This workshop leader’s Bible study
is a historical, theological, and contextual introduction to the Creation
rotation of Kirk of Kildaire’s Faith Quest workshop rotation program. It is intended to provide workshop leaders
with:
·
A historical context for understanding the Bible story.
·
A Biblical context for reading and teaching the story.
·
The theological basis for the concepts to be taught to
the children.
In Kirk of Kildaire’s Faith Quest program, workshop leaders
attend a one-hour Bible study two weeks prior to the start of a new
rotation. This Bible study helps
workshop leaders understand how the concepts to be taught to the children are
derived from the Bible story and how the lessons in the rotation fit together
to reinforce the concepts. It also
provides an opportunity for the workshop leaders to grow in their own faith and
understanding of the Bible.
It will be helpful to have a
chalkboard, whiteboard, or flip chart for writing down questions or observations
during the Bible study.
Note: This is not a comprehensive study of the
text, but only a few notes to help provide context and background for workshop
leaders. Consult titles cited in the
reference list at the end of these notes for more information.
Scripture:
Genesis 1 and 2
Psalm 136:1 “O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good and his steadfast love endures forever.” (CEV)
1. God created the universe and all that is in it.
2. God created the world good.
3. God wants us to care for God’s creation.
4. We are most like God when we nurture and bless the world and each other.
5. God loves us and the world.
·
If workshop leaders do not know each other, give them
an opportunity to introduce each other and say which workshop they will be
leading.
·
Begin the Bible study by praying for God’s guidance as
teachers begin a new rotation.
Ask a workshop leader to read the text aloud. Since this rotation focuses on an entire chapter, you might want to divide the reading among three or four workshop leaders.
Ask the workshop leaders what
questions came to mind as they heard the story or read it before the Bible
study. Write down any questions that
arise and will need to be answered during the Bible study.
What is Genesis? Is it history? Does it attempt to give an accurate account of the earliest age of the world? Or is it myth? Does it tell a largely symbolic story with little correspondence to actual people, places, and events? Perhaps it is an altogether different genre: “theological, kerygmatic narrative.” Genesis is neither history nor myth, but a story written by and for people with a specific theological purpose¾to help understand who God is, how God relates to the created order, and how we are to relate to God and to the created order¾and kerygmatic purpose¾to proclaim what the community of faith understands about God.[1]
Genesis can be divided roughly into two parts:[2]
· Chapters 1-11 are the community of faith’s Primeval History,[3] or prehistory.
· Chapters 12-50 are the ancestral history.
Our lessons for this rotation on chapters 1-3 are part of a “rhythm” of creation-disruption-recreation that repeats a couple of times in chapters 1-11:[4]
Creation: something is created or begun |
Disruption: a sinful act implicates or has consequences
for individuals, family, and the larger world |
Catastrophe: the sinfulness has catastrophic
consequences |
Recreation: God intervenes to recreate or restore
creation |
|
The world is created (1:1-2:25). |
Humans disobey the one prohibition God gives them: human sinfulness is propagated first among the family and then among the rest of the world (3:1 – 6:7). |
God floods the earth and wipes out all but a small remnant of humankind (6:8 – 8:19). |
This small remnant receives a blessing and a promise and the chance to begin again (8:20 – 8:22). |
|
A new beginning (9:1-17) |
Sin again disrupts the family (9:18-10:32) and the larger world (11:1 - 4). |
God scatters the people and confuses their language (11:5-9). |
God chooses Abram to set out from home and begin a new life, and God blesses him (12:1-3). |
The creation and fall stories are a part of this first rhythm of creation, disruption and recreation. Within these two larger cycles of creation-disruption-recreation are smaller sets of recurring patterns of sin, judgment, mercy, and punishment:[5]
Sinful Act |
Judgment |
Act of Mercy or a Blessing |
Act of Punishment |
|
Humans eat the forbidden fruit (3:6). |
God curses the humans and the snake (3:14-19). |
God makes clothing for the humans (3:21). |
God sends them out of the Garden of Eden (3:22-24). |
|
Cain kills Abel (4:8). |
God curses Cain (4:10-12). |
God gives Cain a mark of protection (4:15). |
God sends Cain to Nod, “the land of Wandering” (4:16). |
|
Angels marry the beautiful daughters (6:2). |
God limits humans’ lifespan (6:3). |
|
|
|
Everything humans think and plan is evil (6:5) |
God purposes to destroy creation (6:6-7) |
God warns one family (6:8-22). |
God floods the earth (7:1-8:22). |
|
Ham sees his father naked (9:22). |
Noah curses Canaan, Ham’s son (9:25) |
|
|
|
Humans build a tower that reaches to the sky (11:3-4) |
God “catches” their purpose (11:6). |
|
God scatters the people and confuses their language (11:8-9). |
Terence Fretheim sums up Genesis 1-11 by characterizing what God does throughout the narratives: God “promises and blesses, elects and saves. . . . God acts to free people, indeed the entire world, to be what they were created to be.”[6] Throughout this narrative of God’s creative, liberating work in the world, we can see the following themes:[7]
· Judgment and mercy: God is present and active in every sphere of life¾among both the chosen and nonchosen¾to judge and save. God both judges human sinfulness and is gracious with it.
