2026 Reading Plan

Hebrew Word of the Week: גֵּר ger – translated as “resident alien” in our passage it is “stranger” or “foreigner”

Reflection:
You may have noticed a trend in my devotionals lately… I am loving the geography of Genesis. Every time a city is mentioned I now look it up on a map as well as its modern day location. It helps me to remember that much of the Old Testament was recorded/written down during Israel’s wonderings in the wilderness and then also while they were in exile. As they were putting pen to paper (or ink to scroll!), they were far from home. I imagine recalling and naming their hometowns was soothing to their souls. Today, we hear the location of Sarah’s final resting place in Hebron. For all these Israelites in exile, they would know this location. Hebron is where most of the major figures of Genesis are buried. Before too long in our story, Abraham, Issac, Rebekah, Jacob, and Leah will join Sarah at this burial site.

(*Just a fun fact – Hebron is awfully close to Bethlehem!*)

If we go back to God’s original covenant with Abraham, God promised multiple things including land. But here we are at the the death of his wife, and Abraham is having to buy land. At this moment in history, Hebron/Canaan does not yet belong to Abraham nor his family. Eventually, Hebron will be included in the promised land, but not yet. This burial site is a future and final home for those who do not yet have a home.

There is a book on my shelf called Resident Aliens. Much like our Hebrew word of the week above, it speaks to Abraham’s situation AND also to all of us. The book argues that all Christians are “resident aliens” because we also have a promised land in the Kingdom of God. Until the time when we get to that promised land, we live as a stranger in a different land. We all, just like Abraham, live faithfully on the future promise of “land” which will be in the Kingdom of God. Until then, we live as “resident aliens.” W are people who belong to another place, but find ourselves living Kingdom ethics and values in a different land.

– Matthew Montgomery

Practice:
Where have you seen the Kingdom of God at work recently? Go tell some one the good news of what God is doing in your life.

Prayer:
Gracious God,
Thank you for your promise of your coming Kingdom. Let us also see where it already exists around us. Amen.

Reflection:
If you’ve been following along with this Bible reading plan and weekly devotional, you know that Genesis offers a rich and complex picture of what it means to be in relationship with God.

In Genesis 23:11–20, we see a deeply human picture of Abraham as he wrestles with what it means to live faithfully. Just before this passage, we learn of Sarah’s death. Here, Abraham negotiates with the Hittites to secure a burial place for Sarah and a piece of land he can call his own.

It’s clear from this text that Abraham’s grief is real. This is a significant loss, especially when we consider all that he and Sarah have been through together. I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that life has been pulling the rug out from under Abraham. He has lost his wife, he is a foreigner in a strange land, he is far from home, and he has yet to see God’s promises come to full fruition. Perhaps one of the most difficult parts of this moment is that he doesn’t yet have a place to bury Sarah and honor her in death.

There is plenty to glean from this passage, but what stands out to me is Abraham’s determination to purchase the land. Ephron seems perfectly willing to give Abraham the land. He offers kindness and hospitality to Abraham in his grief. But Abraham insists on paying for it. He wants the land to cost him something.

Perhaps one message in this text is that when we care deeply about something, we are willing to bear the cost of showing that care. Or, to put it more succinctly, we sacrifice for the people and values that mean the most to us.

Abraham didn’t want Sarah’s burial place to be free. What would that have communicated about her role in his life and the journey they had taken together? In some way, the cost reflected his care.

So much of the Bible calls us to extend kindness to others, and that’s exactly what Ephron offers Abraham. There is an important life lesson in learning to receive the kindness others extend to us, and Abraham does receive Ephron’s generosity. But this passage also reminds us that it’s okay for certain things to cost us something.

Following Jesus always comes at a cost. Jesus is pretty clear about that. It will cost us our time, our resources, and sometimes other opportunities we might otherwise pursue. And while the cost itself doesn’t prove that we are living faithfully, our willingness to sacrifice for the sake of Jesus and his kingdom can be an expression of the value we place on a life of faithful discipleship.

– Gann Waters-Wright

Perhaps the questions for us today are:
1. What in your life is costing you something, and you are willing to embrace that cost because it matters to you?
2. What have you been avoiding because you know it will cost you something, even though you also know it could make your life more meaningful?

Reflection
This is such a fun story! Abraham’s servant goes out to find a wife for Issac. He wont settle for just anyone. He’s got very specific instructions, and he even goes so far as to create a test. He prays for God to show him a woman who will first offer him water and then offer his camels water as well. Before he finishes his prayer, God was already busy answering it. God doesn’t just provide an answer, but God answers his prayer exactly how he wanted. He watches his prayer get answered, and what is his first response? Verse 21 says, “The man stood gazing at her, wondering silently if the Lord had made his trip successful or not.” In the history of prayer, this might be the fastest prayer ever answered. How funny that his first response is doubt over whether it worked or not. Its almost too easy and too good to be true.
How often do we do the same thing? God answers our prayers, shows up, speaks to us, and we immediately wonder “was that God or coincidence?” I don’t think that is ever a bad question to ask, and I think that is an incredibly human response to anything we cant explain. It is a rare and disorienting experience to get an answered prayer so blatantly.

I remember once struggling with a life decision. I was talking through my options with my dad over the phone. During the call, he listened closely without offering a specific perspective. He ended the call by saying something like, “whatever you decide I will support you.” After we hung up, I prayed to God and said, “God I dont know what to do. Will you show me the right decision?” Less than a minute later, my dad called me back and told me exactly what he thought I should do. I was left wondering, “Did my dad call back on his own or did God just give me an answered prayer?”

Wesley Wednesday:
John Wesley struggled with this same situation. How do we discern what is coincidence and what is an answered prayer? In his sermon titled On Divine Providence, Wesley says “every divine act and answered prayer is a miracle we receive more often than we think.” Later in his journals John Wesley talked about how answered prayers come often, but frustratingly the answers are almost always in the form of, “Yes. No. Or not yet.” It is up to us to discern which of those answers we are being given.

-Matthew Montgomery

Practice:
Examine your prayer life. In what parts and times of your life where you given these answers: yes, no, and not yet?

Prayer:
God,
Thank you for listening and answering prayer even we don’t recognize it’s being answered. Amen.

Reflection:
Today’s passage of scripture is interesting because we get to see that the way that people experience God changes. In earlier stories, God is physically present and vocal. In this story, Abraham’s faithful servant has to discern God working. This servant recounts his story and his prayer to Rebekah and her family, convincing them that God is indeed working.

In a commentary on Genesis, Dr. Miguel A. De La Torre (a professor from Iliff School of Theology) says this,

“Until now, God’s interactions in the affairs of humans were quite obvious. God spoke to, walked among, and dined with humans. This physically present God now becomes less visible. Rather than God physically stating what God is about to do, humans are to look retroactively toward what occurred and discern the hand of God… We are introduced to a mature faith that discerns the hand of God in human life.” (p. 230-231, Belief, A Theological Commentary on the Bible, De La Torre)

Now cynics may have a lot to say about the way the servant tried to discern God’s purpose; he didn’t even finish setting the parameters! However, the faith required, the belief that God WAS working, is something that stand outs to me.

For me personally, I love Galatians 5:22-23 as a way to discern what God is doing in my life in the world. Are the fruit of the Spirit active and growing in my life or in this situation?
As United Methodists, we also use John Wesley’s Quadrilateral as a means of discernment:

The Wesleyan Quadrilateral (Process of Discernment)

• Scripture: Review biblical texts, commands, and overarching themes related to your decision.
• Tradition: Consult Christian history, historic church teachings, and the wisdom of trusted spiritual directors or mentors.
• Reason: Apply critical, rational thought, logical pros-and-cons, and practical realities.
• Experience: Reflect on past encounters with God, emotional leadings, and how God has worked in your personal history.

Our reading today ends with a new family being put together, that of Isaac and Rebekah.

Reflection: Have you ever wished for God to show up in your life in a more dramatic way? How does God show up in your life? How do you discern what God is doing? Are you familiar with the Wesleyan Quadrilateral? Are there any questions that it brings up? There is a song by Brooke Ligertwood called None But Jesus, and I want to invite you to listen to it as you consider these questions.

