Hey everyone, I'm Dr. Allison.

Today's scripture offers us a wiser way of being human as we step into the day.

There are some stories in scripture that feel almost uncomfortably modern.

Genesis 37 is one of them.

It's the story of Joseph and his brothers, a story about favoritism, rivalry, resentment,

and a secret that fractures a family for years.

If you've ever felt like the golden child, the overlooked child, the responsible one,

the scapegoat, or the sibling who never quite knew where you stood, this story carries

language for the ache of family fractures. Today's reading is select verses from Genesis 37.

Now, Jacob loved Joseph more than any of his other sons because he had been born to him in his

old age, and he made him

an ornate robe. When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated

Joseph and could not speak a kind word to him. One day, Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his

brothers, they hated him all the more. He said to them, listen to this dream I had. We were binding sheaves of

grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around

mine and bowed down to it. His brother said to him, do you intend to rain over us? Will you actually

rule us? And they hated him all the more because of his dream and what he had said.

Now, his brothers had gone to graze their father's flocks near Shechem, and Jacob said to Joseph,

go and see if all is well with your brothers and with the flocks and bring word back to me.

So Joseph went after his brothers and found them near Dothan. But they saw him in the distance,

and before he reached them,

they plotted to kill him. Here comes that dreamer, they said to each other, come now, let's kill him

...