Romans 1:16-17 – “Yes, We Can!” – May 19, 2019

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It’s hard to know where to begin with Paul’s letter to the church in Rome, better known as Romans. On one hand, it is his most sophisticated articulation of his theology, written late in his ministry after refining his message with years of active missionary work. It also probably influenced the Protestant Reformation more than any other single book of the Bible with its emphasis on salvation by faith alone.

On the other hand, Romans can be a daunting read as Paul takes a deep dive into human sinfulness and the nuances of faith with somewhat esoteric arguments based on assumptions we might not have. Further, anyone who has been a victim of anti-gay teaching and preaching in the church may know that just a bit further on in this same first chapter of Romans, we find a passage that has been and is still used repeatedly to bludgeon, shame, and exclude LGBTQ people. And though we can accurately state that Paul did not have a modern understanding of sexual orientation or knowledge of same-gender romantic relationships that were based on love, it is also probably fair to say that even if he had that knowledge, he would have come to the same conclusions as he did. In fact, that particular passage from Romans 1 is one of the passages that led me in my own journey to conclude there are some things in the Bible that do not reflect God’s will for us today, but instead reflect the biases and prejudices of the flawed, sinful people God used to write the Bible. And though the line between the author’s prejudice and God’s will is not always clear, we as modern people of faith have the responsibility to try to figure out which is which.

Genesis 2-3 – “Adam and Steve” – September 11, 2016

This is more of a reboot than a remake of the story of Adam and Eve. It takes apart the components of the story and puts them back together in a new way. It is intended to be light-hearted and fun with a serious message. 

Once upon a time, God created the earth. At first it was just land and water. Hills, mountains, valleys and plains. Streams, rivers, lakes and like today, lots of ocean. One day God was walking around enjoying the landscape and decided to do some planting. So God created millions and millions of plants. God covered the earth with every plant alive today and a few that aren’t around anymore. God called the earth a garden.

The garden of Earth was beautiful and God enjoyed spending time there. Then one day, God thought it might be nice to have some company: someone to talk to, someone to listen to, someone to play with, someone to enjoy the earth with, someone to love. So God knelt down in the mud and formed the mud into a man and breathed life into the man. God called the man “Adam.”

God was pleased with Adam and they spent long hours walking around the garden of Earth enjoying the plants and the scenery and loving each other. Then one day Adam said to God, “I’m lonely”.