Wednesday, December
21, 2016
This
is the account of Jacob and his family. When Joseph was seventeen years old, he
often tended his father’s flocks. He
worked for his half brothers, the sons of his father’s wives Bilhah and Zilpah.
But Joseph reported to his father some
of the bad things his brothers were doing.
Jacob loved Joseph more than any of his other children because
Joseph had been born to him in his old age. So one day Jacob had a special gift made for
Joseph—a beautiful robe. But his brothers
hated Joseph because their father loved him more than the rest of them. They couldn’t say a kind word to him. One night Joseph had a dream, and when he
told his brothers about it, they hated him more than ever. “Listen to
this dream,” he said. “We were out in the field, tying up bundles of
grain. Suddenly my bundle stood up, and
your bundles all gathered around and bowed low before mine!” His
brothers responded, “So you think you will be our king, do you? Do you actually think you will reign over us?”
And they hated him all the more because
of his dreams and the way he talked about them.
Genesis 37:2-8(NLT)
Evans Brown taught me a lot about community. I
arrived in the small town of Greenville, Florida in 1996 to serve the little
church on the hill. Evans was a church
member, and for fun he ran the local electric cooperative. Mr. Brown was a fine, personable,
upstanding, but usually quiet man. Just
not that first week.
During my first week Evans came by in his old pickup which
had holes in the muffler and built before shock absorbers became popular.
For three hours we rode every back dusty road in that part of Madison County,
with Evans schooling me on whose Aunt or cousin twice-removed used to
live there...and all their family history. He included stories of
barn-raisings, woodsheds and family dirty laundry lists. It seemed Evans
and his wife Shirley were part of the family tree in each story. Whenever we passed a house the story always
sounded like it was Shirley’s third-cousin, twice’t removed married to her
great Aunt’s neighbor who happened to be the founder of Greenville and
great-grandfather to th’ boy that owned the bulldog down at the University of
Georgia.
My tour guide and his truck with wheels made of rock
dropped me and my aching back at the church late in the afternoon. Before
I got a few steps away Evans called out: And by th’ way, Preacher, a bit o' friendly advice - don't pass around
nothin' bad 'bout nobody aroun’ heyah; seems like we're all kinda tied together
in this town.
Joseph and his brothers were all that, and more! Truth be told, it is community which defines
us, refines us, and eventually buries us – some for better, some for
worse.
Joseph’s problem was he had a mouth to match his imagination. He was transparent and truthful, but lacked
the art of discretion. After all, you
can’t help having the kind of dreams you have, but you certainly don’t have to
blab about how you dreamed your brothers will someday be your servants. It also didn’t help that their father Jacob
gave Joseph a coat that marked him as the favorite.
That community was doomed to heartache!
For You Today
What
about your community? What is it that
you’re doing to help that school, that office, that family, or the postal
worker who delivers your mail? How are
you contributing to the defining, refining or burying of the Josephs in your
neighborhood?
NOTES
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