Today’s Lectionary Readings: Psalm 34; Genesis 3:1-24; Matthew 18:10-20; Romans 1:1-15; Psalm 51
Today’s passage from Genesis is a fascinating one for me in that every time I read it, I walk away with a different experience of it. There were times early in my life, for instance, when I interpreted God’s command to Adam and Eve not to eat from the Tree of Life primarily as if God were on a power trip and simply trying to maintain an edge over God’s creation. Of course at that age I was projecting my own control issues onto the text, but that’s another story. As I read the same passage years later, I now experience the story in a completely different way. I see God’s desire to keep Adam and Eve away from the Tree of Life in much more of a compassionate way. I see God in almost a parental role - not wanting Adam and Eve to grow up too soon. I can practically feel God hoping that Adam and Eve will hold on to their sense of innocence, wonder, and trust as long as possible. Sadly, they give in to their temptation. What Adam and Eve gained was a sense of “knowledge”; what they lost was a sense of innocence and trust. Often in our growing up processes, we wrestle with the same sort of choices that Adam and Eve wrestled with. Only our choices occur in a thousand different contexts. In those series of choices we make ranging from financial to vocational to relational, we may increase our “knowledge”. Often, however, we give away pieces of our soul in the process. Today, I invite us to approach those moments in our lives where we face defining moments in our lives – moments where we can increase our “knowledge” or moments where we can maintain our innocence and trust – and use these moments to make different choices: choices that can keep us in right relationship with God and with ourselves. Til next time…
Today’s passage from Genesis is a fascinating one for me in that every time I read it, I walk away with a different experience of it. There were times early in my life, for instance, when I interpreted God’s command to Adam and Eve not to eat from the Tree of Life primarily as if God were on a power trip and simply trying to maintain an edge over God’s creation. Of course at that age I was projecting my own control issues onto the text, but that’s another story. As I read the same passage years later, I now experience the story in a completely different way. I see God’s desire to keep Adam and Eve away from the Tree of Life in much more of a compassionate way. I see God in almost a parental role - not wanting Adam and Eve to grow up too soon. I can practically feel God hoping that Adam and Eve will hold on to their sense of innocence, wonder, and trust as long as possible. Sadly, they give in to their temptation. What Adam and Eve gained was a sense of “knowledge”; what they lost was a sense of innocence and trust. Often in our growing up processes, we wrestle with the same sort of choices that Adam and Eve wrestled with. Only our choices occur in a thousand different contexts. In those series of choices we make ranging from financial to vocational to relational, we may increase our “knowledge”. Often, however, we give away pieces of our soul in the process. Today, I invite us to approach those moments in our lives where we face defining moments in our lives – moments where we can increase our “knowledge” or moments where we can maintain our innocence and trust – and use these moments to make different choices: choices that can keep us in right relationship with God and with ourselves. Til next time…
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