Daily Bible Verses

Prayer: Heavenly Father,
* give grace to those we know who are married to be at one with each other.
* give grace to those we know who seek to be married to discern who it is right for them to marry
* give grace and comfort to those we know whose marriages ended in separation, divorce or death
* today and everyday

¹⁸ The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”

¹⁹ Now the Lord God had…

But for Adam no suitable helper was found. 21 So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh. 22 Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. 23 The man said, 
       …

When Genesis says that God created the heavens (what is unseen) and the earth (what is seen) it means that God created absolutely everything
When Genesis says that there was a tree of the knowledge of good and evil, it is talking about the knowledge of absolutely everything.

Why is it that the knowledge of absolutely everything leads to death?

• is it that knowledge is power, and that “power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely”?
• is it that the beauty of life is that we don’t know everything? If we knew what others are thinking, we…

Prayer: Heavenly Father, when I make foolish decisions give me grace to hear your voice calling me;
and when others act foolishly and are afraid give me grace to call out to them in your name.

⁷ Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

⁸ Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day…

Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. (Genesis 3:8)

The story of Eden reminds us of the sense of wonder at the beginning of time when all was innocence, nothing yet wounded. The garden was tended by the woman and the man. They lived in harmony with each other and with creation. And every day they walked with God in the cool of evening…

Adam and Eve sewed fig leaves together to make themselves loincloths (Genesis 3:7)

Richard Rohr reflects on God’s tenderness towards us, even when we make decisions that harm ourselves or others:
Alienated people stop trusting that reality is good, that we are good too, and that we belong — to God and to one another. By eating of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, Adam’s and Eve’s eyes were opened to a split universe of suspicion and doubt.  
Adam and Eve offer the perfect metaphor for this new split universe, this intense awareness of themselves…

He answered, ‘I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.’ (Genesis 3v10)

Dr. Brian Bantum reflects on the story of Adam and Eve as one that initiates us into the freedom of individuality and difference, for good and for ill: 
When I come back to the story of humanity’s fall I still see some of the pride and hubris I was taught to see when I was a young Christian. Adam and Eve desire to…

Heavenly father, give me grace today to be responsible for my own actions (rather than playing the blame game)

¹¹ And the Lord God said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”
¹² The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”

¹³ Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you…

“But who told you that you were naked?” (Genesis 3:11)

Richard Rohr reflects on God’s tenderness towards us, even when we make decisions that harm ourselves or others:
Alienated people stop trusting that reality is good, that we are good too, and that we belong — to God and to one another. By eating of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, Adam’s and Eve’s eyes were opened to a split universe of suspicion and doubt.  
Adam and Eve offer the perfect metaphor for this new split universe, this intense awareness of themselves as separate and cut off. Today…

Heavenly Father Thank you for your many kindnesses to us
* for giving us clothes to help us feel less vulnerable
* for making temporary our lives which have so much difficulty and pain and suffering arising from our misuse of free will,

²⁰ Adam named his wife Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living.
²¹ The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.

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