August 9, 2026 - “Here Comes the Dreamer!”

August 9, 2026-OVUMC 10:30 Spirited Traditional Worship

Pastor Sang Park 

The Scriptures are Genesis 37:1-4, 12-28.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_06 3:49

Good morning. Wonderful day, isn't it? And we come to here to praise God and find the peace and strength we may need in each and every day. Thank you for our praise team and our fire, all the volunteers at the artifacts. And welcome each and every one of you to this time of worship. All for you fear, welcome and fear at home. See and hear the word of the Lord in your heart to this worship. As always, please find the friendly register on your queue so that you may have known have known your presence with us in this service as we carry each and every one of you. We welcome those who join us through the online service at this time. We welcome your presence and your spirit helpers. And now I introduce our worship with Christ for this traditional service. Shannon Wither is Shannon?

SPEAKER_00 5:15

Good morning. The announcements have been on the screen and in your bulletin, but I would like to call one to your attention. On Wednesday, there will be a liturgist training here at 3 o'clock. So if you would consider being a liturgist, honestly, it's not that hard. They'll tell us what to do, and you'll find out I've done it wrong. So come Wednesday to the training, and um with that, uh please stand for the Coral in Troy. From the valleys of tensions and the field of our daily journeys, we cry out, O God of Joseph, when human hearts grow cold and jealousy builds walls, O God, your truth. Even when we are cast into pits or sold down the road of despair, you do not abandon us to dark. Open our eyes to your faithfulness, meet us in our brokenness, and mend our ways. Come, O let us worship the God who turns our tears into a tapestry of grace. Let us praise the Holy One whose presence goes with us into every step of your journey. Thanks be to God. Amen. Our hymn this morning is Guide me, O great Jehovah. Now it's time to greet your neighbors and pass the peace of Christ.

SPEAKER_03 12:01

All the earthly joys be round in height. And daughter tries to hide, and trembles that is voice, and trembles that is voice. The God and dream Oh fear, the lion and the lamb, the lion and the lamb.

SPEAKER_02 13:24

She would be hungry, our God, I would be hungry. Hungry is our God.

unknown 14:06

My heart was seen hungry in the night.

SPEAKER_00 14:38

At this time, I'd like to um introduce Britt Hadley to come and talk about Walk to Mass.

SPEAKER_04 14:50

Good morning. I have to tell you this morning that I feel something like my favorite old cowboy. Some of you may remember this, not everybody might, but Gene Autry. And if you remember, the song that he sang was Back in the Saddle Again. You remember that song you remember? Well, that's kind of how I feel because every time I stand behind this pulpit, I'm talking about my favorite subject, walk to Emmaus. Now, most of you know all about walk to Emmaus. You've had Misty and John and Lou up here recently, not too long ago, talking about their experience, and I've shared mine several other times. But today I'm going to do something a little differently. I'm not going to talk and define for you the walk to Emmaus. I'm going to let St. Paul talk with you and tell you about what Christ hopes will happen if you afford yourself the experience of an Emmaus weekend. God can do anything. You know far more than you could ever imagine, or guess, or request in your wildest dreams. He does it not by pushing us around, but by working within us. His spirit deeply and gently within us. So plant, put your feet firmly on love, and take in the extravagant dimensions of Christ to love. Reach out and experience the breath. Test its length. Rise to the height. Live full lives. Full in fullness of God. That's what happens. And it's not false promises that I would bring any one of you. It is what that weekend can do for your life. I am delighted, on behalf of Aramaius Group, we call ourselves Hearts of Fire. The men's, and I'm going to say it so it'll be easy to remember, men is the last weekend in February. And the women's walk follows the next week in the first weekend in March. And I've got something to tell you that is the greatest news, and I happen to have in the last week or so I can have participants so eager to get here. If any of you want to go on the walk to a land, we individually will sponsor you, and we will pay your way. That's $175. That's how much. That's how much we have experience with how we won't have experience with experience.

