August 20,2023
“Forgive and Forget”
Sermon by Rev. Taylor Barner
OSU Campus Minister at Jacob's Porch
August 20, 2023 Based on Genesis 45:1-15
It is a joy to be here in worship with you this morning at Indianola. My name is Taylor Barner, and it is a blessing to serve as the Presbyterian Campus Minister at Jacob’s Porch at Ohio State. We work with students, faculty, and young adults from a variety of faith traditions and backgrounds. My wife Annie and I just recently moved here from North Carolina, and we are incredibly grateful to Rev. Trip for all of his work in getting us here and making today possible. I am also grateful that Trip picked a very calm, quiet Sunday for me to preach where there isn’t anything going on over on campus *cough welcome week cough* I’m kidding of course it is wonderful to be building new connections here in Columbus and we are blessed at Jacob’s Porch to have your love and support of our students and staff.
Today we encounter a text that is satisfying to some and frustrating to others. Genesis 45 brings about the climactic ending of the story of Joseph and his brothers in Egypt. We love to tell this story, whether you heard it first in Sunday School or maybe Vacation Bible School, or through the Broadway adaptation that, if you’re like me, you’ve sat through countless times somewhat begrudgingly. We love to tell it because it is not only dramatic but satisfying in its conclusion filled with forgiveness and reconciliation. It is also easy, however, for some to get frustrated when Joseph relents in his ultimate moment of rightful revenge. Forgiveness?! After what these brothers did?! Where is the justice?! But where we expect anger, we find tears.
Joseph’s weeping reminds us that through all his trials and tribulations, Joseph never once resorted to hate or self-pity. He was steadfast in his love for his family, though his treatment of his brothers may be interpreted in several ways. But this weeping also reveals to us what Joseph discovered in his journey. Roger Nam is the professor of Hebrew Bible at Emory University, and he writes, “Joseph can fully recognize God’s sovereignty in [his] past events and that recognition transforms Joseph. There is no explicit [appearance of God] during the life of Joseph, but Joseph has realized that God was active and present in [numerous] spaces: down in the pit while awaiting sale, in a foreign household as a servant, in a foreign prison, and before the royal court of Pharaoh. In all of these spaces, the divine encounter was just as profound as any of God’s appearances in Genesis.”
Perhaps we have had encounters like this; something happens that moves us into a more spiritually attuned place. Maybe the emotion we find is different. It could be a deep sorrow that moves us to tears, or perhaps a great joy, or confusion, and even terror. They are always moments that surprise us; they surprise us because God shows up when we least expect it and in a way we couldn’t have imagined (even though we should have known all alone that God would). For Joseph it was the fact that what his brothers did to him, while traumatic, has now become the vessel of salvation for their family, notably Jacob and his lineage. The pain and hurt that Joseph is justified in feeling are washed away by tears shed in gratitude for the goodness of God in the midst of what seemed like missteps and mistakes. Maybe you are familiar with the phrase, “forgive and forget.” The apostle Paul reminds us that love does not keep a record of past wrongs, but delights in the truth, so perhaps this phrase does have some biblical truth to it. But to forgive and simply forget dismantles the purpose of forgiveness: Reconciliation. It is possible that Joseph was reconciled to his brothers in our text today, but the text does not explicitly say that. What we see in our text today is forgiveness that acknowledges that something good has come out of something bad. And to be clear this is not, “everything happens for a reason” which is a dismissive platitude; this is a proclamation that God has not forgotten the promise Jacob has inherited, even in the midst of this pain the brothers wish they could forget. That’s why the first question Joseph asks is not “why did you do this?”, it’s “Is my father alive?” Professor Kimberly Russaw at my beloved Pittsburgh Theological Seminary puts it this way, “As humans, we forget and we often do things we want others to forget. Furthermore, despite the command to “love thy neighbor,” we forget about others. But one lesson from Genesis 45 is that in all of our forgetting, God has not forgotten us. We should be encouraged because we are not forgotten. Regardless of the obstacles created by systems and policies, God has not forgotten. Despite the death-dealing circumstances, God has not forgotten. When it seems as if there is nothing for us, nothing to sustain us, God is with us. Moreover, God may have been working through all our obstacles, challenges, circumstances, and missteps…Perhaps reflecting on our missteps will help us make better choices in the future.”
Better is hard, especially when it comes to reconciling with one another. To reconcile means to move forward in forgiveness and love, for others and for us. It does not always mean justice has been fully served but recognizes that all parties honor a commitment to be better. What would this look like in our world today? When you heard the word reconciliation, who or what came to mind? Maybe we think of settling a quarrel among family or friends. Maybe we think of a courtroom when mercy and forgiveness intermingle with justice. Maybe we get political and long to see cooperation and progress in our governmental system. Personally, I think of the Church, and especially Jacob’s Porch, where we are called to the work of unpacking the pain and trauma that the Church has been complicit in over the years. Yes, the work of the Church is reconciliation; reconciliation to ourselves, others, and to God. We cannot just forgive and forget, or better yet ask others to forgive and forget what we have done. We must be committed to building a better world in all its forms.
