Features Editor s Perspective...2 Meet Our Writer: Jack Gilbert...3

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3 Contents Features Editor s Perspective...2 Meet Our Writer: Jack Gilbert...3 God s World and God s People Unit 1 God Created the World September 2 God Created the Heavens and the Earth...4 Genesis 1:1-13 September 9 God Created Plants and Animals...11 Genesis 1:14-25 September 16 God Created People...18 Genesis 1:26-31; 2:4-7 September 23 God Created the Family...26 Genesis 2:18-24; 4:1-2 September 30 God Creates; Humans Sin...33 Genesis 3:8-17, Unit 2 October 7 October 14 October 21 October 28 God Destroys and Re-creates Noah s Steadfast Faith...40 Genesis 6:9-22 God Is Always Working...47 Genesis 10:2; 11:10, 27, 31-32; 12:1-4 Abraham and Sarah Birth God s People...54 Genesis 18:9-15; 21:1-7 Isaac and Rebekah Continue the Legacy...61 Genesis 24:12-21, Unit 3 God Blesses and Creates Regardless November 4 A Troubled Birth...69 Genesis 25:19-34 November 11 Jacob Receives Isaac s Blessing...76 Genesis 27:5-10, 18-19, November 18 Jacob Forms a Relationship With God...83 Genesis 28:10-22 November 25 God Blesses Jacob and Rachel...90 Genesis 30:22-32, 43 The United Methodist Publishing House. All rights reserved. 1

4 Editor s Perspective The Creation accounts and early interactions of God and God s people are striking. God simply spoke, and the world came into being. God put into place the sun, the moon, and an awe-inspiring array of stars and planets. God dug into earth s topsoil; formed the first human; and breathed into his nostrils, bringing him to life. God miraculously made Sarah and Abraham first-time parents at ages 90 and 100. God worked in and through the conniving scoundrel Jacob to continue forming the people God had begun with Abraham and Sarah. It s certainly easy to become enthralled with the displays of God s power and control throughout these early years. But alongside that power lies a more subtle quality of the Divine we might miss if we read these familiar Scriptures too quickly. It s the careful notice of God that the first human was alone and needed a perfect companion and the meticulous way God met that need. It s the regret and heartbreak God felt at the sin of Eve and Adam and their flagrant dishonesty when God confronted them about it. It s the tender act of God making clothes for them before sending them out of the garden. Of this gracious deed Frederick Buechner writes, They can t go back, but they can go forward clothed in a new way clothed, that is, not in the sense of having their old defenses again behind which to hide who they are and what they have done but in the sense of having a new understanding of who they are and a new strength to draw on for what lies before them to do now. 1 It s a reality we see over and over again in the pages of Scripture, in the lives of people through whom God worked. Their encounters with God left them invariably and irrevocably changed, clothed in a new way, with a new purpose and direction, a new understanding of themselves and of God, and a new strength because of their relationship with the Almighty. Our lessons this quarter, written by Jack Gilbert, offer us the opportunity to encounter God in ways that change us, too, and give us new purpose, direction, and strength. What God promised Jacob, God also promises us: I am with you now, I will protect you.... I will not leave you until I have done everything that I have promised you (Genesis 28:15). Jan Turrentine AdultBibleStudies@cokesbury.com 1 From Listening to Your Life, by Frederick Buechner (Harper San Francisco: 1992), page Adult Bible The Studies United Methodist Publishing House. All rights reserved.

5 Meet the Writer John Jack Gilbert is a retired United Methodist minister presently enjoying life on the houseboat he calls home with his wife, the Reverend Nan Zoller; an old dog; and a curious cat. Jack spent 26 years in various capacities with The United Methodist Publishing House, pastoring small-membership rural churches for most of that time. Nan and Jack are the parents of five adult children and the grandparents of five. Avid boaters, Nan and Jack recently joined many other retirees as land cruisers with the purchase of an experienced recreational vehicle. Daily Bible Study August 27 In Your Suffering, Trust 1 Peter 4:15-19 the Creator August 28 Renewed by the Creator Colossians 3:8-11 August 29 God Provides the Water Isaiah 41:17-20 August 30 Wind and Water Obey the Voice Mark 4:35-41 of Jesus August 31 God Sends the Rain to Everyone Matthew 5:43-48 September 1 God Is Great; God Is Good Psalm 33:1-9 September 2 God Created the Heavens Genesis 1:1-13 and Earth The United Methodist Publishing House. All rights Adult reserved. Bible Studies 3

