Genesis 4:1-16

Thanks to the wonders of modern medicine it’s only about once a century that we experience a global pandemic, and because of the enduring reality of sin there are times in each generation when an event confronts us with layer upon layer of brokenness and sin.

And with that confrontation an opportunity to make crooked things straight.

Given the magnitude of the events sweeping across our nation, we have decided to end our Into the Unknown series one week early.   We want our new series to equip us to represent Jesus well as we wrestle with the familiar-yet-still-‘unknown’ reality of racial brokenness. 

We’re calling this series “Race, Power, and Healing: A Redemptive Path.” We’re going to spend four weeks doing what we can to help our church community be fully awake to the ways that God speaks to this issue across the whole of the Scriptures. 

Throughout the centuries earnest Jesus-followers (particularly in predominantly white church communities) have not always known how to integrate the treasure trove of theological, spiritual, and wisdom resources available to us in the Scriptures to deal with the issues that are plaguing our country. We want our church to be different. 

We’re going to start this week in Genesis and end week four in Revelation.  We’ll be tracing some of the key stepping stones embedded in stories and parables and visions that equip us to acknowledge, engage, and start to overcome the sin that so easily entangles our nation over and over again throughout our history.

For some in our community these problems are dismissed as a mere nuisance. For others these problems are overwhelmingly intractable, driving us to despair, frozen in a bottomless guilt. 

The God that Jesus shows us speaks a better word than either of these. This is not a new problem, and God is neither ambivalent nor overwhelmed. He got here first, and we’re stepping into this issue full of faith, hope, love, asking for wisdom and courage. 

We invite you to join us here in the Connect Devotional, in small groups, and on Sunday mornings as we prepare ourselves for this good work God has prepared in advance for us to tackle.

We look forward to journeying together with you. 

Alex

For the Staff and Connect Devotional Teams

How have the events of the past two weeks impacted you? How familiar are you with the ways that Scripture speaks to issues of culture and ethnicity? This can be a difficult issue to tackle.  What can you do to prepare yourself to engage thoughtfully and to remain open to what the Lord might teach you?