Creation
Over the next 10 months our plan is to work our way through the True Story. As with any story, the best way to begin is… at the beginning! Get together this week with 3-10 other people. Share a meal. As you eat, ask each other about your stories. Get to know something knew about each other: who you are, where you came from.
Ideally someone will have looked at the story below well enough to know it. You don’t have to memorize the story. But, have a good feel for it and read it with some life. After reading the story have a dialogue on the 4 questions at the end. These question are meant to stimulate discussion not solicit trite answers. Also, if the conversation wanders, that’s okay. The goal is to get our Missio Dei family situated and immersed in the beginning of the story.
Discuss: If you could imagine the world the way it should be, what would it be like?
Scene 1 ~ Beginnings
Story from Genesis 1-3, Job 38, Isaiah 14, Revelation 12
This story is found in the Bible, and is about God, a being that was before all things, and created this earth and everything on it. God alone always does what is good and right and perfect—the Bible calls him holy.
While God was creating the foundations of the earth, angels watched with amazement, singing together and shouting for joy! God created these beautiful angels to worship him. But some of these angels rebelled against God and his ways – any rebellion against God is called sin. God will not allow sin to remain in his presence, so he sent the rebellious angels into darkness on the earth, to face final punishment later.
(Pause for a moment…)
Scene 2 ~ First Humans
Story from Genesis 1-2, Psalm 8
Then God decided he would create another being, one that was lower than the angels, called a human. So God took the earth and prepared it as a place for humans to live. His Spirit moved over the surface of the earth as…
He made light–separating it from the darkness…
He divided the oceans and the sky…
He gathered the waters–so dry land would appear…
He grew plants, flowers, and trees with seeds to reproduce themselves…
He created the sun, the moon and the stars–setting the days and seasons in to motion…
He filled the seas with fish, the sky with birds, and the earth with all kinds of wild animals!
God put great care and creativity into all of his creation, Then he looked at everything and said, “This is good!”
After he had prepared the earth God said, “Let us make humans in our image, to be like us. They will be in charge of the earth and the plants and the animals that live on it.”
So God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed his own breath into him, giving him life. This man would be called Adam.
Later, God created the first woman, Eve, from one of Adam’s ribs, to be a companion and helper for Adam. So God created both the man and the woman in his own image.
God blessed the man and the woman with the ability to continue creating through having children. He told them, “Be fruitful and multiply.” He placed the humans in a beautiful garden, a place where they had everything they needed to live life to the fullest.
In the center of the garden God placed two special trees. One was the Tree of Life and the other was the Tree of the Knowledge of Good & Evil. God said that Adam and Eve could eat from any tree in the garden, except for one—the tree that would give them knowledge of good and evil. He warned them not to eat from this tree or they would surely die…
Daily, God would come and spend time with the humans, walking with them in the cool of the day. He showed them how to live in the best possible way—a life lived close to God and under his protection— a life that is full and complete. And Adam and Eve loved being with God.
As God looked over all of his creation he thought, “this is VERY GOOD!” After creating all of this God rested, and he set aside a day of rest each week for his creation.
Discussion Questions
Remember to answer the questions from within the story you just heard. If someone drops a “Well I’ve always heard…” or a “In Romans it says…”, cut them off and tell them to “Stay in the story.”
1. How did God make humans unique among his creation?
2. What kind of relationship did Adam and Eve have with God?
3. What do you think the relationship was like between Adam and Eve? Describe it? How is it different from relationships today?
4. What do we learn about God from this story? (See if you can list 15 things about God. And make sure you can tell where you saw that in the story.)