St. Edmunds, Crickhowell
Lent 2002

Home Group Study 3

Job under Control?

In every situation Joseph showed himself to be a hard-working and reliable employee. But in one work-place he had a disturbing encounter with sexual harassment.

Welcome

Share with the group: the most satisfying piece of work you have ever done, the most boring, or the most ludicrous.

Worship

Ecclesiastes 3: 1 - 15
[If you can get hold of a copy of The Byrds singing "Turn, Turn, Turn" then play it after the reading. My kids "borrowed" my copy!]

Thank God for the work that you do whether it is paid or unpaid, at home, at school or in factory, shop, or office, satisfying or well-paid or both or neither.

Word

Joseph's employment record

Read Genesis 39:1 - 6a, Genesis 39:20b - 23and Genesis 41:33 - 50.

1. Build up a CV for Joseph.
   • What jobs did he have?
     [Don't leave out the period before he went to Egypt]
   • What qualities did he show?
      
2. What qualities does God expect us to show in the work we do?
    
3. Clearly it was part of God's plan that Joseph should be dazzlingly succesful in every job he did.
   Sometimes we are rather less than dazzlingly succesful in what we do.
   Can God be in that too?

Joseph and Potiphar's wife

Read Genesis 39:6b - 20

1. What were the issues at stake here?
   [ Not only adultery but also betrayal of trust. ]
    
2. Could Joseph have handled it any other way?
    
3. What advice would you give today to people caught up in this sort of situation ?
    
4. Joseph was someone who could be trusted. How important is trust in our work situations today?

More bible passages

Read at home to prepare for the group or to take things that interest you further.

• Read I Thessalonians 4: 11 & 12 to see that the work we do is not only important for us and our families.
• The apostle Paul had some very strict rules to prevent people from sponging on the church and also set a very firm example himself. Read II Thessalonians 3: 6 - 12 to find out more.
• The principles which should guide our attitudes as Christian employees are explained in Colossians 3: 22 - 25.
• II Timothy 2: 22 might well have been written with Joseph & Potiphar's wife in mind.
• The strict moral standards in force in the early church are described in I Corinthians 5: 9 - 13

Witness

• Pray for places, some quite near to us, where work is hard to find.
• Pray for those who are experiencing difficulty in their work and for those who feel their work is undervalued.
• Pray for those who work on our behalf within the church, especially for those who have chosen to make it their life's work.
  [ In the current St. Edmund's situation, it would be particularly important to pray now for Jo in his new job, for Sally who will have much greater responsibilities, for those who will have the responsibility of appointing a new rector and for the person that God is already preparing to come here. ]

[If the notes for the next study are available then you may offer them to people this week. Alternatively you may inform people that the notes may be viewed and printed via the church web-site:
www.stedscrick.org.uk]