There Arose a King Who Knew Not Joseph

 

There Arose a King Who Knew Not Joseph

I have a habit of not caring what went on,

before I entered the room, assuming history

begins with my first squalls passing for oratory,

when I dare to command, “Shine out fair Sun!”

Confederate blood runs in my veins, warming

“lost cause” memories passed to me by father

reverently speaking of Jackson, Lee, slaughter,

chivalry and glory of Pickett's charge swarming.

I first have to learn Faulkner's past not being past,

healing begins when I let Word of past incarnate

my very flesh, hopes and dreams. Try sublimate

as much as I can; it must still be faced at last.

Denial, tearing asunder past monuments is easy;

but refusing to change the present is just sleazy.

The tellers of the stories who later collected Joseph stories in the Book of Genesis to lead into the Book of Exodus set Joseph's relocation in Egypt as part of the Hyksos, an influx of Semitic people coming down from Canaan, dominating Lower Egypt, ending the 13^th Dynasty and beginning the Second Intermediate Period. The Hyksos rulers tried to blend in and adopted Egyptian names and manners. When Upper and Lower Egypt were reunited under Egyptian control in the New Kingdom of the 18^th Dynasty, there was a move to purify their History, which is seen with this opening statement of Exodus that the new Pharaoh tries to forgot the past, feverishly working on a version of MEGA,“Making Egypt Great Again”, a racist message of building monuments to glorify himself, to escape the stigma of having to depend on the help of Semitic rulers in the past.

When Pat and I were in Egypt we were so impressed by the building patterns of Ramesses II of the 19^th Dynasty. One of the things he would do is to to take the name of a previous Pharaoh off a monument and replace it with his.

There is an old saying used by people in recovery, “Denial is not just a River in Egypt.” As I thought about this lesson, I was thinking about the individual, and national, habitual need to purify history to fit into our legends, instead of facing the truth with honesty in order to change the present.

The Gospel of John begins with the statement that Jesus is the Word made flesh. My faith journey is to try to be open enough to have the Word incarnate me on a daily basis.

Tom Murphy: Taking the Next Dance

 

Tom Murphy; Taking the Next Dance

Got the word that Tom Murphy died,

a man whose passion I respected and,

shared laughter about, the clergy band,

who pledged having same divine guide.

That guide would take us into the places

our egos would rather not we be seen in,

allied with losers, outcasts who did sin,

except our guide calls holy, sacred spaces.

Tom had trouble with pious professionals,

who wanted to clear the church's riffraff

out of the buildings, so a new golden calf

might be set up to lead the processionals.

His calling wasn't to preach and altar prance,

but to joyfully join in God's compassion dance.

Trying On Joseph's Shoes

Trying on Joseph's Shoes-- Poem for 16 August, 2020

The Joseph story continues in the Lectionary. The name Joseph comes from the Hebrew meaning God adds, God increases. In the story this week, Joseph reveals himself as the loving brother to the ones who had hated him. Five chapters later after their father, Jacob, dies the brothers are afraid that Joseph will now unleash vengeance on them. But Joseph tells them that no matter what they had done, they have all been able to increase through those difficult times. A reminder that it is when I have been hurt that I have been able to grow, and when there is honest forgiveness both sides grow.

Genesis 45:15 And Joseph kissed all his brothers and wept upon them; and after that his brothers talked with him.

Genesis 50:20 Joseph said: “ . . . you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good.”

Trying On Joseph's Shoes

Looking at the Joseph story, I am both;

one who sinned or one sinned against,

wants it forgotten, or, to stay incensed,

but it is forgiveness that brings growth.

The hard part is to give up being right,

like Joseph I learned that in being hurt,

wasn't a time that I'd give up as introvert

stuffing everything down, or go for fight.

I had to learn a third way, how to love,

to work to do what's in my enemy's best

interests and still be honest and blessed,

as if we're both under a descending dove.

Indeed, enemy and I both, an image share

of Divine un-rationed love, increases care.

Thanking God For Helen Van Laer

Helen Van Laer

She and Nick'd sit correcting each other

over items small or large or between

as if it were a really important scene

to see who first conceded out, “Mother”!

Both of them used to being the smartest

person in the room, so they were perfect

for each other to be the one either picked

to perform together before host or guest.

We got used to her because there's balance

in how she was opening their hearts to us,

and to those who needed some help, plus

working against greed's grasping advance.

Remembering how she'd plead for trees, deer,

raccoons and God, not being overlooked here.

Like Joseph's Brother

Like Joseph's Brother

He had been used to hearing that tone

in others, so he knew how it sounds,

cringing when it's now, making rounds

in his own prayers, “not to heaven” flown.

That quality making home was a whine,

of “Oh, poor me! On brother lay a curse!

I'll feel soothed and my resentment nurse,

crying in, and drinking of, salted wine.”

His brother love was twisted, dark wry,

not wanting him dead, but out of the way,

while brother hate wasn't black, but gray,

mirrored with envy out of a golden eye.

Reuben laments the doing of past deeds ill,

while brother in “Egypt”'s, spirit is here still.

The Lectionary for the 9^th of August, 2020 continues the Jacob Saga in Genesis with the rivalry in Jacob's own household, between his sons. His children repeat for him what he had thought was long past. The Jacob saga continues now with a novel about Joseph. The story may have been heavily influenced by an Egyptian novel of the XII Dynasty, The Tale of Sinuhe. It is a story of man who is forced to leave Egypt and goes to Canaan where he become rich and powerful, and then is able to return to Egypt to live his life out and be buried in his homeland. Joseph, like Sinuhe, like Jacob, due to the forces of envy, has to leave his home to find himself with a descent into a kind of hell, but finds himself, as always under God's care, even in the hells we find ourselves in. All of the brothers, and Jacob himself, have to go down to Egypt. Like the Moses story, all of us have to make a trip down to our Egypts to find a way to be free.

It is a universal story of how competitive envy is replaced by grace and forgiveness. Reuben is the oldest child of Jacob, the one who is “Turbulent as waters” according to his father's last blessing. He was the one who did not want Joseph to be killed, but envied Joseph so much that he wanted him out of the way, suggesting instead selling him to go down to Egypt in slavery. Reuben, the first born, is the Liberal of the brothers; he does not want to fully face his complicity of the sins of the past and yet longs for reconciliation. As historical atonement, the tribe of Reuben create cities of refuge for those under threat.

I am trying to get into Reuben's heart and how that heart would react to what is happening today. That is where my reflection would go, if I were still in the preaching habit.