The text today is commonly thought to be written in the Priestly tradition, most likely addressed to a community in exile. The story of creation focuses on God, who carves out order in the realms of time and space, pushing back the waters of chaos and creating light, dark, sea, sky, creatures (even sea monsters) and finally, humankind, Adam.<\/p>\n\n
The repetitive text begins to take on a rhythm throughout the seven days. God speaks, and suddenly creation is. Then God sees that it is good \u2013 seven times over. The Hebrew Bible mentions the number seven more than 500 times; it is a symbol of wholeness and completeness. God\u2019s creation is good and whole.<\/p>\n\n
We learn much about God from this text. From Genesis 1:1, we know that God creates. We also know that God speaks, which is intricately tied to his act of creation. It is that much more important to notice, then, the sudden divine plural when God comes to the creation of humans. Previously he said, \u201cLet there be,\u201d and there was. Now, God says \u201clet us make humankind in our image.\u201d Finally, God blesses, telling both animal and humankind, \u201cbe fruitful and multiply,\u201d granting humans dominion over the rest of creation.<\/p>\n\n
The psalmist bursts out in a song of praise of God, building on the theology encountered in Genesis 1:26-28. In 8:4 he wonders how a God who created the heavens, moon and stars, could \u201cremember\u201d and \u201cvisit\u201d humans, and even establish them as royal regents in his kingdom. In the theology of this psalm, God is the divine cosmic monarch who has put the human race in the status of king. Humanity\u2019s dominion over \u201call things\u201d is emphasized in this psalm, but in his Bible commentary, James Mays reminds us that dominion can become domination when humans forget that they are subordinate to God. We must remember that there are many different strands of theology represented in the Bible. When we read canonically, we can compare Psalm 8 to Psalm 104, another psalm of praise to God, which celebrates God\u2019s creation, but scarcely mentions the role of humans in the order of creation. The second creation story, which begins in Genesis 2:4, also sets a different vision of humans as co-laborers with God.<\/p>\n\n
Paul concludes his second letter to the Corinthians using a standard form. He gives a farewell, final exhortation, sends greetings from the \u201call the saints\u201d who are with him and ends with a blessing. Yet we can learn much about the community to whom he wrote from Paul\u2019s exhortations. The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) translates Paul\u2019s words as \u201cput things in order,\u201d but it could also mean \u201cmay your ways be mended\u201d; furthermore, \u201clisten to my appeal\u201d could mean, \u201cencourage one another.\u201d Both suggest that the community needs to be strengthened, especially since they are followed by recommendations to \u201cagree with one another\u201d and \u201clive in peace.\u201d Paul promises that God will help heal the community\u2019s divisions with his love and peace; they will not have to do it alone. We do not know the community\u2019s specific struggles, but all of us have experienced division, quarrels and disagreements within community. We know how difficult it is to encourage one another at these times.<\/p>\n\n
On a mountain again, the resurrected Jesus appears to the disciples one last time. In the Gospel of Matthew, mountains are where important things happen: the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus\u2019 final temptation, the Transfiguration and now the Great Commission. Earlier, in Matthew 10:5, the disciples were commanded specifically to proclaim the Good News only to \u201clost sheep of the house of Israel,\u201d not to the gentiles. Now that God\u2019s saving mission is complete through Jesus\u2019 death and resurrection, the commission is expanded to the gentiles. The disciples\u2019 task is to make disciples, baptize and teach all that Jesus has already commanded them. That commission extends to us today. Churches tend to focus on at least one of the three commands: They are good at teaching, or expanding the flock by baptizing members, or nurturing lives of faith through discipleship. It is much harder to do all three.<\/p>\n\n
Genesis 1:1-2:4a The text today is commonly thought to be written in the Priestly tradition, most likely addressed to a community in exile. The story of creation focuses on God, who carves out order in the realms of time and space, pushing back the waters of chaos and creating light, dark, sea, sky, creatures (even…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":201221,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_tec_requires_first_save":true,"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_tribe_blocks_recurrence_rules":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_description":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_exclusions":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[23,52,33,3],"tags":[97],"class_list":["post-767057","bible_study","type-bible_study","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bible-studies","category-sermons-that-work","category-the-season-after-pentecost","category-worship-and-prayer-menu","tag-trinity-sunday-a"],"acf":[],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":23,"label":"Bible Studies"},{"value":52,"label":"Sermons That Work"},{"value":33,"label":"The Season After Pentecost"},{"value":3,"label":"worship_and_prayer_menu"}],"post_tag":[{"value":97,"label":"Trinity Sunday A"}]},"featured_image_src_large":false,"author_info":[],"comment_info":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bible_study\/767057","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bible_study"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/bible_study"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bible_study\/767057\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":952372,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bible_study\/767057\/revisions\/952372"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=767057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=767057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=767057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}