Christine Quinn is a Democratic candidate currently running for mayor of New York City. In an interview, she told an interesting story about her grandmother, Nellie Callaghan, who, as a young girl, came over to the United States on the Titanic and, although she was traveling in the cheap steerage section, managed to survive that ship’s crash. She was quoted in a book on the Titanic as having said, “When the other girls dropped to their knees to pray, I took a run for it.” Christine once said to a priest, kind of cheekily, “I guess my grandmother knew there was a time for praying and a time for running.” The priest replied, “No, Christine, your grandmother knew you could pray while running.”1 I like that story because it touches on the important theme of how we are to understand God’s power that is at work in our lives. Do we pray? Do we run? Do we pray while running? The two came together in Nellie’s life that fateful day on the Titanic. The two came together as well in Joseph’s life one fateful day long ago in Egypt.
The passage we heard from Genesis 45 is the climax of the whole Joseph narrative – that culminating moment when all the games and tricks and secrets and lies are swept off the table, and the long-lost brother stands in front of his siblings and says, “I am Joseph; don’t be afraid.” And what makes that moment so important is how Joseph talks about his life when he summarizes for his brothers all the things that have happened over the years. Joseph doesn’t yell at them. Joseph doesn’t taunt them or belittle them. Joseph doesn’t lord his power and wealth over them. Joseph doesn’t claim that his brains or good fortune brought him to such an exalted place. No, Joseph reveals himself, comforts his distraught brothers, and then offers a prayer – a theological explanation for all that had happened: I am your brother Joseph; do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here; God sent me before you to preserve life.
That’s such an amazing response by Joseph. He doesn’t talk about anger or revenge or blind luck. He simply steps forward and reveals his name, embraces his brothers, and in that moment invites God to join them in their family circle. He points to God as the one who was always there, working out a plan for good that was bigger than any of their deeds of evil. In theology, we call that providence – the belief that God is ultimately in control, at work in, through, and around us each and every day. It’s a wonderful doctrine – a comforting doctrine – but one that can be hard to hold onto and trust, especially when things aren’t going well.
When I think of God’s providence, I picture a series of concentric circles – which start with me, then move out to my family, then to my community, to this nation, and out to the whole world as created and loved by God, who is active in each part of the concentric circles. Like the stacking dolls I mentioned in the Children’s Sermon, this image of circles remind me that God is at work all around us, every moment, everywhere. Just like Joseph said, God goes before us to preserve and heal life. But the challenge is this: How do we take this image, this theological idea, and truly live into it faithfully?
Let me make three suggestions. First, remember that the plot of life is larger than every player. You may feel like you are center stage in the drama of life. You may feel like you’ve got a follow-spot shining on everything you do. Or conversely, when things are bad, when you’re in pain, when you’re afraid or grieving or depressed, it may feel like it takes too much energy to focus on someone else. But you are never alone. The drama of life is larger than any one player, even someone as special as you or me. We know this on an intuitive level, but on a deeper, faith level, it means we remember that God is at work in the life of everyone around you – at work in ways we can’t begin to fully grasp or appreciate. As we can see God’s face in other’s faces, as we can sense God’s spirit active in the lives and encounters we have with others, we are able to trust the power of God’s providence in our world today.
Second, providence is a bit like praying and running. It is something that you affirm and then move on, rather than stop and analyze. To try to understand how providence works is to attempt to control it, and that only kills our ability to accept God’s providence by faith. Edward Muybridge created something that later helped Thomas Edison invent motion pictures. In 1872, Muybridge began experimenting with stop-action photography. He would set up a series of 12 or more cameras, all in a row and all with fast shutter speeds. Then, as a horse ran past, he would take a group of photographs that captured the horse’s stride at split-second intervals. These images would then be transferred onto a glass disk, which when rotated in a box and viewed through a peephole, created the illusion that the horse was actually running. Muybridge’s device was called a “zoopraxiscope.” Now you can study Muybridge’s glass disks and see each individual photograph of the racehorse running down a track – see how the legs are in different positions in each subsequent picture or how the neck extends and retracts. But analyzing the disk does not truly let you see the horse run. Only by spinning it, by setting it in motion and not stopping to examine each individual image, can you appreciate the beauty of Muybridge’s work. In the same way, God’s providence is something we affirm and then move on. It is less logical and more doxological – less about reason and more about praising and giving thanks. Like the psalmist of old: I lift up my eyes to the hills; from where will my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. (Psalm 121) Acknowledge a loving God, affirm God’s providential care, and then move on.
Third and last, hold onto Joseph’s language about the nature of God’s providence. Joseph said in effect, “God goes before us… to do what? To preserve life.” Now, Bible 101 moment: The Old Testament stories were not told simply to entertain ancient Hebrew kids around the campfire. They were told to engender faith in people who were long suffering, oppressed and at constant risk of genocide by their neighbors. Remember, Joseph would bring his entire family to come live with him in Egypt – but those children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren of Jacob would become slaves under later Pharaohs. They thought they would die, but God sent Moses to rescue them and preserve their life. These same children of Jacob, also called Israel, would settle into the land of promise, but they would battle with their neighbors and eventually be taken into exile by the Babylonians. They thought they would never see their home again, but God called them out of exile to preserve their life. This same people endured centuries of oppression from others – Greeks, Romans, Ottomans, and even Christians. They were expelled from Europe in 1492; they endured the Holocaust of the 1940s that cost over 6 million of them their lives. They thought they would die, but God acted to preserve their life.
If you’re looking for providence, for evidence of how God goes before us and walks beside us, don’t look for the little things – lottery ticket purchases, decisions not to board a train that later has a terrible crash. Look for the bigger things that manage to preserve life: Providence at work to cure diseases, feed the hungry, stop gun violence, end war – preserving life on a big scale that has ripple effects all the way down to individual actions and deeds of compassion. God’s fingerprints are all through the chain of events, but by faith we see the big picture as an expression of God’s providence – whose power rules over all earthly power, whose love is stronger than all hatred, whose goodness can overcome evil, whose “Yes” is always louder than this world’s “No.”
And it is here in the Joseph story, this tale of God’s loving providence, that the Old and New Testaments come fully together. To his brothers he said, “I am Joseph.” The one who was dead is now alive! An Easter gift in Old Testament wrapping paper. And when that resurrection message is told, whether in an Egyptian hall or outside a garden tomb, our first reaction is surprise and fear. So the next words are always “Don’t be dismayed! Do not be afraid.” And when we try to make sense of it all, when our brains hurt from trying to analyze the details and grapple with how such resurrection, “new life” things are even possible, the reminder comes from God simply to rejoice and walk by faith, not by sight. To go and tell others the good news! To trust in the grace and providential power of our God who acts daily, universally, to preserve life. To run and pray at the same time when we must. To stop and trust whenever we can. To travel to new lands, to risk new beginnings, to look for resurrections every day, even in the mirror. And to know this deep down in our heart of hearts: God is good – all the time. And all the time – God is good.
1 “Leave a Place Setting for Ann,” The New York Times, May 12, 2013.
AMEN