– Natalie Moon

Prayer:
Holy God,
Guide us as are always actively trying to discern how we should be living our lives. Amen.

Standing Beside One Another
Reflection:
I’ll be honest. When I first read this passage, I wasn’t exactly sure what to do with it. There are marriages, sons, inheritance, descendants, ages, territories…and then Abraham dies. It feels a little like reading the family section of an old newspaper.
But then I noticed one small sentence: “Isaac and Ishmael his sons buried him.”
Those two brothers.
Their family story was complicated. They had different mothers. Their childhoods were marked by conflict and separation. Their lives took very different paths. Scripture doesn’t tell us that everything was suddenly resolved between them. We don’t know if they talked about the past, apologized, or even if they particularly liked one another.
We only know that when their father died, they showed up.
I find that incredibly powerful.
We live in a world where it can sometimes seem easier to divide than to connect. We can find plenty of reasons to decide who is “us” and who is “them.” But perhaps Scripture offers us something different in this small, almost overlooked moment.
We don’t always have to agree with someone to stand beside them.
We don’t have to understand everything about another person to offer them grace. We don’t have to resolve every disagreement before we can choose relationship. Sometimes reconciliation doesn’t begin with agreement. Sometimes it begins with simply being willing to show up.
And perhaps there is someone in our own lives who comes to mind—a family member, a friend, a coworker, someone with whom things have become complicated or distant. We may not be able to fix the relationship. Maybe we don’t even know where to begin.
But we can take one small step.

Jeff Nix

Practice:
Think of someone whose relationship with you is complicated. Pray for them today. And if it feels appropriate, take one small step toward connection: send a text, make a phone call, invite them for coffee, or simply let them know you’re thinking about them.
Isaac and Ishmael remind us that sometimes the most important thing we can do is simply show up.

Prayer:
God of every family, thank you for the people you place in our lives, even when our relationships are complicated. Give us the courage to show up, the grace to listen, and the wisdom to love even when we don’t see eye to eye. Help us remember that your grace is bigger than our differences. Amen.

Word of the Week: Looked (v.19:26) The Root Verb (nabaṭ): It means more than a casual glance or quick turn of the head. It implies looking intently, gazing, regarding with attention, or looking back with longing and fixation.

Reflection:
Well happy Monday everyone! I have been sitting with this story for a long time because it contains in my opinion two of the most dramatic and disturbing scenes in Genesis.

We start with Lot negotiating with God about being allowed to go to a nearby town. God agrees as long as they go quickly. Some scholars think that the destruction of this region may have come in the form of an earthquake or volcanic eruption that spewed up sulfur and asphalt, thus making it appear that it was raining sulfur. Lot’s wife then did what the family was directed not to do in the previous reading, look back.

There are SO many questions about Lot’s wife and her fate. Did Lot fail to tell her of God’s command? Did she intentionally disobey God? Was it a momentary lapse in judgement? Is this story included to explain the formation of a geological feature of the region? Consider that as horrible as this place is described to be, it was the home that she knew. She had friends here. She raised her children here. The familiar was destroyed.

You may have noticed as you have been reading Genesis with us this semester that there are recurring themes in Genesis. Starting with creation, God is making order out of chaos. The stories that follow become lessons in boundaries. The ancient people described in Genesis are consistently asked to abandon the familiar and to trust God to provide something better.

Our passage concludes with a shocking story about Lot and his daughters, giving the Moabites and the Ammonites (two enemies of this ancient group) a very unflattering origin story. It is interesting to take note of this because these groups keep appearing in the Old Testament, including the book of Ruth, who herself is a Moabite.

– Natalie Moon

Practice:
Do you have an example of something that was familiar to you that God was calling you away from? Maybe it was something you didn’t even realize was a part of your life, like a habit that you had formed? Are there boundaries that God is bringing to the surface in your life as we read this story? There is a quote by James Clear that I love: “Focus is the art of knowing what to ignore.” Is there something that you need to stop giving your attention to, to stop looking back upon, so that you can focus on God’s purpose? There is song by Taya called Burn the Bridges that I want to invite you to listen to as you pray today.

Prayer:
Dear God,
Help us to focus on the things you would want, and all others let them fall away. Amen.

Reflection:
Genesis 20 is a tricky one, like many of the chapters prior. There are moments of questioning, fear, and deceitfulness. However, even within all of this, there is forgiveness, growth, and faithfulness. 

This chapter tells the story of Abraham and Sarah’s move to Gerar. When they arrive to this new region, the King of Gerar, Abimelek, is introduced to the two and is told that Sarah is Abraham’s sister. When Abimelech hears this, he decides to take Sarah. 

One night, God speaks to Abimelech in a dream and warns him of the suffering that he will face if he does not return Sarah to her husband. Abimelech is extremely confused and defends himself to God by explaining that he had been under the assumption she was unmarried. God responds by acknowledging that He knows Abimelech did not do anything wrong intentionally and that he will be free of punishment if he returns Sarah to Abraham.

Abimelech summons Abraham the next morning to question why he would lie to him about Sarah. Abraham explains that it was only partially a lie, as she is his half-sister. He also explains that he was fearful he would be killed for Sarah because the people they came across during their travels were not God-fearing people. Abimelech returned Sarah and lots of gifts to Abraham and Abraham prayed to God and God forgave his lies and Abimelech’s wrongdoings. 

– Eleanor Kerr

Practice:
Even with all of the fulfilling of promises and providing that God has done for Abraham, he is still full of fear when reaching Gerar. Abraham knows God well and has seen him be faithful over and over again, but yet, he still loses faith when fear took over. This fear then led to Abraham making choices that he knew were wrong. But still, God remained faithful to Abraham and showed up to protect him and Sarah. 

This is true for each of us. When fear takes over, our Faith can start to suffer, My challenge for each of you this week is to take a moment when fear or doubt begin to consume you and remind yourself of all the ways God has been faithful to you in the past. How can you respond to your fear in a way that is faithful? How can you make decisions that allow God to be in control instead of allowing your fear to take control?
 
Prayer:
Thank you for providing us with comfort when our fears begin to take control. Help us remember you are there and that you are faithful always. Amen.

Reflection
In today’s passage we get to experience joy, promise, and…jealousy? We start our reading today with the BEST news, Abraham and Sarah have a son! As the promise has been fulfilled, Abraham continues the covenant with Isaac as God commanded. As it is Wesley Wednesday, I want to reference something John Wesley wrote in his Notes about this passage:

“And Sarah said, God has made me to laugh – He hath given me both cause to rejoice, and a heart to rejoice. And it adds to the comfort of any mercy to have our friends rejoice with us in it, See Luke i, 58. They that hear will laugh with me – Others will rejoice in this instance of God’s power and goodness, and be encouraged to trust in him.”

I love that Sarah not only experiences joy but knows that her community will experience it with her. I think all of us have had good news that was celebrated well by our people. Doesn’t it make it that much better?

Our passage quickly turns dramatic when Sarah has a big problem with Ishmael. In what seems to be a harsh and dramatic scene, Abraham sends Hagar and Ishmael away with only food and water that does not last very long. However, God heard and provided for them.

-Natalie Moon

Practice:
Have you ever had wonderful news that was celebrated well? What did that feel like? Is there someone in your life that needs celebrating? How does it affect your own joy to celebrate other people? There is a song called Joy by Chandler Moore and Israel Houghton that I want to invite you to listen to as you consider this.

Prayer:
God,
Thank you for always celebrating with us so we never celebrate alone. Amen.

Reflection:
Abimelech is back again! He and Abraham are ready to make amends, sign a treaty, and celebrate by giving Abraham his well back. All this took place at Beersheba. I hope you like Old Testament geography because we are about to take a journey!

Beersheba is the southern most area of the promised land. It is the last stop before the Negev desert. The well in our story saves many lives in the Old Testament. It is also a place where God appears often!

