So what is the importance to us of “all”?  It means our commission is unlimited.  We are not allowed to put up fences and borders in evangelism.  God wants everyone to have an opportunity to hear the good news.  There is more than a lost teen out there – more than a lost family – more than a lost neighborhood – more than a lost city – more than a lost nation.  There is a lost world.  Go into all the world.

This truth can be applied at multiple levels.  For instance, at the congregational level, as we look out at the community which we serve locally, are there parts of that community that we are neglecting – parts of it where we have not gone?  Jesus said go into all.

At the national level, there are places aplenty where the Lord’s church needs to go.  Pick up a copy of “Churches of Christ in the United States” and look at the helpful data compiled there.  There are huge counties in our country where there is no representation by churches of Christ.  The commission in the United States is far from complete.

And of course at the international level there are countless places still to go.  Do we pray for the day when God will make it possible to go to Iraq?  Afghanistan?  Pakistan?  Jesus included them as well.

You see, the Commission is about more than numbers.  The Commission is fulfilled not simply by converting a certain number of people.  The Commission is fulfilled when the good news is spread widely to as many people as possible, regardless of the number baptized.  God wants every corner of his world, and every part of our community, to know that He is and the Jesus is His Son.  Whether they accept it or not – whether they fill the pews in our churches of not – God at least wants them to know.  His Presence needs to permeate every nook and cranny of His Creation.

Only when that is accomplished can the vision of Revelation 7:9-10 come true:

After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”

Amen!

…do drugstores make sick people walk to the back of the store to get their prescriptions while healthy people can buy cigarettes at the front.

…do people order double cheeseburgers, large fries and a Diet Coke.

…do banks leave both doors open and then chain the pens to the counters.

…do we leave cars worth many thousands of dollars in the driveway so we can store our useless junk in the garage.

…do we buy hot dogs in packages of 10 and buns in packages of eight.

…do we use the word politics to describe the process so well: Poli in Latin meaning “many” and tics meaning “bloodsucking creatures.”

…do they have drive-up ATM machines with Braille lettering.

The following little poem reminded me how to keep such things in perspective, though:

“The Hall of Fame is only good as long as time shall be,

but keep in mind, God’s Hall of Fame is for eternity!

To have your name inscribed up there is greater more by far,

than all the fame and all the praise of every man-made star!”

I am writing in hopes to generate a lot of community support for an organization I feel has done a lot and asked for nothing in return. I am a recent recipient of the Mid-Ohio Valley Work Camp 2010. I had a group of young people, some from this area, some from Ohio and some from Tennessee, come to my house and paint, help me clean it up and get it so I am not embarrassed to admit where I live. These young people restored my faith in the youth of our country. But, while I am very much appreciative of their help, as a disabled Parkersburg citizen, there is very little I can do to physically help them.

I hope I can inspire the rest of the fine community of Parkersburg and surrounding areas to step up and support this fine group just as the Wood County Commission has, as Captain D’s has, as Ohio Valley University has and several other fine businesses have. They do not know I am doing this, but I believe with community support this effort can encompass even more of the community and help more people such as myself. I know I will make phone calls or whatever I can do to help them in anyway. The difference they made not only in my life but in my neighborhood has been tremendous-night before last, everybody down the street were out cleaning their houses and yards.

Let’s all work together to help this fine group to become bigger than it is now. I know firsthand how much of an impact they can have on a neighborhood. I could even provide some dramatic before-and-after photos to show the difference. Please help me to help them.

Marilee Lemon

Parkersburg

- reprinted from Parkersburg News and Sentinel, 7-6-10 ]]> http://36thstreetchurch.com/marksblog/2010/07/a-great-letter/feed/ 0 http://36thstreetchurch.com/marksblog/2010/06/pray-for-us/ http://36thstreetchurch.com/marksblog/2010/06/pray-for-us/#comments Tue, 22 Jun 2010 22:41:19 +0000 Mark http://36thstreetchurch.com/marksblog/?p=322 This is a big summer for the churches of Christ in the Ohio Valley.  During the month of July, there will be an evangelistic campaign conducted by congregations in Vienna and Parkersburg to knock every door in our county, introduce ourselves, offer Bible studies, seek ways to serve, and invite people to an area-wide revival which will take place July 26-29 at the Parkersburg High School Fieldhouse.  The door-knocking campaign will occur the preceding week.  The campaign is entitled “Christ is the Answer,” and the speaker for the meeting will be brother Phil Sanders of In Search of the Lord’s Way.

