Scripture: Genesis 50:15-21
Dear Church,
There’s a song we sing sometimes at the Grove called “Blessings Everywhere.” In these days, I am finding solace and rest in the words of the chorus: Blessings in the highs, blessings in the lows, blessings everywhere I go. Blessings in the yes, blessings in the no, blessings everywhere I go,
Christians like to talk about blessings, but not like this. We want to believe that because we love Jesus the bad things that happen to other people won’t happen to us. We hope that blessings everywhere I go means that from the moment we ‘decide’ for Jesus, there will be nothing but pleasure and comfort for us. We twist the Bible to make it say that our faith in Jesus will shield us from the setbacks, the disappointments, the losses and the injustices other people experience.
But everything that has ever happened anywhere in the world happened to someone Jesus loves. When we follow Jesus we will discover blessings everywhere we go–but we will go some places we wouldn’t choose for ourselves. It’s easy to see and celebrate the goodness of God when things go our way. It’s obvious to label it a blessing when we get what we want and think we deserve–when we hear ‘yes’ or are on a spiritual ‘high.’
But a deep rich spiritual life on the narrow way shows us that, while not everything is good, God is with us in everything–and wherever God is, there is blessing. So to our surprise, we find there is also blessing in the ‘no,’ and in the low points of our lives. There is blessing buried in the grief and losses of our past, especially in the parts that we’d rather leave behind unexamined.
Maybe the song has been on my mind because we’ve been re-learning the story of Joseph along with the children and youth in VBS this week. If there’s anything we see in Joseph’s story, it’s that God is faithful to us in the midst of horrible circumstances and that we can find blessings–and be blessings–anywhere.
I hope you’ll join me for worship this week. I especially hope you’ll join us if you’ve had a week full of lows and noes. That song I was talking about ends with the words Come now Sunrise, open my eyes. May the Risen Son open our eyes to the blessings around us even now.
Peace,
Pastor Kate
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