Often times I come across people who tell me, “I’m not a religious person.” I think being “religious” in this case means doing certain things, like participating in worship and reading the Bible and praying on a regular basis. Being religious, in this sense, means setting aside some portion of one’s life for interaction with a particular faith community. From this point of view religious people seem to be on a kind of merry-go-round passing through quiet prayer or Bible reading time each morning or each evening and passing through a church building at least once or twice each week. Perhaps being religious is also associated with certain prohibitions; religious people don’t smoke, or drink or play cards or dance or gamble or have any fun. All they do is work hard, and go to church. Religious people are often seen by the world as dour, frumpy and boring.
If we look at Joseph’s life in this way, I don’t think he was a religious person either. If you read through the stories of Joseph, you will see there is no account of regular worship, or any regular prayer and in those early days there was no Bible to read. Joseph was not frumpy. He was a dreamer and he wore flashy clothing, and sometimes he slacked off from his work. And Joseph’s life was certainly not like a boring merry-go-round. It was more like a roller coaster with tremendous highs, and terrible low points.
Joseph’s life started in a good place and moved up. He was the first son of Jacob’s favorite wife, so his dad favored him over the other sons. Joseph thought well of himself, and dreamed that his brothers and even his parents would bow down to him.
But then Joseph’s life took a downward turn. His jealous brothers stripped him, put him in a pit and sold him to merchants who took him to Egypt to sell him as a slave. This crisis must have helped Joseph make an attitude adjustment, and led him to turn to the God of his parents for help, for when Potiphar the Egyptian official bought him, we read that the Lord was with Joseph and he prospered in his new position, and the Lord blessed Potiphar’s household. Soon Potiphar trusted Joseph to manage his entire house.
But hold on to your hat, for Josephs’ life dips down again, and this time through no fault of his own. Potiphar’s wife was attracted to Joseph and invited Joseph into her bed. When Joseph refused, she accused him of adultery and had him thrown into jail. This was even worse than being captured as a slave. But again we read that the Lord was with Joseph in jail, and again Joseph was soon entrusted with responsibilities over the other prisoners.
While he was there, Joseph befriended two servants of the Pharaoh and helped them by interpreting their dreams. A couple years later, when Pharaoh had his disturbing dreams and none of his counselors could help him interpret them, the cupbearer remembered Joseph and told Pharaoh about him. So Joseph continued his climb up, from the pit of jail, to the top of Egyptian society. After Joseph interpreted his dreams, Pharaoh was so impressed he made Joseph second in command and asked him to organize the Egyptian empire to be prepared for the impending famine. Though together with the whole region, Joseph was heading back down into a valley of seven years with no rain, no good crops, the roller coaster of Joseph’s life had taught him to have faith that God would always be with him, and would help him prosper.
I think this is the goal for Christians, not just to simply be religious, doing the same thing over and over again and being “good” according to someone. Few of us who are part of the church actually have a merry-go-round life. We all experience the roller coaster of good times and bad times, joys and sorrows. It’s part of being human. The difference that Christians have as we journey through all the ups and downs of life is that we recognize that God is beside us all the way. When we gather together to worship, it strengthens us to hear about our God through scripture, hymns and sermon. When we are part of a church it means that we have a community to be with us when we find ourselves in the pit. We can be companions together which makes the pits more bearable, and the high points more celebratory. Living a life of faith means turning to God for help and guidance in the life choices we make so that even in the bad times our lives will prosper. Living a life of faith means living in such a way that those around us can’t help but be touched by God’s amazing grace.
I think of faithful Christians like Corrie Ten Boom, a Dutch Christian who, together with her family, was part of the resistance to the Nazis. In her book, The Hiding Place, Corrie describes how they managed to help many Jews escape to safety. But though this work prospered for a time, she and her father and sister were eventually all arrested and taken to a concentration camp. Corrie’s story is most compelling when she describes how God was with them and answered prayers even in this most terrible place. And, Corrie stands as a witness to us that living a life of faith also helps us to choose which role we should play in the drama of our lives.
We see this most clearly at the end of Joseph’s story. Now that he was at the top of his game, with a great important job, a wife and two sons he was presented with a choice. For during the famine his brothers traveled from Canaan to Egypt to buy food, and Joseph recognized them. When they looked at Joseph they only saw a mighty Egyptian official who had the food they desperately needed. Now Joseph’s roller coaster was at fork in the tracks. He needed to choose which way his life story would go. Joseph might have just treated his brothers like the other foreigners coming to Egypt for food, let the past stay in the past and remain separated from his family. Or, Joseph could get even with his brothers. He had so much power he could easily punish them. Or he could seek to reconcile with them. It seems to me from reading Genesis 42-44 that Joseph was toying with the first two options. He did not let his brothers know who he was for a very long time, and he used his power to put them on a downward roller coaster ride.
