334 SE Tecumseh Road  P.O. Box 5  Tecumseh, Kansas 66542  (785) 379-5005  Fax - (785) 379-5061

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Being God Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7   Change my heart, O God, make it ever true. Change my heart O God, may I be like you. (The Faith We Sing, nr. 2152)  We make that request regularly, to be like God, or to be like Jesus. We do so innocently enough, I believe. And yet, now that I have re-read the Genesis passage for this day, I do have to wonder just what we may be asking. God tells Adam and Eve that every tree in the garden is available to them, with only one exception: the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The crafty serpent scoffs at the idea that eating from that tree will indeed lead to death. You will not die; for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. (3:4, NRSV) Naturally, the humans chose to eat of the one tree expressly forbidden by God and as the serpent predicted, their eyes were in fact opened – but not to being like God, but to being naked, covering their shame with leaves fashioned into loincloths.  As Christians, we are those who follow the Christ. In doing so, we are faced with the always awesome and often overwhelming task of sorting out what Jesus wants us to do, and where he wants us to go. That’s a formidable task, let’s be honest. When we render opinions and/or judgments in the name of Jesus Christ or in the name of God, we are implying that we know the scriptures – all of them, the Old and the New, not just a few selected lines we have memorized. No, all of them! How many of us can truly make that claim? And yet, the word of God and the word from God are so freely bandied about. All too commonly “The Word” becomes a vehicle for judgment as opposed to grace, and we may get the impression that those of us doing the judging believe that we are like God, knowing all about good and evil. Like Adam and Eve, we too are those who eat from the one tree reserved only for God, and like them we are incapable of consuming and digesting that which only God can ascertain. And when our eyes are opened we find ourselves naked, and ashamed, and we have to quickly sew fig leaves together to make loincloths.  - Pastor Piet - February 10, 2008: 1st Sunday in Lent