but also to the scriptural text.  For Joseph is not the falsely accused alleged aggressor, but the falsely blamed victim.  It's easy at first glance to allow the gender roles to blind us to what is happening her:  a person with power harasses and then vilifies an underling. 

Make no mistake, this is NOT a story of a woman accusing a man (falsely or not) of attempted rape.  This is about a employer/slave owner repeatedly harassing a servant/slave and then blaming them when the abuse is discovered. 

Well, then, there's victim blaming for that too.  Why didn't Joseph tell #whyididntreport?

Seriously?  He was never even given the chance.  Potiphar believes his wife, who cleverly enlisted other slaves in the household to support her story.  Slaves who probably were well aware of her pursuit of Joseph. Could they have been jealous of the attention she gave him?  The favors of the mistress of the house were a way for a slave to better himself or herself. Slaves who probably didn't understand why Joseph didn't take the opportunity presented him.  Even if jealously didn't drive their ready agreement with her story, what other choice did they have?  She owned them - literally.  They also could be falsely accused. 

When you think about the extreme imbalance of power, it is amazing that Joseph didn't give in to her demands.  She owned him (through her husband of course). Joseph had control over the whole household, except her.  But he was hers to command. 

And he refused.

This is one story - one of the few - in the Bible where there is a male victim of sexual assault. The Bible is full of stories where women are sexually assaulted or raped, but do we believe them? 

No, our biblical foremothers are blamed or deemed complicit in their assaults.  In matters of sex, it seems, the sin is always the woman's.

It is a story ripped from the headlines.

Too many women are blamed for the sexual harassment and assault they have suffered.

Too many women are labeled as liars when they report the assault.  Labeled as complicit, “asking for it.”  Blamed for waiting “too long” to report. Assumed to have ulterior motives for coming forward later when they are (finally!) strong enough to talk about the assault.

Held responsible – “she should have known better.”

Held as guilty until they are proven innocent of making false charges, of trying to “ruin” a man’s life.

If we are uncomfortable with this story in our Bible, it’s because it is far too close to home for far too many of us:

For the victims who relive their nightmares in the words of this story

For the abusers who fear that the scriptural truth of this passage might just succeed in shining a light in the dark places of their own lives.

For the Potiphars who find it more comfortable and convenient to believe the powerful.


 If you are a victim of sexual assault, please call the National Sexual Assault Hotline 1-800-656-4673.  There is someone there waiting to hear your story, to believe you.

Promises You Can Count On: God will protect you

Whenever I read any part of the Joseph story from Genesis (starts in chapter 37 and goes to the end of Genesis, with a few asides regarding other members of the family), songs start playing in my head.

I read the list of Jacob's sons in Genesis 35 and my mind starts right in

Reuben was the eldest of the children of Israel
With Simeon and Levi the next in line
Naphtali and Isaachar with Asher and Dan
Zebulun and Gad took the total to nine
Jacob, Jacob and sons,
Benjamin and Judah, which leaves only one 
Jacob, Jacob and sons,
Joseph - Jacob's favorite son

I read about the beautiful coat Jacob gives his favorite son, and suddenly, 

It was red and yellow and green and brown
And scarlet and black and ochre and peach
And ruby and olive and violet and fawn
And lilac and gold and chocolate and mauve
And cream and crimson and silver and rose...

I blame it on my daughter appearing not once, but twice (and I was also in it the second time) in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.  Part of the reason that these songs come back so easily is that she still knows ALL. THE. WORDS and tends to randomly burst into song.

Back to Joseph...

When I read the story of Joseph in Potiphar's house, Genesis 39:1-23, the song that comes to mind is not the fun, riotous, and a bit naughty Potiphar, but the song from when Joseph is in prison.  Close Every Door had a wistful, haunting melody combined with words of pure faith:

Close every door to me,
Hide all the world from me
Bar all the windows
And shut out the light
Do what you want with me,
Hate me and laugh at me
Darken my daytime
And torture my night
If my life were important I
Would ask will I live or die
But I know the answers lie
Far from this world 

Close every door to me,
Keep those I love from me
Children of Israel
Are never alone
For I know I shall find
My own peace of mind
For I have been promised
A land of my own 

Joseph relies fully on God's promises - God's promise to Abraham to go with him everywhere he goes (last week's promise), God's promise to remember God's people.  He believes so completely in the covenant promise of land, descendants, and blessings that overflow to bless all the families of the world that he sings of his own unimportance in God's great plan.  It's enough that God is with him.

And it's true - God has not forgotten Joseph.  God is with Joseph and God is protecting Joseph.

Wait - you say - some kind of protection that is! Joseph is in prison - unfairly accused of a crime he didn't commit! And he's far from his family in Egypt, sold as a slave, by HIS OWN brothers!  

True.  Joseph has had some pretty tough times lately.  But look at verse 2:

The Lord was with Joseph, 

and he became a successful man 

and served in his Egyptian master’s household. 

In fact, Joseph was so successful, that Potiphar turned everything over to Joseph to handle.  Every. Single, Thing.   

Just like with his brothers and their jealously of his father's favor, jealously rears it's ugly head.  Some scholars believe that the motivation behind Potiphar's wife's seduction of Joseph was that she  resented Joseph because he was in charge of everything - even the things she would have been in charge over.  Successfully seducing him was a sure fire way to get rid of him - and get her power back.

She wasn't successful.  Joseph was to loyal to Potiphar, and to God.  But it didn't matter.  She had staged the scene so skillfully that she was able to make everyone believe that Joseph tried to seduce her.  (I would be remiss if I didn't point out that this text is problematic in today's #metoo culture.  True, Potiphar's wife made a false accusation against Joseph, but then, as now, false accusations are the exception.  There are many, many more accounts in the Bible of sexual abuse and violence against women, than there are false accusations made about men by a woman. Update:  I have since read a blogger who discusses in depth Josesph as a male survivor of sexual assualt  against other biblical stories of sexual assualt and accusations.)

