1st Sunday in May (Week 19) Israel’s Covenant (Genesis 1:1-31; I Corinthians 15:20-25 and 35-49; Genesis 1-3 and 7-8

Overview (Genesis 1:1-31; I Corinthians 15:20-25 and 35-49; Genesis 1-3 and 7-8)

God’s plan for salvation begins at the very moment of creation … continues through successive environmental epochs and human civilizations through the present day … and will be fulfilled in God’s own time both in our hearts and in our world. Certain things are clear in the Bible.

First, God has been in control from the beginning. There is no demonic force that is God’s superior or even God’s equal.

Second, God’s perspective has always, and will always, be loving and redemptive. God will be touch, righteous, and sometimes angry, but God’s beginning and last word is love. Christ is the alpha and omega, and the standard against which all history is compared.

Team Meditation (I Corinthians 15:20-25 and 35-49)

The unity of the Old and New Testament … and of the beginning of time and the end of time … is expressed in the conviction that Adam and Jesus are related. Adam is the paradigm of imperfect humanity. It is not so much that he is the “first man” as that he is the epitome of what it is to be human … selfish and frail, subject to sin and death. Jesus is the paradigm of perfect humanity. He is not just a man, but the epitome of what God intended humanity to be in the first place. If the fall of humanity, and our subsequent history of pain and death, can be blamed on Adam, then the salvation of humanity, and our hope for forgiveness and life, can be attributed to Jesus. These are the two extremes to which every person, Christian, and Christian leader compare themselves. So you ask yourself: am I more like Adam or more like Jesus?

Worship Theme (Genesis 1:1-31)

Modern people idealize the passage of time through the concept of “progress”. We like to think that all there is, and ever was, is the tick-tock of the clock. And we like to think that all the hope that is, or ever will be, is the progress of humanity through education and innovation. Biblical people had a different perspective. They did not deny the passage of time, nor did they ignore the hope of education and innovation. They just saw it as part of a still larger reality.

The reality is that history is surrounded by chaos. It came from chaos by God’s will, and rescued on a daily basis from chaos by God’s providential grace, and is guided toward ultimate peace because God is Lord even over chaos. God can intervene in history in a chaotic way, bending and breaking our logical expectations of time and place, because God is God. God is the paradoxical one. Unlike history, you can’t put God in a book or restrict God by a timeline. God’s decisive intervention in history will be Jesus Christ, and Christ will be every bit as paradoxical as God revealed at the beginning. Fully human and fully divine, Jesus will be “both/and” in history to bring resurrection out of crucifixion.

Worship Design

How do you give your congregation a headache in less than five minutes? Try and explain that God is above the chaos, including the chaos of time. God is not restricted by time, nor is the past the past nor the future the future for God. God is present back then, now, and in time-to-be simultaneously. The point of this is that God is the source of hope because we can trust that God is above and beyond (and behind, and to our left, right, past, future, now, then, in, out...you get the picture).

Launch into this topic by showing a clip from Contact (1997). Use the scene that immediately follows Eleanor Arroway’s “return” from the alien transport machine. In the scene Eleanor asks if they “got it all” but they respond that she’d not left at all. (In other words, she was gone for approximately eighteen hours, but not gone at all.)

To create a visual representation, use a large chalk- or white-board and create a typical story board (see example below). Draw a table of twelve boxes or so, large enough for a stick figure picture and a label in each. Then have people call out important historical events—past, present, and future. Try and put them into chronological order into the boxes. Once you’re done, have the congregation imagine that each of these story boxes are “live” images and that they are seeing everything happen in history simultaneously. The metaphor in a very rudimentary way represents an analogy of how God is present in all times simultaneously.

Bill T-B

Small Group Discussion: Genesis 1-3 and 7-8

These passages speak of the common ancestors that all of humankind share. As you read these accounts, take note of the responsibilities our ancestral parents shared and consider how their responsibilities are reflected in us today. During your small group discussion, take the time to discuss how each of us are responsible for one another, for our neighbors, and for those who live in other micro cultures in our community.

Bill T-B

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2^nd Sunday in May (Week 20) Israel’s Covenant (Genesis 17:1-21; John 8:39-58; Genesis 15; 17:1-18; 21:1-7; 22:1-19)

Overview (Genesis 17:1-21; John 8:39-58; Genesis 15; 17:1-18; 21:1-7; 22:1-19)

If the world started with Adam and Eve, history as we know it started with Abraham and Sarah. They are the first really recognizable historical characters in the Bible. The others seem more like caricatures or symbols. Abraham and Sarah are revealed with all the “warts” and “imperfections” of a real husband and wife. They are somewhere between faith and disbelief, confidence and skepticism, just like us. A lot of generations have come and gone since Abraham and Sarah, and yet we can still see the family resemblance.

Team Meditation (John 8:39-58)

John 8:58  ⁸ Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am."

