Methodist Bishop

Genesis 3:16–24; 4:1–16 Today's passages talk about the consequences of sin. In summary, sin - separation from a right relationship with God - leads to conflict with other human beings. Partnership is replaced by competitiveness and attempts to dominate one another. The easy mutually caring relationship which Adam and Eve enjoyed when they were good friends with God is replaced by male domination and patriarchal control. And farmers are soon at odds with nomadic herders. Their self regarding attitudes bring Adam and Eve into conflict with  Nature too. Eve seems to find childbirth more difficult, perhaps because she can no longer count on loving support - at least from her husband. Adam seems to find farming more difficult, perhaps because he now sets out to subdue nature instead of working sympathetically with it. And Cain the nomadic herder is soon in conflict with Abel, the settled farmer, after his offering to God is rejected. We don't know why this was. Perhaps his motives ...

Isaiah 24.1-13, Romans 8.9-24 We sometimes imagine that the challenges which we face today are entirely new. And some are, of course. No previous generations have had to confront the emergence of artificial intelligence or the proliferation of nuclear weapons.  But what about environmental challenges like the ones caused by global warming and the proliferation of dangerous, untested chemicals in our kitchens, our water supply and the air we breathe? These have never been seen before on a global scale, but they're not entirely new. The first Easter Islanders laid waste their environment by cutting down all the trees. Their civilization collapsed and they were driven out, leaving behind some really impressive statues. The Old Testament passage we read today is attributed to the prophet we know as First Isaiah but it is actually a fragment of poetry of unknown origin which the editors of the Book of Isaiah have woven into their collection of his prophecies because it seems to fit the ...