Genesis

Covenantal Calling: A sermon for Confirmation Sunday on Genesis 35:9-15 and John 15:9-17

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Genesis 35:9-15
John 15:9-17

The worship video for these sermon is cued at the end of the manuscript or the entire video can be found on YouTube.

A few months ago a conversation started in a Facebook group for Presbyterian leaders about one pastor’s struggle to get a mouse out of the church kitchen.  The church didn’t want to use poison near food.  They didn’t want a trap that might hurt the mouse. The exterminator was too expensive. And on and on and on.  One witty, and maybe even tired, colleague suggested, “Just baptize and confirm it. Then you’ll never see it again. At least that’s how it works at my church.”

That’s one of those sad-funny ones, isn’t it?

In celebration of Confirmation, I share a picture of my own confirmation class. I’m the one with the shoulder length perm, white dress with a black belt, standing next to the Rev. Dr. Roy McCormick of Eastminster Presbyterian Church, Indialantic, FL. (1990)
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Are you a good witch or a bad witch? A sermon for The Wizard of Oz Lent on Gen. 2-3 and Psalm 32

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This worship video for this service is also available on the Fox Valley Presbyterian Church YouTube channel.

Genesis 2:15-17, 3:1-7

Psalm 32:1-7

One of the defining features of The Wizard of Oz, the movie from which we’re drawing illustrations of the spiritual journey this Lent, is the switch from sepia toned story-telling to the brightly colored scenes that takes place as Dorothy walks out of her farmhouse, displaced from Kansas, into the magical garden of the Munchkinland town square. Gone are the monochromatic brown tones, and our movie and TV screens are flooded with all kinds of color – from the yellow road, to the green leaves, to blue skies and multi-colored flowers.

(One thing a few folks have pointed out to me is that if your viewing of The Wizard of Oz started with the TV screenings anytime between the 1950s and maybe mid-1980s, you may have never known about this switch.  I grew up with mostly color TVs, but those who only had black and white sets missed this transition that the earliest audiences saw in the theater and later audiences could see at home. That had not occurred to me before!)

After she walks through the garden a bit, wondering if she’s in Kansas still or maybe over the rainbow, an iridescent pink bubble begins to float onto the scene. Appearing larger as it descends to the ground, eventually it dissipates and reveals Glinda, the Witch of the North, standing before Dorothy. Wearing a puffy pink ball gown, covered in tulle studded with crystals and sequins, poofy sleeves, and long satin gloves, atop her head a sparkly crown, about a foot tall and in her hand is a glittery star-topped scepter, she offers the first words spoken to Dorothy in Oz.

“Are you a good witch or a bad witch?” 

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The Lord is with you

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Genesis 39

It is impossible, and maybe even irresponsible, to read this story on this Sunday, after the conversation that has been going on nationally this week and for some months, and not take some time to acknowledge the painful reality of sexual violence and the injustices that can occur when there is an imbalance of power between two people.

In Joseph’s story the genders are likely the reverse of what we typically hear about in reports of assault, but again, the power imbalance is recognizable. A majority person with social, racial, and economic privilege, in this case an Egyptian woman, the wife of the captain of the guard, Potiphar, in our context more often a man with similar privilege, attempts to take what they believe they have ownership of or access to, the body and agency of a minority person, in this case an enslaved Israelite man, while in our context it is most often a woman or a person who is a part of a racial or sexual minority.

The situation, sadly Scripture tells us, is not new. And I wish, I so desperately wish this story, or really any story in the Bible spent a lot more time declaring what I am sure we all agree on – – This is wrong. This is sinful. This is contrary to anything God desires for humanity. Even when the story turns out good in the end, it is not because God is using assault to prove a point. And I wish, I so desperately wish I didn’t have to say that in 2018, but I do because there are people out there who will say the exact opposite – that God will put someone through a sexual assault to make them stronger, make them better able to help others, or even to punish them. But that is false, and that is the kind of dangerous faith-based talk that keeps some people from speaking up sooner.

If there is anyone in this room that has been made to think that about the violence inflicted upon them, hear me now. That is false. God’s love does not work that way. God’s love believes you. God’s love sees you. God’s love weeps with you. And God’s love desires and works for your healing and wholeness. There is nothing more sure to me than this. You are not at fault, and if you ever need a place to share your experience of what makes you able say “me too” I will listen. Me too.

*****

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