Joe's Journal
August 22, 2008

This Sunday we turn to the Book of Exodus, where we will be for the next couple of months. The story begins in Egypt, with a Pharaoh rising to power “who did not know Joseph.” That is, the Pharaoh did not remember all Joseph the Israelite did for Egypt, saving them from a famine by storing up food during seven years of plenty. And so when he looks at the Israelites in his land, Pharaoh is fearful. His fears are not rational. He’s fearful there are too many of them, yet he’s also fearful they’ll escape from the land. So he initiates a policy of ethnic cleansing in Egypt. Pharaoh’s forgetfulness leads to irrational fear creating a policy of death. 

(cont.) However, in the midst of Pharaoh’s fear are a couple of women who screw up the whole thing! He couldn’t imagine women would be a threat. His policy only involved boy babies, he let the girls live—but those “girls” would be his undoing. Shiphrah and Puah were Hebrew midwives Pharaoh tried to enlist to enact his policy of death, but they ignored Pharaoh, remembering who is really in charge—God! They broke the law, brought forth bunches of babies, and bamboozled Pharaoh’s plan. A Hebrew mother also played a role in Pharaoh’s undoing. She followed the law, putting her baby boy in the river, but she put him in a waterproof basket first! The baby’s sister followed that basket to Pharaoh’s palace where another woman, Pharaoh’s own daughter, joined in foiling the fearful policies of death by taking the baby as her own, even paying Moses’ mother to nurse her own child. And so, through that baby, life conquers death. That’s how God works!

Watching the Olympics over these past couple of weeks I feel like a saw something of this story. In this midst of our country where there is great angst over immigrants growing in numbers, where a news story this week reported “minorities” will outnumber “whites” in our country by 2042, I watched with interest two American women gymnasts take the medal stand on numerous occasions. They are Shawn Johnson and Nastia Liukin.

Nastia Liukin is a Texan in the classic sense in that she’s originally from someplace else, like most of the folks at the Alamo. Her father and mother are immigrants from the former Soviet Union. Valeri, her dad, was an Olympic gymnast for the dreaded Soviets, as was her mother, Anna Kotchneva, a rhythmic gymnast. Weren’t those the bad guys in the 1980s?

Shawn Johnson comes from a typical Iowa middle class family. Her parents mortgaged their home three times to finance her training. Her coach is Liang Chow, a Chinese immigrant who was on the 1989 Chinese Gymnastics team at the World Championships. He came to Iowa in 1991 on a scholarship from the University of Iowa and to help coach gymnastics. After graduating, he started his own gymnastics training business.

Watching this combination of beaming folks interviewed on the Today Show this week, I found myself remembering the words of John Cougar Mellancamp, “Ain’t that America?”  In a world where forgetfulness too often leads to fear that can bring forth policies of death, let us remember, that we might find faith in the God who has a way of bringing life through a couple of women—be they Shiphrah and Puah, or Nastia and Shawn.

Hope to see you Sunday!

In Christ,
Joe 

P.S. Check out “Texas Faith,” a new blog on the Religion page of The Dallas Morning News website. I am one of thirty panelists who will respond to regular questions. The first question deals with faith and politics. You can read my response along with my esteemed colleagues at www.dallasnews.com/texasfaith starting next Tuesday.