Text: 1 Samuel 1:1-20; 2:1-5; 8-10Speaker: Joel Miller

Maybe you’ve heard this story before. 

A woman who can’t have children – a barren woman – lives in anguish.  Her husband has multiple wives, and the other woman, or women, do have children, adding to the pain.  But her husband loves her most of all, and tries to comfort her, to no avail.  The woman wants, more than anything, even more than her husband’s affection, a son.  She, and others, view her barrenness as an act of God, a blessing withheld, a curse, and so an inescapable mark of shame and worthlessness.  Through some combination of divine promise, persistence, or prayer, she eventually conceives, giving birth to a son.  She rejoices in this turn of fate.  The son goes on to be such a pivotal figure that the story of their people can’t be told without him.

This is the story of Sarah and her son Isaac through Abraham, to whom Jews trace their family lineage and to whom Christians trace our spiritual lineage. 

It’s the story of Rachel and her son Joseph, through Jacob, Sarah’s grandson.  Joseph, to whom the book of Genesis dedicates over a quarter of its chapters – from his alienation from his brothers, to his rise to power in Egypt, to his reconciliation with his family, even as he enslaves all of Egypt with his grain distribution policies during a famine.                     

And it’s the story of Hannah and her son Samuel.  Childless, Hannah prays and prays for a son.  She makes a vow, that if God will give her a son, she’ll give God a priest.  She prays at the temple of Shiloh, veering far enough away from the way you’re supposed to pray in a holy place that Eli, the aging priest, accuses her of being drunk.  She names…

Text: Exodus 32:1-20; Luke 4:1-4

Speaker: Joel Miller

My dad recently told me about an annual poetry contest in Barcelona, Spain where they give prizes for the top three poems.  This was mentioned in a commencement address by the poet Billy Collins, and it was the prizes – what they were – that Collins highlighted.  That’s what caught my dad’s attention, and mine too.  So much so, I thought it could work as a parable that includes those same three prizes.  This may seem a bit far afield from the Exodus story of the golden calf we just heard, but hopefully some connections will appear.    

The Kin-dom of God is like a wise and generous ruler who planted a beautiful rose garden in the center of the city for her people to enjoy.  Prior to its official opening, she invited anyone who wished to come see it and submit a poem about its beauty.  The top three submissions would all receive a prize.  Many came from near and far to tour the garden and try their hand at writing a poem so lovely, so delightful, so beautiful, it would capture the hearts of all who heard it, including the ruler, who was known to be generous, and had promised not one but three prizes for three poets. 

After all the poems were submitted, each was carefully read and considered by the most learned advisors of the ruler.  Among those many poems, three were selected and ordered for the third, second, and first place prizes. 

The day arrived for the dedication of the garden, its grand opening to the public.  It was a festive occasion, with roses of countless variety in full bloom.  Everyone who gathered was in awe. 

As the ceremony began, the ruler welcomed all those in attendance, assuring them that this was their…

Text: Genesis 37:1-8, 23-28; 41:46-49, 53-57; 42:1-3; 47:13-21; 50:15-21; Luke 6:35Speaker: Joel Miller

The character of Joseph is complicated, even a contradiction. 

It’s a long story, covering the final 14 of 50 chapters in Genesis, so the editors must have thought it was pretty important. 

Joseph’s story can be told as one who overcomes hardship and injustice, ultimately choosing forgiveness over vengeance.  He becomes a great leader whose foresight saves countless lives.  The story can also be told as one whose misuse of power destroyed countless lives, including his own people.

This is the story Genesis gives so much attention.

Joseph doesn’t start out as all that sympathetic of a character.  He’s kind of an arrogant youth.  Not only does he have dreams about his brothers and even his parents bowing down to him, but he tells them these dreams.  Which does not go over well.  Multiple times we are told that his brothers are jealous and hate him.    

It wasn’t entirely Joseph’s fault.  He comes from a long line of parents selecting favorite sons.  Abraham favors Isaac over Ishmael.  Isaac favors Esau, although Rebekah, his wife, favors Jacob.  And Jacob has children through four different women, making perfectly clear to everyone that Rachel is his favorite wife, and her oldest son, Joseph, his favorite son.  None of this works out well, to the extent that it’s almost as if the purpose of the book of Genesis is to caution against choosing favorites.  Which is ironic because the first character in Genesis to choose a favorite is God, who picks out Abraham and Sarah, from all the peoples of the ancient world to bless with offspring and land.  And everyone lived happily ever after.  Or not. 

Joseph’s father Jacob wishes to make his choice of favorites so clear, so public, that he gives him a special…

…

Text: Genesis 2:4b-7, 15-17; 3:1-9; Luke 11:4

Well, this past week I finally did it.  I’ve heard lots of people talking about it, read some articles, listened to a few podcasts about it.  I’m rarely an early adopter for these things, but figured there was no use being a very late adopter.  Have you tried it?  I did, and so far I’ve used it exactly once.  I finally signed up for a free account with ChatGPT. 

An email address, a password, and your birthday is all you need and you, too, can ask any question to this conversational Artificial Intelligence.  Just out of curiosity, how many of you have used ChatGPT or a similar kind of AI?  Not just with Google search results.

Before going any further, I feel compelled to pledge to you that I will never give a sermon written by AI no matter how good it gets at such things.  I will, however, be quoting from ChatGPT this morning, and will make it very clear that those are its words and not mine. 

The reason I signed up for an account this week was directly related to the sermon topic.  It’s the story of the Garden of Eden.  It’s the formation of the first human out of the dust, Adam. And the first woman from a rib from Adam’s side, Eve. The Creator places them in a garden, their home, with many trees for eating, except for one, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  The Lord God, Yahweh Elohim, the Creator, does not want them to eat from the tree of knowledge “for in the day you eat of it, you shall die.”  That’s the claim the Lord God makes, and that’s the claim the serpent denies when it visits Eve.  “You will not die,” the serpent says,…