October 05, 2025
• Rev. Mindie Moore
The Faith of Trees Week 1: True Colors
Genesis 50:15-21
Today we’re kicking off a new series called “The Faith of Trees.” And this is one of those series where we are really going to invite ourselves to tend to what’s going on inside of us. We’ve been spending a lot of time looking out, at how we respond to the world and all the heartbreak and injustice we are confronted with, and what we know is that to do that kind of work well and to show up as the truest, healthiest version of ourselves for the long haul, we also have to tend to our souls. It’s not an either or sort of thing...but both of these parts of our faith are meant to be so deeply connected.
So we’re using trees as this sort of guiding metaphor for tending to our souls. And trees are a pretty perfect image right now, because if you live in a neighborhood like mine, you might know that the trees are taking over. Specifically the leaves that fall from these trees! One of my favorite things about our house are the four giant, mature trees that we have. We have 2 Tulip Trees and 2 Oak Trees. And I absolutely love these trees...but my love for them is tested in late September-early November. Because during these several weeks, these trees drop their leaves like it is their one purpose in their little tree lives. And I had this moment the other day, where I looked at our yard, completely 2
covered in leaves, like all the leaves in the whole world were just hanging out in our yard, and then I looked up...and the trees looked like no leaves had fallen at all!
But this is just part of the cycle of trees, right? And whether they are blooming, or maintaining, or the leaves are falling, or the branches are bare in the winter, there’s a rhythm to how trees respond to their environment and the way that they mark the seasons. And those rhythms give us a good parallel to our own lives and faith.
We’re obviously in the fall part of that rhythm, and besides the leaves FALLING and giving us endless yard work to do, this is the time of year where the trees are also BEAUTIFUL. They’re colorful. And all this beauty and color comes from an interesting source. As the temperatures change, and the tree starts to feel the stress of their changing environment, the chlorophyll that makes the leaves green begins to break down. And as this breakdown happens, the colorful pigments that have been in the leaves all along, but have been hiding under all of that green, these colors begin to emerge. The oranges, yellows, reds...they’ve been there the whole time...but it’s not until they encounter the stress of the changing season that they can fully be seen.
In life, challenges and stressful situations tend to reveal our true colors too. I would say that probably nothing reveals our 3
true colors more than when we are in IT...whatever IT is...and we respond out of our gut instincts without thinking much. Those are the moments when we see what’s really going on in ourselves and others. And sometimes what comes out in those moments is good and productive and even beautiful...but sometimes what comes out can be really destructive and have the potential to make a bad situation worse.
I think we are seeing this an awful lot in the bigger conversations happening in our world right now. If you look around, and really listen to the thing under the thing, in all the different narratives that are being told, in all the wildly different perspectives that are out there, what I really believe we’re seeing is that we are a society that is collectively under stress right now. We are collectively going through it. And because of that stress, we are seeing a LOT of true colors coming out. We’re seeing the different ways people can react—whether it’s going off on some stranger on the internet, or turning to violence, or maybe, in a more hopeful response, channeling stress into activism and or care for each other.
When we’re faced with challenges and trying times, whether it’s coming from the bigger picture of our world or it’s coming from the more narrow scope of our daily lives, 4
(SLIDE) The question we get to hold is who will we be? How are we going to show up when things get really tough? What is waiting inside of us to come out? And how are we letting our faith shape those parts of us?
Today we’re looking at the story of Joseph that comes out of the book of Genesis. And Joseph was someone who was well-acquainted with big picture and smaller scope stress. In case you don’t know all the ins and outs of Joseph’s story, I’m going to give you a little rundown of what he went through because I think it’s helpful to have that bigger picture. This is HIGH level...if you want the details, you can find Joseph’s story in Genesis 37-50...it’s a big chunk of the end of this book.
But the overview of Joseph is that he was the second to youngest son, number 11 of 12, of Jacob. And his brothers and he have a contentious relationship from the beginning. (SLIDE) Joseph’s brothers are jealous of him and are pretty resentful of the way that their father favors him. And, frankly, it’s for good reason. It was not normal for a younger sibling in that time to be the favored one. There was a whole system of inheritance and legacy and so their dad’s relationship with this random 11th kid...was odd. And, Joseph could be kind of annoying about it. He would flaunt this favored status in ways that pushed his brothers’ buttons 5
just right. And so the relationship between Joseph and his brothers was a pretty contentious one.
And all this jealousy and conflict lead to (SLIDE) Joseph’s brothers plot to kill him. This is a pretty dark moment in this family’s story. We see some true colors coming out here from Joseph’s brothers and it’s not pretty. But thankfully the oldest brother, Reuben, does the eldest child thing of being overly responsible for everyone in his orbit, and he intervenes and he says—don't kill him, let’s just put him in this well. Still not great, but better? I guess?
And as they’re sorting out the logistics of throwing their brother in this well, this caravan comes along. And now...there’s an opportunity. Because not only can they get rid of Joseph, but they can make some money too! So they don’t kill him, they don’t throw him in a well, instead, they sell their brother to these travelers and that’s how (SLIDE) Joseph ends up in Egypt.
And it’s when Joseph finds himself in Egypt, not by his own choice, without a lot of agency over his life, living as a servant, this is where we really see Joseph’s connection to what God is doing start to become a central part of his story. Joseph becomes regarded as the most capable servant in the home he’s working in. When he is falsely accused of a crime in that home, and ends up in jail, he quickly finds favor 6
with the warden. And while all of this is happening, people start coming to him to interpret dreams, and that gift that he has eventually becomes his ticket out of jail and into power.
