Creation to the Throne of God - Ordination Preparation
"In the beginning..." Today I started reading through the Bible, Creation to the Throne of God. In just about 5 months I will be ordained as a minister in the Christian church. When I met with the pastor of my home congregation to discuss the ordination process, he challenged me to consider how I might spiritually prepare for ordination. One of the ways I decided to prepare was by reading through the whole Bible between now and then.
While I was on my intercultural immersion study trip in east Kentucky, I learned a lot about the relationship between humans and the earth. I was reminded of how I am lacking in my appreciation for and understanding of nature. Consequently, I feel led to use the Green Bible as my source of devotion for this time period of preparation. I also hope to reflect upon nature by planting a garden this spring and reading from my undergraduate Environmental Studies book.
Today's reading was the story of Creation and Re-Creation through the flood. Although the possibility of God creating more than one man and one woman at the very beginning is available to us, I was struck by the fact that in the story of Noah we are clearly given three families from which all human creation finds its birth. I was also struck that Eve was considered the mother of all living things. This made me wonder about what my role is to be in relationship to the earth. Am I to act motherly towards all of creation? The command to be fruitful and multiply in an "earthy sense" also stood out to me. It appears that the early patriarchs became fathers sometime between the completion of the first 7% and 17% of their lives (with the rare 23%). Although they were old by modern standards, they were actually quite young if we consider what percentage of their lives they spent as parents. Also, in the context of my spending time in the Appalachian mountains, I wondered what role the great flood played in the creation of our the energy sources (coal) that we use today.
So many things to think about. I look forward to reading more than 7 chapters a day and exploring any new insights that God reveals to me.
Blessings friends on your 2010!
While I was on my intercultural immersion study trip in east Kentucky, I learned a lot about the relationship between humans and the earth. I was reminded of how I am lacking in my appreciation for and understanding of nature. Consequently, I feel led to use the Green Bible as my source of devotion for this time period of preparation. I also hope to reflect upon nature by planting a garden this spring and reading from my undergraduate Environmental Studies book.
Today's reading was the story of Creation and Re-Creation through the flood. Although the possibility of God creating more than one man and one woman at the very beginning is available to us, I was struck by the fact that in the story of Noah we are clearly given three families from which all human creation finds its birth. I was also struck that Eve was considered the mother of all living things. This made me wonder about what my role is to be in relationship to the earth. Am I to act motherly towards all of creation? The command to be fruitful and multiply in an "earthy sense" also stood out to me. It appears that the early patriarchs became fathers sometime between the completion of the first 7% and 17% of their lives (with the rare 23%). Although they were old by modern standards, they were actually quite young if we consider what percentage of their lives they spent as parents. Also, in the context of my spending time in the Appalachian mountains, I wondered what role the great flood played in the creation of our the energy sources (coal) that we use today.
So many things to think about. I look forward to reading more than 7 chapters a day and exploring any new insights that God reveals to me.
Blessings friends on your 2010!
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