Remythologizing the Myths: Genesis

Chapter Two 
Adventures Gone Sideways continued
Inspired by Genesis 3

They kept hiking westward, away from the lake, toward the mountain. They quite lost track of the time until the sun's rays became a nuisance in their eyes.

"I wonder if I could climb that mountain," the young man wondered aloud.

I bet I could find myself a lovely name up there, so close to the sky, imagined the young woman to herself.

Out loud she said, "It's a long way back to Ama-God's table in the center of the garden. Will we be able to get back before dark?"

The same worry had slipped into the man's mind. He wasn't particularly happy to hear his worry spoken aloud, though, at just that moment. He hastily brushed her remark to one side. "I really want to see that mountain up close." The woman, no less eager to keep exploring, allowed the subject to drop. "If we sleep here," they reasoned, we might be able to reach the mountain tomorrow!"

Remembering their solemn promise to return to God every evening, both young people were uneasy. But they said nothing more aloud. They experienced an unfamiliar, uncomfortable feeling in their bellies.

Escape from the Holocaust

Geoscience and Archaeology

Join Professor Freund as he recounts the dramatic escape attempt from a camp in Vilna, Lithuania (the "Jerusalem of the North") that occurred on the last night of Passover 1944, when only 11 lived to tell the story.* In this talk, Professor Freund will discuss his recent excavation in Vilna where he and his team used state-of-the-art technologies to uncover the hidden escape tunnel, dug by heroic prisoners over 76 nights, along with a mass grave at the site that had been lost for decades.

March 28, 7 pm at Congregation Beth Israel, West Hartford, CT. (Contact the synagogue directly for registration details.)

This will be Dr. Freund's final Hartford-area presentation prior to the April 19 PBS premier of NOVA's Holocaust Escape Tunnel. Check local listings for airing times and channels.

*From NOVA’s Holocaust Escape Tunnel project description.

Last Day to Register

Prof. Harold Attridge

Our Celebration of Sacred Scripture is next Saturday, March 25, 12:30-4:30 at St. Thomas Seminary in Bloomfield. "Coffee and" will be available beginning at noon, and the program will start promptly at 12:30.

If you haven't reserved your place, today is the last day to register! Dr. Harold Attridge will be speaking on Transformative Encounters in the Gospel of John.

 

Click here to register: Celebration of Sacred Scripture. Or call us at the
Archdiocese of Hartford Office of Education, Evangelization and Catechesis, 860-242-5573.

You won't want to miss this!

Remythologizing the Myths: Genesis

Chapter Two 
Adventures Gone Sideways continued
Inspired by Genesis 3

Then they plopped down onto the warm sand and rested in the sunshine for a while...

The salmon berries were no riper here than on the valley side, so as their hunger grew fierce, the man and the woman hiked into the forest to see what else might fill their bellies. The territory was unfamiliar and therefore very exciting. They saw new creatures and laughed at a strange gray animal scampering high in the canopy to fret the perching condors and dodos. ("Squirrels," thought the woman.)

The  man and the woman wandered farther and farther away from the lakeside into the afternoon. They were happy, doing what they loved most, stretching muscles and sharpening minds. They noticed some new kinds of trees with blue-green needles like porcupine quills. They drank from a stream and found crunchy grubs to eat on the rocky bank.

Now, the stream was fast moving and wound in wide arcs through a rippling gorge. As they followed the stream along, a flock of birds flying away towards the distant west drew the woman and the man's curiosity. The young people had never seen such birds, small and swift and colored the same yellowish salmon as the berries they'd inspected that morning. They took the birds for a sign and began running after the flock.

Skirting around a sudden bend in the gorge, the woman stopped, sudden, in her tracks. The man behind her also stopped, gaping in disbelief at an enormous hill that had seemed to just step sideways into their gorge as they'd rounded the bend. The hill was distant and had no trees on top, and its bald pate was covered in white. "Mountain," the boy decided with confidence (and a little bravado, truth be told). "That's the right name for that big hill."

