April 2022 Newsletter
Hello all!
Paperwork. I am helping my son fill out paperwork. He is filling out applications for teaching positions. He is filling out a W-4 for a position as a swim instructor at the Foss Swimming Schools for the summer. He is not having any fun with this activity. He does not like paperwork. He hopes he never has to do paperwork when he is a teacher. I didn’t have the heart to tell him he might have to. I also didn’t tell him that he is doing his own taxes this year on the computer when he comes home for Holy Week.
There are tasks in life we do not enjoy. Yet they are required of us unless we can find someone else to do them. I think that is why we get married. I no longer have to cook food for myself and my husband no longer has to do any paper work or bills related to the household.
In Genesis, we are told the earth creature (Ha-Adam) needed to have a partner, some one that shared the same flesh and bone. The animals were great and the earth creature gave them each names, but still felt alone. Then came the division, the creation of two humans (later named Adam (from the earth) and Eve (mother of all living). They created a partnership, in Ancient Near Eastern times Adam tilled the earth and Eve created life. This is the second creation story (Genesis 2-3) and it explains Ancient Near Eastern gender roles. The first creation story (Genesis 1) tells the story of the creation of humanity by God, male and female, both created in the image of God.
Now, we know today that partnerships are created out of the love two people have for each other, not dependent on gender roles or sexuality. Some loving partnerships don’t include child-rearing, many don’t include tilling the earth, but they are still partnerships of love that give us support we can enjoy.
We also know not every person gets married or stays married. People create circles of support and care in many different ways. One way is being part of a church. People offer each other rides, take each other to appointments, to the grocery store, even help each other with their paperwork!
In Genesis Cain is reminded (too late) that he is indeed his brother’s keeper. We are created in the image and likeness of God and to be like God is to be a “keeper” of each other—a care-giver for each other. So let us give thanks for those people who care for us, in our family and in our circles of friends and in our church family. It is indeed GOOD, to be a church together!