Good day dear friends.
What a wonderful Sunday we had yesterday! We received 12 new professing members through Confirmation and three of those had never been baptized and to the river we went for a wonderful and emotional sacrament. Afterwards we had a great lunch provided by Armando and Linda Contreras. Great brisket and hot dogs!
The sermon was on Who We Are, and how important it is to answer that question in the Lord. He offers to us fullness of life and all that we need to be blessed in our living. We'll study that more fully as we get into the word this week.
Here is our study guide for today:
Monday: Read again Psalm 8 as your opening prayer for devotional time today. Then let’s go back to the very beginning. The first account of the creation of humans appears in Genesis 1:26-28. The second account is the more personal one with God’s touch upon the creatures. This one is found in Genesis 2:4b-25. Compare the two accounts. What do you read into each in terms of God’s intention and purpose in creating humanity in this way?
Use this as your devotional prayer starter: Psalm 8:1 O LORD, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. 2 Out of the mouths of babes and infants you have founded a bulwark because of your foes, to silence the enemy and the avenger. 3 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established; 4 what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals, that you care for them? 5 Yet you have made them a little lower than God, and crowned them with glory and honor. 6 You have given them dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under their feet, 7 all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, 8 the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas. 9 O LORD, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
As I mentioned in the sermon (which you can hear online at our church's webpage: www.fumcsm.org), there are two creation stories for humans in Genesis. The first one says from Gen. 1:26 Then God said, "Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth." 27 So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. 28 God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth." The writer for this story shows humans, both male and female being made at the same time, both in the image of God.
Compare the version found in Gen. 2: 4b In the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens, 5 when no plant of the field was yet in the earth and no herb of the field had yet sprung up--for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was no one to till the ground; 6 but a stream would rise from the earth, and water the whole face of the ground-- 7 then the LORD God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being. 8 And the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east; and there he put the man whom he had formed. 9 Out of the ground the LORD God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 10 A river flows out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it divides and becomes four branches. 11 The name of the first is Pi'shon; it is the one that flows around the whole land of Hav'ilah, where there is gold; 12 and the gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx stone are there. 13 The name of the second river is Gi'hon; it is the one that flows around the whole land of Cush. 14 The name of the third river is Tigris, which flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates. 15 The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it. 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, "You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die." 18 Then the LORD God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper as his partner." 19 So out of the ground the LORD God formed every animal of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. 20 The man gave names to all cattle, and to the birds of the air, and to every animal of the field; but for the man {Or [for Adam]} there was not found a helper as his partner. 21 So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then he took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. 22 And the rib that the LORD God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. 23 Then the man said, "This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; this one shall be called Woman, this one was taken." 24 Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh. 25 And the man and his wife were both naked, and were not ashamed.
Both stories affirm our creation by God. You can make the case that both stories show us we were wonderfully and awesomely made by a loving God. The second story from Genesis 2 shows us a touch from God that we need to be mindful of our entire life. God desires a relationship with us and is willing to touch us. God is an involved God. God is not some detached deity way off in outer space whose only concern is to see if we're going to mess up or not. God cares for us and that "touch" says God is right near us to hold us or pick us up if we need.
"Stay in touch" should be something we hear from God. It should also be something that we do.
PRAYER: God of love and God who touches lives, come and touch me today. Let me feel the embrace of love and strength around me as I prepare for this day. As I encounter joys, let me be blessed by them. As I encounter challenges that may bring less than joy, let me be a blessing in and through them. I can't do it alone, I need You. I pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
Have a great and blessed day!
e.v.