1st – Our verses from yesterday’s story showed how Hagar and Ishmael were led to the well by God. God saved their lives.
2nd – Issac, Abraham’s son, stops there on his way to Egypt in a few chapters. There, God appears and renews his covenant with him.
3rd – Jacob stops there on his way to be reunited with his son Joseph. He stops there for a night and God appears to him.
Lastly – Much later, Elijah also stops there while he is fleeing for his life. God again appears and offers him refuge, water, and food.

When Abraham built this well, he also put planted a tamarisk tree. This “tree” is mainly just a shrub. All of the above stories mention stopping for water and refuge under the shrub. When Abraham built this well, I highly doubt he would know the impact it would have on both his immediate family and also so much of Israel. I feel like this is the perfect metaphor for our faith. The way we live and the kindness we give are in many ways the modern well building and seed planting. We almost never get to see the immediate impact, but they can and do save lives for both our loved ones and can impact generations to come. God used this well many times throughout the Bible, and I have to believe God uses our best efforts in the same way.

Theology Thursday:
N.T. Wright once preached that every act of kindness are the building blocks of the Kingdom of God. God takes our best intentions and turns then into the very fabric of the Kingdom of God around us.


– Matthew Montgomery

Practice:
For today, go out and build wells and plant trees. We may not see their impact, but we can rest assured God uses them to build up the very Kingdom of God around us.

Prayer:
Building God,
Guide us as we build wells and plant trees for the people in our lives. Amen.

Reflection:
Reading this story kinda reminds me of the old Klondike bar ads that used to run, the “What would you do for  Klondike Bar” ones. If you haven’t seen it basically it showed people doing increasingly crazy things for a Klondike bar and I remember one in specific involved a guy dumpster diving for a Klondike bar and all I can remember is thinking to myself “Man I would absolutely not go in a Dumpster for a Klondike bar” 

The reason I bring this up is because I think that this story of Abraham being asked to sacrifice his son is an opportunity for us to ask ourselves this, “What am I willing to do for God?” 

I don’t have kids so it’s hard for me to put myself fully in Abrahams shoes but I can’t even begin to imagine the impossible situation that he is put in. Being asked to not only give up his son but to sacrifice Issac himself on top of the mountain. I can’t imagine being asked to sacrifice what you love most in the world. 

But Abraham’s faith is strong that he is willing, in what is no doubt a horrible moment of parenting he’s ready to do it and then an angel appears. And then God sends a ram to be sacrificed instead and promises to bless Abraham. 

I find this story is a great reminder when times are a little hard or it feels like God is asking a lot from you, I think its a great reminder that even in those times he’s still guiding you. 

-Davis Plowden

Prayer:
Guiding God,
Thank you for leading us even we aren’t sure where we are going. Amen.

Hebrew word of the week: El Roi which means “the God who sees”

Reflection:
This is one of the most amazing passages in the whole of the Bible. Hagar, a mistreated Egyptian servant, is the first AND only person in scripture to give God a name. When Hagar was down on her luck and scared for her future, God showed up. When Hagar had no where else to go, God came to her. When Hagar was all alone, God became her companion. In return, Hagar gives her friend a name. She notices that God sees everything. Hagar boldly claims the universal truth that God sees all that happens and cares so very deeply about it all. El Roi is the God who sees.

I wonder how many of us have had similar experiences to Hagar’s? Experiences where we are down on our luck. Experiences where we feel all alone and dont know what to do next. Then who shows up to be our friend when we are at our lowest? God! El Roi! God sees, God knows, God understands, and God comes to be with us.

I want us all to keep on eye on God’s actions in this story. As we progress with the book of Genesis, we will soon meet Issac, Jacob, and Joseph. We will watch over and over again as God shows up during the worst parts of their lives. God shows up to provide comfort and companionship. And the best part? God does that for everyone. El Roi = the God who sees. God sees us. God knows us. God loves us no matter what.

– Matthew Montgomery

Practice:
Think about the entirety of your life. Think about all the best parts. Think about all the worst parts. Think about all the mundane parts. After you reflect, rest in the truth that God watched it all. God saw everything and was actively involved. Maybe today we can offer a prayer of thanks to El Roi. We can offer thanks and gratitude for a God who will always watch and be with us.

Prayer:
Dear El Roi,
Thank you for watching us, and being with us every step of our lives. Amen.

Reflection:
Genesis 17 is part of a patchwork quilt of stories – chapters 12 to 25 – about God making an everlasting Covenant. Let’s call that a contract, a relationship, with a heart in it. This forever Covenant is with a people that will multiply, as many as stars in the sky (15.5). They will be a blessing, a light to all the people of the world.

God tells Abraham, he has chosen him to be the big daddy of this multitude of people. Abraham is 99; his wife Sarah is a mere childfree 90. Well, let’s just say it. Abraham is a ‘geezer’. Would that make Sarah a ‘geezess’?

Surely, God knows that Obstetrics and Geriatrics do not go together. Earlier, Abraham fell on his face in awe when God first tells him of the Covenant. Now, this baby notion causes Abraham to fall on his face with laughter.

Another version in chapter 18: There Sarah laughs at her pregnancy prospects. God of course gets the last laugh when Isaac is born, his name BTW means Laughter. Not a bad name for a beloved child! That’s getting ahead of the story. Back to 17.

So, trusting, we are all adults here, or close enough, what’s the deal with circumcision? In modern times it is somewhere between a custom and hygiene practice. In ancient times something more.

Circumcision, despite the ‘ouch’ factor, was a physical mark of identity, solidarity, belonging, mission. For the Israelites facing their struggles with other groups, it was a holy reminder of who and whose they were. It was a sacred sign of their inclusion in God’s people with their mission in the world.

The challenge is that such can become an excluding practice…a division between ‘us’ and the ‘thems’ of the world. This would be faced centuries later when the early church (Acts 15) decided that Gentiles did not have to be circumcised to be a Christian, as some initially thought.

Recall God’s Covenant did identify a people special to him.
But they were called to be blessing and light to all people in the world. God’s Covenant is for us all to live faithfully with justice and compassion for everyone. (See Micah 6.8) God’s people are called to find ways to include not exclude people.

– Bill Morgan

Practice:
To Do’s…
1. In a world that often idolizes the young and stigmatizes the old, consider the ways God uses geezers ☺ . Thank God for the wisdom and gratitude from getting older.

2. Google ‘laughter and health’. Notice how laughter can relieve stress, make connections with others, of course avoiding laughter than demeans people. Practice the grace of being able to laugh at ourselves.

3. In these terrifically tense polarized times of all the ways we divide up between the us and them — racially, immigrants, politically, even sports allegiance —- consider the Jesus equation: Us + Them = We
 
Prayer:
God of us all, 
we thank you for the gift of laughter. Forgive us for the no-laughing-matter of excluding people. Thank you for the way you use, even love through, imperfect people like us. Amen.

Reflection
Today is a fun story! We don’t know if Abraham knows anything about the guests he’s entertaining and feeding. Abraham is hosting angels unaware. He is going about his business of hospitality having no idea his whole life is about to finally change. What I love about this story is that I dont think Abraham’s behavior would have changed even if he knew. This is the type of man Abraham was. This is the type of man God chose to start a new nation that would bless the world. Abraham embodied hospitality. He welcomed strangers, he fed them, and he extended radical hospitality. The guests in return tell Abraham and Sarah that their long promised son is finally on the way. By this time next year, they will have their first child together. Sarah gets a lot of attention for her response of laughter. Personally, I find it hard to imagine a different posture. When she first heard God’s promise of having children she was 65 years old. It was already an impossibility. Then she waited, and waited, and waited… that waiting turned into 25 years! I imagine she had long given up. Now, at 89 years old, the strangers remind her once again of God’s promise. Can you imagine what it must be like to be told a miracle is coming… but never told when?
Can you imagine waiting for 25 years?
Can you imagine how easy it would to give up and stop believing?
Can you imagine anything other than laughter when someone brings it up?