Joseph goes to prison, where he again prospers. Look at verse 21

the Lord was with Joseph and remained loyal to him. 

He caused the jail’s commander to think highly of Joseph.

Once again Joseph is put in charge of everything.  

Later on in chapter 41, Joseph is brought from prison to interpret Pharaoh's dream.  God is with Joseph, and he successfully interprets the dream, advising Pharaoh what to do to prepare for the upcoming crisis.  Gratefully, Pharaoh puts Joseph (you guessed it) in charge of everything.

God protected Joseph, turning the bad (evil) that Joseph encountered to good.  In chapter 50 (verse 20), Joseph reassures his brothers that he won't seek revenge on them for selling him into slavery:

You planned something bad for me, 

but God produced something good from it, 

in order to save the lives of many people, 

just as he’s doing today.

Joseph's story reminds me that no matter what happens to me, God's got my back. Bad things happen - to good people, and to flawed people.  Yet, God's plans always prevail.  As St. Athanasius once said, "God writes straight with crooked lines."  God is in the business of bringing life out of death, of creating beauty out of brokenness, of turning chaos into order.  

Believing in God doesn't we're exempt from pain and sorrow - in fact Jesus promises that we will face trials and troubles - but God is with us in those times, blessing us again to bless those around us.  

I call that real protection!

You can count on it!

Close every door to me,
Keep those I love from me
Children of Israel
Are never alone
For we know we shall find
Our own peace of mind 
For we have been promised
A land of our own

Promises you can count on: God goes with you

Let's catch up on the promises: 

In last week's reading, God promised Noah that whenever God saw the rain-bow in the sky, God would remember how much God loves humans and all of creation and not destroy it with a flood again.  I think of a parent looking a the mess the teenager just made and remembering how cute he or she was as a toddler so while the parent might punish the teen, the parent doesn’t give up on the teen.

God doesn’t give up on us either.  God remembers us.

This Sunday we hear what is usually described as God’s call to Abraham.  Except Abraham is not Abraham yet, he is Abram – God changes his name later in the story.  And this is the first of three times God makes a promise to Abraham ( See Genesis 15:1-15 and 17).  Ok, the second and third promises are really restatements of the first:

 I will make of you a great nation and will bless you. I will make your name respected, and you will be a blessing.

 I will bless those who bless you,
    those who curse you I will curse;
        all the families of the earth
            will be blessed because of you.” (Genesis 12:2-3, CEB)

You see, while God always fulfills God's promises, it's not always on our time table.  And this promise takes a looooong time to fill.

A very long time:

             - Abraham is 100 and Sarah is 90 when Isaac is born

             - It takes basically 25 years for Abraham to get to the land God promises.

Abraham never sees the promise completely fulfilled.

Yet Abraham stakes his life and that of his family on God's promise and moves out, going to a land God will show them.  He doesn't even know where they are going, or how long it will take!

This promise God makes is one of the Big Five - the covenants with Noah, with Moses and Hebrew-slaves-turned-free, with David, and the new covenant Jeremiah proclaims.  So it's a really big deal.  

But I'm thinking about the promise under the promises.  The unspoken promise that Abram relies on when he tells Sarai (Sarah's name gets changed later too) to pack up everything to move to a place God will show them.  

The promise of God's presence.

I think that Abraham trusted that God would be with him, every step of the way.  And even though the fulfillment of the grand promise was slow in coming, Abram/Abraham knew that he was never alone.

God was with him.  

That promise is for you and me too.  God never leaves us.  

God goes with us.

Even when we have no idea where we are going.

Promises you can count on: God remembers!

In the good times and in the bad, what do you count on?

This fall we’re exploring the promises God makes in the Bible to Noah, Abraham, Joseph, Moses and the Israelites.  God makes a lot of promises, and God always keeps them.

God’s promises are promises you can count on.

Last Sunday, we missed talking about the promise God made to Noah and all creation.  Let me catch you up.

You remember the story? Genesis 6:5-9:17 tells the whole story, or you can skip to chapter ( to read about God's promise to Noah.  Let me summarize for you:  

The earth was full of wickedness and God decided to start over.  So, God washed the world clean with a flood.  

Except – Noah finds favor in God’s sight.  

So, God tells Noah to build an ark and put two of every animal in it (or two of every wild animal and seven pairs of the domestic animals, check out Genesis 6:20 and 7:1-3) along with Noah’s family.  After Noah and his family and animals are safe on the ark, God sends a flood and kills everyone else (yeah- pretty gruesome for a story that is used as a nursery backdrop!).

God sees the damage done to the creation God loves and decides that this is not the way to go.  No more.  No matter how bad humans get, not matter how much we mess things up, God’s not going to cover the earth with a flood again. 

And God sets the rainbow in the sky to remind God to remember this promise.  This is a reminder to God, not to us.  While rainbows are cool, and pretty, and I usually think of this promise God made when I see one, the rainbow is not for us.  It’s for God.  To remember.

The word for “bow” is the weapon, not the pretty ribbon we put on packages.  And I think that’s pretty significant.  The warrior hangs up his bow, and God hung God’s bow up in the sky.  And in doing so, God promises to remember

-          To remember the promise God made to Noah and all creation to not destroy it with flood

But also

-          To remember the humans that God created, to remember who we are in all our failings and brokenness. 

This is the story that the Hebrew scriptures (Old Testament) tell:  how God’s promise to remember humans and our need to be reconciled with God moves God to select a particular man and woman to bless so that through them God’s blessing flows to the whole world.

But that’s  another story and another promise!