Breaking Creation

 God the Father has reconciled His created but fallen world through the death of His Son, and renews it into a Kingdom of God by His Spirit.

Herman Bavinck

Creation.  Fall.  Redemption.  Restoration.

We each have our own story.  Our story is what makes us, ‘us’.  But ‘us’ is not the end of the story.  We are all caught up in a story that is much bigger than just us.  There is a God who made us.  There is a good creation that was ruined.  There is redemption.  There will be a renewing of all things.  Restoration.

As a church we are in a true season of transition.  Our old building no longer exists.  The materials for our new building still sit in lumber and brick yards.  Many of you are new to Arlington and new to the church.  Many folks are still trying to figure out how to make a 5pm service feasible.  We are waiting.

But it won’t be long.

So this fall, we are creating extra opportunities to help people find their place at Restoration–  to find where they can serve and learn and make friends.  Ultimately we want people to find their place in God’s story of creation, fall, redemption, and restoration.  We want people to see their story in God’s story and in our context, that could mean finding their place in Restoration’s story.

I hope you have signed up for a small group.  They all start this Sunday.  And I hope you are coming to our fall retreat in October.  And I hope you are praying with us on Sundays at 4pm before the service as we listen to God together for the plans He has in store for us.

And I hope you immerse yourself in our sermon series this fall.  We will talk about what God made and how it was ruined:  creation and fall.  These chapters of our story help us understand why ‘things are the way they are’ today.  As we wait and sit in transition, I want us to know this story that makes all of our other stories make sense.  You won’t want to miss a single week.

Here’s some headlines from what you can expect as we walk through Genesis 1-4 between now and the end of November.

•  Before the Beginning–  Everything starts somewhere.
• The Poetry of Creation
• ‘…after our likeness’–  what it means to be created in the image of God
• ‘Take this job and…’  Vocation and the purpose of our work in the garden of God
• Naked and NOT ashamed–  marriage in the garden of God
• I wish I was God–  temptation, doubt, questions, discontentment
• Naked and Ashamed–  losing our innocence, knowing too much
• Everything is broken–  true.
• What blood would say from the ground–  brokenness in families and the exquisite capacity we have to hurt each other
• Far as the curse is found–  multiplying our bad choices to the ends of the earth.  And hoping that something might make it right.

We will talk about the incredible dignity of being created until the fall retreat.  In November we’ll talk about how that good, good creation got ruined.

We all have a story.  Come hear the one that makes you, you.

-David