Toward the end of his sermon, Tim said (approximately) the following. All the questions today will refer back to this excerpt.

“All it takes is one human being, who is wise and faithful, has integrity who lives in service to others, endures hardship, and forgoes vengeance who forgives and reconciles and seeks shalom…and peace can happen in the most unlikely places.

“In some ways, this is a glimpse of what it means to be the church of people who are living in the midst of chaos and disorder, in the midst of injustice and violence that causes bareness and desolation for far too many. But the church comes along to carve out these little outpost of light and life and goodness and shalom, and to extend it to their world. And Eden shows up, and heaven touches earth in moments and glimpses.

“The promise of Genesis is that all it takes to lead the world toward shalom is a group of people filled with a spirit of God, willing to lay down their lives for each other and the life of the world, to live in service to others, endure hardship and forgo vengeance, forgive and reconcile, and seek shalom & peace for everyone. This is how the kingdom comes. This is our story. This is the task of the church.”

1. What do you think of the first part of this excerpt (the first paragraph)? Is it true? Why or why not? In what ways? What would you point to as evidence to support your perspective?

2. What do you think about the section that Tim referred to as the promise of Genesis? What does this promise mean for us? As humans? As Christians? For you personally? For your people or family or closest friends? For Redemption Church? For Kansas City & Johnson County? What does it look like to live in faithfulness to this promise?

3. Tim also referred to the fact the Adam & Eve’s failure to trust causes a rupture in all of their relationships, and that the same is true for us today: ruptures in our relationships within our ourselves, with each other, with the Earth, and with God.

Tim also made a note of God’s response: to draw near and to teach.

How do you think of the many evidences of this rupture around and within you? Do you see them through this lens? What does this lens add to your understanding of them?

How does God’s response as noted here factor into the way you live life contending with these many ruptures and their consequences? How can you or do you connect your experience of this brokenness to the promise of Genesis that Tim talked about? If they’re part of the same larger story in the book, should they be so for us? How tangible is the comprehensive picture when you look at it in your life? or do you tend to see only one half of it?