Genesis 41:1-8
Pharoah had a dream. In his dream he was standing by the symbol of his power, the Nile. The river runs deep in his psyche because it was the symbol of both fertility and his administrative authority. The exercise of authority depends on information. Now he gets information he can’t control and he doesn’t know what to do with it. As the dream at Bethel did with Jacob, these dreams – of the cows and the heads of grain - intrude on his consciousness in a state in which control is relinquished.
This presents a serious crisis for Pharoah. Rulers and empires control information. Anything that doesn’t fit the preset agenda is obliterated. Those who have the information that doesn’t fit are discredited, killed, or given promotions. But this, this is a new thing. Pharoah can’t shake this. So he calls for all the usual advisers, but they can’t help him because they’re used to feeding him what he wants to hear. Now he and they are dealing with truth and purpose beyond their control. It’s going to take someone in tune with the one who gives dreams to say what it means, and to deal with the implications.
Prayer:
God, there are serious crises facing today’s world, greater than any before. Move the hearts of rulers and empires to be open to truth. Intrude on their consciousness, disturb them with dreams different from their shallow plans, and provide people who will be able and allowed to interpret and act on the truth that needs to be heard. Through Christ. Amen.
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5 comments:
jim, i can't help but read your post and your prayer in the context of us having watched An Inconvenient Truth last night at church.
if this were a fairy story, this biblical story, you might expect the timelines and details to be different. why does joseph languish in jail for another two years? how does that serve the human plot or the archetypal myth? if this were a fabricated story, i'd expect joseph to be freed a lot sooner. two years doesn't serve the human timing. it serves god's timing.
there was little sign at knox that read something like: a coincidence is god's way of performing a miracle and choosing to stay anonymous.
now get this: al gore goes to harvard, to law school, and takes a science class from roger revelle, who shows his data about the rising carbon dioxide and links it to global warming, as narrated in the film.
what's not said is that roger revelle was visiting from the university of california in san diego and was only at harvard for one year.
the thing about the timing is that roger revelle started dreaming what has become global warming science 50 years ago, and it's over 30 years ago that al gore started interpreting that dream.
joseph languishing (sorry, languishing is the wrong word; joseph was an active and caring leader) in jail for two years tells me to be patient and trust in god's timing, and not be overwhelmed by the seeming impossible narrowness of political (ie., human) timelines.
as you've said before, a god-given dream will not fail.
at the risk of forking topics, i want to say that i really liked your sermon on sunday on homosexuality. i liked your honesty on your personal struggle, i liked your honesty about the differing interpretations of scripture, i liked your honesty about the science, and i liked your final gospel parable about the need for humility in our quest for truth and understanding.
all my adult life i've been a supporter of full rights for gays and lesbians, in society and in the church. but i pray that my views and my interpretation of scripture are god-centred; because i'm not sure, and i'm fallible.
i am motivated by a sense that all of creation is born to serve god, and that there are no second-class citizens. i am motivated by the reports and personal stories of god's people who *do* feel excluded, and feel it painfully, very painfully.
why is god male? why is god referred to as 'he' and 'king' and 'lord' and 'father'? if we are created, male and female, in god's likeness, where's the female aspect of the creator? i don't know. i know of no scriptural basis for god being any gender other than male, apart from the inference from genesis 1:27 that males and females are created in god's image.
perhaps god is the fullness of that image, is both genders, or neither gender. perhaps. it's beyond my comprehension.
and while i am definitely a male, physically, intellectually, and socially, there's a side to me that i treasure and nurture, a side that is traditionally associated with female. and i feel fuller and more integrated, closer to my true sense of self, as i balance the perception of both genders within me, united in one flesh, to really stretch the context of genesis 2:24.
speaking of genesis 2, the second creation story, i struggle with this version because it is so heavily patriarchical, and i personally view it as creation as understood by a patriarchal society millenia ago; and while there are many truths and ideals in it, the human context of the gender politics are very difficult for me to work with. but i try, and i can only do that by listening to people in my community and culture and church, as well as those unchurched.
RE: "Move the hearts of rulers and empires to be open to truth."
this post is still on my mind, and in my internal jukebox:
And the men who hold high places
Must be the ones to start
To mould a new reality
Closer to the heart
--rush, words by neil peart and peter talbot
redsaucer, you've prompted me (not just to avoid answers now!) to work on a message - maybe a whole series - on the gender of God, maybe patterned after a discussion of the Trinity. I'll blame you for any consequencea, LOL. (but I'll continue OJ in unemployment)
As for the message, the text can be at a link at a special OJ post (since I don't know how to do a link tag here).
Thanks for the lines from Rush. It seems often that the true prophets of the day are 'secular' artists, and maybe even an occasional politician.
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