Now before this story comes to a conclusion and Issac is finally born… we will have to wait. So instead of a child, our story today will end with laughter. For now, lets end with two truths from our passages. First may we be reminded that nothing is impossible with God, however… sometimes it requires a lot of waiting. Secondly, let’s keep our eyes open to the people God places in our lives even strangers. We may never know when God uses people to bring about hope and love.


Wesley Wednesday:
The United Methodist Church defines hospitality as “Christ-like love, active relational engagement, and an outward movement that mirrors Jesus by welcoming all people, especially the marginalized.” We believe in the hospitality of Jesus so much so that during communion we practice an “open table.” We believe that God invites all people to the table without condition or prerequisites. Anyone who feels a response to God’s love is welcome at the table no matter what. Abraham and Sarah welcomed these angels completely unaware. I wonder if that is ever the case today? Do we ever have the opportunity to entertain God without any knowledge of who it is we invite to a meal?

-Matthew Montgomery

Practice:
Lets go out today and invite someone to a meal. Lets practice an open table of radical hospitality knowing that God may very well be included!

Prayer:
God of meals,
Thank you for showing up in the surprising ways you do. Thank you for always inviting us to your table. Amen.

Reflection:
Today sets the stage for one of the most dramatic scenes in Genesis, and I love that it includes a real conversation with God. We find Abram negotiating with God and trying to intervene on behalf of his relatives.

One of the things that strikes me about this conversation is the boldness mixed with the humility of Abram to approach God and to KEEP approaching God on this subject. In verse 27, Abram acknowledges the ridiculousness of the situation saying, “though I am nothing but dust and ashes.” AND in this conversation God LISTENS.

When you approach God in prayer, how do you usually begin? Do you start with a request? Do you start with an acknowledgement of who God is and who you are? Are there certain situations where you pray on behalf of others? Where you sit in silence? Where you are humbly acknowledging your Creator?


– Natalie Moon

Practice:
For today’s reflection maybe start paying attention to how you pray. There is a song that my husband Seth always has on loop when he is praying or working on a sermon or lesson called Sequence 6 by David Crowder Band. His coworkers actually pick on him a lot for it because it is very repetitive and gets kind of old to listen to, ha, but it reminds me of our passage today, because Abram persistently approaches God. I want to invite you to listen to Sequence 6 by David Crowder Band on loop and see if the repetition has any effect on your prayer time.

Prayer:
Conversational God,
Thank you for accepting all the ways we pray. Amen.

Reflection:
This is such a hard passage…there is violence, fear, terrible choices, judgment, and behavior that is difficult to even comprehend. It is also a passage that has been quoted and interpreted so often that many of us may come to it thinking we already know what it is about.
But for me and reading scripture, especially difficult ones, I feel like that is exactly when we need to slow down and really pay attention.
I have found that when I read a difficult passage several times, and slowly, different words begin to stand out. And when something stops me, confuses me, or makes me uncomfortable, maybe that is an invitation to dig a little deeper. What was happening in this time and culture? What comes before and after this story? Where else does Scripture speak about it? Sometimes there is so much more going on in a passage than we see on our first reading.
That happened to me here. Four little words caught my attention: “But he lingered.”
Lot had been told to leave. The danger was real. The messengers urged him to take his wife and daughters and get out. You would think Lot would have grabbed his family and run as fast as he could. But he lingered. I think I I understand that more than I would like to admit.
How many times do we know something needs to change, but we just aren’t ready to take the next step? We linger in places that are familiar because whatever comes next is unknown. We linger in circumstances, grief, old ways of thinking, even fear. Sometimes moving forward means leaving something behind, and even when we know it is time, that can be incredibly hard.
But what struck me most wasn’t that Lot lingered. It was what God did next…He didn’t leave him there. Scripture tells us that the messengers took Lot, his wife, and his daughters by the hand and led them out, “the LORD being merciful to him.” 
 I love to try and imagine that and what a picture of grace. Sometimes I think faith doesn’t always look like confidently knowing where we’re going. In fact, I think sometimes faith looks like standing there unsure, afraid, and hesitant and just allowing God to take us by the hand.

– Valerie Boyd

Practice:
This week, choose a passage of Scripture you think you know well. Read it slowly more than once. Notice one word or phrase that catches your attention. Sit with it. Look a little deeper. And ask, “God, what might I have missed?”

Prayer:
Gracious God, give us the humility to come to your Word with open hearts and curious minds. Help us slow down, look deeper, and listen for what you may be showing us. And when we find ourselves lingering because we are afraid of what comes next, take us by the hand and lead us forward. Amen.

Word of the Week: Abram- The name Abram means “exalted father” or “high father” in Hebrew

Reflection:
In today’s passage, we are reintroduced to some names that we read about in earlier passages, however this is the FIRST time Abram and Sarai appear in scripture. Even though Abram’s name has not been changed to Abraham yet, it’s almost as his name foreshadows his importance to the Hebrew people and to our faith. It also is followed by verse 30, referencing the lack of children Sarai and Abram have. Immediately following this verse, we learn also how they haven’t quite settled down yet; they are a family on the move!

If you have studied the Old testament with us on Wednesday nights, you may have noticed that land and legacy are very important to this ancient people. It can represent abundance and eternal life. So to meet Abram and learn that his name literally means “exalted father”, may seem a little ridiculous.

One of my favorite Youth Conferences I ever went to was called National Youth worker convention, usually held in Atlanta at the World Congress Center. Youth leaders from all over the world would gather and we would learn about new resources, discuss topics related to youth ministry, etc. One year the theme of the whole conference was Seriously Ridiculous, and I just loved it. If you have been on this faith journey long enough, then you know Bible story after Bible story where God worked in seriously RIDICULOUS situations. You may have personal stories where God worked in situations that seemed ridiculous.


– Natalie Moon

Practice:
I want you to reflect on your own life and ask yourself, where has God worked in my life in a time that just didn’t make sense? Maybe it felt ridiculous? I want to invite you to listen to one of my all-time favorite songs by Ellie Holcomb called Find you Here. In it, she talks about how God keeps showing up in our lives, whether they are ridiculous situations, big fears, or our greatest moments.

Prayer:
Loving God,
Thank you for sometimes speaking through nonsense. Amen.

Reflection:
What speaks to me in Genesis 12 is the message of obeying God, leaving our comfort zones and leaning into faith especially when I’m not sure what is coming next. For my role at Canterbury I not only feel that I have the privilege of this trusting faith even when I have no idea “what’s behind Door #3” but as someone who also gets to invite and engage our congregation to do the same.  It is my practice to always try to do an activity of service before I invite others to serve.  That way I can help explain how to use the can opener at Firehouse or the sleeping situation in Panama or the bathroom situation in Kenya!  A balance of obeying God by stepping out of our comfort zones- whether that is geographic, sociological or emotional- and leaning on our faith that we can learn, grow and share what God puts in front of us.  This year we navigated communities near and far, similar and different, hot and chilly ALONGSIDE our young and old, experienced and newbie, excited and obligated congregants!  Each moment was one of beautiful connection and Kingdom building.  Genesis 12 urges us to LOL- Leave, Obey and Lean…it’s not easy but it is always ALWAYS a gift.

– Rachel Estes

Practice:
Step out of your comfort zone to help serve someone
 
Prayer:
God,
Help us to follow you even when its uncomfortable. Amen.

Reflection
In today’s passage, we learn that Abram and Lot leave Egypt together, and also that they have become very wealthy, so much so that it did not make sense to stay together any longer.

Abram gives Lot first choice, and Lot chooses what seems like the most attractive choice on the outside, but the mention of the city of Sodom foreshadows our story to come. The Lord speaks to Abram after Lot leaves and again promises him land and legacy. If you have been reading along with us, you know that this represent blessing and abundance and eternal life.

I don’t know if you have ever participated in a prayer labyrinth. If you haven’t, there is one located up by the scout hut near the top level of the parking deck. The fascinating thing about the labyrinth is that if you walk with other people, sometimes you are walking alongside someone and sometimes you part ways. I wonder if that is a symbol of our faith.

