Sunday, January 1, 2017

January 1

Genesis 1:1-2:25; Matthew 1:1-2:12; Psalm 1:1-6; Proverbs 1:1-6

Hooray!  Today is the first day, and today is my favorite day!  I'm not behind, and it's the happiest reading day of the whole year.  No sin, no ugliness, no failure, no brokenness - only creation in Genesis, and the preparation for and appearance of Jesus in the gospels, and the sturdiness of Psalm 1, and the promise of today's Proverbs.  I love it!

There's so much majesty and beauty in Genesis 1 and 2.  We see the deliberateness of God in the act of creation: he chose every action and crafted every bit.  We see the creativity and expansiveness (Gen. 1:21, 25, 29) - so many kinds, and so much of everything!  We see God's attentiveness to beauty (I love that the trees in the garden "were pleasing to the eye and good for food" [Gen. 2:9, emphasis mine]), and his awareness of his creation as he realizes that Adam needs a companion (Gen. 2:18, 21-25).  Part of the reason I'm so drawn to the creation narrative is that I recognize in myself echoes of God's intentionality, of his detailed-ness, of his love of beauty.  It's so easy for me to forget that I have God's image wrapped all over me; I get lost all too often in my own sin and brokenness and failure.  But this day, this day!  It reminds me of how I am redeemed and looking like my Father.

Truthfully, I am also always glad to be "on-time" in my reading, too.  I know I'll get behind throughout the year, but I do love the feeling of starting off at a good pace.  This first day of January, with all of its promise in Scripture and in a chronological new year, gives me hope and makes a memory for me to draw on during the other 364 days that will come.


- Sarah Marsh

5 comments:

  1. Thanks, Sarah. I agree with you about the joy and zest of this first day of reading. Also love that we're in the gospels! Yay!
    Nell aka Mom

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  2. Thank you for doing this blog! The thought I had today as I read the OT reading was about what it means to create. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. But even though the earth had already been created, it was formless and void. Since we are creative people, made in the image of God, it made me wonder if when we create something if creation is actually the idea that God gives us, impresses upon us to bring into being and make beautiful & useful for others. Then He gives us the freedom to bring it to life, to give it a purpose on the earth.

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    1. Yes - isn't it amazing that all of humanity, redeemed and not, still bear enough of God's image to create?

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  3. Upon reading about Eden, it occured to me that evil already existed either before or during creation, or why else would there be a tree of the knowledge of good and evil? How could that be when God is so good and so powerful? This led to an online search of such. This daily reading through the Bible could get highly complicated. Lucia A.

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