The lens of Genesis
As Spring blooms all around me, I am inspired to continue to root us in the Genesis story as we …think, think, think ... .about gender. Being rooted in Genesis gives us a lens to see the world through.
One caution I need to share- as you think and read, do so with a critical yet grace filled lens. With growing dismay, I sit with people who have few questions, a multitude of answers, and rarely a thought that they could be wrong. I want to inspire a different kind of thinking. Generate a long list of questions. Develop strong convictions where scripture speaks really clearly. Communicate with respect and dignity to the person across from you.
OK, back to business!
Reading together in Genesis can seem to be a mostly familiar story. Opening our eyes to see new details and to think deeply about what is shared is a great challenge for us. This may seem slow- but there is a foundation in Genesis that is critical for us to frame the rest of what happens not only in the scriptures, but in the world around us.
It’s like a set of glasses that we put on to view our life, world events, painful trauma, and routine circumstances through. And we have to be mindful of the lens we look at these through.
I can look through the lens of my own reasoning, thinking, and feeling.
I can look through the lens of CNN’s top 5 things each day, or a similar list on FOX news.
I can look through the lens of public opinion as expressed on a variety of social platforms.
Very often we look through the lens of our friends or our experiences.
Or I can start with what God says in the scriptures and put everything through that lens.
Please don’t hear what I’m not saying (a favorite phrase my pastor uses that I’ve adopted). There are specific things like nuclear biology, or repairing a carburetor, or steaming broccoli- that scripture does not have the answers for.
But scripture is POWER for reasoning out principles for living. I want to be careful to filter all that I am doing, thinking, reasoning, and even feeling, through this lens.
I’m not a photographer, but I do understand that a good camera lens, appropriate for the scene and the subject makes or breaks your picture. It’s the same with us and our view of the world.
I will filter through something.
Either I choose scripture to be my filter,
or I will choose one of the above world systems, although inferior to be my filter.
I just want to be intentional in the choice.
Chapter one of Genesis is a great start for us. We are going to skip into the middle of the creation story- but feel free to stop and read the beginning of the chapter!
We can notice in verse 20 that God begins to create the animals, birds, and creatures. They seem to be full grown and are blessed to multiply in their likeness or kind.
We notice in 1:25 that the animals get made ‘according to their kinds’. So types or kinds of animals reproduce those same types.
We notice in verse 26 that man is created ‘in our image’, ‘in our likeness’.
Suppose you were to create something in your own likeness- what would you put into it? Some of us have had the blessing of having children (it’s good to remember that it is a blessing, not a promise or guarantee)- and we see features that are ‘like us’, and often, characters and tendencies that are ‘like us’.
God, the Trinity, decides to make man in “our image”- pieces of character and substance woven into us. It’s so personal, so intentional.
We notice in 1:27 that male and female get introduced.
Both created as image-bearers.
Both created to rule the rest of creation.
Both blessed of God.
Both tasked with multiplying and filling.
Both deemed “very good”.
With some broad brush strokes, the ways that we are created and tasked as explained here, are for both sexes. Sit with that for a minute and think about the implications. We will get to see some differences as we head into chapter two, but for now, just sit with the impression of God gazing at and commissioning BOTH Adam and Eve in the above ways.
Great job in beginning construction of your filter using God’s word. You made it past the headline into some thinking and reasoning.
Now for a question (homework!):
From your reading in Genesis, why do you think that God made two distinct sexes? Or two sexually different beings?
I’d love to hear your thoughts as you begin wrestling with these ideas and issues. If you live close enough, I’d love to grab a soda with you.
Schedule time here:
https://calendly.com/susanatthebird/appointment-with-susan
Has anyone read some of last months book- The Genesis of Gender written by Abigail Favale? No time like the present!
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