Presby-Musings

This week I'll be concluding the sermon series, "In The Beginning" the Story of Creation. Over the past several weeks we have been thinking together about the implications of our being created by a creative and loving God...  What it means to be created in God's image, to be created to care for the Creation that cares for us...   Today we are going to be journeying into Genesis chapter 3--the chapter where it feels like everything starts to fall apart in the Creation story.   When I was a kid, this part of the story was often referred to as "The Fall," or the moment when "Original Sin" entered into the world.  It's also the part of the story where lots of misguided theologians have done real violence to the Gospel by blaming women, and reading all kinds of things into the text that aren't there.  What I want to focus on, however, is a bit different.  The one thing I want us to hold on to as learn together today is simply this:  ...

Today I'm going to be continuing the sermon series, "In The Beginning" a sermon series from Genesis chapters 1-3, the Story of Creation.   Last week we learned what it means to be created in the image of God, which is how the book of Genesis in the Hebrew Scriptures describes it.   In this, the third installment of this four-part series, we are going to be digging into a fascinating part of this story---the part of the story where God creates humans and then gives them a job.   Let's read Genesis 2:15-20 1 5 The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.” 18 The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.” 19 Now the Lord God had formed out of the grou...

This week we are continuing our sermon series entitled "In The Beginning" a study of the first few chapters of Genesis and the story of Creation.   Before we get started today, I need everyone to do me a favor and draw something. You have paper in front of you, so pick it up and take just a few moments and draw the first thing that comes to mind.  I'll wait.  Now that you've had a chance to sketch something--share it with the person next to you.   Now I want you to look at your neighbors sketch, and say the following with some measure of enthusiasm:  "I don't know if it's art, but I like it!" Why did we just do that?   Because I have a point I need to make, and I needed you to connect with your inner kindergartner, which is how some of you felt right then as you tried to draw.  Some years ago, I conducted a scientific poll of a group of kindergartners.  I asked a whole group of them this question:  How many of you are artists?...

This week we are launching a brand new sermon series, entitled "In The Beginning." This four-part series will take us through the first three chapters of Genesis---the story of Creation.   I am going to say something extremely shocking.  You will be blown away by this. Are you ready?   "Lots of Christians have different interpretations and opinions about these first three chapters of the Bible."   Shocking right?  I know.  I'm being sarcastic, of course.  We all know that Genesis chapters 1-3 has become a battleground of sorts when it comes to the debate between Science and Faith in Christian culture.   And here's something else that's important for us to point out.  Some people read these first few chapters of Genesis and then give up on really wanting to know more about the rest of the Bible because they struggle to understand it.   Before we dive into the story of Creation together, however, I want to share some things wi...

This week we are concluding the sermon series that we've been working on for the past several weeks, a sermon series entitled, "In The Beginning ."  The idea behind this series was very simple:  This new year isn't just a chance to make a new resolution, it's a chance to be a new creation.  And in order for us to learn what it means to become a new creation in this new year, we decided to go back to where everything started--back to the beginning, and the first four books of Genesis. Our focus this week is on the first few verses of Genesis chapter 4 and the story of Cain and Abel --perhaps the most famous story of sibling rivalry in the history of the world. I was an only child so I never really had to deal with sibling rivalry.  The only person I had to be jealous of was myself--which might seem crazy on the surface, had I not been such a smug little so-and-so growing up.  I tell you when my mom showed me favoritism over myself--it really chapped my hi...