What the Dying Teach the Living

It has been a very busy week around Seneca Presbyterian Church - full of good meetings with great people who care about this church and God's kingdom. But this pastor has been distracted, so this post for Sunday is coming very late in the week. This Sunday we will be diverting just a bit from Joseph in order to celebrate All Saints Sunday. I will be reflecting on the experience of dying and what it teaches us, especially as we approach death from the perspective of our Christian faith. So even on Friday, you can help me by reflecting with me. Here are some questions to spur your thinking.

• Have you ever experienced a "good dying"? If so, what made it so?
• What have you learned about how to face death that supports the one who is dying and strengthens friends and family for the long journey of grief ahead of them?
• What lessons for your own life do you take from the privilege of walking with another person in the journey of death?
• How has experiencing death deepened your faith?

I thank you for reflecting with me.

I am the resurrection and the life, says the Lord.Those who believe in me,

even though they die, shall live, and everyone who lives and believes in me

shall never die.

The Saintly One

This Sunday, October 23, when we gather for worship at Seneca Presbyterian Church, we will find Joseph facing a moral challenge. Potiphar, the captain of the guard, has made Joseph overseer of his household. It is a position of authority and responsibility. Read Genesis chapter 39 to get the entire story, then consider these questions:

• Has the "self-centered brat" we met in chapter 37 changed? If so, why and how?
• The rabbis call Joseph "the saintly one." Do you agree? Why or why not?
• Why do you think Joseph refuses "Mrs. Potiphar"? Are you surprised that he does?
• God's presence seems to imply success and blessing. We read in verse 3: "The Lord caused all that he did to prosper in his hands." How does that formula fare when applied to your life and the lives of those you know? How do you discern and even measure signs of God's presence in your life, even in the ordinary days of your life?

I am reading Richard Rohr  Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life in conjunction with this sermon series. Rohr is a Franciscan priest who has written and spoken extensively on spirituality. This is his latest book and it traces the development of our spiritual lives through both the tasks of the first half of our lives, our transition to the second half - often through shadows, darkness, and stumbling - and into the fullness of the second half of life. It's interesting read! Some questions that it prompts for me:

• What are the challenges that deepen faith? 
• Does it take a challenge so deep that it could destroy faith in order to strengthen it?  

Rohr thinks so: He writes: 'There must be, and, if we are honest, there always will be at least one situation in our lives that we cannot fix, control, explain, change, or even understand." What do you think?
 
Let me hear from you! 

Joseph: Day One

Today the saints of Seneca Pres started a journey with Joseph. I was impressed with the knowledge base of my congregation - for I heard many correct answers to these basic questions about Joseph and the book of Genesis. The questions, with answers, are:

1) The history of the Hebrew people is told through the lives of the Patriarchs whose stories are found in Genesis. Name them. 

• Abraham
• Isaac
• Jacob

2) All the following happens in the book of Genesis except:  
Abram leaves home. yes (Abram and Sari leave both Ur and Haran.) 
The Hebrews leave Egypt: no (That happens in Exodus);
Twins are born: yes (Jacob and Esau);
A firstborn son is sent away from home: yes (Abraham's firstborn son Ishmael and along with his mother Hagar)

3) Name 12 persons from the book of Genesis, including at least four women.
The possibilities are numerous, but here are some of the most intriguing ones:
Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Noah (and his wife), Shem, Ham, and Japheth (and their wives), Abraham and Sarah (also known as Abram and Sarai), Lot, Melchizedek, Hagar and Ishmael, Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob and Esau, Rachel and Leah, Laban, the twelve sons of Jacob (Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph, and Benjamin), Dinah, Tamar, Potiphar (and his wife), and Pharaoh.

4) Name at least one dastardly deed done by Jacob.
For starters, he tricked his brother into selling his birthright, deceived his father, and stole his brother's blessing. 


5) Joseph is the son of Jacob and Rachel. His only full brother was Benjamin.

6) Joseph is famous for two reasons. He knew how to interpret dreams, and his father gave him a coat of many colors.