Forgotten Roots

And we begin again. A new series, a new journey, and really the beginning of a much larger journey in which I hope to answer three big questions:

1. Who is God?
2. Who is Man?
3. What is the Church?

These questions will lead us down some interesting paths into scripture, history, our culture and into ourselves. Have no fear - we will take our time and plumb the depths in a leisurely way, taking as long as it takes. But, as they say, "a journey begins with the first step," so lets get going!

To understand our world, to understand how we function as The Church within that world, and within our culture we have to really understand who humanity is.

• · Not western cultural, secular representations of what humanity is
• · Not religious characterizations of who humanity could be
• · Not a capitalist dream or a socialist ideal
• · We need to see humanity in all its glory and all of its messiness

To be able to follow God, to serve Him well, to share Him with others and live out Christ’s mission in the world, we need to know who God is.

• · Not just cultural representations of Him
• · Not Sunday School answers, happy-cartoonish characterizations of God
• · Not the inoculate (shot) of the story that prevents us from seeing
• · We need to see God, as He has revealed Himself to us through Scripture in a long history of interaction with His people

To understand who we are and who God is we need to take a journey back in time to the very beginning of our history of faith, into the Genesis of our relationship with God at the beginning of all things. This journey will lead us into the soil of our reality today and there we will find the forgotten roots of the human story and the Divine Identity; the story we find ourselves in – our real and truest selves, our intended image and God’s ever-changing, never-wavering love.

This Journey begins “in the beginning” and starts with God, Man and a garden.

We will spend the next 6 or 7 weeks (with a brief intermission) exploring the book of Genesis. If you would like to study ahead, let me suggest a few framing questions for your reading:

1. How is God portrayed in Genesis? What sort's of speeches come out of His mouth?
2. How is Man portrayed in Genesis? What sort's of speeches come out of their mouthes?
3. What is the author of Genesis trying to say and how does he use words to say it?

It is my hope that, at the end of our tour through Genesis, we will all have a much better understanding of God and our identity in relation to Him. And, I hope that along the way, you will rediscover some ancient practices of the church that bring new meaning and rootedness to your faith (Hint - this means some experimentation on Sunday Morning!)

Looking forward to the journey - Pastor Jamie