The Story - Chapter 1 - Creation

Reflection: The Story - Chapter 1 - Creation

            As I was putting my 3-year-old daughter Mary Katherine to bed the other night, she asked me to tell her a Bible story.  I told her about creation and how God said that everything he made was “very good.”  I told Mary Katherine that she was “very good” too.  She smiled quietly.

            After a few minutes of silence, Mary Katherine said, “Daddy, I want you to tell me a Bible story with Mary Katherine in it.”  I smiled quietly and told her about how Jesus loves the little children – including Mary Katherine.  She smiled again. 

            Several nights later I read the Creation Story using The Story For Little Ones.  Mary Katherine gazed at the pictures and asked if she was in the picture.  I said, “I don’t know.  Do you think you are?”  Mary Katherine replied, “I think I am behind the elephant.  He is big, and I am small so you can’t see me.”  I told her I thought she was right.  And then Mary Katherine named everyone else in the picture including all her friends and family.

            As adults, both as Christian and non-Christians, we often see the Bible as an ancient text that is little or no relevance to our lives today.  We have debates over its historical accuracy.  We try to explain why science may or may not support scripture.  We waste words debating over who holds the best interpretation of the Bible. 

In the process of explaining scripture away, we lose touch with the simple truth that the Bible is a story that tells us about the nature of God and the nature of humanity.  We lose touch with the truth that scripture tells us all about how God endlessly pursues his beloved children with love even when we try to run and hide.

It is no surprise that the Bible, an unbelievable story about God’s love for us, is the best-selling book of all time.  However, I was quite shocked to find out that according to a study in 2008 only 16% of Americans read the Bible on a regular basis – Bible belt included. 

I would argue that this trend is due in large part to the fact that we as Christians often use the Bible to affirm our own self-centered beliefs instead of letting God shape us into selfless servants through his amazing love revealed in Jesus.

C.S. Lewis once wrote, “The Bible, read in the right spirit and with the guidance of good teachers, will bring us to Him.  We must not use the Bible as a sort of encyclopedia out of which texts can be taken for use as weapons.”  Simply put, the Bible is an incredible resource for all of us sinners to grow in the knowledge and love of God.

           Over the next 31-weeks, I, along with my priest associate, Rev. Henry Hudson, will be guiding people through the greatest story ever told in hopes that anyone who picks up the Bible will learn to find themselves in God’s masterpiece, a picture that shows us how God’s story in Christ redeems any story – even your story. 

The Story - Ch. 1 - Class Recording

The Story - Ch. 1 - Class Outline