As Wednesday is Wesley Wednesday, John Wesley famously parted ways with many people in his life, notably a member of his Oxford Holy Club, John Whitefield. The relationship was described by one of Wesley’s preachers as “agreement to differ.” Though they disagreed theologically, they both deserve credit for the Great Revival. In 1770, the year of his death, Whitefield wrote to Charles as “my very dear old friend” and described John as “your honored brother.” To each he bequeathed a mourning ring, “in token of my indissoluble union with them in heart and Christian affection, notwithstanding our difference in judgment about some particular points of doctrine.” On Whitefield’s death, Charles penned a noble elegy. And at Whitefield’s request, his funeral sermon was preached by none other than his former opponent, John Wesley.

– Natalie Moon

Practice:
Have you ever parted ways with someone close to you? What did that feel like? Did God show you anything about your faith or yourself? There is a song that I want to invite you to listen to called Where the Sidewalk Ends by Jon Foreman. I love it because it talks about where God’s grace meets us in the limits of our human relationships.

Prayer:
God of relationships,
Thank you for the people in our life who have shaped us and helped us grow. Amen.

Reflection:
For today, let’s take a look at Melchizedek. If you are like me, thats a name that rings a bell but also a name I have a hard time placing. Melchizedek only has three mentions in the Bible: Our story today, Psalm 110, and Hebrews 5, 6, and 7. What makes Melchizedek so interesting is that he is both a king and a priest. This duel role will only be filled again by Jesus.

Psalm 110 says, “There will be a priest in the order of Melchizedek.” Foreshadowing the ministry of Jesus.
We aren’t told much else about this mysterious figure. We only know that he serves “the most high God.” Then we also know he comes from “Salem” which translates as “peace” which many have interpreted as Jeru’salem’.

My favorite part of this whole thing is that someone other than Abraham knows God. In this part of Genesis, God is just beginning building Israel. Israel will be the chosen nation to teach the world about God. Even still outside of Israel, there are people who know God such as Melchizedek. 

Theology Thursday:
Walter Brueggemann wrote a whole book dedicated to Genesis. When it comes to chapter 14, he points out the significance of Melchizedek knowing God, but he goes further. He says that “Melchizedek knew God as Elyon (most high God), but that Abraham knew God as Yahweh (Lord). He points at that God has often been busy in places and ways we can only begin to imagine. God is big and active and often surprising. One of life’s best gifts is being given the gift of revelation to see God’s activity behind the scenes of our lives.


– Matthew Montgomery

Practice:
Maybe we can take a minute to look at the unexpected places God has shown up both in our lives and through unexpected people.

Prayer:
Connecting God,
Help us see all the unexpected places you have been active. Amen.

Reflection:
Genesis 15 is one of the shorter chapters in the book of Genesis, but it is arguably one of the most chapters of the Bible. God and Abram establish the Abrahamic covenant. A very fancy name for the promise in which our entire faith story is built upon. Abram, a man that was righteous and devout his whole life is old in age. Due to their age, Abram and his wife Sara were never able to conceive children. In Genesis 15, God comes to Abram and makes him the ultimate promise. Not only will God give Abram and Sara descendants, God will give them descendants as numerous as the stars. God tells Abram what will be the future of his descendants and how they will suffer and rejoice. God makes all of these promises to Abram, knowing that Abram will never live to see them fulfilled. Abram, later Abraham, is known as “the Father of Religion.” From his descendants will grow three religious traditions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. After a quick google search, I learned that this comes out to about 4.4 billion people, which is nearly half of the world population. I think it’s safe to say, God was true to His word.
As I read Genesis 15 and reflected on the promises that God made and later came through on, I also thought about Abram’s piece in it. In the chapter, we see Abram literally perform a ritual sacrifice to honor the covenant with God. But there’s also the sacrifices that Abram and Sara made so that God’s promise would be possible. They left the home they had spent their whole lives in, they gave up any ideas of what they thought the rest of their lives would be like to fully embrace what God was guiding them towards. They made these sacrifices not for their own benefit, but for the benefit of their children and descendants.
One of the blessings of working in children’s ministry is that I get to see the constant outpouring of love that parents have for their children. The way that bows get fixed, shoes are tied, Sunday School crafts are gently carried, big hugs and smiles when they pick up their kids, and the list goes on. When I was drafting this devotional and agonizing over just how to say the right things, I called the only person who can fix anything in the world: my mom. As she and I were talking about it, I became so overcome with the feeling of gratefulness. Grateful of all the sacrifices my parents had made and continued to make for my siblings and me. All of the sports games, the nights where we together tried to piece together elementary math homework, even my college tuition. Everything that I have wouldn’t be possible without the sacrifices that they made and the promises that they made and upheld as people who love and cherish their children.
Genesis 15 sets up a tradition in the Bible of unlimited grace, mercy, and love from God. A love that never leaves, that makes sacrifices, and wraps around His people in their best and worst moments. God made a promise to Abram and thousands of years later He is still seeing that it is carried out and fulfilled, even if Abram is no longer on Earth to see it. Parents, mentors, friends, siblings, they have all contributed and made sacrifices in loving us and supporting us that honor the love of God. Even if that isn’t always clear until later, the grace that surrounds us is a reflection of the never ending grace of God and the proof that God’s promises will always be fulfilled.

Maddie Moravek

Practice:
This week, call someone who came before you. It can be a parent, a mentor, a sibling, a friend, anyone! Call them and talk about all the important moments where they showed you love and how that has shaped you to show love for others.

Prayer:
Dear God, your grace, mercy, and faithfulness have never left us. In every story you have woven your love is present, working through each generation, each person, to fulfill your promises. We are so thankful for the ways that our loved ones have cared for us and the way your love has been shown through them. A kind of love that ties shoes, gently applies bandaids, and is always there with a hug. Guide us this week to love others the way that we have been loved.

Hebrew Word of the Week: Qeset 

Translated closest to a hand-held bow (like a bow and arrow)

Reflection:
Finally! We made it to the rainbow. Rainbows truly are special. Of all the stories we will find in Genesis, this might be the one that is most relatable. The invention of the rainbow still affects us today. Its one of the few things that almost unanimously unites people in slowing down and looking at the beauty in the sky. Incredibly, rainbows can appear anywhere on Earth. No matter where we find ourselves on this planet, it will always be possible to be reminded of God.

The rainbow is a symbol of God being unarmed. God, who previously just flood the earth, has covenanted to never act this way again. The rainbow is itself an unstrung bow. A weapon has been turned into a symbol of piece. As if there was any doubt about its peaceful nature, it is also turned up towards the sky so it will never be pointed at us. I love the way Walter Brueggemann talks about rainbows and God. He says, “The flood created no change in humankind, but it effected an irreversible change in God who will now approach creation with an unlimited patience and forbearance.” God laid down the bow. God covenanted with Noah. God has again chosen humanity. May we all be reminded that no matter how badly we mess up, that God has chosen us anyway.


– Matthew Montgomery

Practice:
If you are like me, you have a couple of pictures of rainbows in your phone. Go into your camera roll and search “rainbow.” What pictures come up? What do they make you remember? Where was God active during that time in your life?


Prayer:
Loving God,
Thank you for rainbows. Thank you for choosing us. Thank you for the continual reminder in the sky. Amen.

Reflection:
“Shem and Japheth took a garment…then they walked in backward and covered their father’s naked body.” (Genesis 9:23)

After the flood, Noah and his family stepped into a cleansed world, but the human heart had not been cleansed of sin. Noah, once celebrated for faithful obedience, became drunk and lay exposed in his tent. His failure reminds us that spiritual victories do not make us immune to future temptation. We still need humility, vigilance, and God’s grace every day.
Ham saw his father’s shame and announced it to others. Shem and Japheth chose a different path. They refused to make Noah’s failure a spectacle; instead, they carefully covered him. Their actions did not excuse Noah’s sin, but they responded with restraint, dignity, and mercy.
When another person stumbles, we face the same choice. We can expose the failure through gossip, mockery, or self-righteous judgment, or we can respond in a way that protects dignity while still honoring truth. Covering someone in love does not mean hiding wrongdoing or preventing accountability. It means refusing to delight in another person’s disgrace. It means speaking carefully, helping wisely, and seeking restoration rather than humiliation.
Today, ask God to guard both your weaknesses and your reactions to the weaknesses of others. Remember that you, too, stand only by grace. The mercy you have received can become the mercy you extend.

