We often reprint prior devotions that now reflect on the coming lectionary texts. This is a reprint from a devotion originally published on July 24, 2013.
Prayer: Help us to make the world colorful; but only when it is for good, dear Lord. Amen. Reading: Genesis 37: 1-4 (Click to read text) Stop and GROW: After reading the text, discuss/ponder the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's Book of Faith questions, which are part of Camp Mount Luther's GROW Time with campers. QUESTION 1: What scares, confuses, challenges, or doesn’t make sense to me in this text? QUESTION 2: What delights me in this text or is my favorite part of the story? QUESTION 3: What stories or memories does this text stir in me? QUESTION 4: What is God up to in this text? Reflection: A camp story from my days as a counselor It was late one night. I was at camp, sitting with several colleagues and we were looking for something to do. In a moment of spontaneity, we decided to repaint the wooden trash barrel that was in front of the building we were in at the time. One of my friends went to the maintenance shed and came back with all the supplies we would need, including pink paint. Some at camp were not too fond of us doing what we did, and I have been ribbed about doing it ever since that incident. A few yards down from that building was a propane tank. It had been a Mount Luther tradition to paint the tank and transform it into "The Sea Camel." I don't know how the tradition got started but each time we got a new tank, we felt the need to paint it to look like a yellow submarine. We had three Sea Camels over the years and twice, I was involved in the painting of the tank. Both times we did it at night, by flashlight, reminiscent of a covert operation. I've also helped paint the outside of buildings, the inside rooms of buildings, and other small things such as ceramics. Paint plays an important role in our world. It adds color. Joseph had a coat of many colors. It was to show the world that Joseph was his father's favorite son. But, his brothers were jealous and later sold him into slavery. Color can be good, but sometimes color can cause problems. Often it is better for things to be bland and ordinary rather than colorful and extraordinary. As I found out with painting the trash can pink, making something colorful can be bad. We took a lot of heat for doing that. We caused anger in someone else's life. It was a harmless prank, but we did case harm in someone’s life. We need to look at our actions and decide if they will be hurtful to another. If so, we should probably not do them We should have left the trash can its dull, drab, gray self. Eventually, it was painted back to gray and no one has raised a fuss since. In fact, that trash can has found its way into the maintenance shed, where now it is used to store rakes, hoes, and other tools. --Chad Hershberger
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