Well I am sure that you have heard the breaking political news if you have watched TV at all this last week. Paris has spoken. Paris Hilton, the celebrity thrust into the presidential campaign in an ad by Republican candidate John McCain, issued a rebuttal Tuesday, albeit in a scantily clad, tongue-in-cheek kind of way. Last week, McCain launched an ad comparing Democratic rival Barack Obama to Paris Hilton and Britney Spears, suggesting Obama was no more than a celebrity candidate unready to lead the nation. Hilton initially shied away from the debate over the ad and its effectiveness. But she responded Tuesday with a spoof on the comedy Web site Funny or Die. The following are excerpts from the video in case you have not seen it:

“But then that wrinkly, white-haired guy used me in his campaign ad, which I guess means I’m running for president. So thanks for the endorsement white-haired dude.”  . . . “I want America to know that I’m, like, totally ready to lead,” she said. She then discusses energy policy, and suggests a hybrid of McCain’s offshore oil drilling plan and Obama’s incentives for new energy technology. “Energy crisis solved! I’ll see you at the debates,” she said.   McCain campaign spokesman Tucker Bounds said Hilton appears to support his candidate’s “all of the above” energy solution. “Paris Hilton might not be as big a celebrity as Barack Obama, but she obviously has a better energy plan,” Bounds said. Hilton’s mother, who with her husband donated $4,600 to McCain’s campaign earlier in the year, has said McCain’s ad is “a complete waste of the country’s time and attention at the very moment when millions of people are losing their homes and their jobs.” McCain’s ad uses footage of Obama’s reception by Germans during a recent trip to Berlin to dismiss him as just another celebrity. Obama’s campaign has criticized the ad; McCain has defended it as humorous. Hilton’s rebuttal includes plenty of humor at McCain’s expense. An announcer calls him “the oldest celebrity in the world, like super-old, old enough to remember when dancing was a sin and beer was served in a bucket,” and asks, “but is he ready to lead?” Hilton’s spoof also intersperses images of McCain and Yoda from Star Wars and the cast of television’s “The Golden Girls.”

            The video was kind of funny, and I am amazed at how much press people like Paris Hilton get.  Why are we so attracted to celebrity in this country?  We are dying to hear the latest on Jen and Ben, Angelina, Brittany and yes, even Paris.  We are fascinated with their fame, and somehow live vicariously though them.  I guess they are alter egos for us, or something.  But the spin off business of tracking their exploits is big business, as there are many newspapers, radios shows, and even a television station dedicated to keep us up-to-date on their antics.  I also cannot even turn on the internet without one of them occupying space on my home page under the guise of  news.  To me gasoline dropping 10 cents a gallon is news, not how much money you can raise for charity by selling pictures of your babies. 

            So what is it with people like Paris Hilton?  I understand the attraction of some of the movie stars; they are bigger than life to us on the silver screen.  But Paris is famous for doing nothing but acting sleazy and stupid, and being a party girl.  How boring must our lives be in America that she fascinates us? 

I once had a 20 minute conversation with actress Mary Steenburgen and I will admit that I was in unbelievable awe.  I saw Paul Newman in a museum in Kansas City, and was alerted to his presence when a security guard said to me, “don’t tell anyone, but Paul Newman is in the Museum.”  I stood next to him in the museum store, and I held the door open for him as we left the museum at the same time. And I almost said to him, “I know you . . . you are Robert Redford.”  But I didn’t.  I also saw “Jaws” of James Bond fame in a California restaurant. It is a little harder for him to be inconspicuous since he is bigger than the Jolly Green Giant.

I guess these stars have qualities that we all desire: good looks, fame, lots of money, power and did I say fame? And since most of us will never have those things, we are fascinated with people who do possess those qualities.  Some folk keep up with Brad and Angelina better than they keep up with their own kids.  We are envious of them and their rich and famous lifestyles.  We want to be them.  What man doesn’t want to look like George Clooney or Brad Pitt?  Or maybe better stated which of our wives don’t wish that we look like George or Brad? 

But sometimes celebrity has its price.  There are others who are jealous of such people, and even stalk them or invade their privacy in some way.  Who can forget one Mark David Chapman who was so enamored with J.D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye that he carried a copy with him everywhere he went.  You may recall that the book’s hero, Holden Caulfield was an icon for teenage rebellion and defiance.  Mark Chapman had the book in his possession as he was fixated with another star that he worshipped – right until he shot him four times after that star had signed an autograph for him two hours earlier that night.  In an unexplainable twist the bullets took the life of his hero, John Lennon.

