May 18: "Creation Continues"

Hebrew Bible:	Genesis 1:1-2:4a
Psalm:	Psalm 8
Epistle:	2 Corinthians 13:11-13
New Testament:	Matthew 28:16-20

"Creation Continues" is the Sunday Bulletin Service theme. The scriptures are the first story of creation, the poetic version with the six days of creation beautifully balanced in two series of three; a psalm expressing a sense of awe when we consider the cosmos; a note of farewell from Paul; and the Great Commission.
Like the Psalm, the first chapter of Genesis is an expression of awe and a hymn of praise to God the Creator. The six stanzas of creation are about
1) light and darkness, 4) sun and moon,
2) sky and sea, 5) birds and fish,
3) earth and plants, 6) animals and people.
And people are made in the image of God, male and female-- take note-- at the same time.

"Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness...."
--Genesis 1:26

Over the ages there has been much conjecture over just who God is talking to in verse 26. Is God using the "royal we," and talking to Godself? Is God talking to the heavenly court? Is God talking to God's wife, Sophia, the Holy Spirit, and/or Jesus?
The Sunday after Pentecost is traditionally Trinity Sunday, and we are meant to contemplate the God in three persona. If women are made in the image of God, shouldn't one of those persona be female? The word for "spirit" in the Hebrew language of the Old Testament is a feminine noun, and Wisdom is also personified in the feminine.
How have the creation stories shaped your self-understanding as a man or woman? What difference does it make to imagine God as masculine or feminine?