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Beginning To Call (Genesis 4:26)

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  Saturday, January 18, 2025 Psalms 41; 44:1-9 Genesis 4:17-5:5; 5:21-24 John 7:25-36 Observance: Confession of Peter Beginning To Call (Genesis 4:26) And so begins the great, heavy, swaying lurch of humanity. The man and the woman are made in innocence; the evil one speaks a lie and they fall for it; sin, crouching at the door, leaps and devours; the misery is increased. The lesson is this: we cannot make it on our own. We need the Lord. It all happens so quickly: the first children fall into tragedy, with one murdering the other and sentenced to banishment as a result. A third is born, Seth, and when his children grow up, humanity truly understands the predicament in which it finds itself. And so they begin to call upon the name of the Lord. All it takes is a few generations. The one rebels; the second suffers the rebellion; the third looks for an escape from that cycle, and calls on the name of the Lord. It is a little funny to notice how t...
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You Must Rule Over It (Genesis 4:7)

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  Friday, January 17, 2025 Psalms 40 Genesis 3:20-4:16 John 7:14-24 You Must Rule Over It (Genesis 4:7) One of the most striking things about these opening chapters of the Bible is that God’s grace and mercy just pour out. At every turn, humans do something wrong, and God responds by doing something good. The account of Abel’s murder at the hand of his brother Cain has a twofold mercy. God’s grace spills out double. The first is when Cain makes his initial error. He did not do what God wanted, and God told him so. Understandably, but inexcusably, Cain was angry, and his face fell. There are things we want to do for God, but God doesn’t want us to – should we be angry that he doesn’t want what he doesn’t want? And here is the first mercy: God lifts up Cain and gives his some wise life advice. “If you do well, will you not be accepted?” - if you do what God wants, won’t it be wonderful? “And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door” – be careful o...
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A Bruised Head (Genesis 3:15)

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  Thursday, January 16, 2025 Psalm 38 Genesis 3:1-19 John 7:1-13 A Bruised Head (Genesis 3:15) Our fairy-tale setting, of the idyllic Garden of Eden in the age of innocence, has come crashing down. But it is not from a barbarian invader or natural disaster; rather, a comedy of errors has what has spoiled God’s good creation. Note the question of questions, the sin of sins, as spoken by the serpent: “Did God really say?” That is the same question he asks today. And then, lying about what God really meant – nothing has changed, the enemy is using the same playbook. Adam, responsible for Eve, instead submits to her. He does what he should not, sin begets sin, and he eats. Then they are given the opportunity to confess and repent, but Adam plays (and loses) the blame game. The magic Garden has become a memorial to a tragedy. Yet in the midst of the tragedy, the gospel of Jesus shines through in what the scholars have dubbed the “proto-Gospel”: the ...
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Hold Fast (Genesis 2:24)

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  Wednesday, January 15, 205 Psalm 37:1-17 Genesis 2:4-25 John 6:60-71 Hold Fast (Genesis 2:24) Chapter One of Genesis was all about the scientific specifics: this happened on that day, and so on. Chapter Two is much more romantically presented, as it should – because it ends with a wedding! If the first chapter sated our desire for bare facts, then the second presents the drama of creation. The way in which it speaks about God, and the world he has just made as a misty plain of earth and water, and how he carefully “forms” Adam in the same way a master craftsman works at his trade is on the level of fairy-tale. There is an enchanted garden – a place for Adam to live in and look after. Then a parade of animals, and finally the decision that Adam needs to have company. The universe has exploded with light, stars, planets, birds, fish, animals and plants, and a man has been placed on top as the crown jewel. But it is “not good” until he has company. T...
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Rested From All His Work (Genesis 2:2)

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  Tuesday, January 14, 2025 Psalm 34 Genesis 1:20-2:3 John 6:41-59 Observance: Sava, first archbishop of the Serbian Church (d. 1235) Rested From All His Work (Genesis 2:2) There are not many greater luxuries in life than sipping a cool drink after a hard day’s work. You may know of the old beer ad that immortalised the concept with a catchy tune and a memorable line about a hard-earned thirst. Resting after a job well done really is one of the best states we humans can get ourselves into. God has been hard at work for six days – six non-stop whirlwind days of hard work, creating an entire universe out of nothing, and in record time, no less. On his final day he made a man and a woman, the divine equivalent of cleaning up the worksite at the end of the job. Everything is nicely squared away. And so, on the seventh, seeing the good job he did, God rests – and he blesses the day of rest, as well. If resting after a hard day’s work is a luxury, ge...
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In The Beginning, God. (Genesis 1:1)

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  Monday, January 13, 2025 Psalm 35:1-17 Genesis 1:1-19 John 6:28-40 In The Beginning, God. (Genesis 1:1) When Moses wrote the book of Genesis, he was putting together a history of everything so that the Israelites would understand their mission. They were at the end of their wandering through the wilderness; the Promised Land was before them; Moses was about to hand over authority to Joshua; and Joshua was about to lead their conquest. In order to know where they were going, the Israelites needed to know where they had come from. And so Moses wrote Genesis for them. The need to know where one has come from in order to know where one is going is a universal need. Every human needs this information. So much vain philosophy has been suggested based off incorrect assumptions. If we are to have a true understanding of our meaning in life, then the book of Genesis is an excellent place to start. Just as, when we started the gospel of John, the first words w...
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Before I Knew It (Songs 6:12)

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  Saturday, January 11, 2025 Psalms 28; 29 Songs 6:4-12 John 6:1-15 Before I Knew It (Songs 6:12) All the great love stories have a happy ending (I am not a fan of post-modern nihilism), and the greatest love story is no different. Our lectionary readings have skipped a few sections of the Song of Songs over this past week, and you will have to finish the book on your own, as next week we move to the book of Genesis. But we have covered the most important stages of this love story. And here, we begin what is the happy ending. The lovers have had their tiff, and the wife found her husband wandering in the garden. Instead of having an argument, or talking it through, they turn to love – love which covers all wrongs. (Proverbs 10:12) She has told the Chorus of her love for him, and having found him, he tells her of his love for her. She had gone down to the garden to find him, and to see if there was any blossoming left in the vineyard of their relation...
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