On this third Sunday after Pentecost, June 9th, 2024, Dr. Steve Cothran delves into the story of Adam and Eve from the book of Genesis, exploring themes of sin, blame, and the human condition. He questions the traditional interpretations of this story and considers the deeper implications of trust, love, and redemption.
He also shares a touching story of compassion and understanding from North Carolina District Court Judge Lou Olivera, who went above and beyond to support a fellow veteran struggling with PTSD.
Additionally, we welcome Reverend Caroline Moore, a recent graduate from McAfee School of Theology, who will be joining us as our youth summer intern.
We also remember those who are away, including Ronnie, Julia, and our youth and chaperones in Washington DC, as well as Matt and his family who are enjoying a well-deserved rest. Additionally, we pray for our DC and Romania mission trips.
Last, but certainly not least, Dr. Steve Cothran expresses his gratitude for the love and support of our church family. In a heartfelt announcement, he shares that after 35 years of youth ministry, he and his wife Nancy will be retiring on July 31, 2024.
Join us as we explore the profound lessons of love, redemption, and community in this moving episode.
Chapters
00:00 Welcome and Introductions
00:49 Sermon: Really?
03:39 Biblical Story and Analysis
11:03 Understanding Sin and Forgiveness
16:01 Story of Compassion and Redemption
18:36 Our Mission Trips
19:46 Expressions of Gratitude and Retirement Announcement
23:31 Benediction and Closing
Genesis 3:8-21
Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, "Where are you?" He answered, "I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid." And he said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?" The man said, "The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it." Then the Lord God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?" The woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate." So the Lord God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, "Cursed are you above all livestock and all wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel." To the woman he said, "I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labor you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you." To Adam he said, "Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ "Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return." Adam named his wife Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living. The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.
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I'd like to welcome Reverend Caroline Moore to worship today. Caroline graduated from McAfee School of Theology and will be working with Steve this summer as our youth summer intern. Welcome to Central Caroline. We're glad you're here. You may also notice that we are missing a few faces this morning as we worship. Remember Ronnie and Julia and our youth and chaperones who are in Washington DC and worshiping there as we speak, As they sing in their worship service and as they travel home later today, we wish them well. Also, remember Matt and his family as they are enjoying family time and well deserved rest this week.
[00:00:49] Steve Cothran:
30 years ago today, Nancy and I both joined the staff of the Immanuel Baptist Church in Paducah, Kentucky. And 1st Sundays in a new place are always a lot. But this one was especially because we walked in on their 100th birthday. And although we really love all of y'all, it would be nice to be there this morning because they've been planning a huge celebration for their 130th this year, this weekend. And old friends are there and chance to see the Immanuel Preschool ministry that Nancy started and it's turned out 30 years of students and is still thriving today. But somebody had to be here to lull y'all to sleep.
So I told them that I would at least wish them a happy but happy birthday. Speaking of Paducah, Raleigh was 6 months old when we moved there. And 18 months later, our daughter, Robin, joined the family. And fast forward a couple of years, and Raleigh was probably about Andrew's age, and Robin was a very precocious 3 to 4 year old. And my aunt, babysat while Nancy and I went away for the weekend. But we called to check-in, and she picked up the phone and laughed in our ears because she said that Riley and Robin had been playing in the basement, and, Robin came upstairs with a broken umbrella and presented it to my aunt. And it was just cheap Mickey Mouse umbrella.
So my aunt Joanne tried to say, oh, it's alright, sweetie. I I know it was an accident. To which Robin replied, yes, but it wouldn't have happened if you had been watching us like you were supposed to. And that that must run-in our family's DNA too, because my nephew, Matthew, was about the same age as Robin when she broke that umbrella. And we were all at a Furman football game, Becca, and Jessica. We're all at Furman football game finishing up our tailgate, and Matthew and his cousins were sitting in the grass near the back of the car. And my brother, prompted them, okay. It's time to time to go clean up everything and and he looked down there by Matthew, and there was an entire piece of chicken underneath the back tire of the car.