We solicit your prayers on several fronts:

*  Please pray that God will raise up workers to send forth into the harvest – we need lots of volunteers to do lots of jobs.

*  Pray that God will prepare the hearts of people in our communities to respond to the gospel message – that beyond open doors we will also find open hearts.

*  Pray that God through this effort will revive a sense of mission and commission among his churches in this great Valley.

*   Please pray for Phil Sanders as he proclaims the Gospel each night during our meeting.

*Pray blessings on the North End congregation in Parkersburg, for their consistent leadership and organization of this effort.

*  Pray that our congregations, when blessed with harvest fruit, will treat it well and nourish it so that it continues to grow, as it should.

*Pray for increased unity and love among congregations in this area through this effort, so evident that people will be drawn to the Lord when they see our love for one another.

*Most of all, pray that God will be glorified, and Jesus be lifted up in such a way that all peoples will be drawn to Him!

- Mark Mason

“I don’t hold out much hope for a satisfactory answer on the ground. Nothing that has happened in the past seven years suggests that anyone with any authority in Baghdad cares about what is happening to Iraq’s Christians.

“It’s not just Baghdad. Both the Bush and Obama administrations have dropped the ball as far as Iraqi Christians are concerned. Their goal has been to find a power-sharing arrangement amenable to the Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds so the United States can extricate itself from Iraq while saving face. That leaves Iraqi Christians as the odd man out — especially since their ancestral homeland is in one of Iraq’s prime oil producing areas.

“Whatever you think of the Iraq war, it’s painful to think the most enduring legacy of our invasion may be driving the final nail in the coffin of an ancient Christian community. Unfortunately, we are rendering people expendable whose ancestors worshiped Jesus Christ back when most of ours worshiped trees and practiced occasional human sacrifice.

“I invite you to pray for our brothers and sisters in Iraq, and I invite you to let the White House and your elected representatives know that ignoring the plight of Iraqi Christians is neither moral, acceptable nor good foreign policy.”

John Milton Moore

This is the church of my dreams:
The church of the warm heart,
Of the open mind,
Of the adventurous spirit;
The church that cares,
That heals hurt lives,
That comforts old people,
That challenges youth;
That knows no divisions of culture or class,
No frontiers, geographical or social;
The church that inquires as well as avers,
That looks forward as well as backward;
The church of the Master,
The church of the people,
High as the ideals of Jesus,
Low as the humblest human;
A working church,
A worshipping church,
A winsome church,
A church that interprets the truth in terms of truth,
That inspires courage for this life and hope for the life to come;
A church of courage
A church of all good men
A church of the living God.

The workshop is hosted in conjunction with the nationally-known Christian Education Association in Fort Worth, Texas. The day-long event will consist of intense and practical workshop sessions that have been developed especially for today’s Bible class teachers. From adults and ladies classes, to teens and infants, there will be something on the schedule for everyone.

“The attitude regarding workshops in the past three years has been very positive and each year we try to improve our program for your benefit,” OVU Church Relations Director Tom Butterfield said. “One change for this year will be the opportunity for those in attendance to switch classes at the Noon break and attend a different class in the afternoon under a different instructor covering a different age group. It will be like getting two workshops instead of one!”

Tom indicated that an average of 150-200 people participate in the workshop each year. This year’s workshop will focus on the following topics: newborn to 2 year olds, pre-school, teens/Jr. High and High School and adults.

Presenters for the event include:
Jonathan Holland, Children’s Minister, Georgetown Church of Christ, Georgetown, TX
Lou Ann Jordan, Children’s Minister, Pleasant Ridge Church of Christ, Arlington, TX
Mike Monroe, Pulpit Minister Pleasant Ridge Church of Christ, Arlington, TX
Robert Oglesby, Jr., Director of the Center for Youth and Family Ministry, Abilene, TX
Robert Oglesby, Sr., Pulpit Minister, Waterview Church of Christ, Dallas, TX
Lavonne Randolph, Cradle Roll Coordinator, College Hill Church of Christ, Richland Hills, TX

Workshop attendees may pre-register online at www.ovu.edu/teacherworkshop. For more information or to pre-register call 304.865.6025 or email kim.haynes@ovu.edu. Cost is $25 per person. Lunch is included.

