Gardens and Cities
Bob Wickizer
Acts 11:1-18
I can't tell you the number of times people have asked me, ''How does a person go from working in physics to the ordained ministry?'' Their question reveals a common misunderstanding in our modern world that somehow a life of faith is antithetical to a scientific worldview. To that I would argue exactly the opposite: The more you understand about the fundamentals of the universe, the more one is inclined to proclaim that all this beautiful cosmos did not happen by random accident. I praise God for creation and the life I have been blessed to live every day.
On this Sunday where we celebrate God's good creation based upon a secular observance of Earth Day, I would like to tell you about two profound options for humankind: gardens and cities.
Our Bible study class just finished the book of Genesis. As many of us know, Genesis contains the Adam and Eve story located in a garden or a better term for this would be ''paradise.'' The term in Hebrew was borrowed from Persian and refers to a manicured park or a more formal garden. The idea behind this garden or paradise is that God has created it and humankind's role is to tend it and maintain its beauty. Paradise in the Jewish tradition was where God could be found.
Who cannot forget that wonderful image of God walking in Genesis 3:8? ''Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden.'' The Hebrew has some words in it you would recognize: ''Then adam and adamah heard the sound of adonoi as he was walking in the pardes (paradise) in the cool of the day, and they hid from adonoi among the trees of the pardes (paradise).'' God is in that garden walking. Can you hear the sound?
Humankind's great experience of God begins and ends in paradise. We begin our journey in Genesis hiding from God, lying to God, experiencing shame and ultimately b ...
Bob Wickizer
Acts 11:1-18
I can't tell you the number of times people have asked me, ''How does a person go from working in physics to the ordained ministry?'' Their question reveals a common misunderstanding in our modern world that somehow a life of faith is antithetical to a scientific worldview. To that I would argue exactly the opposite: The more you understand about the fundamentals of the universe, the more one is inclined to proclaim that all this beautiful cosmos did not happen by random accident. I praise God for creation and the life I have been blessed to live every day.
On this Sunday where we celebrate God's good creation based upon a secular observance of Earth Day, I would like to tell you about two profound options for humankind: gardens and cities.
Our Bible study class just finished the book of Genesis. As many of us know, Genesis contains the Adam and Eve story located in a garden or a better term for this would be ''paradise.'' The term in Hebrew was borrowed from Persian and refers to a manicured park or a more formal garden. The idea behind this garden or paradise is that God has created it and humankind's role is to tend it and maintain its beauty. Paradise in the Jewish tradition was where God could be found.
Who cannot forget that wonderful image of God walking in Genesis 3:8? ''Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden.'' The Hebrew has some words in it you would recognize: ''Then adam and adamah heard the sound of adonoi as he was walking in the pardes (paradise) in the cool of the day, and they hid from adonoi among the trees of the pardes (paradise).'' God is in that garden walking. Can you hear the sound?
Humankind's great experience of God begins and ends in paradise. We begin our journey in Genesis hiding from God, lying to God, experiencing shame and ultimately b ...
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