While that is an extreme example, we like to sometimes see the celebrity fall as well.  We like to exploit their human limitations as every little detail of their lives is under the microscope.  I mean, were we not all glad when Fabio got slapped in the face with that goose while he was riding that roller-coaster with those models?  It was truly one of the funniest things ever as that most freakishly handsome and arrogant of men was bloodied and humiliated as he was posing at a photo shoot and got shellacked by a low flying water fowl.  That is great stuff.  The truth is, we like to see the famous brought down a notch or two.  We like seeing them cut down to size, we like to know that they are human, that is why the scandal rag sheets at the checkout stand at Kroger are so popular.  We like people who are bigger than us to be humbled a bit.

In today’s text, we find a story of jealousy and treachery where a golden boy gets his comeuppance from his own brothers who have had enough of his success and status.  This is the quintessential sibling rivalry gone bad, it is the story of Joseph, favorite son of Jacob and the bane of his brothers’ existence.

Joseph, as our story goes, was dad’s favorite because he was the youngest and Jacob was an old man when he was born.  Joseph was the baby of the family, and we all know what that is like on some level.  So Jacob gave him a nice coat of many colors and his brothers were jealous of his status.  It was clear to everyone that Joseph was the blessed one, the favorite, and so far in Genesis we have a lot of stories of favoritism. Many times favoritism led to deceit, treachery and other assorted problems.  To make matters worse, Joseph has some sort of dream where he is famous– a celebrity if you will– and his lesser known brothers’ end up serving him in some way. That did not go over well with them.  Then he had another dream where the sun and moon and stars were bowing down to him, and frankly you have to be a little arrogant to have a dream like that–  I mean normal people might dream that Pluto bows down to them, but only because it is not a planet anymore. Well, that went over with his brothers like a lead balloon.  They thought this youngster as an upstart, and had no intention to pay homage to the little twerp.  So they hated him all the more.  So the day came when Jacob sent him out to pasture to look for his brothers and when they saw him coming from a distance and they had enough of him, they decided to kill him deader than dead.  They would kill him, throw him in a deep hole and simply tell dear old dad that a wild animal got him. But brother Rueben said, “OK, let’s throw him in the pit, but let’s not kill him, let’s just leave him there to die or whatever. I mean if he dies, he dies, but his blood will not be on our hands.”  So they greeted Joseph, took that fancy robe of his off of him and threw him in the pit.  As they were contemplating what to do with Joseph as he was down in the hole, as fate would have it a bunch of Ishmaelites were passing through, so they sold little brother as a slave for 20 pieces of silver.  And the Ishmaelites took him to Egypt.  End of the problem.  The little sucker got what was coming to him.  Whose bowing down to you now you little creep?

It seems to me that all this trouble started over jealousy of dad playing favorites.  Of course Jacob was the favorite of his mother Rebekkah, and his dad was the favored son of father Abraham.  And Abraham was chosen by God as his favorite human.  In each of those stories there are obvious favorites, and sometimes far reaching implications of such favoritism.  But I think it also worth mentioning that God himself also seemed to play favorites.  The nation of Israel is often described as God’s chosen people.

What does that mean and why did God chose them?  Who the heck knows? I need to ask Dasa’s dad, who is an expert in the Old Testament and Hebrew.  I do think that it is obvious that the Israelites have been some of the most kicked around peoples throughout history.  And that would explain the Jewish comedian who said, something to the effect of “this is what you get as the chosen people?  Next time God, pick somebody else.”

            So what do the scriptures say?  God chose the children of Israel for special privilege and responsibility.  It was through them that all the nations of the earth would be blessed.  God promised that they would all have lots of descendants and lots of prosperity.  God promised to give them good land, and to always have their backs.  He promised blessings by the bushel, and to take care of their enemies.  He promised to bless them who blessed them, and curse them who cursed them.  He on several occasions commanded them to wipeout their enemies from the face to the earth, because their enemies were also God’s enemies. They were the original instigators of holy war.  They were entrusted with the holy writings, the law and given messengers who spoke directly for him.   He led them through the wilderness and dwelt in their temple. God lived right next door.

So God played favorites, and that by nature doesn’t set well with us.  Anyone who has not been the favored child is not too hip on this passage of scripture and probably side with the brothers who threw Joseph in the pit.  Many Rabbi’s today down play this choosing in some way, either by saying that they were not chosen for privilege, but for an extra measure of responsibility, or some say that this means that Israel chose God in some sort of turn about of the text.  There are even a group of deconstructionist rabbi’s whose fear of  being perceived as a superior race, or that some type of racism results from such views, have led them to rewrite certain passages to reword the intent of such a choosing.  But at least at face value, God is playing favorites.  And for those who would worship God who are not so favored, well, it can leave a bad taste in your mouth.  How can we all be created in his image if some are in fact more important or favored than others?  How can God choose Israel and have no thought or care of exterminating the non-chosen? 

