The Garden of Forgotten Names, with Rev. Dr. Steven Koski.

The Garden of Forgotten Names, with Rev. Dr. Steven Koski. Series: Belonging. Beloved. Delightful. A Spacious Christianity, First Presbyterian Church of Bend, Oregon. Scripture: Genesis 2-3.

Feeling lost or hiding from something? This Sunday, we’re exploring a powerful message about God’s unconditional love and finding your true self. Join us online or in-person at First Presbyterian – where questions are welcome and everyone belongs.

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At First Presbyterian, you will meet people at many different places theologically and spiritually. And we love it that way. We want to be a place where our diversity brings us together and where conversation takes us all deeper in our understanding of God.

We call this kind of faith “Spacious Christianity.” We don’t ask anyone to sign creeds or statements of belief. The life of faith is about a way of being in the world and a faith that shows itself in love.

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Keywords:

spacious Christianity, Genesis, Adam and Eve, garden of Eden, God’s love, hiding, shame, forgiveness, belonging, unconditional acceptance, spiritual journey, faith exploration, biblical interpretation, compassion, redemption, presbyterian, church, online worship, bend, oregon

Featuring:

Rev. Dr. Steven Koski, Rev. Sharon Edwards, Becca Ellis, Brave of Heart, Guests

Transcript

Whitney Higdon: 0:20

You. Welcome to worship At First Presbyterian we, at First Presbyterian, practice a spacious Christianity, which means no matter where you are in your faith journey, you belong and there is space for you at the table, there is space for your doubts and questions. We believe doubts and questions are a gift that invite us into deeper conversations and a more authentic faith. We believe diversity is a strength. Every story is sacred and everybody matters. We do our best to live the spacious and radical love of Jesus so that all might have a chance to flourish in this world. We are so glad to connect with you in this way. We would also love to worship with you in person if you're ever in the neighborhood on Sunday mornings at 830, or 10am and never hesitate to reach out to us to learn more about us or how we might support you. I hope you enjoy this worship service. Welcome.

Unknown: 3:10

Begun the garden of forgotten names God planted a spectacular garden where kava Eve and Adam would live and work a safe and lovely place of belonging. You see, God loved Eve and Adam and had a beautiful dream for them. I made you like me, so I want you to care for the gardens and the animals, just as I would God told Eve and Adam, there was much to learn about, and what a glad time God would have, holding their hands and teaching them, step by step, they would learn God's wisdom, which leads to a good and peaceful life. In the middle of their garden, there were two trees, the Life Tree and the good and bad knowledge tree, and God warns them, eat from any tree in the garden except the good and bad knowledge tree. You are not ready for that knowledge, yet it will lead to death and destruction. God knew that having so much knowledge without learning wisdom would only hurt and harm them. God was protecting them from that harm and asking them to trust God's dream. They all had what they needed to live and flourish. They grew and learned from God, and it was good, just as God had said, it was like a wild, happy childhood from a fairy tale. But like most fairy tales, this story has a crisis, and it starts with a crafty, talking snake. The snake approached Eve and. Adam as a frolic to the garden, wild and naked and free. Did God really say you couldn't eat from any tree in the garden? The snake asked, we eat from all the trees? Eve replied, Well, except the one at the center, God told us it would lead to death. The snake laughed in a way that made e feel very silly and small, death and doom. Oh no. God is keeping things from you. The fruit won't make you die. It will make you smart, like God said, the snake, who was very crafty, crafty enough to know that you can tell a truth that's not the whole truth. Crafty enough to know that you can become smart without being wise. Even Adam were faced with a choice, one we all make over and over again as we grow older and wiser, will I trust who God says God is and who God says I am, or will I trust other names? What did God say over and over again during the creation song? It's good, good. They're just as they should be, but you are not as you should be. The snake had suggested you're not smart enough. God is keeping things from you. You're not good. You don't have what you need for life and flourishing the fruit will make you smart like God. Eve looked at the fruit. She stood in the garden with Adam, and she reached out her hand and she chose Eve ate the fruit. Adam ate the fruit. They didn't trust God. They believed what the snake had said more than they believed what God had said. They grabbed for God's gifts, snatching at knowledge instead of trusting God to teach them, it was like pressing fast forward on their lives, like turning four and then 44 or like going to college right after kindergarten, all at once. They knew what God knows. Without walking with God, they missed out on the wonder of learning and living. Imagine the weight of their world. Suddenly, their precious Garden Home looked different. They saw the sharp teeth of their animal friends, the laughing sneer of their crafty snake, and their thoughts raced with worry. They looked different. They now felt silly being naked all the time, and hurried to cover up the amazing bodies God created and called Good. God came walking through the garden and called out, you belong with me. Why aren't you with me? I was hiding from you. I tremble because I was naked. Said, Adam, oh, my beloved children, who told you that you were naked? Did you eat from the one tree I told you to stay away from Adam pointed to Eve, who pointed to the snake. We were tricked. Things will be different now, God told them, lifting up their tiny faces. God knew that with knowledge would come choices and what happened that day would happen again. Even Adam would choose to trust untrue names. They would forget that God said you are beloved, you are delightful and you belong. That forgetting would bring pain and confusion and destruction the opposite of God's dream for them, but God created people to belong with God, and they always will. Places of belonging will always exist, places where Heaven touches Earth, places for humans to meet with God, nothing can stop my love for you, my dream for you. God was reminding Adam and Eve, someday, God promised them, there will be a baby who will be a place where heaven meets earth once and for all, that baby will grow up to silence untrue voices and untrue names that convince you not to trust me. He will show you how to live with knowledge and wisdom. He will make all things. Things knew it was time to go. God sent Eve and Adam out from the garden. They were made from the earth and filled with God's breath, which would always twist and tug inside them. They would grasp for goodness and beg for blessing. They would soar and stumble, but they would never be alone. They would learn wisdom by walking with God in the wide and wild world.