Genesis 1:1-3:24 as Cosmogony in its Ancient Near Eastern Milieu

Creation stories, or cosmogonies, are foundational to every culture.  Whether it is a purely scientific and essentially atheistic approach as that offered by modern evolutionary theory, or whether it is a highly theological and theistic approach as that taken in the Hebrew Bible, the beliefs resulting from these worldviews are fundamental to life and society.  One might argue that neither the Big Bang evolutionary model, nor the Young Earth creationist approach offer a satisfactory explanation of the origin of the cosmos in light of the major questions of life, such as:  why do we suffer?  Where does evil come from?  How can we structure society in a meaningful way?  What is truth?  Such deep-seated human queries demand more than dry scientific debate.  They require deep thought and reflection.  They require meaningful cosmogony.

It has been said in reference to the purpose of Genesis 1-3 that the material there was not written to tell about what happened at a certain time in a certain place, but rather to tell about what happens in our time and in our place.  In other words, the Biblical creation texts are in their essence a cosmogony.  One may disagree with such an assertion, but it must be said that a case can be made that this is true.  The purpose of this essay is not to argue whether Genesis 1-3 is definitively a cosmogony, but rather to show how this text can be understood in such a way.

When one considers the literary setting of Genesis 1-3, it is apparent that this text is of a different type than the rest of Genesis, and indeed the rest of the Bible.  Genesis 1-11 has been described as a “primeval protohistory” in that it makes reference to foundational events.  In addition, its scope is truly worldwide, rather than focused on an individual person or nation.  Finally, Genesis 1-11 can be understood to speak etiologically, that is, to explain the cause(s) behind what one finds in the world.

In this essay, we will survey Genesis 1-3 in brief outline form, noting features as we go that hint at cosmogony, as well as pointing out parallels and/or differences between the Biblical text and other major examples of ancient Near Eastern cosmogonies.

Genesis 1:1 can be seen as a summary statement for 1:3-2:4, and in this verse we have already a strong cosmogonic theme:  God is the source for everything that exists.  “Heaven and earth” here is understood to encompass all of reality.  The very purpose of cosmogony is to explain the origin of the cosmos, and verse 1:1 does this in brief summary form.  God is also described as separate from the creative product (heaven and earth), and he is not given an origin.  The Hebrew word bara is uniquely attributed to God, and describes creation from nothing.

As is often the case, the Biblical expression of a concept, like creation here in Genesis 1, is much more concise and straightforward than the parallels one finds in the ancient Near East.  In traditions from Sumeria, Babylonia, and Egypt, to name just a few, much more elaborate cosmogonies are found.  There is nothing quite like Genesis 1:1 to be found in these other great literatures.  Consider the Nippur tradition from Sumeria in which creation is accomplished through the marriage of Heaven and Earth.  This divine marriage yields life and society.  Before this marriage, heaven and earth existed in embryonic form, only to take final shape after the marriage was accomplished (much of the thought of this essay is indebted to the work of Richard J. Clifford, Creation Accounts in the Ancient Near East, as well as the helpful summaries and class lectures of Dr. John Fortner).

In the Sumerian Eridu tradition the creator is an individual, Enki.  Sometimes, though, he is helped by the mother goddess.  Enki creates by watering the earth from below, thus presupposing an earth that Genesis 1:1 in contradistinction says is created at the start by God.

In Egyptian cosmogony, something different is found once again.  There is a precreation period consisting of undifferentiated nothingness, sometimes referred to as a divine monad.  Creation occurs when the god, whoever it may be from case to case, differentiates himself from this situation.  As a result, the commonly found phrase in Egyptian cosmogony “before there were two things” expresses in summary form this view.  Though this is a major difference from Genesis 1:1, one should note that in Egyptian expressions of creation one god is usually described as creator rather than a cooperating plurality of gods.  This is in harmony with the sentiment of Genesis 1:1.

In the Akkadian or Babylonian tradition of cosmogony, we find no evidence of a precreation period, as is so common elsewhere.  In contrast, creation is pictured as occurring in the context of already-existing gods, who on the one hand need relief from their labors and thus create workers (Atrahasis), and on the other hand face a troubling and destructive force (Tiamat) and thus welcome a champion (Marduk) who will restore order (thus in Enuma Elish).  Of course, the major difference here with the Genesis approach is the innate polytheism involved.

