The wonder of Creation often becomes burdened with the politics of environmentalism, the deep questions of existentialism, and the theological dissection of precisely happened at Creation and how long it took to transpire.
It’s good and natural for us to question and dig deeper – and I hope you do. As I see it, the purpose of The Story is not to silence these questions and discussion, but to frame them in the context of what God is doing in and through Creation. God created us to be in relationship with us.
As we go through this next year together, we’ll see a pattern develop that involves God creating and calling it good, humanity focusing on our own desires and messing things up, then God restoring people in relationship with Him.
This first week, we’re focusing on Creation. We know that God declared what He had made “good”. But then sin entered the world. Boy … that’s a loaded statement that leads to so many questions. No one really wants to talk about sin, what it is and how we live with it as people of faith. This is definitely something to reflect upon (see reflection questions below), but look back at this week’s readings (The Story – Chapter 1; Genesis 1-8). Genesis 6:5-6 says: “The Lord saw that the wickedness of humankind was great in the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of their hearts was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that he had made humankind on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.”
Often when we talk about sin, it seems as though the message is: “You’ve been real bad, so you have to feel real bad so that God and others can know you feel bad for all the bad things you’ve done. Then, because of Jesus, you are good. But watch out! Because you’re going to be bad again, so be ready to feel bad again about the bad things you do. Bad.” It’s almost as if the degree to which we feel bad has an impact on how forgiven we are. How do we reconcile this with Jesus’ words: “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly” (John 10:10)?
Reflection & Application
- Take time to go for a walk or sit outside. Take time to notice Creation. Notice your family, notice your pets, notice their air and trees, and simply give thanks to God.
- You’ve read about Cain and Abel. You’ve read about Noah and the Great Flood. You’ve read about the covenant God made with Noah and his descendants. From the opening chapters of the Bible, what do you think is God’s desire or God’s plan for the people, animals and universe?
- Sin – my working definition of sin is anything that breaks relationships. This goes beyond just a simple label of “good” or “bad”, but it goes to “why”. If I do something selfish, that’s sinful not just because it’s “bad”, but because it hurts my relationships with others.
- Rainbow – Think about this one. Who was the rainbow for? Read Genesis 9:8-17.
- Creation – Whether or not you are an environmentalist … whether or not you agree with global warming or other environmental issues … God created and gave us “dominion” over creation. How are we doing? How do we care for Creation?
References
- Sermon for Sunday 9/15 (click here)
- See the video below which is an introduction to The Story and covers Chapter 1.
Epicurious Lutheran 