There are many ways that one could summarize a good story and there are many ways one could summarize the Bible. Creation, fall, restoration is a good summary. As we have sat in the beginning of Genesis, even in these first few chapters, we've seen the importance of confessing the true God as the creator God and also we have seen his commitment to his creation despite sin and rebellion. In this sermon, Pastor Peter suggests this as a quick summary of the Bible: The creator God covenanted with his world and people and makes good on his covenant in Jesus.

Right at the end of Genesis 3, after the consequences for sin and rebellion are given to the serpent, Eve and Adam, we have reiterated for us the big ideas of human existence in these origin stories. Eve is named as the mother of the living - a reaffirmation of the "be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth" of Genesis 1. But while the creation mandate has this echo post-sin entering the world, the consequences of sin continue: God has to cover them and gives of his creation to do so and they are banished from the Garden. So, human dignity and worth are put forth right next to the severity and consequences of sin. Beauty and brokenness. Sin, the flaming sword, and the cherubim and the east of Eden would have evoked for the people of God the Tabernacle and Temple that we the great invitations and hope of God's commitment to life with in the world we were made for.

Genesis 3 tells of our first parent's rebellion from God and it does this in a way where we can see these dynamics of sin continuing in our lives today. The apple doesn't fall far. Sin is still alluring and it still has massively detrimental effects in our lives together, with God and with creation. But thanks be to God that he promised the seed of the woman who would bruise the head of the serpent! In Christ we are a new creation, brought back to what God had originally intended.

The main contention of our series in the beginning of Genesis is that these "origin" stories(Genesis means "origin") have ongoing effects and relevance in our lives. We were made to be seen by God and by other people, seen clearly and looked upon lovingly and intimately. Of all things, before sin entered the world, God says that something is not good, and that something was human isolation. Out of that, God made the woman to be an accompaniment and they were naked and unashamed. They saw each other perfectly and were perfectly seen by God. But when they sinned, they hid. They covered themselves up and hid from one another and from God. These facts of being made to be seen and sin creating distance are ongoing in our lives today to our detriment and the detriment of our world. What we need is to recover a sense of how significant and awful sin is and the awe and praise that comes from knowing the grace and care that God has for us as he calls us out of our hiding ("where are you") and covers our shame.

What are we? What are we as humans? Sometimes we feel and we know that we were made to be more majestic than we experience. We are like a spray-painted dog who looks like a panda, but we haven't been made to be a farce or to be hollow but to be whole. The Bible teaches at the beginning that we are made with love and care and attention, that we were made in the very image of God, and that we were made for a life of dependence. This image bearing is who we are as humans (marred though it now is). This dependent life of faith and trust was not just a call to not eat the fruit of the garden, but an ongoing call from God to a life of Faith.

Genesis means "Origins". This Fall we are looking at the first 11 chapters of Genesis and considering how these "Origin" stories come to bear in our lives in an ongoing way. Genesis 1, in indirect poetic confrontation, presents us with a story of creation origins that is far more compelling than any of the myths of the ancient world or the random chance or survivalist beliefs of our modern times. Here we find a text, while not scientific per se, that gives us grounding for scientific exploration in the order and predictability from which God made all things. Here we find a text that is not violent like the ancient creation myths of the "bangs" of creation-belief in our day, but one that is intentional and caring. Here we find a text that speaks of creation not out of need, but out of desire and love. The bottom line is that the Bible presents us with a far more beautiful and compelling creation than anything else you can find.

Coming back from sabbatical, Pastor Peter offers some reflections on our church and how we are to follow Jesus in our time by looking at Jesus' incredible interaction with the Samaritan woman at the well. What Are We About? Well, Jesus is about seeking after the outcast and the sinner and the stranger, so we are to be about delighting in diversity and seeking the stranger. Jesus, somewhat oddly enough, in a conversation with this woman about worship, declares "we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews." He grounds his compassionate engagement with this woman in the long salvation-history of God with his people and their practices. So, SCC is about being historically rooted and embedded in time and place. Finally, this woman makes a massive shift in her understanding of Jesus. As Ephraim the Syrian wrote in the early 3rd century, "First she caught sight of a thirsty man, then a Jew, then a Rabbi, afterwards a prophet, last of all the Messiah." How was this shift possible? Because she was with Jesus. The conversation about water was a conversation about Jesus, her concept of men was shifted because of the presence of Jesus, the conversation around worship found its end in Jesus. So, SCC is about being with Jesus and allowing his person and work to transform us.

Developing a praying way of life is at the core of the life of a Follower of Jesus. The apostle Paul urged Timothy as he led the early church in Ephesus to first of all, pray all kinds of prayers for all kinds of people. This included even kings and those people in high positions. This was to be done so that the people of God, the everyday people, may lead peaceful, quiet, and godly lives. This is important because God purposed these prayers to be part of His plan to save all kinds of people through faith in the one and only mediator between God and mankind, the man, Jesus The Christ.