And suspecting the culprit, my brother said, Matthew, did you throw your chicken underneath the car? And he said, yes, very honestly. And then Clark said, why did you do that? And Matthew responds, because she wasn't looking. So it's not really surprising that God's children respond almost identically in our lectionary text today from the message version we hear, when they heard the sound of God strolling in the garden in the evening breeze, man and his wife hid in the trees of the garden. They hid from God. God called to the man, where are you?
He said, I heard you in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked and I hid. God said, who told you you were naked? Did you eat from that tree I told you not to eat from? The man said, the woman you gave me as a companion, she gave me the fruit and told and, yes, I ate it. God said to the woman, what is this that you've done? The serpent seduced me, she said, and I ate it. So God told the serpent, because you've done this, you are cursed. Cursed beyond all cattle and wild animals, cursed to slink on your belly and eat dirt all your life.
He told the woman, I'll multiply your pains in childbirth. You'll give birth to your babies in pain. You'll want to please your husband, but he will lord it over you. And he told the man, because you ate what I commanded you not to eat from, the very ground is cursed because of you. You'll get your food the hard way, sweating in the fields from dawn to till dusk until you return to that ground yourself dead and buried. And here's a line from Lent. You started out as dirt. You'll end up as dirt. The man known as Adam named his wife Eve because she was the mother of all living things.
God made leather clothing for Adam and his wife, and he covered them. We think we've heard this story and that we know it well, but maybe we should raise a few questions to test how well we've really heard it before. How about this one? Have you ever noticed that it's not until this last verse that the man and the woman finally get named Adam and Eve? What does it sound like when God walks? The text says they hid because they heard God strolling in the garden. Close your eyes for a moment. Tell me, what does that really sound like? Are the foot falls the deafening steps of a giant?
The silent music of a spider tip toeing some of you just returned from the beach where it might be the soothing sound of crashing waves. K. Enough of that eye closing stuff. And though the text says God was strolling in the garden, don't we tend to think that God was patrolling in the garden, looking for the world's first siners? But that's not what it says. So if God wasn't looking to arrest someone, is it equally probable that God was just strolling to spend time in relationship with and enjoying creation. Then God calls out, where where are you?
Really? Does God not know where they are? Of course, you say. God knows everything. Really? That's not what this text says. I know we don't want to hear that. Of course, God knows everything. But they were hiding from God. Really? Hiding from God? Don't we read, where are you and laugh because we know that God's just messing with them? And they hid from God and we think, really? How stupid are y'all? God can see you. God knows where you are. Unless that question is genuine. I heard you and I hid because I was naked. Really?
You've been naked this whole time. Who told you you were naked? Why is it just now a problem? I can hear God chuckle like a hospital nurse with a gown in her hand saying, honey, you ain't got nothing I haven't seen already a 100 times. This woman you gave me oh, sorry. I didn't mean to point at my wife. This woman you gave me gave me the fruit and I ate it. Did you really just blame God for this whole thing? Well, it is true that this whole predicament could have been avoided if that tree hadn't been put in the garden in the 1st place. The snake tricked me, and I ate it. And the serpent had no one else to blame and probably thought, really?
And they all looked at the tree, and looked at God, and said, really? This is all our fault? You're the one who put the tree here? It's like the finger pointing that happens on youth retreats. When things have gotten a little rowdy and people are up after the lights are supposed to be out, something gets broken. Okay. Okay. What are y'all still doing up in here? What's going on? I don't know. The ball knocked the lamp over. The ball? But Henry was throwing the ball. I I thought I told you to leave the ball in the bus. And the buck never seems to stop anywhere as the circle of blame just goes around and around like Katie said so beautifully in the children's sermon, until they've got no one else to blame.
