Genesis 45:1-15 Some years ago when I was a campus minister, I knew a student named Megan – a very dear young woman. She had this ability to find the silver lining in everything. Megan could find something hopeful in every disappointment, and she would always say: “In a way, I’m glad this happened,” and then she would tell me how she had found some new opportunity in the setback. Megan had a talent for reframing her disappointments. Of course, these were all relatively minor disappointments. I don’t know how she would have handled a real crisis, the kind of thing Joseph was thrown into again and again and again. So much has happened to Joseph since last week, when he was trotted off to Egypt with the Ishmaelite caravan. There he was sold to Potiphar, an official in Pharaoh’s court, and Joseph rose quickly in Potiphar’s household, soon put […]
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Fathers and Sons
Luke 15:11-32 There was a father who had two sons. One son behaved respectfully, never disagreeing with his father, always deferential. When his father would say, “When you use the car, don’t leave an empty gas tank for the next person. Fill it up, please,” this son would say, “Sure dad, I will.” But he never did. The other son was just plain rude. He would say to his father, “That’s a stupid rule to have! It’s a ridiculously petty thing to care about, and I don’t know why it matters to you.” But he never left an empty tank. He always filled it. Which was the good son? Which son was better? There was a father who had two sons. When they were grown, one son stayed at home with his father and cared for him in his old age, took care of the house so his father could remain there. He possessed a sense of duty that served him and […]
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