As Christians, we have an advantage over Abraham and the faith heroes of the Old Testament. What they looked forward to in hope, we can look back upon with awe and gratitude. However, even though we’ve received such precious promises, we can often forget that God has kept his word. We need to remember the precious promises of God. Even the ones we still wait and hope for.
One of the remarkable things about Abraham, who God chose to enter into a covenant with, was that his faith was not compartmentalized. He worshiped God wherever he went. Wherever he set up his tent, he also built an altar to the Lord. When he won a war he worshiped a Jesus type in Melchizedek. He involved his family in worship, albeit in one of the wildest texts in the Bible, as Isaac carries the wood for his own sacrifice.
While Christmas is a time of quiet reflection over Christ’s impact on our lives, New Year’s Eve often makes look at the year ahead. Those who trust God’s promises have a lot to hope for. And ‘hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.”
The Bible’s foundational story set ends with Babel and a new beginning. There are many facets of the Babel story but we’ll focus here on language as it’s the first thing mentioned in the Genesis 11 account. They had a “common language and a common vocabulary” (NET Bible). Even though we are tasked with using language to preach the word of God, we might not consider language enough. Babel teaches us that when humans get together in like-minded groups to accomplish lofty goals, their language is a concern.
We may not immediately associate the rest of God (Sabbath) with the account of Noah and his ark but there are clear connections to be found in these foundational stories. Noah means rest in Hebrew
It makes sense that we would generally see light as good and darkness as bad. The scriptures often associate light with righteousness and darkness with hidden sin. Light is associated with joy. Darkness often symbolizes sorrow or confusion. But if we look deeper, beginning even with the very first chapter of the Bible, we see a more nuanced depiction of light and darkness.
It’s easy to overlook some of the finer details of this creation poem, especially if we come into it depending too much on centuries of ingrained rationalism. God’s creative work is not limited to the creation of physical things like the sea, land and sky, and the creatures that would inhabit each. He also created seasons and rhythms that still govern our world. Our society, however, seems bent on creating its own rhythms and displacing the seasons God established in his wisdom and grace.
The first chapters of the Bible tell the story of creation. Over the centuries people have looked to these passages for answers to questions like what, when, where and how. However, this text is primarily concerned with answering one question that happens to be the biggest question of all: why?
As you look back on your life as a Christian or as a leader, what are some things that you’ve needed to reframe? In what ways were your beliefs or actions askew from God’s story? How did you come to realize that your beliefs needed to be reframed? How did the Spirit help you see…
Spirituality is how we live out the story. In our faith tradition, we have a tendency to live out our faith with great human effort. Human effort is good.
We are called to hold to (abide) the teaching of Jesus. But Jesus makes it clear that we don’t need to abide alone (we can’t). Rather, he’s given us
the Holy Spirit as a helper so we can live for God and in God.