Steven: 10:39

At first, Presbyterian we emphasize a spacious Christianity where questions are welcomed. But today I want to invite you to consider a question that God asks us that's found in Genesis three, verse nine, where are you? Where are you hiding? Now God is walking in the garden in the cool of the evening, desiring to walk and be in relationship with Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve ate the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge, even though God asked them not to, and they became self conscious and ashamed of their nakedness. They hid from each other behind fig leaves. They hid from God behind the bushes. Now what if the story isn't a story to remind us how bad and sinful we are? What if instead, the story invites us to consider what voices we listen to? Do we listen to God's voice, reminding us that we belong, that we are beloved, that God delights in us. Or do we listen to that voice that is always trying to convince us otherwise? Scripture says the serpent tempting Adam and Eve was crafty and shrewd. That's the problem with the lies that we're told and the lies we tell ourselves, they can be very convincing, and we're given here this image of God walking in the garden in the cool of the evening, desiring to be in relationship, pursuing pursuing us with love. This actually tells us a lot about the nature of God. The image of Adam and Eve hiding, feeling ashamed is a really familiar human experience. I'm guessing most of us can relate the first question God asks in the Bible is, where are you? Where are you hiding? How would you answer that? Where are you? Cicely Tyson is the founder of the hospice movement. She said that the one question we find 1001 ways to avoid is simple. How are you within? In other words, where are you? Where? Where are you hiding? We learn a lot about God in this story by what God didn't ask, God didn't ask. What have you done? Notice that God didn't seek to judge and shame them. One writer suggested we might be willing to believe God forgives us, but few of us trust that God likes us or delights in us. That's shame talking, you know, feeling at some level that we are unlovable. Now shame is very different from guilt. Guilt is about behavior. I made a mistake. Shame is about the self. I am a mistake, so we hide. You know, if people really, really, really see me, they will reject me, if God, if God really sees me, God will reject me. We might be willing to believe God forgives us. But do we really trust God loves us as we are unconditionally. Now God didn't ask, What have you done? God didn't shame. So what's the question God did ask? Where are you? Where are you hiding? Now, God had asked them not to eat the fruit, and when they did, did, God didn't storm off in anger. God was in the same place at the same time, walking in the garden in the cool of the evening, longing to be in relationship, longing to love them unconditionally, calling them out of hiding. Are inviting them to trust that love God declared us good, affirmed our goodness, proclaimed we are God's image bearers. But nowhere, nowhere in Scripture does Scripture does God seem to expect perfection? God understands that we're far from perfect. God seems to know we're always going to screw up. We're always going to make poor choices. Listen to voices other than God's voice. But there God is in the cool of the evening, desiring our company, waiting to forgive now, let's be honest, telling us not to eat the fruit of that one tree right there at the center is like me telling you not to think of pink elephants. Of course, we're going to eat the fruit. We make poor choices all the time. We make poor choices, choices that that draw us away from God, that draw us away from our true self, our best self, and like Adam and Eve in the story, we then try to hide. We're fearful. We justify we look for something or someone to blame in the story, Adam pointed the finger at Eve and blamed Eve. It's her fault now, Eve pointed the finger at the snake. Now, the poor snake didn't have any fingers to point. You know, I think if there's such a thing as original sin, maybe it's our unwillingness to accept responsibility. You know, look at the word response, ability we have the ability to respond. God has given us the greatest of all freedoms, the freedom to choose. And every day, every day we listen to voices other than God's voice. And every day we choose. We make choices that separate us from God, that separate us from our best self, and rather than face the truth about ourselves to acknowledge that, yeah, we screwed up, instead, we hide, we justify, we blame. Funny thing is, when we hide and when we blame, we rob God of