A Glimpse of One Who Reconciles

Genesis 45: 3-11, 15

What glimpses of God have YOU seen during these weeks of Epiphany? 

This Epiphany I have glimpsed in the lectionary passages a gathering God who loves, forgives, nourishes, blesses, renews, delights, renames, and restores people and places. And a sending God—sending us out to love, forgive, nourish, bless, renew, delight, rename, and restore. All creation is holy, worthy of care and love, including you and me.

All of this sounds really lovely and poetic until we bump into reality. Someone decides to protest at the edge of our neighbourhood. Someone holds beliefs that offend you. Someone hurts you. Or, like in the case of Joseph, your brothers betray you, throw you down a pit, then sell you into slavery.

When this happens, that high and holy call to tilt the world towards love and away from fear feels trite, because deep inside, you’re in turmoil. There’s a lot of turmoil inside and around these days. Two years into a period of global instability has made it harder to love our neighbour.

In this passage, Joseph’s brothers show up, starving and poor and without power, looking for a handout. They don’t recognize Joseph, so Joseph is in this position of huge power. He can send them away empty-handed, murder them, imprison them, sell them into slavery. He has every opportunity to engage in retaliation and a strong motive for vengeance, yet he turns around and shows them grace, saving the lives of the very brothers who sought to end his, breaking the spiral of violence.  

From this collection of families grew the people of Israel that would flourish in Egypt. One day, Moses would lead them out of slavery, and in the wilderness Yahweh would give them the Torah and instructions for the first tabernacle. This one small choice—to tilt his family system away from fear to love—enabled Judaism, and therefore Christianity, to form.

Through the actions, attitudes, and words of Jacob, we glimpse a God who is not prone to revenge, but reconciliation. A God whose desire is not to punish but to preserve. We see this image of God again revealed in Jesus, Joseph’s descendent, as grace,  not retribution, becomes the essence of Divine Love. 

Prayer Suggestion
Grace is an energetic force. It unleashes things in us, between us. Things we never imagined become possible. Think of the person who has offended you. Holding them prayerfully, remember this person has fears, like you. Struggles, like you. Blind spots, like you. A person who is trying their best, but making mistakes, like you. A person who is loved by God, like you. 

For a moment, see if you can put your moral indignation to the side, letting that feeling of anger move into the space beside you rather than perched on your heart.

Now, spend time imagining the presence of God filling the space between you. And then filling the space within you. Both of you. Take time with this. Notice what shifts. 

As you end your prayer time, I invite you to speak a word of blessing over this space you have created, which now contains you, the other person and God, making both of you recipients of God’s infinite grace:  “May the Lord bless us. And keep us. And make his face shine upon us. And be gracious to us. And give us his peace. Amen.”

Traveling through Oregon late at night, Johanna and Brock stopped at a small grocery. It was empty but for the cashier who, taking advantage of his thimbleful of power, told them a “joke”. It was explicitly sexual and crudely objectified women. When they told me this story this week, I didn’t laugh. I groaned. 

Groans are powerful. Groans keep us from making peace with things that have no peace. 

Jaahnavi Kandula, a graduate student from India, was studying in Seattle. While crossing the street in January, she was hit and killed by a speeding police car. This week, the body cam video of the officer sent to assess the incident became public. He was vice president of Seattle’s police union. While speaking to the union president in the recording he confirms her death and then laughs: “Yeah, just write a cheque — $11,000. She was 26, anyway. She had limited value.” (NYT article link)

I heard these two stories on the same day. The “micro”—in this instance, something as small as laughter—is the expression of the “macro”, the ubiquity of misogyny.

Maybe groaning is having its day.

In Romans 8, there is groaning, too: Creation, every microscopic part of it, is groaning. Humans are groaning. God’s Spirit is groaning—an inexpressible groan, too deep for words. 

When we groan, our bodies and breath take over. Our bodies show us what is becoming intolerable, what is violating our deep values and convictions. A groan is prophetic. A groan dares to call out what must no longer be. 

Last week, a super storm dropped an unprecedented amount of rain—a year’s worth—in a single day near Derna, Libya. Both dams in the city burst, washing twenty percent of the town into the sea. Folk acquainted with war, dislocation, and hunger now face the grief of thousands missing. It feels like the whole earth is groaning these days. 

Despite all this, creation continues to hope. From Romans 8: “For the creation is waiting in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed.”

Could it truly be, after all we’ve done, that creation has not given up on us? That it sees potential in us? Is waiting for us, the collective children of God, to step up and become kin? Could it truly be that we are the ones for whom the earth waits?

The groans are the deep work of the Spirit, birthing a new way of being. The grief breaks us open and builds momentum within us, pressing down with strength and conviction into us. Through our collective groaning, too deep for words, something is being liberated—born. A piercing cry: “It is time.”

Time to be connected rather than cut off from our power. 

Time to say, “You may not talk about my daughter, or anyone else’s daughter, or treat anyone’s body, including the earth, this way, any more.”   

No more laughing at and minimizing the harm being done. 
No more self-justifying and excusing the harm being done. 
No more numbing and distracting ourselves from the harm being done.

It’s time to feel the deep groans of the entire created order gathering strength and momentum inside of us. 

The flood in Libya was caused by drops of rain. Tiny, inconsequential raindrops joined together, became the force that broke dams and tore down houses. Raindrops did that. The micro became the macro as water gained momentum and sped down the hillside. 

Our tiny choices matter. If everyone stopped laughing at misogynistic jokes they would cease to be jokes. Patriarchy is made up of tiny raindrops. But so is the reign of God.

