Together For Good

Genesis 2:4b-8, 18-25

Connecting Questions

Who is the best storyteller in your life? Why?

What is something you have made that you are proud of?

Prayer for Illumination

Let us pray, Loving God, we pause today grateful for this next breath. We are grateful for the chance to connect with others today for we all carry such hurts and hope. Open your Word to us. Open our hearts to let your word speak to us and change our lives. We pray in the name of the Jesus, Amen.

Context

Welcome to September; God is good! Our fall is a season of gathering and regathering after the summer heat, travel, and different rhythm. Come explore the many opportunities to grow in faith and carry on the work of Jesus Christ at Easter. So glad you are here! We begin a new series, Together For Good, we will explore Old Testament stories about relationship. Relationship with God and with each other. In faith, we live out of both kinds of love! God created us to be a community, to work together with God and with each other. Through the highs and lows of our forebearers in faith, we learn how to live in this way.

Don’t miss Pastor Megan’s sermon wrapping up the Building Our Future series. Sermons can be found at Easter.org/worship.

From Pastor Terry Fretheim at EntertheBible.org:

God creates a good and imaginative world, but does not leave it to cope on its own. God remains present and active, even in the wake of human sin, choosing to work creatively in and through creatures, especially the chosen family, toward divinely established goals of salvation and new creation. (Paul preached that salvation comes through the death of Christ on the cross which redeemed sinners from death and for a grace-filled life.)

Look at the Book

Open Genesis 1:1 Read the first verse. What do you hear?
What does “Genesis” mean?
Now, start reading Genesis 2:4b (the second part of the verse). What is the title for this section in your Bible in English? What does that mean?
Think of this first verse like a ball of twine or yarn. Slowly, you unroll it and see the long thread. Here, like Rabbi Alter encourages us, look for unwinding sentence that brings us from the very beginning to creation to humankind. What images do you find?
At the beginning of creation, God makes heavens and earth, why those two things? What Christian prayer also connects...”on earth, as in heaven?”
Hebrew often uses jokes and puns that we may miss in English. The word for human/man is very similar to the word for soil or dirt. Intentionally! Do you have a favorite pun or phrase you like to use on people?
What a beautiful garden! Count the different images that are created here in these few verses!
The story centers on the creation of human beings. How does God create humans?
What animates people, according to the second creation story?
God is a creative God. What does God give us? Google Luther’s explanation of the First Article of the Apostle’s Creed. What do you notice?
Verse 18 names that God knows something about who we are. The surgeon general of the United States has named an epidemic of loneliness. What do you think is the cause?
God creates people for partnership. Who has been an unexpected partner in your life that has been life giving?
Verse 19 is powerful. What does God do? Why?
In this account, “men” and “women” are created from the same “stuff.” Why is this good news?
Verse 25 is good news, too. What might this suggest about our intended relationship with God and one another?
What do you want to talk about that has not been brought up yet?

Taking it Home

Who has modeled healthy and hopeful ways of human partnership for you?

Focus on your breath this week. How does breathing connect you to this passage and the very breath of God in your life?

Grow Guide | Sept 10, 2023