6 September 2 Lesson 1 Unit 1: God Created the World God Created the Heavens and the Earth Purpose To reflect afresh about what it means to say that God created the universe Hearing the Word Genesis 1: When God began to create the heavens and the earth 2 the earth was without shape or form, it was dark over the deep sea, and God s wind swept over the waters 3 God said, Let there be light. And so light appeared. 4 God saw how good the light was. God separated the light from the darkness. 5 God named the light Day and the darkness Night. There was evening and there was morning: the first day. 6 God said, Let there be a dome in the middle of the waters to separate the waters from each other. 7 God made the dome and separated the waters under the dome from the waters above the dome. And it happened in that way. 8 God named the dome Sky. There was evening and there was morning: the second day. 4 Adult Bible The Studies United Methodist Publishing House. All rights reserved.

7 9 God said, Let the waters under the sky come together into one place so that the dry land can appear. And that s what happened. 10 God named the dry land Earth, and he named the gathered waters Seas. God saw how good it was. 11 God said, Let the earth grow plant life: plants yielding seeds and fruit trees bearing fruit with seeds inside it, each according to its kind throughout the earth. And that s what happened. 12 The earth produced plant life: plants yielding seeds, each according to its kind, and trees bearing fruit with seeds inside it, each according to its kind. God saw how good it was. 13 There was evening and there was morning: the third day. Key Verses: When God began to create the heavens and the earth the earth was without shape or form, it was dark over the deep sea, and God s wind swept over the waters. (Genesis 1:1-2) Seeing the Need Hang on! We re in for a wild but fascinating ride this quarter. We ll be looking in depth at some of the best-known but most-debated passages in the Old Testament. People have pondered and argued for centuries about the passages we will be studying, and we will still ponder them after these lessons. Our first lesson comes from the first Creation account we find in Genesis 1. The second account we find in Genesis 2:4 3:24. The first account encompasses the whole world, while the second takes place entirely in a garden in Eden. These two different perspectives on Creation reveal to us something of the creating God and affirm that nothing exists apart from the will and power of God. If you read the entire first chapter of Genesis, you will note that at each stage of Creation, God affirmed that the created things were good (Genesis 1:4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25, culminating with supremely good, verse 31). As we move through this series of lessons from our Bible s first book, a word of warning: If you are looking for an argument about whether snakes can carry on an intelligent conversation with people or if any animals got left out of Noah s ark, then you won t find those answers here. What I hope you will find are some of the many ways that these biblical texts illuminate our faith and help us to grow in our efforts to be the persons God wants us to be. The United Methodist Publishing House. All rights September reserved. 2,

8 That s what they did for the ancient Israelites, for the people of the time of Jesus Christ, and for other people throughout 2,000 years of Christian history. But in order to gain the significant lessons these accounts seek to teach us, we may need to discard some of our existing ideas, biases, and preconceived notions and come at these stories afresh, as if we were reading or hearing them for the first time. Can we do that? Let s give it a try! Living the Faith The Creator God The Common English Bible begins with the words, When God began to create the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1:1). Most of us grew up with other translations that read, In the beginning God created... Which is the correct translation of the ancient languages in which these events were first written down? They both are, for both teach us that at the beginning of what we call time, God existed, God was, and God was and is the Creator of this universe. Did God exist before the creation of the universe? Our Christian faith argues that God did so exist. Then when and why did God choose to create the universe? That s a question we can t answer but a truth we accept on faith, just as we accept the reality of the laws of gravity, though we can t exactly explain what gravity is or how it works. A similar set of questions goes something like this: If God is the Creator of the universe, then what or who is God? Our images of God vary from a mind s eye picture of an old man with a long white beard (and often a huge book and a quill pen) to an unknowable and invisible force. Biblical writers put God in human terms because that was about all they could imagine. The same is true for us. I suspect that all of our images of God are incomplete and inaccurate, for God is always more infinitely more! than we can know or even imagine. Yes, the Scriptures say that God is a Spirit and those who worship God must worship in spirit and in truth (a paraphrase of John 4:24); but even that is not all that God was, is, and forever will be. Perhaps all we can conclude with accuracy is that God is, and all of our attempts to describe God are incomplete and inaccurate. So where did God come from? Possible answers to that question stretch our imaginations, for God has always been and always will be. There has never been a time and never will be a time when God is not, when God is not real, when God does not exist. God has no beginning 6 Adult Bible The Studies United Methodist Publishing House. All rights reserved.

