The Lord be with you!
This Sunday is Pentecost Seventeen and the color is green.
The story of Adam and Eve reminds us that no matter what we do, God will be with us, show us the way and give us hope.
Have a good week. Be safe. I miss you! I want to thank Gretchen Wolff Pritchard for her wonderful Beulah Land stories.
ADAM AND EVE
Once upon a time, in the beginning, God made the world, and filled it with life.
The world was very beautiful. God made people to live in it and love it and care for it.
God made a beautiful garden for the people to live in: a very special place, where they had everything they needed. There was sunshine and rain. daytime and nighttime, plants and trees to give them food, flowers and birds and animals… and the snake, the craftiest of all God’s creatures.
In the middle of the garden was a tree, the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. And God said to the people, “You may eat of any of the trees in the garden, but not the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, for if you eat its fruit, you will die.” But the snake said to the people, “You won’t die, If you eat the fruit, you will be like God… you won’t have to listen to God anymore: you’ll be just as smart as God, and just as strong as God, you won’t have to wait on God; you can have it your way, you can have whatever you want, whenever you want. It will feel good. You’ll be the best. Come on and try it.”
The man and the woman listened to the snake. They did what God had told them not to do. They ate the fruit. And it didn’t make them big and strong and smart. It didn’t make them feel good They felt ashamed… they were ashamed of their bodies they were ashamed of their thoughts they felt angry with each other and angry at themselves; they ran away to hide from God they were lonely for God and they were scared of God. God’s voice became hard to hear and the beautiful garden was gone. Now they lived in the wilderness and their life was hard and bitter and they began to die.
Is that the end of the story? No. It’s just the beginning,
God did not give up on the people. God remembered them and gave them hope. Little by little. God showed them a new way; God gave them rules to live by, and the promise of a new life. And that is our story.
