The first stories in the Bible are both familiar as well as complicated. You know the names—Adam, Eve, Cain, Abel, as well as that story of the Tower of Babel. These old stories are not about people who lived at the beginning of humankind. They are stories about the whole human family. The ancient wisdom found in these first stories point to our place as well as our responsibilities in God’s world. In this series, we will walk with God “at the time of the evening breeze.” We will see what we can learn from a talking snake. We will discover how familiar the first brothers can be to us. And we will discover the risk to us all when “the whole earth had one language and the same words.” These are stories our ancestors in the faith loved to tell. After all these generations, they still reveal truth about ourselves that we need to know. Rev. Tom Are preaches this series. 

May 7	It’s Not Good in the Garden
May 14	I Have a Better Idea
May 21	Even God Can Be a Troublemaker
May 28	They All Had One Language (sure they did)

They All Had One Language (sure they did)
​May 28, 2023 - Rev. Tom Are

The story claims that there was a day when all the people of the earth spoke one language. That would surely aid communication. It would certainly benefit unity. If we all spoke the same language and used the same words, it would obviously be easier for everyone to be on the same page. Why did God confuse their language and scatter the people? Our scripture readings are Genesis 11:1-9 and Acts 2:1-13.
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Even God Can Be a Troublemaker
​May 21, 2023 - Rev. Tom Are

Two brothers went to worship, and one ended up dead. This tragedy happened, in part, because of envy, but also because God stirred things up in church. Our scripture reading is Genesis 4:1-16.
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I Have a Better Idea
​May 14, 2023 - Rev. Tom Are

It didn’t take long for the train to jump the rails, as they say. The good creation of God falls on hard times as the creatures created in God’s image reject the ways of God. It is the deeds that matter, but deeds always begin with thoughts and motivations. Sometimes, we think our ideas are better than God’s ideas. Our scripture readings are Genesis 2:15-17 and Genesis 3:1-21.
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It’s Not Good in the Garden
​May 7, 2023 - Rev. Tom Are

The Bible begins with some remarkable stories. They read like stories of people who lived at the beginning of time, but they are better understood as stories that describe what is true about all people. At the most basic level, these stories bear witness to what is good and what is not good. Our scripture reading is Genesis 2:4b-9, 15-25.
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