SPEAKER_00 18:22

Thank you. Please join me in our morning prayer, which will be followed by the Lord's Prayer. Dear Lord, we come before you this morning with grateful hearts, giving you our honor, praise, and glory. Thank you for the gift of this new day and for our countless blessings. You are our creator, our sustainer, our redeemer, and our faithful shepherd. Your love never fails. As we gather in your presence today, quiet our hearts and open our minds to hear your voice. Fill this place with your Holy Spirit. Unite us in love and draw us closer to you. Your word tells us to everything there is a season. So we ask you now to be near to us in all the seasons of our lives. Be near to us who await healing in body, mind, and spirit. Bring skilled caregivers and clarity of answers. Be near to us all who are searching for our purpose, seeking ways to serve you. Be with our leaders and give them sound minds to find bold solutions to face challenging climates and changing landscapes. Bring peace to our world through the hands of those elected to serve us. Let peace reign over fear. And in asking all these things, we lift up the name of your Son, who taught us to pray, saying, Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Everything we have is a gift from God. It's now time to return a portion of those gifts with our tithes and morning offerings. I invite the ushers to come forward at this time. Let us pray. Gracious God, we return to you a portion of what you have so generously given to us. Bless these tithes and offering and multiply them for the work of your kingdom. May they bring comfort to the hurting, hope to the helpless, and light to our community. Use these gifts and use our lives to show your love to the world. In Jesus' name, Amen.

SPEAKER_02 24:16

Our hymn this morning is we will stand understand it better by and by the way.

SPEAKER_00 27:49

Jacob settled in the land where his father had lived as an alien, the land of Canaan. This is the story of the family of Jacob. Joseph, being 17 years old, was jeoparding the flock with his brothers. He was a helper to the sons of Bilhah and Zilphah, his father's wives, and Joseph brought a bad report of them to their father. Now Israel loved Joseph more than any other of his children because he was the son of his old age, and he had made him a long robe with sleeves. But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all of his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peacefully to him. Now his brothers went to pasture their father's flock near Shechem. And Israel said to Joseph, Are not your brothers pasturing the flock at Shechem? Come, I will send you to them. He answered, Here I am. So he said to him, Go now, see if it is well with your brothers and with the flock, and bring word back to me. So he sent him from the valley of Hebron, and he came to Shechem. And a man found him wandering in the fields. The man asked him, What are you seeking? I am seeking my brothers, he said. Tell me, please, where they are pasturing the flock. The man said, They have gone away, for I heard them say, Let us go to Dothan. So Joseph went after his brothers and he found them at Dothan. They saw him from a distance, and before he came near to them, they conspired to kill him. They said to one another, Here comes the dreamer. Come now, let us kill him, and throw him into one of the pits. Then we shall say that a wild animal has devoured him, and we shall see what will become of his dreams. But when Reuben heard it, he delivered him out of their hand, saying, Let us not take his life. Reuben said to them, Shed no blood, throw him into this pit here in the wilderness, but lay no hand on him that he might rescue him out of their hand and restore him to his father. So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe, the long robe with the sleeves that he wore. And they took him and threw him into a pit. The pit was empty. There was no water in it. Then they sat down to eat, and looking up, they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead with their camels carrying gum, balm, and resin on their way to carry it down to Egypt. Then Judah said to his brothers, What profit is it if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him, for he is our brother, our own flesh, and his brothers agreed. When some Midnight traders passed by, they drew Joseph up, lifting him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver, and they took Joseph to Egypt. This is the word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God.

