Musings about Faith

I encourage you to read Genesis 4:1-16 along with your reading of this blog. Find the NRSV translation of this passage  HERE ! “And God remembers….. and the Rainbow Covenant! - Genesis - Chapters 8 and 9 In our survey of the opening 11 chapters of the book of Genesis we have seen that a couple important themes have emerged: 1. God created the good creation and set everything in balance – thereby establishing perfect well-being or Shalom; 2. This is broken because the humans displace God and place themselves in God’s place. This results in the consequence of wandering and ultimately death; 3. God grieves the brokenness of creation and longs to restore it to balance, to Shalom. In the first half of the Noah story from last week we experienced God’s grief and resolve to set creation in balance by re-doing the act of creation.  This then leads to God’s opening the heavens and unleashing the forces of chaos to take over the earth again. All is destroyed, except Noah ...

I encourage you to read Genesis 4:1-16 along with your reading of this blog. Find the NRSV translation of this passage here! The Grief of God Noah and the Flood – Genesis 6 and 7 We have now come to the center of the Genesis Pre-History (Chapters 1 through 11): The story of Noah and the Flood – contained in Chapters 6,7,8 and 9.  There are perhaps few stories in the bible that are as well known as this story; there are also few stories in the bible that are as misunderstood and misinterpreted as this story. Some have expended much money and energy to search for the leftovers of the Ark on Mount Ararat.  None of these “expeditions” have been successful and several have proved to be frauds.  They have missed the point of the story.  More common however are those who see in this story an angry and vengeful God ready to annihilate any who do break the rules.  This view is unfortunately very common and can be found in a variety of situations, includin...

I encourage you to read Genesis 4:1-16 along with your reading of this blog. Find the NRSV translation of this passage here!               Adam and Eve have been driven from the Garden as a consequence of their rebellion.  They are now wanderers on the earth and in our story for today we see a ripple effect which engulfs the descendents of Adam and Eve.  The story of the brothers Cain and Abel is a story of rejection, jealousy, envy, murder and alienation.  But it is also a story of grace, for in the end, even as Cain must bear the consequence of his rash act, God does not abandon him.  In fact, God promises to be accompany him even to the land of Nod, which is truly at the edge of the earth.  There is no place too far or too distant for God; there is no place too remote for God’s presence; there is no sin which will lead God to completely abandon us.      ...

This is the sermon I preached at the Steeleville "God and Country" service.  The lessons were Luke 10:25-37 (The story of the Good Samaritan) and Galatians 5:1, 13-14: For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. 13 For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; * only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, * but through love become slaves to one another. For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 14 The date: May 7, 1788 – the place: the Vienna State Theater – the event: the Austrian premiere of Mozart’s new opera “Don Giovanni.”   Mozart had been the darling of Vienna, and the opera had been wildly successful at its 1 st performances in Prague.   But Vienna was different.   For one thing, unlike in Prague, the State Theater in Vienna catered to the wealthy and the aristocracy; a...

I encourage you to read Genesis 3:1-18 along with your reading of this blog. Find the NRSV translation of this passage  here. Herman Melville, in his short story Billy Budd, has Captain Edward Fairfax Vere, of the HMS Indomitable, reflect on the profound events that transpired on the ship under his command in the summer of 1797. “We were lost on the infinite sea,” says the Captain. Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries this image of being lost at sea became a symbol for the journey of life. Like those lost at sea, in our life’s journey we too may feel as though we are at the mercy of the winds and waves of life, that we are being blown hither and yon with no way of controlling our direction. This, suggests Melville and others, is a part of the human condition. How many of us also feel as though we are cast adrift in the ocean of life? The text from the conclusion of the Adam and Eve story suggests that this all began when they were cast from the Garden. The picture bel...