Origins: The Book of Genesis

A preview of our post-Christmas sermon series!

As we’ve been moving through Advent, I’ve been looking ahead to the new year and a different approach to crafting sermon series. Over the years I’ve used a bunch of different methods for putting sermons together, from using the prescribed readings of the Revised Common Lectionary, to a newer “Narrative Lectionary” format, to topical series, to expositing certain sections of the biblical text. One of the most effective means of drawing together continuous immersion in the Bible and its application, however, is preaching through entire books.

This approach has a lot of upside:

• It allows the congregation to come together and focus on a particular section of God’s Word, enabling deeper personal and group study on the texts we’re using in worship.

• It helps to train people to read the Bible continually and contextually, getting the sense of each of the 66 books as part of a larger story.

• It enables us to read inductively, drawing the lessons and applications for daily life from the Bible, rather than starting with our experiences and looking for Scriptures to illuminate them. It’s an approach that allows God to have the first word as we then listen and then live it out.

• It forces us to dive into parts of the Bible we might be tempted to skip over because they seem harder or more controversial. Think of the Minor Prophets, for example, which we usually skip over except for a quote here or there, or the tough theological conundrums in the Book of Job. A book-by-book approach allows us to hear the whole counsel of God in the whole of the Bible.

Over the first year and a half of our life together as Pastor and congregation, we’ve done a bunch of different kinds of series, from topical to book studies to even a focus on a hymn, like our current Advent series. Each of those series has been a joy for me to prepare, but my favorite approach is to dig deep into a text and mine what treasures God has left for us there. Our recent Wednesday night study in Romans is an example of that, and while Sunday morning worship is a different format and time frame, the deep dive approach to a particular book gets me excited to pull together all the research and study for it under the guidance of the Spirit and to share it together.

To that end, and after a lot of prayer and discerning over the last month or so, I felt called to start the new year with a focus on the beginning—on the Book of Genesis, which stands at the very beginning of the Bible both in terms of its place in Scripture and its significance in the unfolding story of God’s relationship with creation and human beings. Genesis is often described as the “book of beginnings” because it introduces us to the origin story for everything; from the world, to human beings, to the origin of sin, to the story of God’s plan of redemption. It’s the foundational narrative that shapes the Christian understanding of who God is, who we are, and why we are here.

As we embark on a sermon series through Genesis, we will explore its key stories and themes as well as answer some important questions: How do we reconcile the story of creation in Genesis 1 with science? What does it mean for us to be human beings created in God’s image? How are we to think about issues of identity? How does “original sin” work in shaping humanity? What’s the purpose of human life? Genesis invites us to consider that we’re not just part of a random collection of atoms called the universe, but that our lives are designed as part of a great story.

I’m looking forward to this journey through Genesis, providing the history and context of the book while exploring its major themes and questions. The series will take us through the Lenten season, culminating with a closer look into the Joseph story as Genesis’ foreshadowing of the gospel story of Jesus.

We’re also going to be adding some supplemental content each week to help you get into a daily and weekly rhythm of engaging the Bible. Starting in January, our “Aldersgate Experience” podcast will be presented in both audio and video form. Pastor Jeff and I will bring you some commentary on the previous week’s text and message, adding some of the things that weren’t covered in the sermon, talking about some of the “in between” texts in the book that help round out the context, and give you a preview of the next Sunday’s text and message. As always, you’ll be able to rewatch the full sermon on our YouTube page each week, but the weekly podcast and video will give you some more points to ponder.

I’ll also use this space to add some additional commentary as well as point you to additional resources that might be helpful as you follow along the series. My hope is that you will want to study with others and we’ll also be providing you with some study questions to consider each week to use with a small group, Sunday School class, or in your personal reflection. My hope is that we’ll move toward an “all church” emphasis on a particular part of Scripture, which will allow us all to share what the Spirit is teaching us both individually and collectively. Our youth are already doing this in their Sunday School class, with Miranda generating discussion questions from each week’s sermon and providing an opportunity for youth to ask questions and discuss what they just heard in worship. There’s something very powerful about focusing our attention together on the Word. Watch for more on how you can do this in the new year.

All that said, we still have three more Sundays of Advent and I’m looking forward to sharing with you the biblical and theological themes in Charles Wesley’s “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing (Hymn for Christmas Day).” This week we’re looking at the incarnation and what it meant for God to become a human being in Jesus Christ. I hope you’ll join us for worship in person or online. Don’t forget that we’ll also have our annual Church Conference in the Sanctuary after the 10:30am service.

See you Sunday!