Greetings!

I’ve been thinking about our current pandemic reality and why it has made for such a hard experience. For me, I think that one source of frustration is that the health crisis has been a very tricky battle to fight, let alone win. If there were things that we could go out and just DO in order to make things better, I think a lot of us would go out and DO THEM. Instead we’re asked to stay home, stay apart, hold back from all the DOING that we’re used to. 

I think for so many of us who live in this American context, we relish a good fight. We’re not afraid of going out there to meet an opponent head on. We’ll do our best to play hard, play fair, and to win. But fighting a virus isn’t like that, is it? It doesn’t fight fair. It’s not something that can be beat with grit and determination alone. 

This brings me to the story we’ll be hearing on Sunday. It’s about a fight between brothers that is far from fair. But our hero is the one who breaks all the rules. What does this mean for our faith? God supported a cheater! (At least it looks that way.) 

I look forward to worshiping with you, as we think about the ways our relative positions or relationships can change how we view a story. 

With hope,

Hardy

Join us immediately following worship this Sunday for Coffee Hour

After the service is over, log on to our Zoom coffee time at:

bit.ly/SVPCCoffeeHour

Theme for Sunday

“The generosity of the oppressors is nourished by an unjust order, which must be maintained in order to justify that generosity. Our converts, on the other hand, truly desire to transform the unjust order; but because of their background they believe that they must be the executors of the transformation. They talk about the people, but they do not trust them; and trusting the people is the indispensable precondition for revolutionary change. A real humanist can be identified more by his trust in the people, which engages him in their struggle, than by a thousand actions in their favor without that trust.”

—Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed

Genesis 25:19-34

These are the descendants of Isaac, Abraham’s son: Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah, daughter of Bethuel the Aramean of Paddan-aram, sister of Laban the Aramean. Isaac prayed to the Lord for his wife, because she was barren; and the Lord granted his prayer, and his wife Rebekah conceived. The children struggled together within her; and she said, “If it is to be this way, why do I live?” So she went to inquire of the Lord. And the Lord said to her, “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples born of you shall be divided; the one shall be stronger than the other, the elder shall serve the younger.” When her time to give birth was at hand, there were twins in her womb. The first came out red, all his body like a hairy mantle; so they named him Esau. Afterward his brother came out, with his hand gripping Esau’s heel; so he was named Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them. When the boys grew up, Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field, while Jacob was a quiet man, living in tents. Isaac loved Esau, because he was fond of game; but Rebekah loved Jacob.

Once when Jacob was cooking a stew, Esau came in from the field, and he was famished. Esau said to Jacob, “Let me eat some of that red stuff, for I am famished!” (Therefore he was called Edom.) Jacob said, “First sell me your birthright.” Esau said, “I am about to die; of what use is a birthright to me?” Jacob said, “Swear to me first.” So he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew, and he ate and drank, and rose and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.