wpc

Genesis: Stories of Faith

“The Roots of A Remnant”

Genesis 45:1-15

TheReverend Chris Adams

August 14,2011

 You know here at Westminster Presbyterian Church we are committed to keeping you up to speed with all the latest information, right?  It’s all part of the service we provide here.

So whether it’s news items, or popular culture, or even social media, we want you to be up to date.  So let me give you an update today with a little of all that...

I have noticed that lots of people are getting into the “you might be lists” as I have named them.  You know, those lists that started years ago with Jeff Foxworthy and “You might be a redneck if...”

Things like, “If you think the last words of the Start Spangled Banner are Gentlemen start your engines... you might be a redneck.”  You remember.

Those lists have gone viral as they say on the Internet with lots of people finding their own versions.  For example a local version, “If the smell of burnt oranges reminds you to this day of changing classes in High School... you might be from Bradenton, FL.”  You see.

Or here’s one from my alma mater, The Citadel.  “If attending a college party involved an underground tunnel and a conversation about how you were going to get past the guard at the front gate... you might have gone to The Citadel.”  That’s a true story, by the way.

These little lists are designed to be funny and fun, but they also help people to remember something significant in their lives.  The list is about someone’s hometown, or alma mater. It’s why they are so funny.  The best humor is always based on reality anyway.

So especially in these days,when everything in the world seems so crazy and out of control, I want you know where you can go to find something funny. We all need to have some fun once in a while, don’t you think.

More than that, lists like this that help us remember another time in humor, a little nostalgia if you will, is perhaps the best way to get through tough times.  When things are at their worse, remembering where we came from and laughing about the good times is really the best medicine.

Maybe we can even see that in our scripture lesson today.  If you know this story, you know that these are hard times for the family of Joseph.  His brothers have traveled to Egypt, becausethere is famine in the land.  They are in danger of starving to death unless they can find some help.

So in those days, the only place they could think of to seek help would have been the most powerful nation on earth in it’s day, Egypt and the great Pharaoh.  So they have made the journey and have been directed to one who speaks for Pharaoh in these matters, who just happens to be their brother Joseph, though they don’t yet know that.

I often wonder if they had just completely forgotten about Joseph, figuring he was surely dead by now, or did they ever wonder if their paths would cross again.  It appears from this story that they didn’t suspect a thing in Pharaoh’s second in command, because Joseph had to tell them it was he.

Joseph is overcome with anxiety and grief and begins to weep loudly.  His brothers can’t believe it is possible, and it seems they don’t really believe it at first.  But Joseph reassures them and relieves them of all guilt.  After all, they should have been guilty because they sold him into slavery, and never revealed the secret to anyone.  But Joseph has no grudge towards them. Instead he is filled with God’s grace and forgiveness, that very character of God that you and I could on even now when we too are guilty.

In fact, Joseph reveals his belief that this is all part of God’s plan. God did this.  God sent him ahead of his brothers and his father, in order that a remnant of God’s people would survive the famine.  God must have known, according to Joseph, that without such dramatic action the people of God could be lost.

So Joseph is sent ahead to “preserve life” as the scriptures say. He will be the one that will save his people, and will remind them where they came from and who they belong to. In tough times it seems, people need to be reminded of who they are and what they stand for.  Joseph does this for his brothers in the most amazing way, with love and forgiveness.

They share some time together, but not much, because Joseph knows how desperate the situation is.  So he sends his brothers back to retrieve the remnant of God’s people.  “Come and live in Egypt,” says Joseph, “and God will provide for you through me.”

I wonder if they even might have had a minute to remember?  I wonder if Joseph and his brothers shared a list or two, as they cried together, reunited after so many years.

“If you have ever thrown your brother into a pit, and sold him to slave traders only to be forgiven and fed later by that same brother... you might be part of the remnant.” 

Or... “If walking for days inthe hot sun is rewarded by your long lost brother with instructions for more walking for days in the hot sun, followed by packing everything up and then (you guessed it), more walking for days in the hot sun... you might be part of the remnant of God’s people.

You see, my friends, we are now the remnant.  That’s what this story is about.  In every generation, no matter how bad things get, and how desperate circumstances for people of faith are, God always preserves a remnant.  God always has plans to “preserve life” for God’s people.  So that the story of God can continue walking into the hot sun of history.

From this day forward, each and ever time we think God’s people will be lost. Each time the events of history threaten the very existence of God’s forgiveness and love in the world, a remnant of God’s people are maintained.  The very Exodus story that begins here in this story, the Babylonian exile, Daniel and the Lion, and eventhe New Testament story of Jesus Christ is a story about the remnant. 

When Herod and Rome thought they could destroy God’s people and do whatever they wanted with the future that God had in store, God sent Jesus ahead to “preserve life.”  God sent Jesus not to judge and condemn the world, (John 3:17) even though the brothers of today and the sisters too deserve it, but to offer new life and grace.

So you and I, those that call on the name of Jesus Christ, are the remnant. We are the ones that are preserved in the famine of this life, and kept to continue to tell the story of God and God’s intention for the world.  We are the remnant.

So I think we need a list, don’t you.  I mean if everybody else has a list, we ought to have one to help us remember who we are and what we are about.  Especially in these days, we need a way to have some fun and to laugh at ourselves a little.  We need a “you might be” list...

So here goes:  From the home office in Myakka City, FL.  The top ten reasons, “You Might Be theRemnant If... Presbyterian Version.”

“You might be the PresbyterianRemnant...

                        #10...If you have ever sat, while singing“Stand Up, Stand Up For Jesus!”

                        ...If you used to be Baptist.

...If the communion grape juice is locked up, but the golf tournament Scotch is in the pastor’s study.

...If you think being called the “Frozen Chosen” is a compliment.

#6...If a congregational meeting begins not with a Genesis prayer but with an Exodus.

...If when the spirit comes upon you in power, you don't raise your hands and shout Hallelujah, rather you scratch your chin, turn to your neighbor and whisper "Hmmm… that was a really good point."

...If you used to be Baptist. (you see that’sfunny because you didn’t expect me to say that one again, and I did)

...If the service has ever ended early because it’s Super Bowl Sunday or because the Red Lobster has a two-for-one entrée special.

#2...If you drive a Buick.

Finally, one more.  Number one...

The number one reason you mightbe the Presbyterian Remnant of God’s people...

...If the pastor, who is now well into his forties, is still referred to as our“young pastor.”

Thank you very much!  Thank you for continuing to delude yourselves that I am actually a young pastor.  But more than that, thank you for a great sermon series on Genesis.  We have heard again our stories of faith this summer.  We have considered what they mean to us and how they call us to faith as God’s people.  We started at the beginning and this morning we have made it to the end of the book. 

My friends, this is our heritage as God’s people.

We are the remnant, Presbyterian and otherwise, and I for one am proud of that.  We don’t always get it right, in fact most of the time we rely on God’s forgiveness and love more than our own excellence.  But that too is who we are.

When things get tough, let’s promise this morning to help each other remember to laugh at ourselves and notto take ourselves too seriously.  Humor too is a gift from God.

Just like Joseph, Jesus Christ has gone on ahead of us to “preserve life.” He has offered us forgiveness and love. He has told us to come and to stay with him, so that he might care for us and provide for us.  He has told us to carry the story of God into the future, sharing it with the next generation so that they too might know God as the Almighty Creator of all things.  We are the remnant.

If you believe that Jesus Christ is Lord, that God is love, and that the communion of the Holy Spirit is present with us today, tomorrow and forever and ever...

You might just be the Remnant at Westminster Presbyterian Church!

Thanks be to God.

Amen.