September 27, 2020, Genesis 45:1-8, 10-15; ISSL Reflections Post 1

I.
With this week’s reading we come to an end of our journey with Joseph and his brothers for now.

This week we read of another reunion. And this reunion goes very differently than what we read last week.

I invite you to read of this reunion. After you have read it, pause for a couple of minutes and rest with what you have read.

Then read the passage again and be open to what captures you the deepest.

Stay a few moments with that depth, noticing what draws you into the passage.

II.
Genesis 45:1-8 (NRSV)

Then Joseph could no longer control himself before all those who stood by him, and he cried out, “Send everyone away from me.” So no one stayed with him when Joseph made himself known to his brothers. And he wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard it, and the household of Pharaoh heard it. Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph. Is my father still alive?” But his brothers could not answer him, so dismayed were they at his presence.

Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Come closer to me.” And they came closer. He said, “I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. And now do not be distressed, or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life. For the famine has been in the land these two years; and there are five more years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest. God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. So it was not you who sent me here, but God; he has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt.

Genesis 45:10-15 (NRSV)

You shall settle in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near me, you and your children and your children’s children, as well as your flocks, your herds, and all that you have. I will provide for you there—since there are five more years of famine to come—so that you and your household, and all that you have, will not come to poverty.’ And now your eyes and the eyes of my brother Benjamin see that it is my own mouth that speaks to you. You must tell my father how greatly I am honored in Egypt, and all that you have seen. Hurry and bring my father down here.” Then he fell upon his brother Benjamin’s neck and wept, while Benjamin wept upon his neck. And he kissed all his brothers and wept upon them; and after that his brothers talked with him.

III.
What was the moment of depth for you in the passage?

What connected with you the most? Do you have a sense of why it “spoke” to you?

Take a few words from the passage, or an image, with you into the day.

Let these words or image come back to you during the day.

At the close of your day, come back to the passage and the words or image that you had with you today, and notice what stands out to you.

We’ll talk later,

Charles
{ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est}


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