            I am also convinced that this leaves a bad taste in our mouths because we know people who live and believe that they are God’s favorites, that they are children of privilege, and that they are somehow superior to other people.  Many live as though they are God’s chosen who don’t have an ounce of Jewish blood in their bodies.  Yeah, I know, we are a royal priesthood, a holy nation, chosen by God as his children.  But there are Christians who live as though they are superior to every other person on the planet.  We are far better and more favored and blessed than other peoples and religions.  And it logically follows that we need to convert others to our way, or they are on some level a threat to us.  I said it last week and I will say it again, just because you are Christian doesn’t make you better than anyone else— we are not more superior, and we are not more intrinsically moral.  Yet we certainly feel more superior as we look down on all those others who are inferior to us.  We in turn believe that we have certain God given rights that put us in a position that we are entitled to certain things, certain blessings, to possess certain things, if you will.

            But the favoritism doesn’t just stop with other religions.  We believe that some Christians are more favored than other Christians.  We think the evidence is in how much we are blessed.  And the more “land” that we possess all too often translates into being more special in the eyes of God.  If I have heard it once I have heard it a thousand times, people believe that God is blessing them and their church because they have big buildings, big budgets and many people.  God is working in those churches we say.  And those who fail to thrive must not be favored by God. I won’t even take the time this morning to shoot holes in these irrational beliefs.

It is also true that in the church we play favorites with certain people and that doesn’t set well with us either.  We feel the wrong of it in our bones, especially when the motivation is self-interest, as it so often is. It does not feel right to give special attention to people who have more money or to people with more degrees. It’s not right to give special attention to people with whiter smiles and smoother skin. It’s not right to give special attention to people with better marriages and smarter children. It’s not right to value the opinions and approval and presence of these people more than the opinions, approval, and presence of others. The church is a family where all are welcome, all are included, all are embraced.  All too often churches are about the wrong priorities and we value the wrong things—money over commitment, piety over servanthood, arrogance over humility, principles over inclusiveness. 

            So what is fair about the choosing and why did God choose Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph and their descendants?  About the only clue that we get is that they were in fact chosen for one purpose – that through them all the nations of the earth could be blessed.  They were the vehicle that God chose to reconcile all peoples to himself; they were the ones who not only had privilege but also the awesome responsibility to make sure that God’s love was communicated to all peoples.  And that mission was buried under a lot of things that we do not understand, and by and large was obscured by the same things that prevent us from doing so as well – by greed, by pride, by envy, by sloth, by ambition, by arrogance, by an attitude that we are special just because God loves us more than those other guys, and that is not our fault. God chose Israel for a purpose, and by and large because of their self-centeredness and sense of entitlement, they didn’t always get the job done.

            So friends, the question remains — does God have favorites? There is some evidence to that fact, but his favorites probably are not our favorites or at least who we would suspicion.   The Psalmist reminds us of the inseparable connection between knowing God and caring for the disenfranchised. There are many reasons to care for the vulnerable, but our ultimate motivation is based in the character of God Himself. In three short verses Psalm 146:7–9 reveals the tenderness of God for people who suffer. Notice the eight different groups of people mentioned:

He upholds the cause of the oppressed
   and gives food to the hungry.
The Lord sets prisoners free,
   the Lord gives sight to the blind,
the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down,
   the Lord loves the righteous.
The Lord watches over the alien
   and sustains the fatherless and the widow,
   but he frustrates the way of the wicked.

            So there does seem to be some truth in the fact that God loves the down and out, the poor and oppressed, the widow and the orphan, the hungry, the disabled, the prisoner, the foreigner.  These themes are common throughout the bible.  All these are people are the ones that we tend to put at the bottom of the food chain and are not the people we want as part of our churches.  God is only blessing us if he fills our churches with people like me we somehow believe.

            So I suggest this morning that we learn to love whom God loves. That we find value in all of his children, red, yellow, black and white, that we realize that persons most unlike us and that we are most prejudiced against, and people that we on some level distance ourselves from are the very people that Jesus Christ died for.  They are the ones whom God favors.  Because the truth is God loves every single one of us.  He desires to reconcile every single one of us and bring us into his family.  God also would have us know today that with great privilege comes great responsibility.  And God has indeed chosen us as his children to reach out to the least, the lost and the last.  To those who are poor and oppressed, who are down and out but who are anything but inferior to us who are of privilege.  And when we understand that sense of mission we will know why it is fair that God play favorites and choose certain people.  And we will understand something else as well—The Good News of Jesus Christ that is meant for the whole world.  Thanks be to God!  Amen.