– Rick Owen

Practice:
Before speaking about someone’s mistake today, pause and ask whether your words will restore or embarrass them. Choose one gracious action—pray for the person, speak privately if needed, or simply refuse to repeat the story.
 
Prayer:
Lord, guard my heart and help me respond to others with truth, mercy, and grace. Amen.

Reflection
Just a heads up… We have back to back days of Noah’s Genealogy… I know it will be far from the most interesting part of Genesis, but even in genealogies there are some really interesting things to note.

First, this is a surprisingly large account of the major nations at this stage in the world. The Bible has been zoomed in one family, but now we zooming out to see just how many nations came from Noah and his sons. In chapter 10, the Bible will list 70 names. 70 is a special number in the Bible. It symbolizes completeness. It is almost as if this genealogy is showing us the fullness of current world. While complete… it is far from perfect.


The second thing to note is that some of Israel’s greatest future enemies are being named here.
We have:
Egypt – The soon to be enemy in Exodus

The Philistines – The constant thorn in Israel’s side from Judges all the way through Solomon’s reign (Goliath was a philistine)

Nineveh – The capital of the Assyrian Empire. Nineveh is frequently mentioned in the minor prophets. It will be the place that eventually captures the Northern Kingdom of Israel. (Nineveh is where Jonah was sent!)

Babel/Babylon – We have the first mention of the Babel which is where our story is heading next! The Babylonian empire will eventually be the ones who send the Southern Kingdom into exile.

It makes the Old Testament feel a lot smaller when listed this way!

Lastly, this talk of nations is really interesting. From Noah on, we see the list of all these nations. None of these nations will be chosen to represent God. Instead, in two chapters, God will reach out to a single man, Abraham. God doesn’t reject the other nations, but instead God chooses a man for which all nations will be blessed. Through Abraham, God will bring Jesus who will save every nation. So even though the 70 nations may be complete, the nations (all of us) will need Jesus to come and make it perfect.

– Matthew Montgomery

Practice:
Look at a map. Look at the 195 countries of the world. God sent Jesus was every single one of them.

Prayer:
God of the world,
Thank you for choosing us and loving us. Amen.

Reflection:
I don’t know about you, but I tend to lightly skim over the long genealogies found in scripture. However, if we look closely at today’s reading, we find some FASCINATING details.

If you recall from our earlier reading about the post-flood story of Noah and his sons, Canaan was unlucky enough to be the one cursed by his grandfather. We begin today’s story with the descendants of Canaan, and guess what? They were not well-liked by this ancient people. Not to skip ahead, but keep the Hivites in the back of your mind when we come to the story of Dinah. You have probably heard of Sodom and Gomorrah. If not, we will be reading about those cities in a couple of weeks.

Then we come to Shem and the sons of Eber. Eber’s importance as the ancestor of the Hebrews is hinted at here. “Eber” is actually the origin of the Hebrew word for “Hebrew”. I want to invite you to look at Luke 3 and read the genealogy of Jesus. What names do you find that overlap?

In our final verse, we read what one of the goals of this account was an explanation of how the earth was repopulated after the flood. It is this ancient cultural map that shows us how this ancient people categorized their world.

I think one of the gifts that genealogies like this give us is the search for identity. I recently went on a trip with my family; parents, kids, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. One thing we did every night was just sit around and chat and tell stories of loved ones who were no longer with us. My daughter shares her name with my aunt who passed away several years ago. I share my name with my great aunt who I don’t remember meeting in person, but love to hear stories about. I feel like these stories shape our identity and narrative.

Natalie Moon

Practice:
For our reflection today, I want to invite you to think about how stories about family and place have shaped who you are. Does it influence what you believe about yourself? Does it influence what you believe about God? There is something about picturing a place that means a lot to you that brings back memories and feelings. What places have shaped you? To these ancient people, the places mentioned in Genesis 10 would bring back feelings and memories. There is a song called Half Acre by Hem. In the song, she reflects on how so many memories can weirdly fit into a tiny piece of a map. I want to invite you to listen to this song and reflect on what makes you, well, yourself.

Prayer:
Connecting God,
Help us see all the ways you make connections in our lives both big and small. Amen.

Reflection:
The Tower of Babel is one of those stories in the Bible that, while recognizable, still rides at the edge of our memory.
Excluding the Creation narrative, I find the opening chapters of Genesis rather confounding. Who is this God, and how do we relate to him? Perhaps that is part of the point of these early chapters. We read them with our own expectations, sometimes trying to put parameters around God, and God answers with grace—acknowledging our lack of understanding and reminding us that what we think we need is not always in our best interest.
Here, the people have one language and decide they need to make a name for themselves. So they build a city and a tower that reaches toward the heavens. They aren’t unlike the barn owner in Jesus’ parable who keeps building larger barns because his crops are so abundant. There is a temptation in both stories to believe that bigger, greater, and more will somehow make us secure.
But there is another kind of smallness that can come when we seek only our own comfort.
We can become small when we surround ourselves only with people who think as we do, believe as we do, and see the world as we do. There is a stagnation that can come with “group think.” We miss the opportunity to be stretched, challenged, and surprised.
God invites us into something larger.
When we stretch ourselves into other communities and experiences, we grow in thought, love, and patience. We learn to listen in order to understand rather than simply to be understood. We discover that there isn’t just one way to encounter God.
Each person’s perspective is like a prism. When God’s light shines through us, we may see something beautiful—but none of us sees the whole spectrum.
Perhaps this is one of the gifts hidden within the story of Babel. God does not make us all alike. Instead, our differences can become an invitation to listen, learn, and discover more of who God is.
Enter Acts 2.
At Pentecost, God does not erase the languages and differences of the people gathered in Jerusalem. Instead, through the power of the Holy Spirit, people from all over the known world hear and understand one another. A new kind of language emerges—a language of grace, love, purpose, and forgiveness.
Perhaps the journey from Babel to Pentecost is not about everyone speaking the same language.
Perhaps it is about learning how to hear one another.

Annie Skinner

Practice:
Have a conversation with someone who is a little unlike you.
Rather than trying to persuade or explain, simply listen. Ask a question. Be curious. Look for the image of God in the person sitting across from you.

Prayer:
Gracious Father, give us the grace and willingness to live into the new creation you invite us to experience each day. Give us open hearts and curious minds, ready to explore your world and encounter you anew in the people we meet. Help us to listen more deeply, to understand before we judge, and to recognize that your light shines through each of us in ways we may not yet see.
Amen.

Hebrew Word of the Week: Demut (דְּמוּת)

Translated as “likeness,” it points to an abstract or outward similarity in shape and appearance.

Reflection:
I don’t know if you have noticed, but Genesis is broken up into different “accounts”. Today’s reading introduces us to the written account of Adam’s line. The word that sticks out to me today is “likeness” which is used not only in how humanity was created in the likeness of God, but also in the verse about Adam’s son Seth.

I kind of want us to sit with that for a moment. Think about your family and how you may have similar features. Sometimes you have similar personality traits.

If you recall from the second account of creation, the name Adam means human and it is so similar to the word for clay and dirt, Adamah, that it paints this muddy literary word picture. Family lineage and land were very important to these ancient people, so much so that it feels like a link to eternal life.

The image of this to me is reinforced in our scripture today. We see a God who works and creates through the eyes of a humankind that works and creates.


– Natalie Moon

Practice:
For our reflection today, I want to invite you to think about how you see God’s likeness in your own life. How do you see God’s likeness reflected in others? Do you view God as working and active in your own life, even and especially where things feel muddy? Where do you see this? There is a song called Here Now (Madness) by Hillsong United, on their Of Dirt and Grace album. It was recorded live in Jerusalem several years ago. I want to invite you to listen and reflect on today’s passage.