what God does best, forgiving us and giving us a second, third, fourth chance. You know, I really wonder if we have faith all wrong. Faith isn't about getting it all together so that we can be all cleaned up to meet God. Faith is meeting God or actually, really being met by God in that place where things have fallen apart. God is desiring to meet us, not in the places we're pretending to be or promising to be, but rather in the places we are, those fragile, broken, fearful, hiding places. The first question from God we find in the Bible is, where are you? This question doesn't come with judgment and shaming, but desire to meet us with grace in our hiding places. You know, the most remarkable part of the story for me isn't that Adam and Eve listened and trusted a voice other than God's. I mean, that pretty much describes us. What's remarkable to me is how God responds. It says in verse 21 that the Lord God made garments of skins for the man and for his wife and clothed them. God seems to understand that feeling of shame that they felt. You know the shame that we all feel when we become disconnected in. From the goodness of who we really are. And it says, The God of all creation, the God of all creation, sits down at the sewing machine, trying to do buttonholes, trying to make make the zipper work, trying to get the hems and the cuffs just right. And I don't know much about sewing, I can barely thread a needle, but the picture I have in my mind is the women at first, Presbyterian involved in our quilt and prayer shawl ministry. They painstakingly, with incredible care and detail, they knit prayer shawls and make quilts for those suffering in life, you know, those needing to be wrapped in compassion. These faithful women pray over their work, and they pray for the person who will be receiving the gift. So imagine God painstakingly making clothes for Adam and Eve, covering their shame with compassion, mercy, love, forgiveness. Does that love does that God does that. You know, we've been taught this story is all about Adam Eve, the forbidden fruit and that damn snake. Maybe this story is more about a God who knows we're going to screw up, who knows we're going to continue to listen to voices other than God's voice, but a God who refuses to abandon us, a God who's always ready to clothe us with compassion And forgiveness, a God who continues to remind us that we belong, we are beloved, and that God delights in us. You know, this is a God who who just might convince me to come out of hiding and let myself be clothed in grace. Let this question speak to your soul for a moment or two. Where are you? Where are you hiding? And let me offer this prayer, holy God. There are so many voices that clamor for our attention, you know, voices that try to convince us that, that we're not enough, we're not we're not good enough, we're not smart enough, we're not strong enough. Voices that try to convince us that, that we're the ones in control and we know what's best, voices that feed our ego and fuel our fear, voices that try to convince us we can find security and fulfillment apart from you. And then there's your voice. Reminding us that we belong, that we are beloved, and that you actually take delight in us, help us to come out of hiding, that we might be clothed in your forgiveness, compassion, mercy, and just as you meet us in our hiding places, help us to clothe others with compassion in The places that they are most broken and fragile. Amen. believe, friends, where are you? Where are you hiding? There is a God who refuses to abandon us, who meets us in our hiding places, clothes us with compassion and forgiveness, and reminds us again and again and again, you belong. You are beloved, and God delights in you go in the peace and unconditional love of Christ, and may your love meet others in their hiding place, bringing them peace. May it be so.

Whitney Higdon: 28:47

Thank you so much for joining us, and we hope you enjoyed this worship service. If you would like to make a donation helping make these podcasts possible or support the many ways, first, Presbyterian seeks to serve our community, you can make a financial gift online@bendfp.org every week, we hear from someone thanking us for the gift of these broadcasts, and what a difference they make. Your support makes that possible. Our church is committed to reach beyond our walls, bringing hope where there is despair and love where it is needed the most. Your generous support helps us to be generous in love. Go to our website, bendfp.org, and click on the link. Give online. Your support is really appreciated and makes a difference in people's lives. Thanks again. I hope to see you next week. You