Family Reunion

Genesis 45:1-15
45:1 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.

45:2 And he wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard it, and the household of Pharaoh heard it.

45:3 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.

45:4 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.

45:5 And now do not be distressed, or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life.

45:6 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.

45:7 God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors.

45:8 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.

45:9 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.

45:10 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.

45:11 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.

45:12 And now your eyes and the eyes of my brother Benjamin see that it is my own mouth that speaks to you.

45:13 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."

45:14 Then he fell upon his brother Benjamin's neck and wept, while Benjamin wept upon his neck.

45:15 And he kissed all his brothers and wept upon them; and after that his brothers talked with him.

 

 

Family reunions are becoming an artifact of a bygone era, aren’t they? Our families have certainly scattered hither and yon, and some have even “dissolved” in a cloud of divorces or “tough love” necessitated by aberrant or addictive behavior. In some cases, it just isn’t practical to “gather” the diaspora of our families for even an occasional picnic or “destination” vacation, and in other cases, electronic connections, including FaceTime, Facebook, Instagram, email, and Zoom, have filled the bill, where there is even a desire to maintain connections. What do you remember about the days of “real” family reunions? You know, the times when some matriarch or patriarch of one of the “halves” of your family rented a pavilion or a meeting hall and invited the tiered generations of that part of the family to bring a “covered dish” or kick in for a caterer, and “bring the kids” so the grandmas and great grandmas could marvel how much they had grown since the last gathering? Of course, if you are much under 50 years of age, you may have no memories of such a thing, at all. This is where I realize that next week I will turn 69 years of age, and am almost a full generation ahead of any of you reading this sermon!

 

When I was a kid, we had an annual “Dahle” reunion (my Mom’s side of the family), usually at a local park in a rented pavilion. Of course, the “covered dish” was featured, as were hotdogs and hamburgers on a grill, or two. The Dahle reunion did NOT feature alcohol, as our family was not made up of folk who imbibed, for the large part—at least not publicly—and besides, the public parks ruled it out. We kids ran off to the concrete and steel playgrounds to skin our knees and have a great time, while the adults sat around spinning yarns, catching up, and smearing Merthiolate on our bleeding body parts and applying “flesh colored” Band-Aids. (We had no African Americans in our family, or this might have been an early clue that there was discrimination afoot?) The Dahle reunions petered out, eventually, as again, the family scattered, and the “elders” (mostly surviving grandma-types) moved to nursing homes or to that great nursing home in the sky. 

 

When I married Dara, I also acquired “membership” to the annual “Guentner” family reunion. (I’m not even sure I’m spelling that name right?) This was a gathering of families on the “Apel” side of Dara’s tribe, but frankly, I knew none of them with the last name of Guentner. They were “Aunt Agnes” or “Uncle Don” to me. It was Uncle Don who taught me how to throw horseshoes at the Guentner reunion. And since the Guentner reunion was held at North Park, it either allowed alcohol, or looked the other way, as beer was available and popular. Uncle Don liked it, and the more tuned up he got, the better his aim became at the horseshoe pits. As I was just learning the game of horseshoes, and did not drink beer like Iron City, in those days, Uncle Don used to chide me that my aim was off because I was NOT “pumping Iron.” My favorite character at the Guentner reunions, though, was Uncle Bion. He looked just like Yoda, and since the reunions were always on Sunday afternoons, he would park himself at the quieter, outer fringes of the party, with his ear close to a large transistor radio turned to KDKA and the Pirate baseball game. (The Pirates were worth listening to in those days…) About the only thing I remember Uncle Bion saying was “Shhhh!” eight or ten times when the Pirates were scoring. I must admit, the Guentner reunions were much better than the Dahle reunions of my childhood. Maybe it was the Iron City?

 

Today’s text from Genesis 45 is all about a famous family reunion. As we talked about in last week’s message, Joseph of “dreamer’s coat” fame, had been sold into slavery in Egypt by his brothers, who were jealous of his gift, and the attention it brought him from dad (Jacob). Their paths took diverse directions, more so than just the geography that separated them. His brothers, their family, and pretty much all of God’s people who would become Israel, were in the midst of a great famine, and the Pharoah of Egypt controlled vast storehouses of grain. Guess who was in charge of parceling it out to those in need, especially to people of foreign lands? Yep, good ol’ Joe! Thanks to his ability to interpret dreams, he had gotten in good with the rules of Egypt, and had been promoted by them to a position of prominence. This set the stage for our biblical family reunion.

 

One day, who should wander in looking sad and starving, begging for grain, but Joseph’s brothers! Their father, Jacob, hand sent them to beg for help, as the famine was taking its toll. Jacob was aware that this could be a humbling, if not near impossible task, as Egypt had a bad history with the Jews, and was not living under the kind of “code of hospitality” that God required of Jacob’s people. (This code was not yet formalized, but was in God’s nature, and God did not look kindly upon his people when they didn’t care for any strangers in their midst.) Egypt could just as easily tell them to “go pound sand” as give them food to help them through the famine. Joseph immediately recognized his brothers, but they didn’t have a clue that the Egyptian office of whom they must now beg for help, was the brother they had betrayed. 

 

Joseph sent all of the other Egyptians in his court away so he could “confront” his brothers in private, and then he exclaimed to them, “I AM JOSEPH!” What they must have been thinking in this moment reminds me of the lyric of a famous Johnny Cash song: “My name is SUE! HOW DO YOU DO?!?” But because this is a Bible story and not Stephen King, Joseph weeps in front of them for joy and hugs the neck of his little brother, Benjamin. He inquires if his father is still alive, and wants his brothers to bring his father to see him. He offers to not only save them from the throes of the famine, but to relocate them and all of their kin to nearby Goshen, where they will be fed and protected. He tells them that what THEY meant for evil, God used for GOOD, and used Joseph’s unexpected good fortune to save this remnant of God’s people. This family reunion was not just a reconciliation and a tear-jerker, but it would become the seeds of the whole people of Israel. No wonder Andrew Lloyd Webber wrote a musical about it! What a story!