This is one of the mysterious statements of Jesus that is difficult to understand, but filled with significance. The Pharisees saw this, which was why they were so upset. In saying this, Jesus was declaring three things:

First, Jesus was saying that he was greater than Abraham. Abraham was the life against which all faithfulness was compared, and now Jesus was claiming that all faithfulness should be compared to him instead. He was not saying Abraham was an unworthy paradigm, but that Abraham himself anticipated an even more perfect paradigm to be fulfilled in Jesus. If you want to know God, look no further back that Jesus Christ.

Second, Jesus was saying he existed even before history began. That means he was with God at the very moment of creation. The Gospel writer believed that Christ was the very “word” of God that brought into being order from chaos. How a man within history, could claim to be a spirit beyond history, was a paradox that the Pharisees could not accept. Why? Because it would only be possible of this person were both fully divine and fully human.

Finally, Jesus is saying that the future would be defined by himself, just as the past had been defined by Abraham. Henceforth, Jesus would be the reference point of salvation. Would Abraham be angry that Jesus had supplanted him as the father of history? “No,” Jesus would say. “I asked him, and he was fine with it.”

Worship Theme (Genesis 17:1-21)

At the beginning of history, there is an eternal promise. Ancient people called this promise a covenant. The covenant was that if humanity obeyed and trusted in the Lord, then the Lord would bless humanity to multiply and prosper. We all know that there will be a lot of twists and turns to the plot, but this basic promise endures.

This is why, as mysterious and unpredictable as God may be, people will always refer to God as “the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob”. If we would want to know who this God-who-cannot-be-named-or-contained really is, then we look at these decisive stories in the book of Genesis. It is not unlike what happens when visitors come to church. “Who is this powerful, mysterious God that you experience here?” they ask. And the answer ought to be: “Well, just follow the lifestyles, and listen to the life stories, of the spiritual leaders of this church … and in their stories you will understand the nature and purpose of God.”

No doctrine or textbook can really explain God. Only the lives of faithful saints can really “explain” God. Their lives reveal God’s priorities and purpose, as a mirror reflects the face of reality. True, we look into that mirror dimly, and the reflection will not be perfect until we see Jesus Christ.

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3^rd Sunday in May (Week 21) Israel’s Covenant (Genesis 28:10-22, 32:22-32, 33:1-11; Hebrews 11:1, 8-39 and 12:1-14; Genesis 25:19-34; 27;28:10-22; 32:3-33:16)

Overview (Genesis 28:10-22, 32:22-32, 33:1-11; Hebrews 11:1, 8-39 and 12:1-14; Genesis 25:19-34; 27;28:10-22; 32:3-33:16)

What does it mean to be “faithful”? This single question has preoccupied Biblical people ever since Jacob rediscovered his core values and bedrock beliefs after a misspent youth. Yet it is not the preoccupation of many western European church people today as much as it should be. We are too tempted by comfort … lulled to sleep by good fortune.  At best we go on mission trips to terrible places, enduring hardship temporarily, confident that we have a relatively comfortable billet awaiting us back home. Yet even here life is getting more and more ambiguous and risky.  An ill-timed joke at the airport can result in serious jail time. A mad mid-life escapade can result in unimagined and ongoing pain. It is the price of faithfulness that worries us. It is not unlike the price we must pay to end our dependency on oil products. We can do it … but at what cost to our lifestyle?

Team Meditation (Hebrews 11:1, 8-39 and 12:1-14)

Leaders lead. That is the constant, troubling, challenging fact for all worship teams and congregational leaders. If the congregation is to be disciplined about spiritual growth, the leaders must be more disciplined about spiritual growth. If the members are to give more, the leaders must give much more. If the members are to risk their lives and lifestyles, they must first see their leaders risking their lives and lifestyles. It is not for nothing that Polycarp sacrificed his life in the arena. He wanted to show his followers how to die.

The book of Hebrews recounts the story of faithfulness. It brings the story right up to what was then the present day … and then says to the contemporary Christians “So? What will you accomplish?” Your church is essentially an update on the book of Hebrew’s. Now the “ball”, so to speak, is in your “court”. Time to serve.

Worship Theme (Genesis 28:10-22, 32:22-32, 33:1-11)

Genesis 28:12   ¹² And he dreamed that there was a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven; and behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it!

Vision discernment has become one of the most important strategies established churches do. This is way beyond a book study on Rick Warren’s The Purpose Driven Church! This is about creating a spiritual climate of expectance to receive Biblical visions that may well dislocate your hip. First you focus your core values, and finally understand the difference between brotherhood and birthrights. Next you focus your bedrock beliefs, and finally discover the consolation and empowerment of the covenant with Abraham. Into that poignant moment, when you are all alone and fearful that your newly acquired spiritual maturity is too late, comes God. Angels descend. Life is transformed. And you, the church, is given a new name. Your name no longer reveals your street address, or memorializes the life of some saint. Your name now reveals the vision that God has given to you … and indicates the degree of sacrifice you are willing to stake to fulfill it.

