The Story of Joseph and Climate Change

Today the ecumenical lectionary invites us to consider the story of Joseph and his brothers for a second week, and we move from toxic jealousy to healing forgiveness and reconciliation. Unfortunately we have leap-frogged over some great story-telling, including Joseph's rise from slavery to responsible power in the courts of Egypt. You may recall that Joseph had a dream (were dreams genetic in this family?) which motivated him to make provision for catastrophic drought. He prudently stores grain over a number of productive years, which serves as bridge during the lean years. Providentially, this decision also results in the reconciliation with his brothers we read about today.

There is a creative and thoughtful reflection on the dream of Joseph in the online version of Tikkun magazine which offers a Jewish perspective. The authors liken Joseph's prophetic foresight to the effort of those who will not

Pharaoh’s dreams speak to our own day, a day during which droughts, typhoons, and hurricanes of increasing severity are more and more frequent. These are the equivalents of Pharaoh’s dreams: disturbing, anomalous manifestations of something that calls out for interpretation. But what is our equivalent of Joseph? We have but to think for a moment to realize that among us are men and women who interpret the overall shape of the novel climate events we have been witnessing – climate scientists. With respect to these phenomena, they are the best interpreters of what is occurring.And the consensus is in. Peer-reviewed science journals report that there is no longer the slightest quibble about the reality of climate change.

These Josephs of ours have recognized that we are on the verge of a human-made crisis. No one particular drought, hurricane, or typhoon can be said to be the consequence of climate change, but the overall increasing severity and frequency of these events line up precisely with the law of probability that the theory of climate change embraces. http://www.tikkun.org/tikkundaily/2014/08/12/our-josephs-our-choices/

I would never have made this leap, but I'm glad they did. It reminds us that our faith story can blossom from the roots of faith stories of old. This is also an invitation to "wise up" and make the choices now which will affect us and so many others in the days ahead.