The With-God Life:
The Dynamics of Scripture for Christian Spiritual Transformation
June 19-22, 2005
Adams Mark Hotel
Denver Colorado
Featuring
Richard J. Foster
David deSilva
Dallas Willard
Michelle Lee
Virginia Stem Owens
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From the Introduction to Genesis
by Agnes Norfleet
In the forthcoming
Renovaré
Spiritual Formation Bible |
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"In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters." (Genesis 1:1-2)
Spiritual formation begins in the Word of God. God spoke and all of creation came into being. Genesis means “beginning” and opens the Bible with the affirmation of faith that God alone is the source of creation. On the breathing wind of God’s speech the earth was formed, night and day were ordered, and every kind of living thing emerged. Created in God’s own image, human beings were blessed to become conversation partners with this great God. With a word and a promise God called Abraham and Sarah and the first family of faith set off on a journey which continues through the community of faith. Through these stories of the creation, the Garden of Eden, the flood, and the early ancestors of our faith, the reader of Genesis is introduced to the with-God life in the grand scheme of God’s creation.
A Narrative Passed Down
Genesis began as an oral tradition of narrative stories passed down from generation to generation in the early community of faith. As with all family history the people of Israel grew to understand who they were, and who they were in relationship to God, by the stories that were told. As these stories were remembered, and retold again and again, they preserved Israel’s religious heritage. Heroes and heroines grew large in the imagination of retelling, and these stories took on theological meaning and significance. Certain traditions associated with particular matriarchs and patriarchs centered at places of worship. The stories of Abraham and Sarah were remembered first at Hebron, Isaac and Rachel at Beer-sheba, and Jacob and Rachel at Bethel. Gradually families gathered as clans and tribes for festival worship and covenant renewal ceremonies and these sacred family narratives came to be shared in common. Over time what began as stories told of the founding families of the People of God were written down and collected together (Genesis 12-50), and a prologue (Genesis 1-11) was added to affirm the foundation of Israel’s beginnings in the larger cosmic order of creation.
 
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E-newsletter Archive
March/April 2005
