Genesis 1 (NRSV)
6 And God said, “Let there be a dome in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” 7 So God made the dome and separated the waters that were under the dome from the waters that were above the dome. And it was so. 8 God called the dome Sky. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.
Here are some questions for reflection:
1. God speaks in the disorganized, the disjointed, and the chaos. Do you think this makes it harder to hear God with all the “background noise”?
2. Water is a good thing, it sustains us and our crops. Water is also a danger. Water too moves through a cycle, it changes. What might the dualities of water tell us about the ups and downs of life?
3. If God does not explicitly call something good, can we know that it is? Are there other ways that God might communicate the goodness and worth of things?
4. When we look up to the clouds, like children on our backs in the field, we see shapes that move and morph…but each of us sees something a little different. When we look to the Heavens, how might our current position (experiences and traumas) impact what we see?
5. Are there areas of your life where you feel as though you are currently experiencing a season of disjointedness and/or chaos? How might the second day of creation and this week’s message speak God’s truth and peace into such spaces?
6. Why do you think the separation of the waters above and below is important to the creation narrative?
7. How might the dome in Genesis 1:6 reflect God’s authority over creation? It what ways might it suggest that creation was intention and purposeful?
8. Pastor Jess suggests that the sky is a form of communication. What do we learn from the changing skies? How might the sky inform the rhythms of our lives?
If you’d like to dig a little deeper, consider the following:
1. Are you drawn to the sky? Or does is there another way God speaks to you through creation? The sky and the water reflect the beauty of one another. Are there other situations in which one part of creation reflects another?
2. Watching the sky can be a good way to keep up on the current and soon-to-come weather. What are other ways in which we can be watchful for what is coming just ahead?
3. Nothing last forever, be it good or bad. We can gain comfort and reassurance from knowing that nothing bad lasts forever. How do you feel about nothing good lasting forever as well? Have you found yourself embracing the ever-changing nature of God’s creation or are you more prone to resisting change and clinging to what is right now?
4. For those who may be stuck in a place/pattern that is not “good,” what about our previous discussions on light might be applied here?
5. Naming is often significant in the Bible. God called the dome, sky. Spend a few minutes word studying that word. What might it tell us about His relationship to creation? God separates the Waters (mayim, God’s provision) by the Sky (Shamayim, The heavens or Heaven) into two separate bodies above and below. Can you think of a time that you might have had God intercede between, or separate, you and something you may (thought) have wanted?