So when we get to this point in Joseph’s story that we’re reading today, Joseph has (SLIDE) Becomes the #2 in all of Egypt. And through his wisdom and leadership and reliance on God, he’s made some really important choices that have set up the Egyptian people to survive this famine that has taken hold of their region. He’s done such a good job, that they not only have enough food for themselves, but people from other countries are coming to them to get what they need to survive.
And so all of that background, THAT is the catalyst for this reunion between Joseph and his brothers. This is the backdrop that Joseph has for saying this powerful statement: (SLIDE)
Even though you intended to do harm to me, God intended it for good (Genesis 50:20)
NOW.
Here’s where I pause the story to unpack some theology together. Because I am well aware that this where things can get twisted and that this sentiment can be used to inspire but also to do some true damage. 7
When we look at Joseph’s story, or we examine the more contemporary stories of our world, the truth is that we often witness people doing evil things. Or, we witness the heartbreaking randomness of life going awry. And one of the most human things about us is that we want to explain it, we want to find a reason for what happened as quickly as we can...and the hardest thing about life is that sometimes we simply cannot.
One of the defining parts of my story is that my mother died of cancer when I was a toddler. And so my whole upbringing was shaped by that loss. And with that loss came this soundtrack of people trying to make sense or find a reason that this bad thing had happened to us. Pastors wondered what sinful thing our family had done, and would try and unpack that with us. That felt really helpful and encouraging. Family felt consumed with guilt...was it our genetics or environment or too much processed food? Neighbors grasped at the scraps of “God’s plan” in it all, but even as a kid, if that was the plan, then the plan felt pretty crappy to me.
And when I hold that shaping experience and the theological unpacking I’ve had to do because of it alongside this powerful statement of faith that Joseph makes in Genesis, what I wonder is...what would happen to us, how could we 8
be healed or grow a bit, if we spent less time trying to EXPLAIN the hard parts of our stories and our world and spent more time MAKING SPACE for how God can work in the middle of these hard things?
What if our energy was spent tending to the state our soul in a way that didn’t try and avoid crisis or shine it up when it happens, but that let us be the healthiest version of ourselves so that when stress and grief and crisis occur, we can respond from a place that is deeply connected to the God who loves us and wants good for us? Because (SLIDE) times of crisis, while they might take away pieces of our agency, they don't take away our ability to choose who we’re going to be.
There were points in Joseph’s life where he just had to ride the wave he was on. And when he was in it, he couldn’t see the bigger picture of how God was working or what the end result would be. But he did get to choose, every single day, what would be happening in his soul. He could have chosen to become a bitter and vindictive person, especially as he rose in power. He could have made a list of enemies and had his brothers take up the first 11 spots on that list. That actually wouldn’t be a particularly remarkable story, because we see people do that kind of stuff all the time! 9
But the reason this story holds such a place in our bigger story of what it means to follow God is that Joseph does the opposite of all that. He forgives his brothers. He actually reconciles with them. He takes the steps needed to heal generational trauma that’s present in their family and the things that come out of him reflect a God who has been faithful and present and loving, even in the worst moments of his life.
Joseph’s story is a good reminder that (SLIDE) adversity and crisis CAN bring beautiful things out of us. I know it’s not always the case. Probably all of us could tell of a time when we personally have gone through something and what’s come out of us through that thing hasn’t been so beautiful. It might have been painful or something we wish we could redo. There are tragic events in our world where we may never get to witness whatever redemptive work that God is going to do out of that thing. So we’re not always going to see it, we’re always going to respond exactly like we’d hope.
But even if it doesn’t happen like this every single time...stories like Joseph’s remind us that it is possible. And for this to be possible, Joseph has to hold on tightly to God through the different ups and downs that he goes through. And once he gets to this big reunion with his brothers, he’s able to look back and see the bigger picture and pinpoint—10
God was there! God was there when they were in conflict. God was there when he was sold to those traders. God was there when he was in jail. God was there when he became successful. God was there, God is here, God will show up. (SLIDE) No matter what life holds...the one constant is that God is present.
Knowing that God is present and believing in the beauty that can come out of us in difficult moments can open up so much possibility. As you came in today, there was a leaf on your chair. If you have that close by, I want to invite you to pick it up. This is yours to keep and take with you, to have as a symbol of what you might hope God would bring out of you when life gets hard. As I was thinking about this in my own life, I realized that for me, when I’m in a stressful situation, the things I set down the quickest are gratitude and contentment. I default to a really not awesome combination of anger and comparison and get really unappreciative of my people and my circumstances...which, by the way, are actually really amazing. I am so blessed. But I can forget, so quickly.
And so I would use this leaf as a reminder that the most beautiful things that can come out of me when I’m in those stressful or painful situations ARE gratitude and contentment. When I can say—this thing I’m going through 11
is really tough AND I can still name what is good in my life...that’s the best version of me. That’s when I’m remembering who God is and how God works and who I want to be because of that.
So I encourage you to use these leaves in the same way. To remember what’s true about you, to hold up the goodness inside you that reflects who God is.
And as we go to the Communion Table today, I encourage you to remember that God’s goodness is always available to you. That it’s available to all people. That’s one of the reasons that World Communion Sunday is such a special day, because we get to remember that all over the world people are sharing this meal. That we may have different time zones and cultures and languages and even beliefs...but that God is present with us, TALK ABOUT THE STOLE the grace of Jesus is for us, and the work of the Holy Spirit is in us.
Transition to Communion