The first post in a year-long conversation on scripture, faith, and how it's relevant in our lives, begins today! We begin with Genesis and end up at Revelation, using the Transformation Journal.
In these introductory verses, the very beginning of our sacred texts, we hear a story of explanation for how the world came to be and how humans came to relate to one another they way they do. I'm not particularly interested in debating whether the world was created in 6 days, 144 hours, or 8840 minutes, or if this is a story told orally for many years to help people make sense of their existence. I tend to think this is a sacred story meant to give us insight into who our Creator is and to better understand how we live and interact and understand this Creator.
The first question in the Transformation Journal is: What does it mean to be created in God's image? The New Interpreter's Study Bible outlines several answers to this question throughout history. The first understanding was outlined by Augustine, stating that the image of God in human beings referred to the rational soul, placed by God in the human body, which was created out of the ground. Throughout the centuries, being created in the image of God has shifted to referring to the sanctity and innate worth of all human beings, suggesting that all people be treated with equal dignity. Another interpretation is that human beings, created in God's image, are given the responsibility to care for what God has created. This challenges us to look at the ways we care for our own bodies, the earth, and all that is in it.
Today, as I read, I'm struck by the rhythm of the text, and how after each creation, God saw that it was good. I think this text encourages our own sense of creativity, and seeing the good in it. It also reminds us that creativity and creation are good - but that we are not to overwork and overdo it. God took sabbath time, a seventh day, to rest and bless the work. Good took rest. We need to take rest! To see the good in what we do, to bless it, and to rest the good creations that we are!
In these introductory verses, the very beginning of our sacred texts, we hear a story of explanation for how the world came to be and how humans came to relate to one another they way they do. I'm not particularly interested in debating whether the world was created in 6 days, 144 hours, or 8840 minutes, or if this is a story told orally for many years to help people make sense of their existence. I tend to think this is a sacred story meant to give us insight into who our Creator is and to better understand how we live and interact and understand this Creator.
The first question in the Transformation Journal is: What does it mean to be created in God's image? The New Interpreter's Study Bible outlines several answers to this question throughout history. The first understanding was outlined by Augustine, stating that the image of God in human beings referred to the rational soul, placed by God in the human body, which was created out of the ground. Throughout the centuries, being created in the image of God has shifted to referring to the sanctity and innate worth of all human beings, suggesting that all people be treated with equal dignity. Another interpretation is that human beings, created in God's image, are given the responsibility to care for what God has created. This challenges us to look at the ways we care for our own bodies, the earth, and all that is in it.
Today, as I read, I'm struck by the rhythm of the text, and how after each creation, God saw that it was good. I think this text encourages our own sense of creativity, and seeing the good in it. It also reminds us that creativity and creation are good - but that we are not to overwork and overdo it. God took sabbath time, a seventh day, to rest and bless the work. Good took rest. We need to take rest! To see the good in what we do, to bless it, and to rest the good creations that we are!
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