Last night I met with some of our student leaders at the Porch for the first time. We were working at gathering topic ideas for our discussions and the prevailing themes in our list of topics revolved around the basics of Christian belief, dismantling preconceived notions and assumptions, and deconstructing theology. The rule at the Porch is this: we strive to be a place that is neither simple nor delicate. We don’t see life in relationship with God as uncomplicated. When we encounter God, we will be blessed by the encounter, but this does not mean it is easy. When we encounter God, we can be sure we will be blessed, but we may also leave limping, just as Jacob did. I’m encouraged by our young people, who see the hurt and the pain in the world around them and are striving to be better, to practice forgiveness, and to live into hope that love will conquer hate. That is our model of reconciliation: Meeting people where they are and saying, “I don’t know your story, but I would love to.”
Friends may we be a family of faith that does not wait around for healing, forgiveness, and love to find us. Let us be reconciled to one another and to God, weeping as Joseph wept, weeping as Jesus wept. May tears turn into action as we give thanks for the opportunity to witness the Spirit at work in our lives and in our communities. And may we be bold enough to ask, “What are you doing Lord? And how can we be a part of it?” Friends, may it be so in your life and in mine. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
WE GATHER IN AWE AND PRAISE
PRELUDE Festive Prelude on "Old 100th" Arr. Bruce A. Stevenson
WELCOME Rev. Trip Porch
*CALL TO WORSHIP
One: Thus says the Lord: Maintain justice, and do what is right, for soon my salvation will come.
Many: God will bring us to the holy mountain, a house of prayer for all people.
God gathers all the outcasts together and makes us joyful!
All: Let us Worship God
*HYMN NO. 397 “O Look and Wonder” (Psalm 133) MIREN QUE BUENO
*PRAYER OF CONFESSION Rev. Mary Gene Boteler
God of all goodness, we do not want to face all that is in our own hearts. We want to focus on the good— on the love, the compassion, the care— and ignore the bad— the greed, the envy, the cruelty. But before you, God, we must face it. Forgive all the ways we have let evil take hold in our hearts. Cleanse us. Help us face our own demons and empower us to live a Christlike life. In the silence hear our prayer…
*ASSURANCE OF PARDON
*RESPONSE OF PRAISE 582 “Glory to God, Whose Goodness Shines on Me” GLORY TO GOD (Vasile)
*PASSING OF THE PEACE
One: The peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all,
All: And also with you.
WE LISTEN FOR GOD’S WORD
SPECIAL MUSIC Day by Day and With Each Passing Moment Arr. Sunghwan Kim
PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION
SCIPTURE: Genesis 45:1-15
Then Joseph could no longer control himself before all those who stood by him, and he cried out, “Send everyone away from me.” So no one stayed with him when Joseph made himself known to his brothers. And he wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard it, and the household of Pharaoh heard it. Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph. Is my father still alive?” But his brothers could not answer him, so dismayed were they at his presence.
Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Come closer to me.” And they came closer. He said, “I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are five more years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest. God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to keep alive for you many survivors. So it was not you who sent me here but God; he has made me a father to Pharaoh and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt. Hurry and go up to my father and say to him, ‘Thus says your son Joseph, God has made me lord of all Egypt; come down to me; do not delay. You shall settle in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near me, you and your children and your children’s children, as well as your flocks, your herds, and all that you have. I will provide for you there, since there are five more years of famine to come, so that you and your household and all that you have will not come to poverty.’ And now your eyes and the eyes of my brother Benjamin see that it is my own mouth that speaks to you. You must tell my father how greatly I am honored in Egypt and all that you have seen. Hurry and bring my father down here.” Then he fell upon his brother Benjamin’s neck and wept, while Benjamin wept upon his neck. And he kissed all his brothers and wept upon them, and after that his brothers talked with him.
One: Holy Wisdom, Holy Word
All: Thanks be to God
Children’s Message Jeremy Carroll
SERMON Rev. Taylor Barner
*HYMN see insert
PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE with The Lord’s Prayer using debts and debtors
TIME OF OFFERING Bach French Suite No. 5 "Sarabande"
*OFFERTORY RESPONSE #710 “We Lift Our Voices” OFFERING
*PRAYER OF DEDICATION (adapted from Isaiah 58:11-12)
You are the source of every good and perfect gift, O God. Use these tithes and offerings for your glory. Let your church be a spring whose waters never fail; and let your people be repairers of the breach and restorers of streets to live in. We pray in Christ's name. Amen
*HYMN “Psalm 133” TALLIS CANON
How good when all the earth is one,
And hearts embrace community;
When strife will cease to separate,
And love binds all in unity.
As oil anointed Aaron’s head,
And dew adorns the mountainside,
So peace and blessing of the Lord
Within the faithful heart abide.
TIME OF COMMUNITYB SHARING
CHARGE AND BENEDICTION
POSTLUDE “Battle Hymn of the Republic” Arr. Sunghwan Kim
Acknowledgments: Unless otherwise indicated, all texts and music are printed and broadcast under OneLicense.net license #A-702452