And I know that it's possible they're thinking, well, the the lamp wouldn't have been broken if you hadn't brought us here, Steve. We took Andrew to Aesop's fables yesterday, and I was reminded of all of those ancient stories that my mother always ended with saying. And do you know what the moral of the story is? I don't know about you, but the moral of this story has always seemed pretty clear. Hasn't it? Do what God says. Don't break the rules. And if you do, you're gonna get punished. But the more I've looked at this text this week, I'm not so sure that that's the moral of this story.
Jan Gregory was teaching in a small school on the plains of Illinois her 1st years. And she said, I'd done my student teaching with juniors in high school teaching American history, but my first job was teaching all the 3rd 4th graders in one room. One of the 4th graders was Billy Heck. On her way home from school one day, she looked out the window of the car and saw Billy over by the side of the road in some brush, smoking a cigarette as a 9 year old. He wasn't on school grounds and so she was a young teacher and wasn't sure exactly how to handle that. But the next morning when the students arrived, she called Billy over to her desk and told him, I would like for you to write a paragraph on why 9 year olds should smoke.
Billy's paragraph she also said, I don't think a boy had ever written a paragraph in his life. And this was a short one. But he said, I thought it was a good idea until I saw you, and I decided it wasn't. Why did he decide that? Did he realize that it was against the law for 9 year olds to smoke? Or did he realize that it might disappoint his teacher and damage their relationship? James Duke says that understanding sin as just a legal matter, an infraction, served as Christianity's historic default position. That's the way we just tend to think of. You broke the rule. That's it. But he says that today's scripture suggests an additional countervailing theme.
God goes walking in the cool of the evening as usual to visit friends. And suddenly, this sin becomes less of a legal matter and much more interpersonal. And so the question the man and woman really face is, is sin is sin primarily a rule breaking, or is it at heart a betrayal of trust and love? What Duke is saying is this. Our head is the rational, legal thinking part. When we're hurt by others though, does it feel like head thing? Or doesn't our heart hurt because someone we love wounded us? I think this Genesis story is much less about the historical accuracy of when the world is was created and people have tried to figure out this that's that's not the moral of this story.
It's not necessarily even about where we came from, but more likely it's a story explaining why the world is the way it is. A why the world is the way it is. A broken place with broken people who are constantly, constantly in need of forgiveness. We've been talking about the man and woman hiding and blaming and finger pointing, but look back at that last verse. God made leather clothing for Adam and his wife and covered them before sending them out. We know where leather comes from. Right? And although Matt's challenge to us last week was from the Sermon on the Mount, the truth that he stated, what is the most generous thing I can responsibly do is right here with God.
God's generous, sacrificial gift of clothing for these exiles reminds us that Cain was not the first to spill blood upon the earth. Professor Kathleen O'Connor, who taught at Columbia Seminary right up the road in Decatur, says that even in the face of death, God protects and preserves. Pouring over this story we've been told since birth, my eyes have finally been not literally, of course. But my eyes have finally been open that this story is about so much more than judgment. It's about redemption. This is the story of God's redeeming love for us when we mess up.
A few years ago, the Fayetteville Observer told Fayetteville, North Carolina. Sorry. Told the story of North Carolina District Judge Lou Olivera, a veteran of the judicial bench but also a veteran of the Gulf War. And one of Judge Olivera's jobs is to preside over a court for vets whose PTSD has led to addiction and other issues. Retired special forces sergeant Joe Serna stood in front of the judge accused of violating his probation. Serna was no stranger to the judge. Judge Olivera knew that Serna, a Purple Heart recipient and had served 3 tours in Afghanistan, was almost killed by a suicide bomber and had lost many friends in battle.
Judge Olivera also knew that Serna struggled with alcoholism because he had not been able to leave all of those horrors of war behind him. But the judge had no choice, so he sentenced Serna to a night in jail. And then the judge did something entirely unexpected. Concerned that jail might trigger Serna's PTSD, the judge drove his fellow veteran to a nearby jail in Lumberton and convince the jailer, also a fellow vet and a good friend, to let him serve the sentence with Serna. There were bare walls, a steel toilet, and only one cot in the cell.
