It\u2019s hard to imagine more familiar words than the opening of Genesis, isn\u2019t it? \u201cIn the beginning\u201d the famous first words ring. I don\u2019t think I\u2019ll ever forget the words of my Old Testament professor, Dr. Robert Wilson, as he led us through the Book of Genesis: \u201cDon\u2019t confuse familiarity with understanding.\u201d So it\u2019s with that spirit that I return to the first five verses of scripture. It\u2019s Professor Wilson\u2019s thoughts that will guide much of my inquiry.<\/p>\n\n
Genesis is often divided into two large sections: Chapters 1-11 make up the \u201cprimeval history,\u201d while Chapters 12-50 comprise the \u201cpatriarchal stories.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
The first two verses of the Bible jump right into the action of creation, providing no explanation of what God was doing before Genesis 1:1. Verse 2 describes the earth as a \u201cformless void,\u201d although Professor Wilson was quick to point out that the Hebrew phrase (tohu wa-bohu) is untranslatable. Many scholars have argued about the exact translation for centuries, which is made difficult because of word play. I find it a little funny that we struggle to define exactly what the \u201cformless void\u201d or tohu wa-bohu really means. It seems fitting that it would be beyond explanation.<\/p>\n\n
In verse 3, God speaks the light into existence. Again, it\u2019s hard not to confuse familiarity with understanding, but it\u2019s what we must do as Christians. It\u2019s incomprehensible (like tohu wa-bohu) to imagine what it means for God to speak light \u2013 something so integral to our lives \u2013 into being, but it happens!<\/p>\n\n
In verse 4, God separates the light from the darkness. What does this mean? I wonder what the light and darkness looked like before they were separated. Was it like oil and water? Or a Mark Rothko painting? Or beyond imagination?<\/p>\n\n
Our passage ends with the end of the first day. But we know this is only the beginning!<\/p>\n\n
Close readers of Genesis will be interested to note that there\u2019s another creation account within Genesis (2:4-24), which in some ways directly contradicts the account we begin reading today. Readers may want to compare the two versions in their study.<\/p>\n\n
Psalm 29 is a psalm that can be categorized as a hymn, or a song of praise. The general thrust of the psalm is to call on people to praise God, and to offer reasons and affirmations of the reasons why people should praise God.<\/p>\n\n
Psalm 29 has some interesting and distinctive literary features that become quickly apparent, especially when reading the psalm out loud. The first feature is the use of \u201ctriplets.\u201d In the verse 2 we say the words \u201cAscribe to the Lord\u201d three times before breaking the pattern on the fourth time, drawing attention to that line that breaks the pattern: \u201cWorship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.\u201d These words (also found in Psalm 96) are famous in Anglican history thanks to Archbishop William Laud. \u201cWorship the Lord in the beauty of holiness\u201d was one of his ways of calling Anglicans to take their liturgy seriously \u2013 and to make it uniform. Today these words form part of the Book of Common Prayer\u2019s Morning Prayer service, as an invitatory sentence.<\/p>\n\n
The next interesting literary feature to note comes in verses 3-5 with the three-time repetition of \u201cThe voice of the Lord.\u201d The triplet breaks in verse 5 with an instance of absolute parallelism, where one sentence restates what was previously said, but in a different order: \u201cThe voice of the Lord breaks the cedar trees; the Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
This psalm is focused largely on God\u2019s voice and the mythological qualities of it. (See verse 10.) It\u2019s interesting to note the emphasis on God\u2019s voice in the lectionary readings so far: God speaking light into existence, and here, God\u2019s voice breaking trees.<\/p>\n\n
The reading from Acts today comes toward the end of the book of Acts. The scene comes from Paul\u2019s third major journey, to Ephesus. His first two journeys were to Asia Minor and Greece, and he will end his travels by going to Jerusalem and then finally with preaching in Rome.<\/p>\n\n
The character mentioned in Acts 19 is Apollos, who we learned in Acts 18:24-25, is a Jew and an \u201celoquent man\u201d who \u201cspoke with a burning enthusiasm and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus.\u201d What\u2019s notable in this passage is the distinction that\u2019s being made between baptisms. One kind of baptism involves the Holy Spirit, and the other, the one Apollos and disciples mentioned here, is \u201cJohn\u2019s baptism\u201d (v. 3) with no Holy Spirit. What\u2019s striking here is that the disciples say, \u201cWe have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit\u201d (v. 2). Acts is known for focusing a lot on the Holy Spirit. (See Acts 2 for the Pentecost story.) Here the Holy Spirit is not as much a dramatic character as it is in other places in this passage and in Acts, but it is an integral aspect to a full and complete baptism. The passage ends with Paul baptizing the disciples. The Holy Spirit makes a dramatic appearance in verse 6 when it \u201ccomes upon\u201d the disciples and the people speak in tongues and prophesy.<\/p>\n\n
This reading comes from the very beginning Mark\u2019s gospel. All that comes before this is a quotation from Isaiah (actually a conflation of quotes from Exodus, Micah and Isaiah) about a messenger \u201ccrying out in the wilderness\u201d (Mark 1:2-3). Notably Mark does not begin with a birth narrative like Matthew or Luke\u2019s gospels do. Instead Jesus\u2019 ministry begins with John the Baptist.<\/p>\n\n
What the reading for today focuses on is both the role John the Baptist played and Jesus\u2019 baptism. John the Baptist is said to have worn a shirt of \u201ccamel\u2019s hair\u201d and to have eaten \u201clocusts and wild honey.\u201d Not only does this conjure an image of a rather extreme, ascetical man, but it also strongly alludes to the Old Testament prophet Elijah (2 Kings 1:8). Verse 9 tells us that John baptized Jesus. John the Baptist is later beheaded (Mark 6) at the instruction of King Herod.<\/p>\n\n
The passage also focuses largely on Jesus\u2019 own baptism by John (v. 9). What\u2019s described is an epic, almost mythological scene, of the \u201cheavens being torn apart\u201d (v. 10). Then the Spirit, like a dove (or a pigeon, as some have said), descends from above (v. 10). Next comes a voice from heaven with the comforting and yet almost-secretive words \u201cYou are my Son, the Beloved, with you I am well pleased\u201d (v. 11). This line is perhaps an allusion to Psalm 2:7.<\/p>\n\n
Genesis 1:1-5 It\u2019s hard to imagine more familiar words than the opening of Genesis, isn\u2019t it? \u201cIn the beginning\u201d the famous first words ring. I don\u2019t think I\u2019ll ever forget the words of my Old Testament professor, Dr. Robert Wilson, as he led us through the Book of Genesis: \u201cDon\u2019t confuse familiarity with understanding.\u201d So…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":201221,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_tec_requires_first_save":true,"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_tribe_blocks_recurrence_rules":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_description":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_exclusions":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[23,32,52,3],"tags":[248],"class_list":["post-767029","bible_study","type-bible_study","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bible-studies","category-epiphany","category-sermons-that-work","category-worship-and-prayer-menu","tag-epiphany-1b"],"acf":[],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":23,"label":"Bible Studies"},{"value":32,"label":"Epiphany"},{"value":52,"label":"Sermons That Work"},{"value":3,"label":"worship_and_prayer_menu"}],"post_tag":[{"value":248,"label":"Epiphany 1B"}]},"featured_image_src_large":false,"author_info":[],"comment_info":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bible_study\/767029","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bible_study"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/bible_study"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bible_study\/767029\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":951843,"href":"https:\/\/www.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bible_study\/767029\/revisions\/951843"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=767029"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=767029"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=767029"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}