Joseph was a righteous man...

I've been doing quite a bit of thinking about Joseph recently. Sure it had something to do with the fact that I was preaching at Nativity Lutheran the last Sunday of Advent and the reading was from Matthew 1: 18 - 25 which centers on Joseph, but more to the point it has to do with my name. I am Joseph Daniel Sellepack III which implies that I was named after two other Josephs who were ultimately named after other Josephs including this Joseph, the father of Jesus.

The text says that Joseph was a righteous man. Now that is something to live up to. I've always thought that righteousness was a matter of keeping rules and making a clean life the goal. Keep your nose clean - wash behind your ears - and above all don't ever get caught hanging out with the wrong people. That's kind of how it was always presented to me as a kid.

As I thought more intently about this passage, I had to go deeper than just that. This passage is so much more than just about rules.

Rules would say that Mary should have been stoned to death or at least severely shamed for her pregnancy. Women of course have a hard time hiding their pregnancies from prying eyes and the judgement of others. But Joseph could have stayed in the background. He could have chose to not be marked by this pregnancy and instead allow Mary to bear it alone - to be mocked and ridiculed. But Joseph won't hang out in the shadows. He goes right up front and does the righteous act. He takes Mary to be his wife.

And as Matthew tells the story it is Joseph who protects the child Jesus from the violence of Herod. It is Joseph who has the dreams and visions that lead them into Egypt. It is Joseph who stands up and takes responsibility for the unborn child and for Mary his mother.

It's not that Joseph came from the perfect family - he didn't, just read the geneology sometime. It's not that Joseph kept every law or dotted every i and crossed every t. That's not it - and I think it misses the point of the story. Righteous people take risks for others and do the just act even when there is pressure to just go along with the flow and hang out with the group. Righteous people deal with others using gentleness and tenderness and make kindness the point and use these attributes to fuel all their dealings with others.

They're not doormats, far from it! They're gatekeepers and they make a difference in the world. May it be so for all of us.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Peace and towels,

Joe

Unresolved Yesterdays

Ann Weems in her book Kneeling in Bethlehem writes a poem entitled"Yesterday's Pain."

Some of us walk into Advent
tethered to our unresolved yesterdays
the pain still stabbing
the hurt still throbbing
It's not that we don't know better;
it's just that we can't stand up anymore by ourselves.
On the way to Bethlehem,
will you give us a hand?

As I approach this advent season, I wonder how many of us have experienced the unresolved yesterday? Hopes dashed, dreams deferred, relationships that were meant to last a lifetime instead cut ruthlessly short. Each broken promise we've met or made yells out to us that our lives are fragile at best and at worst are hopelessly broken.

So much hurts and wounds both inflicted and endured that we can't stand up by ourselves anymore. The tragedy is that when we're honest with ourselves we cannot escape these yesterdays and these wounds really do make us who we are.

But isn't that the work of Advent - to show us that we can't, no matter how hard we try, stand up by ourselves? It's tough, but for Christians this is the ultimate good news story: stop trying to make it on your own. You need someone else, there are no self made men and women, and together we can become much more than what we could by ourselves.

And so we are rescued by a baby in a manger. Christ enters our life to help us stand up and walk. But it's not just some imagined presence that comes along side of us, or wish fulfillment, or some grand idea or positive energy that frees us from ourselves and the wounds we cause. Rather it is the living presence of Christ in the community that makes our standing possible.

In many ways this is the over-riding mission of the Broome County Council of Churches. We engage in Jail Re-entry because we know that those who come through the prison system need a helping hand in order to make it in the community. We come along side those who need a wheelchair ramp or food or a helping hand, because we know that someday we will be hungry or we will need some food or we will need some help. By working together to help those in need, we ensure our own survival when times get hard and we need someone else.

And somehow, in the midst of our lives, a child is born, and the world is never the same.

Won't you give us a hand?

Peace and towels,

Joe Sellepack