Genesis 1 “The Story of the Heavens and the Earth”

What does the story mean? What happened? What does the story mean?

Gift of Food to all Living Things Day 1 Time/Day & Night Day 2 Weather Day 3 Food Day 4 Calendar Keepers Day 5 Filling Water and Sky Day 6 Gift of Food to all Living Things

Gift of Food to all Living Things Day 1 Time/Day & Night Day 2 Weather Day 3 Food Day 4 Calendar Keepers Day 5 Filling Water and Sky Day 6 Gift of Food to all Living Things

Gift of Food to all Living Things Day 1 Time/Day & Night Day 2 Weather Day 3 Food Day 4 Calendar Keepers Day 5 Filling Water and Sky Day 6 Gift of Food to all Living Things

“On the seventh day God rested.”

Isaiah 66: 1, 2 This is what the Lord says: “Heaven is my throne,     and the earth is my footstool. Could you build me a temple as good as that?     Could you build me such a resting place? 2 My hands have made both heaven and earth;     they and everything in them are mine. NLT

Psalm 132: 7, 8 7 Let us go to his dwelling place! Let us worship before his footstool! 8 Ascend, O Lord, to your resting place NET 7 Let’s enter God’s dwelling place;     let’s worship at the place God rests his feet! 8 Get up, Lord, go to your residence CEB

28 “Come to me, all you who are struggling hard and carrying heavy loads, and I will give you rest. 29  Put on my yoke, and learn from me. I’m gentle and humble. And you will find rest for yourselves” Matthew 11: 28, 29 CEB

“My Father is still working, and I am working too.” John 5:17 CEB

“Whoever wants to be great among you will be your servant “Whoever wants to be great among you will be your servant. 27  Whoever wants to be first among you will be your slave— 28 just as the Human One didn’t come to be served but rather to serve and to give his life to liberate many people.” Matthew 20: 26 – 28 CEB

God does not need people to build a temple for God God does not need people to build a temple for God. God has already made a home where God and people can live together. God did not create humankind to be God’s slaves to take care of God’s needs. God wants us to live with God sharing God’s authority to work in the world like priests in a temple. The work we do with God is the ongoing work of keeping the world as a home that’s good for all living things and for God. God has given us authority to rule to help keep earth as a home for all living things, for ourselves and for God.

God will not be happy if we become part of the problem by using our power to turn the earth back into desolation. The world is God’s temple. We are always living in God’s temple. We cannot come and go, enter and then leave God’s temple. Because we are priests in God’s dwelling place, what we do affects everything. Prayer is not something we can stop doing. We are always in tune with God, looking to see what God is doing so we can join God in God’s work.

We are not alone; we live in God’s world. We believe in God. who has created and is creating, who has come in Jesus, the Word made flesh, to reconcile and make new, who works in us and others by the Spirit. We trust in God. We are called to be the church: to celebrate God’s presence, to live with respect in Creation, to love and serve others, to seek justice and resist evil, to proclaim Jesus, crucified and risen, our judge and our hope. In life, in death, in life beyond death. God is with us. We are not alone. Thanks be to God. Amen. by permission of The United Church of Canada, from the UM Hymnal