This is the season of creation. All over the world those who follow Jesus are figuring out how to be better kin to creation. Young people are protesting in London. Farmers are planting trees in Central America. Nuns are holding prayer vigils. Church leaders are signing treaties. The river is building strength, building momentum. 

“The Season of Creation fills us with hope, because we are many, around the world, celebrating in unity for our common home: every small action counts to make the river of justice and peace flow!”**

Deep peace and blessing,
Anne

Rev. Anne Baxter Smith
Pastor, Church at Southpoint

** From the Season of Creation website. 

PS. If you want to catch up before this Sunday:
(1) Forest Sunday
(2) Land Sunday
(3) Wilderness Sunday

Worship Calendar

Location & Zoom. We meet on Sundays at 15639 24 Avenue, Surrey. Zoom is offered if you cannot attend in person. If you have trouble with the zoom link, use: meeting ID: 831 1690 9977 with password: 753319

Sermons Are Podcasted
Catch up on Southpoint sermons by finding the podcast “Meditations from the Church at Southpoint” on Spotify, Apple and Google. They’re also available on our website: www.southpoint.ca.

Sun Sep 24 All IN Anne Baxter Smith
Season of Creation (4) Let Justice Flow in the Rivers
Amos 5:24, Isa 43:19, Rev 22: 1-5

Sun Oct 1 St Francis Sunday
Refreshing our Imagination
Joy Banks: introducing our four core images.
Isa 55

Sun Oct 8   Jake Tucker
Thanksgiving Sunday
The God of Small Things
Luke 13: 18-21

Sun Oct 15  Anne Baxter Smith
Well
John 4:1-42 (**v 13-14)

Sun Oct 22 ALL OUT  Service Opportunity TBA
No service in the Sunnyside building

Sun Oct 29 Fifth Sunday Brunches
No service in the Sunnyside building

Sun Nov 5   Anne Baxter Smith
Table 
Matthew 14:13-21

Sun Nov 12  Anne Baxter Smith
Net
John 21: 1-14

Sun Nov 19 Anne Baxter Smith
Seed
Mark 4: 26-29, Ps 26:5,6

New to Southpoint?

At Southpoint, it all begins with God’s love. Just as a plant grows, it receives sunshine, so we grow as we receive God’s love. At Southpoint, we are growing in our capacity to love God, ourselves, one another, and creation.

We seek to be a community of grace that is intentional yet organic, spacious yet authentic, grace-filled yet accountable. * We are fully welcoming. *

We encourage relationships rather than run programs, yet we recognize the importance of intentionality and structure as we nurture life together.

As a community, we seek to put our love in action. We value helping out on Sunday mornings, sharing food, and showing up in hard times. We keep our church life simple so folk have time to build relationships with family, friends, and neighbours. We encourage folk to serve in tangible ways within the wider community. We rent space rather than own a building, allowing us to do more with less, supporting missions at home and abroad.

Curious to know more?

These six slides express what motivates our ministry (best viewed on a monitor). Here’s the bio of our Pastor, Rev. Anne Baxter Smith.

If you’d like to really peek inside, sign up for our weekly Southpoint News (scroll to brown footer at bottom of page). The Southpoint News is a MailChimp distributed email—you can unsubscribe anytime and will not be added to our contacts list. Email us at office@southpoint.ca. Website: southpoint.ca.

Sun. Feb. 27 All Out
No service this week at Sunnyside

Wed. Mar 2    Ash Wednesday

Sun. Mar 6  First Sunday of Lent
Even in the Desert
Luke 4: 1-13

Sun. Mar 13  Second Sunday of Lent
Under God’s Wings
Luke 13: 31-35

Sun. Mar 20  Third Sunday of Lent
You Are Worthy
Luke 13: 1-9

Sun. Mar 27  Third Sunday of Lent
Prodigal Grace (All In service)
Luke 15: 1-3, 11b-32

Sun. Apr 3  Fourth Sunday of Lent
Brazen Acts of Beauty
John 12: 1-8

Sun. Apr 10 Palm Sunday
Even the Stones Cry Out
Luke 19: 28-40

Fri. Apr 15   Good Friday

Sun. Apr 17 Easter Sunday
An Expansive Life
Luke 24: 1-12

Sun. Apr 24 All OUT 
Good Seed Sunday!

New to Southpoint?

At Southpoint, it all begins with God’s love. Just as a plant grows, it receives sunshine, so we grow as we receive God’s love. At Southpoint, we are growing in our capacity to love God, ourselves, one another, and creation.

We seek to be a community of grace that is intentional yet organic, spacious yet authentic, grace-filled yet accountable. * We are fully welcoming. *

We encourage relationships rather than run programs, yet we recognize the importance of intentionality and structure as we nurture life together.

As a community, we seek to put our love in action. We value helping out on Sunday mornings, sharing food, and showing up in hard times. We keep our church life simple so folk have time to build relationships with family, friends, and neighbours. We encourage folk to serve in tangible ways within the wider community. We rent space rather than own a building, allowing us to do more with less, supporting missions at home and abroad.

Curious to know more?

These six slides express what motivates our ministry (best viewed on a monitor). Here’s the bio of our Pastor, Rev. Anne Baxter Smith.

If you’d like to really peek inside, sign up for our weekly Southpoint News (scroll to brown footer at bottom of page). The Southpoint News is a MailChimp distributed email—you can unsubscribe anytime and will not be added to our contacts list. Email us at office@southpoint.ca. Website: southpoint.ca.