In texts closer geographically to Canaan, such as those from Ugarit in Syria, we have partial cosmogonies that present El as the creator god who works with his consort Asherah.  These stories are admittedly less developed as cosmogonies than the others considered, but should still be mentioned, especially in light of the fact of the common epithet for the creator god in Ugarit (El) and Israel (El;  Elohim).

Moving now from Genesis 1:1, verse 2 mentions a couple of other important themes that are in evidence in other ancient Near Eastern cosmogonies.  The earth is described as without form, which rings true with the Egyptian concept of undifferentiated chaos.  This is further described with the emphasis on the darkness of the deep waters.  Throughout the ancient Near East, and reflected in the Hebrew Bible as well, the waters and the sea are understood to be symbols of chaotic forces that must be tamed by divine action.  This idea is seen with particular vividness in the Babylonian story of Enuma Elish, where Marduk is called upon to subdue and slay Tiamat, the personification of the chaotic primordial waters.  Once this is accomplished, Marduk creates the universe and is exalted to the head of the pantheon.  Likewise, in Genesis 1:2 and following, God is pictured as the one who brings order out of the chaos of the primeval world, and thus is worthy of exaltation as well.

As chapter 1 of Genesis continues to unfold, one finds creation by the one God occurring through the spoken word of power.  God speaks the world into existence as each day turns.  He defines form and function in a foundational and long-lasting way.  This calls to memory the minor Akkadian cosmogonies which emphasized the importance of the seminal moment of creation, when things were set in order and given their meaning and character in a powerful way.  The “first time” (Akkadian) or “first day” (Genesis 1) is the most important moment, when form and function are assigned and fixed by the deity.

In Egypt there is evidence of a similar idea in the creative work of the god Ptah.  Ptah is said to create by the utterance of words.  These words express divine thought and intent, and they serve to impress the primordial monad and differentiate it, thus initiating the creative process.  One can certainly posit an echo of this in the Genesis text, where the one God merely speaks a word – “Light!” in Genesis 1:3 – and light appears.

As a final example from Genesis 1, consider the creation of mankind and the assignment of dominion over the creation by God to mankind (Genesis 1:26-30).  Mankind, created in the image of God, is assigned the task of caring for the creation as a whole.  God’s nature from the beginning of Genesis 1 has been that of one who corrals chaos, who brings order, and who creates beauty.  In order to faithfully reflect that image, mankind will be called on to battle the forces of chaos (Genesis 3:1), to bring order (2:19-20), and to create beauty (2:21-25).

In the literature of the ancient Near East, mankind is routinely pictured as in the service of the gods.  Often they are assigned tasks that have grown too burdensome or too wearisome or too menial for the gods (as in Atrahasis, for example).  One can see here both a reflection and a distinction from the Genesis approach:  a reflection in that humanity is assigned a task;  a distinction in that the task in Genesis is a nobler one.

Finally, a comment should be made concerning the re-introduction of chaos in the form of the serpent (nahash) in Genesis 3:1.  Even though the nature of the creator God is to battle chaos and bring order to his creation, he does not extinguish the chaotic principal completely.  It reappears and does damage in the form of the crafty tempter of chapter 3.  Here another element is introduced that has some ancient Near Eastern background, and that is the setting of creation as an educative realm, in which the creation (humanity) is trained to be responsible members of a functioning moral society.  As elsewhere in the ancient Near East, God in the Hebrew Bible is described as one who goes to battle against the forces of chaos.  He is a warrior in the service of a creative order.  Mankind, being made in his image, must be trained to do the same service.  This training can only occur in an environment where chaos is a threat, and a clear choice must be made.  A garden like Eden, without the serpent, would be nothing more than an undifferentiated moral monad.  God, who created the world from nothing, must now “create” moral warriors who will serve the creation faithfully, justly, and wisely.  This is the Ancient Semitic Combat Motif applied to Biblical creation theology.  This is true cosmogony.

This essay has by no means been exhaustive of the possibilities present in Genesis 1-3 for an understanding of cosmogony as set against its ancient Near Eastern background.  But hopefully it has offered some reasons to understand the Biblical creation story in a deeper, more meaningful way than is usually offered in modern times.