Prayer:
Creator God,
Thank you for making us in your likeness. Amen.

Reflection:
The Next Right Step
Spoiler alert…genealogies are not usually the parts of the Bible I underline.
Genesis 5 is full of names, ages, children, and incredibly long lives. Jared lived this long. Methuselah lived that long. Someone became the father of someone else. And on and on it goes.
But tucked right in the middle of all those names is a simple description of a man named Enoch and it simply says that “Enoch walked with God.”
That’s it. We aren’t told about some great accomplishment. We don’t read about a battle he won, a nation he led, or a miracle he performed. We are simply told that Enoch walked with God.
I love that image because walking isn’t particularly impressive. Walking is often slow. It is one foot in front of the other. Most of the time, you don’t notice much progress while you’re doing it. But keep walking long enough and eventually you look back and realize you’ve traveled farther than you thought. It turns out that taking the next right step, no matter how small, can eventually lead us to where we need to go.
Maybe that’s a pretty good picture of faith.
We sometimes imagine spiritual growth happening through the big moments…the mountaintop experience, the answered prayer, the life-changing decision. And there’s no doubt that God meets us there. But most of our lives aren’t lived on mountaintops. They’re lived on ordinary Tuesdays.
Faith is built by getting up and walking with God again and again and again. Praying when you don’t feel particularly spiritual. Showing up for worship. Opening Scripture. Forgiving someone. Serving someone. Choosing kindness. Sitting quietly long enough to listen. Taking the next faithful step when you can’t see very far down the road.
And then, near the end of today’s passage, Noah enters the story. His name carries the hope of comfort in a world marked by struggle. Before we ever get to the ark, Genesis is already whispering that God has been at work through the generations reminding a people that pain and brokenness will not have the final word.
Maybe that’s what happens when we keep walking with God. We begin to trust that God is working even when we can’t see it yet.
You don’t have to have everything figured out today. You don’t have to know exactly where the road leads. Just keep walking and trust that God is walking with you.

– Hill Carmichael

Practice:
Take a 10-minute walk today without headphones or your phone. As you walk, simply pray: “God, help me walk with you today.” Pay attention to what you notice, what comes to mind, and where God might be inviting you to take one faithful next step.
 
Prayer:
God, teach me to walk with you. Give me faith for the next step, patience when the journey feels slow, and eyes to see the ways you are already at work. Help me trust that I never walk alone. Amen.

Reflection
Today we study what MAY be one of the first Bible stories you ever learned about, Noah and the flood! Growing up, I remember a mural of really cute animals and an equally cute boat with smiling people and a rainbow. But really this story begins with deep tragedy. As we have deemed Wednesdays, Wesley Wednesday, I wanted to share that John Wesley interpreted Genesis 6 as a profound moral commentary on human corruption and divine mercy.

And corruption we begin with! Verse 5 certainly indicts humanity as selfish and undeserving. Noah, the lone bright spot in the dark world, catches the attention of the Almighty, grieving creation and humanity.

We end our reading with a glimpse into God’s mercy towards all of creation, with the first mention of the word covenant. Covenant means a solemn, binding promise or relationship initiated by God. Instead of a casual promise, it is a life-saving commitment where God pledges to preserve Noah and his family through the coming flood. I want to invite you to pay close attention to this word and its meaning because this idea of an everlasting promise is crucial to our understanding of the stories in Genesis.

– Natalie Moon

Practice:
For our reflection today, I want to invite you to think about covenant language in your own life. What is a binding promise that we see today? How does that make you feel about God’s promise to us? How do you see God’s promises in your own life? There is a song that we like to sing in the Contemporary service called Promises by Maverick City Music. I want to invite you to listen to this song and reflect on the covenant that appears here in Genesis 6.

Prayer:
God of Covenants,
Thank you for choosing us and never stopping. Amen.

Reflection:
I am really struggling with this chapter because what I most want to talk about is the rainbow that comes in chapter 8… However, we can’t get to that part of the story just yet. Instead, I am left wondering about life inside the Ark. Can you imagine the noise? Can you imagine the smell? Can you imagine how many times Noah must’ve thought “why is this happening?”

One of my biggest gripes with the way our faith works, is that it is a daily requirement. We don’t get any breaks! (Somewhat joking but also it’s true that there are no days off.) God asks for all of us all the time no matter the time or occasion. Then, even while we are doing our best, sometimes it takes years to see the fruit of it all. I can’t help but wonder about the amount of faith it must’ve taken to keep Noah going on this 100+ year adventure of building the ark.


Theology Thursday:
The Ark was a long and slow build just like our life in faith. Stanley Hauerwas is a retired professor from Duke Divinity School. He once talked about how “God’s slow work of the Church and the world’s impatience is always in conflict.” He goes on to say, “peace takes time.” I will forever and always want to rush to the good, positive, and redemptive parts of any story, but the truth is that we are almost always in the middle of the “slow work of the Church.” I want to rush to hear about the rainbow, but life rarely lets us skip the parts we don’t like. However, the long slow build is where faith is built. This is where God does God’s best work. If you feel you are in the long build, may we all be reminded that the rainbow is coming (and for our story that’s tomorrow!)
– Matthew Montgomery

Practice:
Find your rainbow! Look at where you most recently went through the long and slow build. What rainbow came from it?

Prayer:
Patient God,
May we find you in the midst of the long and slow build of our faith. Amen.

Reflection:
The first word in chapter 8 changes the direction of the flood story: HE REMEMBERS. While the Hebrew word zachar can mean simply to call to mind, in the Old Testament it is most frequently coupled with berit or covenant. Here, God isn’t just casually remembering that Noah and the animals are stuck on a rudderless boat. Instead, God is recalling the covenant relationship that was established with creation and later with Noah. God remembers that Noah is an upright man, worthy of being saved in the storm. God remembers that creation is good. God remembers the covenant that binds creator and creation together.

Just as chapter 7 demonstrates that the boundaries set in place at creation could be loosed resulting in chaos and death, chapter 8 walks us back through the reestablishment of these boundaries. The waters from above and below are restrained. The dry land separates from the endless sea. The birds could once again be released into the dome of the sky. New beginnings are once again possible.

Noah sends out birds from the ark to investigate a possible disembarkation time. He sends out a raven that does not return to the ark, giving Noah no clarity. Then he sends out a dove who returns without signs of life. After another week, sends out the dove again, this time returning with an olive leaf, evidence of new life. Each time a bird leaves the ark, Noah is inherently asking the question, does God remember me?

Finally, God speaks to Noah directly and says, open up the doors. God gives Noah the same commandment given to Adam and Eve: be fruitful and multiply. This echo of the creation story is the expressed divine hope that the world might return to its original created state. Noah’s first response to this command is to make a thanksgiving sacrifice, an acknowledgment that God is indeed trustworthy. This God, this Yahweh, is a god that keeps promises.

In the storm, it can be so hard to trust in God’s promise to love and care for us. When the evidence before us is a floating zoo in the storm, it is normal for us to throw open the window and send out a cry, do you remember me, God? But God always remembers. God always brings life from death, beauty from chaos, hope from despair. That is who God promises to be in our lives and in our world.

Eleanor Christiansen

Practice:
Pick one person who is caught in a storm right now and pray for them. Search out a little sign of encouragement, an olive leaf, that you might leave on that person’s doorstep, so that they might be reassured that God always remembers them.

Prayer:
God, I often feel caught in the chaos. Open my eyes to the signs of your presence and promise in my life. I want to learn to trust you more. Thank you for always remembering us. In Jesus Christ’s name I pray, Amen.

Reflection

Hebrew Word of the Week: Create

Here is our first verb in the Bible = bārā’
In the Hebrew Bible, bārā’ is used exclusively with God as the subject. Humans never perform bārā’; only God does.


Welcome back to our daily devos AND welcome to Genesis!!!