 

Rarely did anything this dramatic happen at any of our family reunions, although I seem to remember a few times when one of the family “prodigals” showed up. After the gossipy titters died away, she or he was offered an “Iron” and welcome to join the others at the horseshoe pits or in the gaggle of “young moms” talking about where the bargains were. (Sorry for the sexism here, friends, but this was just the reality of the late 1970s in Western Pennsylvania!) I do seem to recall one time at the more boring Dahle reunion when a young member of the family who had just graduated from college was invited by a senior family member to “Come to my office next week, and I’ll see if I might have a job for you.” Not exactly a plot for a musical or a thriller movie, but at least a good outcome for that young man.

 

So, here we sit today, as people of faith, recalling our own family reunions, and reading about one of the historic ones in the Bible. Don’t you get the feeling that GOD really enjoyed the irony of this story of Joseph and his brothers? And yes, I know God ORCHESTRATED the whole thing, but even Andrew Lloyd Webber must get a kick out of his clever musicals, especially when the people and the money roll in from them! I think God had a field day with this—so much so, that as the story of Israel and all of the people of God who would follow unfolded, such ironic and even comedic “reversals of fortune” would forever become part of their tribal DNA. OUR tribal DNA! We Christians have the stories of people like Peter, who was always putting his foot in his mouth and even a sword to a soldier, and yet God used him mightily, and he became a pillar of the budding church. How about Saul, who persecuted early Christ followers unto death, supervising the stoning of Stephen? God “grabs” him right off his horse and makes him the “Apostle to the Gentiles.” Most modern historians credit the growth and influence of the early Christian movement with sowing the seeds of the destruction of the Roman Empire that sought to oppress them! God seems to get a real kick out rooting for the proverbial “underdog.”

 

And here we are, we modern believers, gathered yet again to pray, to fellowship, and to worship! Down through the centuries, countless villains, oppressive and obsessive leaders, and even historical circumstances have “conspired” to destroy communities of faith of all kinds, not just the church. And yet, here we are, and most of them are gone. Even in our day, schism has brought about another gut-punch to our United Methodist denomination, but let us remember that God is still “in charge,” and while we may hope the best for the people and churches that broke away, we also believe that God has a good plan for the People Called United Methodists! Maybe someday, in God’s good timing, these two “factions” will hold their own family reunion? We can surely pray!

 

Have you ever pondered what is really happening when we gather to “worship” God? I know all of the language about this—we “praise” God, we give God “glory” when we worship, etc., etc. We feel good doing it, as it is a cleansing, renewing way to express our gratitude to God for life, love, family, and forgiveness. But have you ever wondered what it does for God? Honestly, if you read the Bible from Genesis to maps, you will find very little that says that God is “blessed” by what we call worship. It just doesn’t seem to be in the “character” of Yahweh to “demand” that we do all of this “religious” stuff, for God’s benefit. Remember, this is a God who gets God’s “kicks” out of the underdog stuff, or the ironic, comedic “turns” in the story, as we have seen in today’s text about Joseph and his brothers. What would this God “get” out of a bunch of people singing praises or shouting “Hallelujah”? Here’s my theory.

 

It's all a big, weekly FAMILY REUNION. We are implored by God to “not forsake our assembling together.” We are told to offer our corporate praises, and to sing hymns and spiritual songs to God. But note how important it is that we GATHER to do so! THIS is the “secret” to what worship “does” for God!

 

What I most remember about those family reunions was gazing over to one side of the room or the picnic pavilion, and seeing all of the little, old “grandmas,” sitting together, and joyfully watching their generations of progeny laughing, playing together, and chatting up a storm, as they “reconnected” after not having seen one another for a while. Those grandmas were SO happy, as they witnessed this “joyful fellowship of family” unfolding right before their eyes. They wouldn’t miss it! GOD is like those GRANDMAS, friends!!! God doesn’t “need” our songs, our praises, even our worship, but by wanting us to come together to DO so, means that God gets to see God’s family gathering together each week, joyfully fellowshipping, “catching up” with each other about life, and supporting one another with hugs, prayers, handshakes, and “Gee, it’s so GOOD to see you!” greetings and smiles. God gets OFF on watching this happen! We are God’s family reunion! Choirs SING because they love to SING, and God loves to watch their joy, as they do so. Preachers PREACH because they love God and want to tell EVERYONE about God’s love and grace! God loves to watch them preach, and see God’s people listening to what they have to say! We all love to do like Joseph does to his little brother, Benjamin—“hug the necks” of our fellow Christians and “pew mates,” some of whom may actually have become closer to us than our blood family! You had better believe that God gets “off” on witnessing this happen! THIS is why we worship. This is why we gather—to love on one another, and support one another, come what may. There is healing in these “family reunions”! There is reconciliation in these family reunions! And as we truly learn to “welcome all strangers” into our community of faith, there is GREAT JOY in the growth of our family, as the weekly “reunions” continue. THIS is what God gets out of our worship, friends! If you don’t believe it, keep reading the Bible. It’s all there.

 

So, if your family—or some part of it—still does those family reunions, go to the next one. Look for the grandmas. They are God of the reunion. And then, the next time you gather with your friends at church, think of the grandmas, for that image is the perfect one to understand God’s presence in our worship each week. And there is great joy here! And you don’t even have to “pump an Iron” to experience it! Amen!