partners for life

Good morning sisters and brothers,
Today God gives the man a home and work to do. God also notices that people are better off in community, so God seeks a partner for the man. There is a real joy in that kind of deep partnership. Maggie and I just celebrated our anniversary and I'm grateful to God for the relationship we have. At the same time sometimes in the church we haven't done such a good job welcoming those who are single. Paul makes it clear that God calls some people to a single life and that too is a gift. Relationships are important in our life, but they can be damaging as well. God gives healing grace for all of us, so the church can be a place of welcome, healing and wholeness for people in every life situation.

God bless,
Sam

Genesis 2:15-24

15The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to till it and keep it.

16And the Lord God commanded the man, “You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; 17but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die.”



18Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper as his partner.” 19So out of the ground the Lord God formed every animal of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. 20The man gave names to all cattle, and to the birds of the air, and to every animal of the field; but for the man there was not found a helper as his partner.



21So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then he took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. 22And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. 23Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; this one shall be called Woman, for out of Man this one was taken.” 24Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh. 25And the man and his wife were both naked, and were not ashamed.