9 and no end. Even at the close of the age, whatever that may mean and whenever that may occur, God was, is, and still will be God! We have real difficulties imagining something that has no beginning and no end, but we can do it. Picture a perfect circle in your mind s eye. Where did that circle start and where did it end? We might draw a circle and point to where we started and ended our drawing, but that perfect circle that we imagined has no beginning and no end, just as the perfect circles formed by dropping a pebble into a quiet pond have no beginning and no end. Thus, no matter how we try to imagine or visualize it, the fact remains that God was present at the beginning of time and God will always be present. Our comprehension is severely limited by our experience. We tend to believe that everything has a beginning and an end, because that s the way we experience the world. Our very lives have a beginning and an end, and most of the realities with which we are familiar have a beginning and an end. But not so with God! We sing of God the eternal, God the immortal, and that is exactly what we mean, even though the eternity of God is beyond our ability to understand. Why and when did God decide to create the heavens and the earth? That s a question that we can t even think about or answer until we get an opportunity to ask God directly. But we can be thankful that God made those decisions, if we can think of God thinking and planning and making decisions the way we do. We can also wonder why the earth was without shape or form at the beginning of Creation (Genesis 1:2). That s another issue beyond our comprehension right now, but an incomplete analogy might help: Think of a great artist determining to paint a beautiful picture. She stands or sits before a blank canvas. Near her side is a collection of brushes and paints, the tools with which she will transform the emptiness of that canvas into something beautiful. What questions or concerns have always puzzled you about Creation? The First Day of Creation What did God create first on that first day of Creation? God said, Let there be light. And so light appeared (Genesis 1:3). Now we need to be a bit careful here. The light mentioned here is not the light of the sun or the moon. God did not create those until the fourth day of Creation. So what was that first light? Here are some theories. One theory is that this special light was what some people call the Shekinah (an ancient Hebrew word that does not appear in the Bible). The United Methodist Publishing House. All rights September reserved. 2,

10 This theory says that the Shekinah was that special light that preceded the sun and the moon; and it was that special light that illuminated Moses when he came down from Mount Sinai, forcing him to wear a veil. We in United Methodist churches do not speak often of this Shekinah simply because that first light is beyond our comprehension and the Scriptures do not speak of it in any detail. The second theory sometimes advanced is based on the Prologue to the Gospel of John. Read John 1:1-14 in several translations, if possible. Notice all the references to light here, and recognize that the Gospel writer John is referring to Jesus Christ as the light. We United Methodists do affirm that Jesus is the Light of the world, but we are using the word light in a symbolic sense, just as the Gospel writer John may have been using the image of light in a symbolic sense. But we would do well to bring to mind all that light can mean. To those of us with normal (if correctible) vision, light is important and not just for seeing. How does a cartoonist illustrate that a character suddenly has a great idea? With a light bulb going off over the character s head. We talk of the light going on when we suddenly grasp an idea. And when someone explains something to us, our common response is often, I see, a reference to light. Now think of the popular hymns and choruses that use the image of light, such as Walk in the Light, I Saw the Light, The Light of the World Is Jesus, and Light of the World, We Hail Thee, to name just a few. The Scriptures also speak of light metaphorically, as in the prophets describing the people walking in deep darkness, and in John the Baptist referring to Jesus as the Light of the world. Even the Book of Revelation speaks of God s glory being the only light needed in heaven (Revelation 21:23). Why do you think God created light first before creating the sun and the moon? What was included in that first light? The Second Day of Creation What are we to make of the dome described on the second day of Creation (Genesis 1:6-8)? Remember that this whole Creation story probably existed in oral form for many generations and perhaps in many different languages before it was ever written. Early people experienced the night as a dome or an inverted bowl, perhaps because the night stretched from horizon to horizon. Those people described 8 Adult Bible The Studies United Methodist Publishing House. All rights reserved.