SPEAKER_06 34:17

Let us pray. And another invitation to this time with your presence. Open our hearts and minds that we may see your presence. Even in this time. Yet we hear your promise our peace. Almighty God, unto you all hearts are open, all desires are known, and from you those secrets are hidden. Cleanse our hearts and minds by your Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love you and worthily magnify your holy name. In Christ's name, our Lord. Amen. If you consider those major patriarchs in the book of Genesis, you may think of one word that may summarize their whole life. Like Abraham obedience, Isaac, laughter, Jacob, heal clever, or God wester. So if I ask you what would come if you think about Joseph. He is a man of a dream. Not only he dreamed his ridiculous and funny dream in this background of those stories, but he also is a great dream reader. Even in the deepest chair in Egypt, he was sword as a slave. There are two persons in the Bible who have nothing bad to say about other than Jesus of Nazareth. One is Daniel, and the other one is Joseph. That doesn't mean they were sinnerless, but it carries something about their character. In fact, one fourth of the book of Genesis is dedicated to Joseph. So it's interesting to read it through. I know most of you know all the story from the beginning to the end, all Joseph's journey. Yet if not, please take a time during the week to read chapter 37 all the way to chapter 15, Genesis, that will keep you thrilled and excited. But that is much troubled and the story of mass. Because we know that not everything in the family is pretty, even though we wish not every family is at peace, nor in happiness. In fact, those terrible children of Jacob came from four different mothers. So there are some kind of conflict or jealousy or unhappy. There is a kind of uh kind of a connection and all the different things. Even some of our branded family love over another and embrace being an abundant family with all the blessing God has upon us. I heard that from my first inton when I was serving in Orange County. She shared, what a blessing to have those stepbrothers and stepsisters in her family. All the blending of blessing God brought into in her journey of life. But that was not the story in this old family of Jacob. You see here a family dysfunctional, troubled, and divided by favoritism. Their own siblings. Of course, Jacob, the father, is the one to be blamed for all this mess. As we read in verse 3, Jacob loved Joseph more than other boys. And he had made for him a long and call of law. You know, this call of love certainly made Joseph special favorite. But also very vulnerable. His favored status caused the division in the family and triggered irreconcilable jealousy and hatred. His siblings came to fear unloved, overlooked, and unimportant. To make it worse, Joseph made a naive presentation of his dream to his brothers. And the Bible reads, at that point, those brothers hate Joseph even more. The dream is not described what we read this morning. God is in between of those two readings we have had. One day Joseph stood up in front of his brother, saying, Listen, to this my dream I had. When suddenly my sheaf loose and stood upright while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it. Where? Jesus made his brothers who were upset and saying, Joseph, do you mean you would reign over us? Will you rule us? That's what you mean to us. You know. Sometimes who dreams is best when capitally to their own. Not to share to anyone. You know, people have that instinct sense of jealousy. I remember one of my best friends who was serving at the time uh United Method Church in San Francisco, and he called me. We used to call every, you know, every three, four times a week, and even my wife told me that, are you dating with that guy? You talk all the way over the phone with that boy. One day he called me saying, I have good news. Oh, what is that? And he said, my wife got bombed with her new car. Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. And he said, doesn't it make you feel a little bit better? And I said, Oh, pretty so. Thank you. You know, I don't know why you are so quiet now. There is something, we hear anything bad happen to others. We fear, oh, a little bit better. I'm not that bad guy. I'm not in that voice. You know, jealousy is a human nature. And now, anyhow, we know all this story. Joseph thrown in a deep pit and abandoned by his brothers. Eventually taken out of the pit and sold to Egypt as a slave. That's the backstory how these people of Israel came to Egypt in the first place. Then makes preach Genesis to Exodus. But the main theme in this all story of Joseph's journey is still around the dream. You know, dreams are often used by God as a way of communication or revelation. And most of the times it's hard to believe and understand. It requires the process, the time of interpretation. And Jacob got that gift to interpret someone as dream. Not only he is a man of dream. You know that story, that gift eventually helped him to be a trustworthy servant as he walked as a servant, as a slave. And that gift helped him get out of jail and eventually put him on the top position for the entire nation of Egypt. As King Pharaoh of Egypt appointed him as a kind of secretary of agriculture. That is most important position in those days. And he did a great work to deliver all people of Egypt from a seven-year severe drought. Even his family he saved as they traveled in search of food from all the way their home to Egypt. But we have still that question, how this dream, which it sounds ridiculous, not prudent to share, works in the life of Joseph. Whether it's just Joseph's absurd daydream. It would be just deserved away. That was funny. Until we really through all his life journey and finally come to realize, aha, that's the meaning of his dream. That's the way of his dream come true. Because in those journeys, there is not a good path he can walk through. There's a bump and twist. There's a deep pit. And even the maximum security jail he spent more than two years. As we have a dream in our life, we have faith and hope. But what if everything goes to the opposite direction around me? Whether God is still here? Is this God who brings me that dream in the first place? You know, when God told Abraham to leave his hometown, he said, go. And Abraham said, yes. Even though it was scary to him. What if we have this struggle? What is God's message for me? It's not clear. It's quite ambiguous. Still, we are on the right track that God puts me to follow him. Or we've got to stop here and pause until everything settled down and looks better. But life never stopped. We got to move on. Even though we have no confidence, we have still things are in the air. But they come. We make the choice and move on. This is the time of in-between. Between God given dream and God's promised reality. We got to keep moving. Keep trust. Keep. When we are walking and living in this reality. There's the time we need more prayer. There's the time we say the time for discernment. So we are living in that between. You know, Joseph's story is about God's hidden yet faithful presence. That Joseph followed the next thirteen years after he was sold as a slave. Yet even for Joseph, God's presence was hidden. He had no idea where God is leading him. Yet the Bible reads in Genesis chapter 39, four times when he was working as a slave. Even fiercely put in the jail. The Bible reads his force. The Lord was with Joseph. The Lord was with Joseph. Even Joseph was not sure. He just did his best, regardless. That's what is required in our journey of faith. Whether it is a good colorful day or deep in the bottomless pit. We got to keep belief God is with us. God works in us. God works through us. Even God can use all our mass for the goodness of his victory. After all, all this journey of leader Paul Joseph is not about one individual hero. This is about God. How God accomplished his big plan out of all our messy and troubled circumstances. We live day by day. Narcisson Mandel was put in prison for 27 years because of the brutal system of racial segregation and white supremacy in South Africa. We know Martin Luther King Jr. was arrested and put in jail 29 times during his lifetime movement when he claimed I have a dream. You know, keeping dream is never easy. Yet that does not mean our dreams are buried in the dirt. Still alive. Even Jesus was betrayed by his own disciples and was put on the cross. But that was not the final word we see. What we witness will revere at the end of the day. In a glorious moment when we have a trust. I know Jessie Brown Towns. She wrote a beautiful hymn entitled My Wonderful Dream. She was a girl with many health issues. She had to fight with suffering from serious health problems. Her physical pain and weakness have been a heavy burden. Even she could not go to school. She was taught at home. Her fragile body made her former education difficult. That would be a kind of season of darkness. But she had a very exceptional talent, which is she can write a beautiful poem. And she wrote many poems since she was 15 years old. My wonderful dream is written by her in 1912. It was composed to music by Charles H. Gavrier. Growing up, I learned this hymn. And sometimes I sang the hymn as Mom Loved Me Sing that hymn. Maybe she has that kind of a dream. Through the all the tumors in our life journey, somehow God will keep us moving. Keep us kicking. And then at the end of the day, we will see that the dream will come true. So I would think, if you willing to hear, I have no other choice as I planned. My wonderful dream.