They kept hiking westward, away from the lake, toward the mountain. They quite lost track of the time until the sun's rays became a nuisance in their eyes.

Harold Attridge on John's Gospel

Sign up online this week! There is no charge for this event, but we do need to know you're coming. The deadline to register is March 17, 2017. Click here to save your seat: Celebration of Sacred Scripture.

Remythologizing the Myths: Genesis

Chapter Two
Adventures Gone Sideways
Inspired by Genesis 3

...the young man and woman began to think about finding their own names.

One midsummer morning, the two youngsters were larking about, discussing names. They wondered, not for the first time, how they always seemed to know what was the right name for each new creation they discovered. They wondered whether they would know their own names some day, and how they would come upon them. Perhaps God would tell them at dinner tonight.

And while the two bantered good-naturedly, they waded into the valley lake to examine some salmon berries ripening over the water. Deciding the berries were still too green to eat, the young woman, on impulse, dived toward the middle of the lake yelling, "Race you!" They both laughed and raced, swimming all the way across to a sandy beach on the far side. (They were really expert swimmers.) Breathless, they hauled themselves up from the water, the young man tagging a sticky swamp maple trunk, just the flick of a fish's tail after the woman.

Then they plopped down onto the warm sand and rested in the sunshine for a while.

This is the fourth installment in a story-series focusing on Genesis. "Stay tuned," so to speak, for another episode later this week.

Remythologizing the Myths: Genesis

Chapter One continued from 3/3/17
Beauty, Truth, Goodness, Unity, Diversity
Inspired by Genesis 2
... the two children would always return to the center of the valley and God's table, once the sun began leaning into the horizon.

Days and years passed. The seasons were spectacular but mild in the valley, and first the girl and then the boy began to grow up. They became better friends every day and rested secure in their deep friendship with Ama, as they called God. At God's table they asked good questions and came to understand the names and natures of all the living creatures in their valley. They confidently hiked all the surrounding hills, being careful each day never to venture too far, so that they always kept their promise to return to Ama for the evening meal. And they began to think about finding their own names.

This is the third installment in a story-series focusing on Genesis. I intend to offer a paragraph or so each week.

Remythologizing the Myths

Chapter One continued from 2/28/17
Beauty, Truth, Goodness, Unity, Diversity
Inspired by Genesis 2

...God taught them to make stories and poems and jokes about their joy.

The boy and the girl drank in God's teachings, but they loved most to explore their valley home. God encouraged them to swim in the lake, to play hide and seek with the bats in their caves, and to rejoice in everything they found in the lovely valley. The girl and the boy were barely teenagers, but they always felt safe in the valley and at home in God's care.

Because God and his children loved each other very much, they all promised solemnly to meet every evening of every day to enjoy each others' company. The girl and the boy always came eagerly to God's table at the end of their adventures. Sometimes they would bring with them new foods they'd found, and they would always chat happily about all they had discovered in the valley and in themselves. God delighted in them, and they delighted in God.

Now, God always keeps promises. That's what it means to be God.

And the children, too, found it easy to keep their promise. They looked forward to meeting with God each evening. No matter how far they roamed during the day, they would always return to the center of the valley and God's table, once the sun began leaning into the horizon.

Remythologizing the Myths is a new series by BJ Daly Horell that attempts to explore and uncover some of the underlying meanings in biblical stories. This is not an attempt to rewrite the Bible (God forbid) and is not in any way Scripture. But in this Information Age, the meanings stories both hide and reveal may sometimes escape our notice. So, for your enjoyment, I offer small stories to shine a light on some features of the text that might otherwise be overlooked.

This is the second installment of a series focusing on Genesis. I intend to offer a paragraph or so each week.

Explore the Gospel of John this Lent

Transformative Encounters in the Gospel of John with Dr. Harry Attridge is not to be missed. Free of charge and open to everyone! Register by St. Patrick's Day (March 17) at www.orehartford.org.