Sermon – Genesis 18 – September 15, 2019

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Sermon – Genesis 2 – September 2, 2019

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Today we begin another year of working through the whole story of the Bible. Starting today in Genesis, we move chronologically through the Old Testament until December 15th. We do take some pretty huge narrative leaps in order to cover the entire Old Testament in 14 Sundays, but we should get a sense of the narrative arc of the Old Testament in that time. Then from January until Easter, we will be reading the Gospel of Mark. From Easter to the end of May we get some passages from Acts and 1 Corinthians. This schedule is called the Narrative Lectionary and it has a four year cycle with a different gospel featured each year. And our children and family Sunday School class will follow the same schedule.

I like using the Narrative Lectionary because as Presbyterians we claim as inspiration the whole story of the Bible. Yes we prioritize Jesus as a unique revelation and inspiration, but we believe his life, teachings, death, and resurrection are consistent with the testimony of the Hebrew Scriptures or Old Testament. Another way of saying it is that we read the whole Bible, but we do read through the lens of Christ. 

Today we begin with a very particular portion of the creation story.