What’s in a name? Everything honorable! Most churches carry names that honor saints, but fail to live up to the behavior pattern attributed to the saint. Now God reveals a vision and changes your name. God calls you to stake everything you have to live up to it. It is the honorable thing to do.

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4^th Sunday in May (Week 22) Israel’s Covenant (Genesis 45:1-28; Mark 3:7-19, 31-35; and Genesis 37 and 39-50)

Overview

The story of “salvation history” begins abstractly and heavenly, and rapidly becomes more human and down-to-earth. This is how the Old Testament begins, starting with God’s creative word; proceeding to rather wooden and archetypal caricatures of man and woman similar to many ancient religions; but quickly passing into the very human dramas of Jacob and his offspring. This is also how the New Testament begins, starting with mystical statements of Christ as the pre-existent Word of God; proceeding to very symbolic and archetypal caricatures of Mary, Joseph, and John the Baptist; and then quickly passing to the very human drama of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. God starts abstract and finishes concrete. God’s purpose is always incarnation. God is always trying to unite heaven and earth, God and humanity.

Team Meditation

The summoning of the twelve disciples symbolically recalls the formation of the twelve tribes of Israel. Just as the children of Jacob reveal very human shortcomings, so also the disciples of Jesus will reveal very human shortcomings. Yet the “great betrayal” of the Old Testament (i.e. the selling of Joseph into slavery in Egypt) only points to the central dilemma of human life (pride, jealousy, or sin), but it does not solve it. The “great betrayal” of the New Testament (i.e. the death of Jesus) leads to God’s final solution to the dilemma (resurrection, new life, unity with God). The question for worship team leaders to ask themselves is this: How do you fit in? What does it mean for you, and for the church, to be called out from the people’s on the earth as adopted brothers and sisters of Christ?

Worship Theme

The reconciliation of Joseph to his brothers is perhaps one of the most moving and extraordinary stories in the Bible. It is fitting that such an unusual tale be told at the beginning, because it sets the stage for even more radical forgiveness in the future. The many skeptics in both church and world will frankly doubt Joseph’s sincerity or his sanity. Who could forgive brothers that would rape their own sister, sell their own brother in to slavery out of mere jealousy, and deceive their father? There is no justice in such forgiveness. It would not be done today. Nobody could have such a big heart.

Provide the congregation with some comparison for the enormity of this act of forgiveness. It would be as if the Jews forgave the Germans for the holocaust; or as if the Muslims forgave the west for a century of capitalist exploitation; or as if Americans forgave the Arab world for 911. Joseph’s act of forgiveness is of such magnitude as to astonish the world. And the only explanation (other than that he is insincere or just plain crazy) is that Joseph knows God. Similar skepticism greets Jesus’ forgiveness of his persecutors from the cross. Today we go to great lengths to prove Jesus could not be divine, simply because we cannot believe the enormity of such forgiveness is possible. People today would rather be skeptical than forgiven. That is the great tragedy of our time.

Worship Design

Forgiveness is a HUGE and difficult topic to deal with. To forgive is literally to “GIVE of yourself as beFORE,” to give of yourself in the same measure as you did before you were offended. Will you ever forget the offence? No. That’s not possible. What is possible is how you choose to behave.

Before I suggest a worship design let me remind you, forgiveness is a CONTROVERSIAL topic. This is NOT going to be easy. We tend to think forgiveness in terms of forgiving our friends, family, and colleagues. But Jesus calls for forgiveness WAY beyond that easy level. To paraphrase him: “If you forgive those who love you and those whom you love, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that?” (Mat 5:46).

To launch a discussion on forgiveness show the theatrical trailer for United 93 (2006). Know that the trailer is emotion-evoking. It will open a wound that for many USAmericans that is still less-than healed. Once you’ve screened the clip, define forgiveness and then ask what it will take for the participants to forgive (1) The Muslims; (2) The Middle East; (3) Al Qaeda? That should be enough for more than a single evening’s discussion...

Bill T-B

Small Group Discussion

Genesis 37 and 39-50

This week’s theme takes a look at forgiveness. As you read the scriptures this week, keep your eye open for accounts that show forgiveness above-and-beyond the call of duty. As you discover different stories, look to see where they hit home for you. Reflect on your own hurts within you, wounds that may reveal areas where you need to be forgiving someone. During your small group discussion, talk about what it means to forgive and about the difficulties we have in forgiving others as well as the difficulty we have in forgiving ourselves. Finally, allow time for confession of those who are having difficulty forgiving others. Ask how you can be supportive in helping one another’s struggles.

Bill T-B