It’s always fun to kick off a new series. And sometimes it’s a little stressful if you feel like there’s a lot at stake. This weekend was kind of both.
The worship was powerful and had some intensity to it that I didn’t see coming, but in retrospect it makes sense.
Here’s what I mean. This series will actually address some pretty difficult and gnarly areas of our lives, but to do that in a way that will make sense and be faithful to God’s heart and mind as revealed in scripture we need to lay some groundwork, to do some theologizing (don’t quit reading, play along like that sounds good). In other words it’s a lot about the story in which we find ourselves. And thus its about properly placing ourselves in it.
I wish this was my own idea. Check out this quote from Alasdair Macintyre (philosopher and back up center for the Seattle Seahawks)
I can only answer the question “What am I to do?” if I can answer the prior question “Of what story or stories do I find myself a part?”
I so wish my name was Alasdair – but I digress.
The point is when it comes to all the issues of life in our bodies, all the knotty questions that we face especially in the areas of sexuality we could go straight to the problems and have a series that goes from “difficult problem #1” to “controversial question #2” etc. I’m not saying that’s not a good plan. But as a pastoral team we felt led to go a little more wide-angle and make sure we had a reasonable grasp of the big picture, of our place in the story.
It was fun to look at Genesis 1 and 2. Life is Good! God deliberately, lovingly, wisely made the best decision, the plan A to make us embodied beings!
Notice the way I sneak one of the main points of the message in one more time – see slide!
Hopefully, also we rehabilitated Genesis 2:18 and the whole “helper” idea for all of the ladies out there. That might be worth the podcast for those who missed it.
I’m looking forward to a great series… even if it gets a little dicey!