SPEAKER_05 57:01

There is a dream that I dream of my savior div, and I know that my dream will come true. At the morning in the night comes the vision of light with a promise eternally. Oh this wonder is a secret of grace, and I woo this secret you knew, for I dream that last I shall look on his face, and I know that my dream will come true. There is compensation for heart take and loss in the hope that is given to me. I shall quickly forget how the Lord was beset when the king in his beauty I see Oh this wonderful dream is a secret of grace and I hold this secret you knew for I dream that at last I shall look on his face and I know that my dream will come true. It will still be my stay when the fashions of earth in the midst areving away for the passage of death will be only of breath, but the breath and my dream will come true. Oh this wonderful dream is a secret of grace and I wood this sacred you for I dream that last I shall look on his face and I know that my dream will come true.

SPEAKER_06 1:00:18

Sisters and brothers, what is on your heart still makes you thrill enercize and wake up in the morning with a hope and the dream. Even we are passing through the deep values of life. Sometimes things are deserving away. God is faithful, God in all our dreams come through. Because he is with us and his spirit walks in us in his journey in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:28

As we're getting to that up, I would like you to stand and say love liquidity.

SPEAKER_06 1:05:30

Love lift us up. May the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace and all wounds and scars in your heart be healed by his unfailing love. So go in peace. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. And all God's people says, Amen.