11 the sky as what they could see, much as we describe the sky, and many other things, based on what we can observe visually. This doesn t mean that they, the early people who told the stories of Genesis, were wrong. It simply means that they described things as best they could with the tools at hand. Did someone who was there jot all of this down for us? Of course not. Humankind is the last of God s creation, according to the Genesis account. Many hundreds of years may have passed before the Creation stories we are considering were written or recorded in any form other than human memory. Most scholars suggest that the second day of Creation was the day God created the seas on earth and the rain clouds above the earth. Scientists call this replenishing of the waters the water cycle. We know that the oceans and all other bodies of water are evaporating; and the rain clouds that absorb this evaporation provide rainfall for the land, for bodies of water, and for the oceans. This a God-created and neverending cycle. How do nature and the created order help renew your faith? When have you had a strong sense of God s presence through nature? Where were you? What captured your attention? What did the experience affirm about God for you? What new insights about God did the experience generate? The Third Day of Creation An important thing to note is the orderliness of God s creation. After God made the dome and separated the waters under the dome from the water above the dome and named the dome Sky (Genesis 1:7-8), God ordered that the waters under the sky come together into one place so that the dry land can appear (verse 9). And then followed plant life, seeds and fruit trees bearing fruit, and trees (verses 11-12). What was God doing by the order in which all things were created? Obviously, it seems to us that God was preparing the earth for human habitation. God was getting everything ready for humankind, often called the crown of God s creation. Think of how artists work. Most artists plan the sequence of their paintings. For example, many artists will begin with the background and work toward the foreground, the focus of the picture. Did God have some kind of orderly timeline in mind at the beginning of Creation? The evidence from this Creation narrative strongly suggests that Creation was not haphazard, that God knew that the The United Methodist Publishing House. All rights September reserved. 2,

12 plants could not grow without water and sunlight, that animals could not thrive without plant matter to eat, and that humanity could not live without the remarkable rhythm and order that God built into creation. (Of course, God could have created all things in any sequence, for God is God, and we are not! We may run into danger when we think that God thinks and plans as we do.) So why did God create all things in this orderly pattern that we could comprehend? Could it be that God was trying to teach us something, some profound lesson? Just what does God want us to learn from this orderly sequence of creation? Don t respond to this question too quickly. Think carefully, deeply, and from a faith perspective before you respond, even to yourself. What does the orderliness and sequence of God s creation of the universe say to us as recipients of that God-created order and as persons who are called to live in response to that orderly sequence? In short, what do we learn from the Creation account in Genesis, and how do we use what we learn from it? Lord God, we understand so little and speculate about so much. Forgive our arrogance in believing that we can have all the answers. Help us instead to trust you completely. We pray in Jesus name. Amen. Daily Bible Study September 3 Creation, Testament of God s Psalm 136:1-9 Steadfast Love September 4 Jesus, Agent of God s Creation Hebrews 1:1-4 September 5 All Creatures Depend on God Psalm 104:24-30 September 6 Plants Witness to the Lord s Work Job 12:7-13 September 7 Gifts From the Father of Lights James 1:17-18 September 8 God Made All Creatures Clean Acts 11:5-9 September 9 God Created Heavenly Lights Genesis 1:14-25 and Animals 10 Adult Bible The United Studies Methodist Publishing House. All rights reserved.

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14 Living in Christ rather than aging in place Mature Years is now VIEW FROM SPACE OF THE SUN RISING OVER EARTH It highlights articles on wellness, family, community involvement, and spiritual development. Along with what is new, you will still find your favorite articles, puzzles, Daily Meditations, and Bible lessons. Adult Bible Studies Fall 2018 God s World and God s People Large-Print Student RELIGION/Christian Education/Adult $12.99US ISBN-13: _CVR_LPCV1.indd Custom V 4/25/18 10:12 AM