Joseph accused his brothers of being spies and put all of them in jail for three days. Then keeping Simeon in jail, Joseph sent the others home with food, demanding that they bring little brother Benjamin to him. But Joseph also seems uncertain about being kind, or cruel because he has his servants give back all the silver the brothers brought to pay for the grain – so his family was given the food for a gift. Their father Jacob was unwilling to part with Benjamin, but when they ran out of food and were hungry enough they returned to Egypt with the boy. When they arrived, with twice the money and Benjamin, they were surprised when Joseph welcomed them, released Simeon and gave them a feast. Joseph was overwhelmed with emotion now that all the brothers were reunited, but he still didn’t let them know who he was.
Instead he toyed with them some more, this time having a silver chalice placed in Benjamin’s sack before they left for home. Joseph then sent his men after his brothers to arrest them. When they were brought back to Joseph, the brothers begged to let Benjamin return home, pleading on behalf of their father Jacob. They explained that Jacob had already lost his favorite son, and he couldn’t bear to loose Benjamin too. Seeing their love and loyalty to their father Joseph finally made up his mind. It was time to let them know who he really was, and to forgive his brothers.
While God’s power in Joseph’s life had done much to bring him out of the pit to the top of the world, Joseph’s own choices played a role too. Only when Joseph chose to forgive his brothers and reconcile with them could he ever know the truth proclaimed in today’s psalm, “How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity!” The fullest blessings of God come when we align our wills with God’s will. This is a mark of a faithful Christian, and it is a purpose of the church that we encourage one another choose what is good, and right and noble and true.
Being a faithful Christian means first to always remember that God is present with you through the roller coaster of life and turn to God for help and strength. It also means that we seek to do God’s will. Finally, faithful Christians stop to look back every now and then and notice how God has been working even in the places of life that seem the worst and when God seems far away. Through the eyes of faith, Joseph began to realize more than ever before that God had really been with him through the whole roller coaster ride. He proclaimed to his brothers, “God was behind [all this]. God sent me here ahead of you to save lives…to pave the way and make sure there was a remnant [of our family] in the land, to save your lives in an amazing act of deliverance. So you see, it wasn’t you who sent me here but God.” Faithful people need to pause every now and then in life to look back with eyes of faith for signs that God was with us all the time, and was using our times in the pit to lift us to new heights.
As a college student I was blessed when God answered my prayers and sent Gregory Harrison to be my pastor. Gregory had attended Camp Farthest Out every year since he was a boy, and had grown to become a teacher and a pastor with a special gift for working with youth. He had been leading the college group at CFO for years and often brought teenaged boys to our camp from the city where he lived. Gregory also had a deep prayer life, and a great, dry sense of humor. So when I heard he was coming to Wesley UMC, in Amherst I jumped for joy at the thought of everything he would teach me. I was sure that God was bringing Gregory to Wesley to bless me and help me to grow in my faith. Many of my prayers came true as Gregory’s presence brought many of my dear CFO friends to town, and he started a weekly prayer group which prayed a Sunday School into existence. But I also came to know a different side of Gregory, one that was moody, and stiff and hard to work with. His feelings easily got hurt and he had a hard time getting along with the wonderful people at Wesley church.
A lot happened in the six years that he served us as pastor. I saw Gregory change, becoming softer, more playful and develop good relationships with our members. But in the end he died of cancer. I was present when he died and it was a very holy experience. But as he was dying I also realized I was very angry because Gregory had never taken me under his wing and taught me all the things I had hoped he would. How could I have been so wrong? It took some time for prayerful reflection, and discussion of these things with Christian friends for me to begin to see that God had indeed been working in our lives for good, but not just for my good, for Gregory’s and the church’s too. I began to realize that as much as Gregory’s presence had blessed my life, God had been calling me to bless Gregory by constantly expecting him to be the wonderful person he was at camp all year round; by loving him and helping others to love him in spite of his prickly nature. And God also used this time to teach me a great deal about being a pastor; that an effective pastor does not have to be a perfect person; that communication of expectations and desires is critical, and much more. When I took the time to prayerfully look back over this section of my roller coaster I more clearly saw God at work in my life and in the lives of others.
And the best thing is, that once we truly see how God has been with us through the roller coaster of life, helping us out of the pits, and encouraging us to do God’s will, then our faith becomes even stronger and we can weather future, and deeper pits with more trust that God is with us. This is what equips us to share the good news with others by first seeing, and then testifying to God’s mighty work in our lives. A church that can do that will be able to attract even those people who say that they are not religious.
So, what about you? Are you a religious person, doing religious things in a way that seems like a merry-go-round? Or are you a faithful person, who is learning to trust that the Lord is by your side on your roller coaster of life? When have you last looked back on your life to better see how God was with you in the dips? Or if you already know how the Lord has preserved you, helped you use the low spots for good and caused you to prosper, have you shared this story with your friends? Let us take a moment to ponder these questions in prayer…
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