I imagine the story of creation is familiar to you, but there is so much in here to enjoy! First and foremost in our Bible, we have the story of God having fun. That is how I like to imagine it at least. God is enjoying creating all things. I feel this way because at the end of each day God calls creation “good.” God likes it, and I like to think God had fun putting the whole universe in motion. 

In these first 19 chapters, we hear how God went about creating the earth, land, water, light, darkness, plants, fruit, and finishing with the sun, moon, and stars. More than just a lovely picture, take a second to think of the complexity of any one of those things. Take a second to think of the creativity needed to imagine it all. Take a second to think about how detailed the plans had to be to make everything fit and work together. Now let’s go further… take a minute to think about the difference in creating an atom compared to creating a star. 
Just a quick google search:
Number of Atoms in a flower = 100 sextillion atoms

– a number I’ve never even heard of in a single flower!


Number of Galaxies in the Universe = 2 trillion!!


The same God who can so delicately put together a flower and also put together a never ending universe… is the same God who created you AND inexplicably gives you nonstop love and attention. We are carefully put together, covered in love, and of infinite worth to God.
As we start this new reading plan, as humanity gets more and more complicated, and as the stories get wild, let us keep in mind this first and most important lesson: God loves us.


– Matthew Montgomery

Practice:
Take some time to stare at creation. Enjoy the complexity of it all, and then take a minute to embrace God’s love for it and you.

Prayer:
Loving God,
thank you for your love. Amen.

Reflection:
There is a little word in the creation story that I have probably read hundreds of times without giving it much attention.
God says, “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness.”
Not my image. Our image.
There are different ways of understanding that plural language. Christians have long heard in it an echo of the Trinity—the God who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Biblical scholars also remind us of the ancient understanding of God addressing the heavenly court. But whatever is happening in that mysterious “our,” I love what it suggests about us:
We were never meant to reflect the image of God alone.
God creates human beings in God’s image, and immediately there is relationship. There is an us.
That feels especially important in a world where loneliness is so common and division comes so easily. We are constantly encouraged to define ourselves by what separates us—our opinions, politics, generations, backgrounds, successes, failures, even our churches. Yet Genesis begins with something deeper than all those differences.
Before we are anything else, we belong to God. And when we look at another human being, we are looking at someone who bears God’s image too.
I need that reminder.
Because there are people I understand easily and others I do not. There are people I naturally enjoy and others who require a little more grace. But perhaps part of the gift of community is discovering that other people reflect parts of God’s goodness that I cannot reflect by myself.
Maybe the goal is not simply for me to become the person God created me to be. Maybe it is for us to become the people God created us to be—together.
And after creating this wonderfully diverse human family, God looked at all of it and called it “very good.”
Perhaps we should learn to look at one another with a little more of that same grace.

– Keith Thompson

Practice:
Think of someone you may have overlooked, misunderstood, or simply not spent much time with lately. Reach out. Invite them to coffee or lunch, make a phone call, or simply have a conversation. Listen for something of God in them.
 
Prayer:
Creating God, thank you for making us in your image and for giving us one another. Help me see your image in the people I love and in those I struggle to understand. Give me the grace to listen, the humility to learn, and the love to recognize that we belong to you—and to one another. Amen.

Reflection

Before we get into the second account of creation, we start with REST. The end of the story/song/liturgy from Genesis 1 is the beginning of our story today. If you joined us in the spring for our devotional series, you may remember that we named our Wednesday devotionals “Wesley Wednesdays”. John Wesley viewed the beginning of our passage today as the example that the need for rest is as old as the world itself and that it is our binding duty to engage in holy rest. I don’t know about you but I find that to be a lovely thought.

In verse 4, we get into the second story of creation, the view of a God that gets his hands dirty. In Hebrew, the name Adam is so similar to the word for dirt (Adamah) that the story LITERALLY feels muddy. The author wants us to know that the God of creation is WITH us, in the mire, in the clay, in the DIRT.

I love this account of creation because it reminds me that God is in ALL things. All things are God breathed. As someone who loves music and loves to sing, it feels like that to me, a song. Breath flowing from us to create something beautiful. When we remember this account of creation and we see the trees, when we see the animals, when we see each other, we will be reminded that God is with us and in us.

– Natalie Moon

Practice:
There is a song that I LOVE by Gateway Worship called Always. It reminds us that our Lord God, creator of ALL, the breath of life, is good ALWAYS.

For our reflection today, I want to invite you to think about how you engage with holy rest. Do you agree with John Wesley that it is our duty to find this rest weekly? I also want to invite you to listen to the song Always and think about how God reminds you in everyday life that you and others are “God-breathed.”

Prayer:
Help us to see that all people continue your breath. Amen.

Reflection:
We have come to the first plot twist of the Bible! Chapter 3 is famously known as “The Fall.” It is the point in human history where humanity chooses themselves over God. In much of Christian tradition and history, this is where people point to say, “sin entered the world and we have dealt with it ever since.” It is certainly a pivotal moment that speaks to so much of humanity. When given clear instructions from God, we as a people, often go against those very instructions.
In my life, whenever I hear this story, the moral is usually 1 of 3 things:


A) Just follow God’s instructions and don’t be tempted by the fruit
B) The real crime is how Adam and Eve point fingers and pass the blame
C) The talk is all about sin

My guess is that is how you have most often heard this story as well.
However, let me introduce you to Theology Thursday!

Theology Thursday:
On Theology Thursday, Natalie and I will bring in perspectives from theologians who have impacted our way of thinking. For today, I want to introduce Henri Nouwen. He was a Dutch Catholic Priest who passed away in 1996. He was best known for his writings, meditations, and understandings of God.
Henri Nouwen offers us a different perspective on Genesis 3.

He says, “this story is about more than human mistakes. Every time we mess up, we tell ourselves we aren’t worth love. ‘No one will love someone like me’ we say. But the story God tells is ‘you are so loved by me that you can hear me running to you’”

For me, this is the first story of God’s love in action. When Adam and Eve messed up and they were at their lowest point in their lives, God comes running to them. The CEB says that they could “hear the sound of God’s footsteps” as if to say he was in a hurry to get to them. God did not let them wallow in their mistake alone. God came to them. God didn’t let them suffer in silence. God came and immediately opened up communication. Adam and Eve hid. God came searching. There is so much to be said about this story and about Adam and Eve, but I love Henri Nouwen’s perspective.

– Matthew Montgomery

Practice:
Reflect on your life. When are times God came running to your side when you felt you least deserved it?

Prayer:
Holy God,
Thank you for never letting us sit in our shame alone. Thank you for chasing us down and reminding us of your presence in our lives. Amen.

Reflection:
We have come to the first of what will be many difficult passages in Genesis. The Story of Cain and Abel very closely parallels the story of Adam and Eve in the previous chapter.


a) There is a big mistake

b) God seeks out the guilty party
c) God asks a question and gives the party a chance to answer for themselves 
d) God tells them what will happen next and tells them of the consequences of their actions

The big difference in this story, is that Cain did not tell God what happened. Cain deflected. God then responds in a interesting way. On top of listing the consequences, God protects Cain from retaliation with a mark. The mark of Cain has gotten a lot of attention in biblical study. There isn’t enough in our story to know what this mark is, but it seems to me that God does not want the cycle of violence to continue. God comes in and puts a stop to more violence.

This story is also the start of a larger theme in Genesis where God chooses the younger brother. It will appear time and time again throughout Genesis: Cain and Abel, Ishmael and Issac, Jacob and Esau, Joseph and his brothers. While the older brother is favored in the rest of life, God likes to prove that God does not follow the same social rules we do. God rarely chooses the obvious option. It is often a mystery, but a mystery filled with grace. I wonder how many times God has chosen us to do a good work we didn’t feel we were ready for? I wonder how many times in our life we were sent and didn’t even know it? Lastly, I wonder where and to whom God is sending us next?

Matthew Montgomery

Practice:
Find an unexpected way to share God’s grace!

Prayer:
Thank you for not following our social rules. Thank you for believing in us even when we don’t believe in ourselves. May we go spread your grace today wherever we are sent. Amen.