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Sermon – January 24, 2016

January 24, 2016 By Leave a Comment

BPUMC_Podcast_Logo“How To Fold a Towel“, by Rev. Mike Holly

Today in worship, we as a church family turn our attention to an important process of making relationships last a lifetime as well as a central part of God’s attitude towards each and every one of us: Forgiveness. A wise person once said that that weak persons cannot or will not forgive because forgiveness is “the attribute of the strong.” While I agree with this statement, I would go a step further. True forgiveness is the attribute of the faithful.

Why take forgiveness to that next step? Partly because I believe that we can only practice true forgiveness once we know what it means to be truly forgiven. In the church, we mediate on this often whether it be in our Prayer of Confession or as we gather together to receive the bread and the cup as forgiven people at Holy Communion. One of the first things that every child in the faith learns is that God loves us. The second is usually that God forgives.
If God has forgiven us, then it creates a possibility for us to learn to forgive one another. We begin with the small things. How can we ever learn to forgive the big things in life if we cannot let those little things go? In today’s Scripture reading, Joseph forgives after being sold into slavery, abandoned and forgotten by his own brothers. How amazing is that act of forgiveness? Now, about those little things…

~Mike Holly

The Word

Genesis 50:15-21

Realizing that their father was dead, Joseph’s brothers said, “What if Joseph still bears a grudge against us and pays us back in full for all the wrong that we did to him?” So they approached Joseph, saying, “Your father gave this instruction before he died, ‘Say to Joseph: I beg you, forgive the crime of your brothers and the wrong they did in harming you.’ Now therefore please forgive the crime of the servants of the God of your father.” Joseph wept when they spoke to him. Then his brothers also wept, fell down before him, and said, “We are here as your slaves.” But Joseph said to them, “Do not be afraid! Am I in the place of God? Even though you intended to do harm to me, God intended it for good, in order to preserve a numerous people, as he is doing today. So have no fear; I myself will provide for you and your little ones.” In this way he reassured them, speaking kindly to them.

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Sermon – February 15, 2015

February 15, 2015 By Leave a Comment

Dysfunctional Families of the Old Testament“Forgiving the Unforgivable“, by Rev. Mike Holly

Sermon Series: Dysfunctional Families of the Old Testament

Forgiveness is an essential life skill. We cannot make it through life without being able to forgive for if we do not, we will eventually find ourselves alone. The story of Joseph and his brothers demonstrates how life creates opportunities for families to wound one another. Joseph takes a few missteps before finally offering forgiveness to his brothers. And the Bible tells us that their reunion leads to prosperity, at least for a while, for them and their descendants.

In our own families, we will from time to time be wounded by those who love us. Sometimes it is for the actions they took against us or the words that they spew at us. Other times, it is the things that they have not done. And finally, there are those terrible, almost unspeakable, things that family members do that seem almost unforgivable.

How do we go about forgiving the unforgivable? And how do we make sure that forgiveness is constructive — healing all members of the family in the process? The story of reconciliation between Joseph and his brothers will help us ponder these questions.

~Mike Holly

The Word

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.

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Sermon – February 8, 2015

February 8, 2015 By Leave a Comment

Dysfunctional Families of the Old Testament“Dysfunctional Indeed“, by Rev. Tom Duley

Sermon Series: Dysfunctional Families of the Old Testament

To say that we human beings can get ourselves twisted into knots of violence and destruction is an understatement. In fact, it would not be overstating the case to say that we are addicted to visiting violence and destruction on one another. A cursory glance of the headlines on any given day will reveal just how deeply addicted we are. Violence and destruction fueled by jealousy and hatred is everywhere it seems.

We would like to think that that sort of thing doesn’t happen in families. We like to think of families as havens of acceptance, love, and support. But when we are honest we know that families are subject to hatred and destruction. There are times when parents favor one child over another; times when siblings grow to hate one another; times when we see other family members as our competition rather than our support. When these conditions exist they sometimes lead to the unthinkable.

We encounter a family given to violence and destruction in the Biblical text for today. Joseph antagonized his brothers so much that they grew to hate him. Theirs was a profound hatred; a hatred so deep that they wanted to kill him. However, in the end they settled for selling him into slavery. They were determined to exact violence and destruction on their own brother. Today we’ll look at why that happened. We’ll also talk about some things that we can do to insure that it doesn’t happen in our families.

~Tom Duley

The Word

Genesis 37:2-11, 20-28

This is the story of the family of Jacob.

Joseph, being seventeen years old, was shepherding the flock with his brothers; he was a helper to the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wives; and Joseph brought a bad report of them to their father. Now Israel loved Joseph more than any other of his children, because he was the son of his old age; and he had made him a long robe with sleeves. But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably to him.

Once Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more. He said to them, “Listen to this dream that I dreamed. There we were, binding sheaves in the field. Suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright; then your sheaves gathered around it, and bowed down to my sheaf.” His brothers said to him, “Are you indeed to reign over us? Are you indeed to have dominion over us?” So they hated him even more because of his dreams and his words.

He had another dream, and told it to his brothers, saying, “Look, I have had another dream: the sun, the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me.” But when he told it to his father and to his brothers, his father rebuked him, and said to him, “What kind of dream is this that you have had? Shall we indeed come, I and your mother and your brothers, and bow to the ground before you?” So his brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind.

Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits; then we shall say that a wild animal has devoured him, and we shall see what will become of his dreams.” But when Reuben heard it, he delivered him out of their hands, saying, “Let us not take his life.” Reuben said to them, “Shed no blood; throw him into this pit here in the wilderness, but lay no hand on him”—that he might rescue him out of their hand and restore him to his father. So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe, the long robe with sleeves that he wore; and they took him and threw him into a pit. The pit was empty; there was no water in it.

Then they sat down to eat; and looking up they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, with their camels carrying gum, balm, and resin, on their way to carry it down to Egypt. Then Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is it if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and not lay our hands on him, for he is our brother, our own flesh.” And his brothers agreed. When some Midianite traders passed by, they drew Joseph up, lifting him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. And they took Joseph to Egypt.

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