Day One

SunJan32010 PostedSunday, January 3, 2010 @ 12 AMByChris ChristopherTaggedNo tags

Reading for today: Genesis 1 through Genesis 16:16

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3 comments

On 1/3/02010 4:50 PM, Chris Christopher said... In the Beginning... Wow, what a place to start. There is so much in this first day's reading, that it is a bit overwhelming. In this first book God's Library, it is appropriate to say that Lutherans do not read the Bible to learn science, or math, or home economics, or even history. We read the Bible to learn about God and God's faithfulness to His creation and His people. We read the Bible to allow God an opportunity to enter our thinking, to awaken His gift of faith in us, to shape and mold our lives, and to fill us with hope. The Bible is a book of theology, of"God Talk". And as we read and talk about God, we listen for God to speak to us through this word, to reveal Himself to us, God's own people. This is where we begin.

On 1/3/02010 4:51 PM, Chris Christopher said... Genesis 1... From chaos to order. God chips away at the untidiness of the way things were to create something very different... very new. There is a pattern here that emerges... a rhythm... a harmony, and creation emerges, like a flower coming to bloom... like a symphony rising to its climactic crescendo. And the composer sits back, smiling, and nodding.... Yes, its very good!
Genesis 1 teaches us of a "transcendent God" .. a God who is bigger than what it is that He creates. Much like a King who merely speaks and the kingdom is re-oriented... changed according to the King's Word. And this Word always brings about the desires of the One who speaks it.

On 1/3/02010 4:52 PM, Chris Christopher said... Genesis 2, tho, shows a different side of this King. God in Gen. 2 creates by making a human from the dirt and breathing in it to give it life, picking out a site and planting a garden, and forming all of the animals from the dirt as well. This "Immanent God", God who dwells within His creation, is quite intimate with His creation. God must know his dirt-man (adam) well, because God understands that adam is lonely. When God realizes that "there is no suitable companion for his 'adam', God performs surgery removing a rib and creating adam's mate. Adam now has a companion who completes him, who is flesh and blood, just like him.

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