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This week we wrap up our series about the stories between Eden and Abraham. I have really enjoyed “All in the Family,” as we have explored some of the stories we claim as our own. They are the stories our family tree takes root in, and we find ourselves in them. “We tell ourselves stories in order to live,” as we’ve been saying this entire series.
This week, the story we’ll hear is known as “The Tower of Babel.” You’ll find it in chapter eleven of Genesis, if you’d like to read it ahead of time.
This story really gets at the heart of one of the theological cornerstones of the primordial stories, namely the idea that God is God and we are not! I find this profoundly liberating. It sort of takes the pressure off to remember that my responsibility is in response to God’s initiative, and not the other way around.
Bruce G. Epperly, in his book Process Theology: Embracing Adventure with God writes, “God does not determine everything, but presents a vision of beauty and the energy to achieve it for every moment of experience.” In other words, God reveals to us what God wants the world to look like. Then God equips us to work in the world to make it look like that.
That’s the heart of our mission, to make the world look like God wants it to look. Spiritual growth is a continual process of discerning God’s desires and shaping our lives in order to live into them. And one of the most vivid ways to discern the divine desires for the world is in the stories we tell.
So come on over Sunday for the “Tower of Babel”. I’ll be sharing a story that I call, “Scattered and Confused.” I’ll see y’all in church!
Pastor Andy
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