But the judge made Serna take the cot while the jailer gave the judge a mat so that he could sleep on the floor. But they got very little sleep that night. Because from about 5 in the evening till 6:30 in the morning, the 2 men talked about their military service, their families, and their dreams for their families, and the road that might take them there. Later, Serna said, I can't even put into words how I feel about him. I've seen a lot of things, but this by far is the most compassionate thing I've ever seen anyone give to anybody.
I will never let him down again. And dear God, let it be so with us too. Our DC trip has just probably finished their worship service with First Baptist Church of Washington DC and will be traveling home this afternoon. I hope that you are continuing to pray for them. I am praying for Josh Tate. And if you don't have one of these bands, there's still a couple on the table back there right outside the sanctuary. And, even if you don't get a band, I hope that that you have been, for the past week, praying for not only our DC trip, but our Romania trip that leaves Wednesday and will be gone for about a week and a half to Romania to share with Roma children in the, the camp VBS that they our team is doing there in Romania. Our prayers go with Katie and all of those who are going on that trip.
Coleman, I got you, buddy. On this wrist. And then, the Sapps as well as Katie mentioned in the, opening of worship that Matt and Julie and their family are resting this week at the beach, and our prayers are with them as well. So, we are grateful for this church family that loves and supports and prays for each other. And if, like Adam and Eve, you might have been hiding somewhere this past week and out of email contact or anything like that, then I've got something to share with you. So give me just a minute to let you know that, whether we have uttered it aloud or just replayed the movie scene in our minds, at some time we have probably all echoed the words of Forrest Gump to Jenny.
I'm not a smart man, but I know what love is. Of course, you don't have to be remotely intelligent to recognize the overwhelming love that was lavished on us when Andrew became a full time family member. Your care and concern, your cards and clothes came in waves, washing away the fear that we felt. I'm not a smart man, but I know what love is. It also doesn't take a genius or even 2020 vision to see your compassion that enveloped us and enabled us to survive this past year and a half with shingles and a corneal infection that affected almost every aspect of our lives.
I'm not a smart man, but I know what love is. Ask anyone who knows me. Probably more often than not, I've proven I'm not a smart man. Sometimes privately, but more often and more recently publicly, I've caused some serious eye rolling and head shaking. Often, love can work through fractured feelings, but sometimes restoration requires love to take the longer, more distant path to healing and wholeness. Matt said it best this past Sunday. What's the most generous thing I can possibly do? I'm not a smart man, but I know what love is. Central has loved us so generously these past six and a half years.
And so it is our reciprocal love for all of you which inspires us to announce that Nancy and I will consider the our six and a half years here, the icing on the cake of our 35 years of youth ministry as I retire on July 31, 2024. Ecclesiastes wisely reminds us there's a season for everything and a time for every matter under the heavens. A time to plant and a time to uproot what was planted. For teenagers sorry, Emma. Who are craving stability, the timing hardly ever seems right or fair unless you've just graduated. But But after 35 years of youth ministry and watching youth grow stronger through even these transitions, Nancy and I are convinced that the time is now. I have been grateful for Matt's friendship and strong compassionate leadership over these past six and a half years, but especially during these past few weeks as Nancy and I have contemplated with him this next much more restful phase of our journey.
We dearly love all of our central family. And we are grateful to God for you and your partnership in the gospel. As Philippians says as Paul says to the Philippians, I thank my God every time I remember you in my prayers. I'm not a smart man. But thanks to you, we know what love is. Will you stand and join me in our benediction? Receive now this blessing from God. Sisters and brothers, go out today as outcasts, cast out of an easy existence in Eden, but going boldly into the broken world because God has covered you with love.
And what else can heal the brokenness all around us but the love of God that was strong enough to redeem even you and me. Amen.
Sermon: Really?