Genesis 39:19-23 Set Free Oct 25, 2009
One Sunday morning, the Pastor noticed little Alex standing in the foyer of the church staring at a large plaque. It was covered with names and small American flags. The Pastor walked up, stood beside the little boy, and said quietly, 'Good morning, Alex.' 'Good morning Pastor,' he replied, still focused on the plaque. 'Pastor, what is this?' The Pastor said, 'Well son, it's a memorial to all the young men and women who died in the service.' Soberly, they just stood together, staring at the large plaque. Finally, little Alex's voice, barely audible and trembling with fear asked, 'Which service, the 8:30 or the 10:30?'
Many of us come to the worship service each week and in some ways it just seems like we have died. We sit somber, with a grim expression on our faces. When it is time to sing, we barely open our mouth. The words of the prayers are mumbled. During the sermon, we day dream about the lunch or the afternoon game. It seems like church is not really a place to find life. Now I myself have sat through worship hours that seemed deadly. An ancient organ plays out ancient songs. Someone readeth a book full of thee and thou, and I do not understand at all. Then a man stands and talks about things that have nothing to do with my real life in the upcoming week. Many visitors who have come to church for the first time decide that it will be their last time. They came seeking something real to help them in living life but instead only found confusion. But our faith should be about real life.
In the book of Genesis, a young man named Joseph was in a hard place and he needed a Faith, he needed a God, who would be real for him in that hard place of life. We need the same. Joseph was a slave. But you know, most of us are slaves to opinions, fashions, friends, relatives, employer, money, addictions, etc. Joseph was in prison, but most of us are imprisoned by our past actions and decisions. We are enslaved and imprisoned in the difficulties of life and like Joseph, we do NOT need an abstract, philosophical, airy faith that is so heavenly minded that it is no earthly good. Yet that is what we often seem to find as we sit in church. We go home from church with very little.
Why is that? Perhaps because we are not fully connected to what is happening in the worship hour. But when we fully engage in worship, when we really worship, then we will find something else indeed. But besides our lack of engagement, we also do not find what we are seeking because we come here seeking the wrong things. If you search in an English Literature book for information on Algebra, you will not find it. If you go to the Mexican restaurant and order Sushi, you will not get it. Or what you get will not be very good. No. In order to find anything here in this worship hour, you must know what you are seeking here. Listen. Do you really come here each week expecting anything? Do you come wanting anything to happen? Do you come here looking for Faith? That is what we find here. Faith.
What is Faith? It is not words you believe in your head. Faith is about living life. Faith is not words we learn. Faith is a practice and a doing and a changing of who I am. You see, in the midst of slavery and in the depths of a prison, Joseph found that religious faith is not an esoteric strange sort of thing. Faith is not about words that you believe in your head. Faith is not about labels such as Methodist or Baptist or Catholic. Faith IS about trust, about a life of virtue, freedom, and joy.
So how can I come to worship expecting to find Faith? Well, you see, Faith is not for those who think they have everything. You have to come here knowing that you need something. Joseph had lived a life of good times because he was the favorite child. He had the best of everything. That was just normal for him. I hear much on the news about how our nation and the economy and the market are soon going to get “back to normal.” We seem to think that the rich, prosperous, good times are normal. But Faith is for those who know the truth--life is often hard. Faith is for those who realize they are in need, that they are slaves and prisoners.
To come to worship in expectation is to come knowing that life is hard and that you need God. And that makes worship hard. Worship is not always to leave feeling good about what you got this Sunday morning. Worship is a surgery. It can be a pain, an incision, a cutting away. We do not always hear what we want to hear. My Baptist friends sometimes ask me about the appointment process in Methodism. They cannot believe a Bishop sends you a new pastor rather than the church choosing a new pastor. They always say to me, “But you may get a pastor that you do not like.” I always say back, “Sometimes we need a pastor that we do not like.” We often find ourselves in life in places that we do not like. Joseph found himself there. I am sure he wanted to go back home to comfort and prosperity. But it was in slavery and in prison that Joseph became a man of God.
You see, Faith does not always change our outward circumstances. Christian people are not always cured of illness. Christian marriages do not always work out. Businesses fail. Faith does not promise to bring us these external things. But Faith is internal medicine for the soul. Faith can teach us to flourish and find joy no matter what the external world throws at us. There is security and peace even in trouble. The more we grow in Faith, we will not feel the worries, the anger, the fear, and the disturbances in the same old way. Faith is calm in the middle of a storm. That is what Joseph found. And everyone around him saw it. They saw his peace and favor. Outwardly, Joseph was still in prison for many years, but inwardly, he had found peace.
When we really come to the worship hour expecting something, when we seek a life of Faith, then we can return home with a new capacity to endure the week ahead. To be ready to help other people in their struggles. To be free from the addictions that haunt us. To prepare for the adventure of life in such a way that we will be able to bear well the hardships that happen to us and even discover honor and dignity in those trials.
So get yourself to worship. We use to hear about folks who were at the church “every time the doors were open.” Be the person who hangs around the door of worship. You will not leave empty handed. Amen.