Feb 16: In the Beginning (Gen 1-2) Nicholas Tuohy
“Suppose you are sitting quietly, overwhelmed by the beauty and power of the magnificent paintings. Then someone approaches you and says, “How would you like to meet the artist?” Genesis 1 is an introduction to the Artist. This God, who himself has no beginning and no end, merely speaks a word of command in order to bring into being everything else that exists.
Mar 2: Fall and Judgement (Gen 3-11) Paul Pallot
A major feature of any story is its central conflict, the thing that goes wrong and needs to be fixed. Eugene Peterson describes it thus: “A catastrophe has occurred. We are no longer in continuity with our good beginning. We have been separated from it by a disaster. We are also, of course, separated from our good end. We are, in other words, in the middle of a mess.” And the entrance of sin into God’s perfect world is that cosmic conflict that Genesis describes.
Mar 9: Abraham, God’s Friend (Gen 12-22) Nicholas Tuohy
“Go!” To begin the great restoration and redemptive plan, God calls one man, Abraham, asking him to give up his country, his rights in order to become a friend of God and the father of a new people through whom God will call and bless the nations.
Mar 16: Families in God’s Plan (Gen 25-36) Nicholas Tuohy
Abraham and his wife Sarah had children, and grandchildren who would become this new nation. In what is comforting for us, they look very much like any slightly, and sometimes seriously dysfunctional family. God still accomplishes his mission to redeem the whole creation even through messy lives and families.
Mar 23: Joseph – Favourite Favoured One (Gen 37-50) Amanda Tuohy
How do the individual circumstances of our lives intersect with the eternal and overarching redemptive purposes of God? Joseph, the great grandson of Abraham suffers major disappointments, rejection and struggles in his life, and yet, God uses his life in a powerful way to save many.
April 6: Moses: God’s Chosen Leader (Ex 1-11) Ken Manley
The nation that God promised Abraham would become and which would bless all the nations on the earth is now in servitude and bondage to a super power called Egypt. Miserable, oppressed and without hope, God calls a young prince named Moses to lead His people out of slavery.
April 13: The Passover and Escape from Slavery (Ex 12) Nicholas Tuohy
Heading into Easter week the ancient story of the first Passover that open the way to freedom from slavery for God’s people in Egypt, coalesces with the Passover Jesus shared with his disciples the night before he was executed, a death which leads to humanity’s ultimate emancipation from sin and death.
April 20: Crossing the Red Sea to Freedom (Ex 13-15) Wendy Henry
The people of God are rescued from their oppressors, released from slavery, have victory over their enemies and begin the journey to a land flowing with ‘milk and honey’. Being Easter Sunday we also celebrate Jesus’ victory over the powers of death and evil in rising from death.
April 27: The Ten Commandments (Ex 20) Paul Pallot
The culmination of centuries of slavery, generations of people since Abraham culminate in the Decalogue: the divine revelation of God’s Law for humanity. How do Christians engage with the laws of the Old Covenant and the New Covenant of grace.