Lent

March 2, 2020

Scripture Reading: Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7

The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, ‘You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die.’ –Genesis 2:15-16

At times, when I read scripture, particularly very familiar scripture, I think of the weirdest things like if the garden of Eden were perfect why did it need to be tilled and kept. Creation is a new beginning of a continuous process. While it sounds contradictory, change is a constant. In my job in human services, I was involved in the roll out of a multitude of new programs and new computer programs to support them. The first tries in computer programming are referred to as beta testing. I remember when our first computer program tracking case records, limited the number of letters for first names to seven letters. For the record, my first name has eight letters. We immediately received responses that seven was not enough. The same need to test and tweak new creations applies to initiatives like the Affordable Care Act. Common sense changes were needed within the first year but were never made because ruler-ship of Congress had changed. In the political arena change is often to redo or undo something passed by a previous administration when failure becomes a desired option by the current majority.

So goes our relationship with God in communion with all of God’s children. Faith traverses the same paths as progress.  As children of God we are called to be one.  Our challenge as God’s people is to maintain our fidelity to God while welcoming the continuum of creation, working to make all things good, and never accepting failure as a desired option.

Prayer: Lord, we thank you for the opportunity to join with you in striving to make all things good. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.