· Blessing: Both God and humankind engage in the creational activity of blessing humankind and nature.
· Relationality: God is deeply concerned with kinship and family (or perhaps more broadly relationality) especially for the purpose of reconciliation.
· Concern: God shows concern for the life of God’s people¾economies, agriculture, political and governmental life¾through which God is at work for blessing.
· Shared power: God intends for humans to have an active role in God’s purposes. Humans are to be instruments for God’s purposes.
The creation narrative in Genesis comes to us in two parts:
· 1:1 – 2:4a was probably written by the “Priestly” writer. It shows concern for order, holiness, and separateness.
· 2:4b-25 was written by the “Jahwist.” It shows concern for relationships, justice, and covenant life.
The two stories, though probably separate in origin, have never appeared separately as far as we know. If they were originally separate stories, they were put together very early. “They function together to provide the canonical form of creation.”[8] It is important to read them together. The second creation story describes in detail several days of the first story, particularly the sixth day. Read it not so much as a second creation story, but as an expansion of the previous account, kind of like zooming in on the sixth day. As different as the second story is from the first, it has several striking similarities:[9]
· God is the sole creator of a good and purposeful world.
· Humans occupy a key place in creation.
· Humans and nonhumans alike play a co-creative role.
· The social character of humans is expressed in their creation as male and female.
How are the themes listed in the introduction to this study carried out in the narrative of the creation?
God is present and active in every sphere of life¾among both the chosen and nonchosen¾to judge and save. God both judges human sinfulness and is gracious with it.
1:4And God saw that the light was good
1:31God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good.
Both God and humankind engage in the creational activity of blessing humankind and nature.
1:28 God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth."
2:3 So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all the work that he had done in creation.
God is deeply concerned with kinship and family (or perhaps more broadly relationality) especially for the purpose of reconciliation.
1:27 So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.
2:18 Then the Lord God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper as his partner."
God shows concern for the life of God’s people¾economies, agriculture, political and governmental life¾through which God is at work for blessing.
1:29 God said, "See, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food.
2:15-18 The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, "You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die."
Then the Lord God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper as his partner."
God intends for humans to have an active role in God’s purposes. Humans are to be instruments for God’s purposes.
1:28 God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth."
2:19-20 So out of the ground the Lord God formed every animal of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. The man gave names to all cattle, and to the birds of the air, and to every animal of the field;
Ask each workshop leader to
summarize his or her workshop. As they
do so, point out the concepts that each lesson reinforces. Ask workshop leaders if they have any
questions about the logistics or practical application of their lesson.
God created the universe and all that is in it.
God created the world good.
God wants us to care for God’s creation.
We are most like God when we nurture and bless the
world and each other.
God loves us and the world.
Return to the questions that were
gathered at the start of the hour. Have
they been answered? Are there any
further questions about the Bible story or about the lessons?
Close the Bible study with a
prayer.
Brueggemann, Walter. Genesis Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1982.
Fretheim, Terence E. “Genesis.” New Interpreter’s Bible, vol. 1. Leander Keck, et. al. editors. (Nashville, Abingdon Press, 1994), pp. 319-674.
O’Day, Gail. “John” New Interpreter’s Bible. Leander Keck, et. al. editors. Nashville, Abingdon Press, 1995.
Sloyan, Gerard S. John. Atlanta:
John Knox Press, 1988.
[1] Fretheim, “Genesis,” p. 326.
[2] Fretheim, “Genesis,” p. 328.
[3] Throughout this Bible study, when you read “history” think more along the lines of “story.”
[4] Fretheim, “Genesis,” p. 337.
[5] Fretheim, “Genesis,” p. 336.
[6] Fretheim, “Genesis,” pp. 328-329.
[7] Fretheim, “Genesis,” pp. 329-330.
[8] Fretheim, “Genesis,” p. 340.
[9] Fretheim, “Genesis,” p. 349.