We've been so excited to come back to classes so that we could begin one of the most interesting studies of our CGS Catechist formation: the typology works. There are 5 of these, and we begin, rightly so, with the CREATION.
Creation is one of the three moments that take central importance in the Level III atrium--the other two are the Redemption (the time when Christ came to redeem us UP to today) and the Parousia (the time when Christ comes back and God will be All in All!)
Our first week of "Creation" was spent in a bible study on the first story of Creation found in Genesis 1-Genesis 2:3. After the solemn reading of scripture, we spend some time thinking about what this story means. Was the author there? In truth, the story of Creation is a reflection many centuries and even millenia after the creation of the world, but because we believe in God's divine inspiration, we know that this story speaks the truth about God and also about us.
What does Genesis reveal to us from the very beginning? God is not like us. He is not a creature. He is the only one who can create with the power of his Word--from nothing. I could say, "Let there be pizza," until I am blue in the face, but this does not a pizza make.
We think about all of the things and animals that are created and then we hear a dramatic pause... and something new:
Then God said: "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and the cattle, and over all the wild animals and all the creatures that crawl on the ground." God created man in his image; in the divine image he created him; male and female he created them. Genesis 1:26-27
What is the divine image? What is this we hear? We are made in the likeness of God! What does that mean? What does that look like? The children come up with many answers, but we usually rest in the answer that man can LOVE... man can CHOOSE good... man can PRAY...
The second week, we focus on the second story of Creation in Genesis 2. Most times, the children are not aware that there IS a 2nd story, or that they are different. This is not troubling to them, however, because they can see it as a different way of saying something true about God and man's relationship to him.
The 2nd story is the familiar story of the Garden of Eden and the creation of Adam. It is cool to think about the Hebrew word for mankind: adam which so closely ties into the word for "the earth": adamah. We hear how mankind is made from the clay of the ground, and also about the special relationship between adam and God. God made all of these animals FOR adam. Truly, all of creation was made FOR adam, and God gives the great privilidge of naming the animals to man.
There is also mention of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. This discussion is interesting because we have to think: are we as humans made to know everything? In some ways, it is grasping to be more than we were created to be... When we do our Sin Typology, this will come in to play more.
The creation of woman is also worth noting. The woman is not created from the dust, but from the man. In Hebrew, we hear that from ish comes ishah. These verses then lead to the man's exclamation (the first words man speaks in scripture):
"This one, at last, is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; This one shall be called 'woman,' for out of 'her man' this one has been taken."
That is why a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife, and the two of them become one body.
The man and his wife were both naked, yet they felt no shame. Genesis 2:23-25
Our last pause before finishing is about this "naked without shame" verse. We discuss how there are many different ways to be "covered up" and reasons for this. We cover our eyes when we are ashamed, we cover our thoughts when we don't trust another... Adam and his wife were not ashamed of anything. They were completely open and uncovered in their relationship with each other AND with God. It was a beautiful time in the garden.
In the next week or two, I will post about the "chart work" that goes with this presentation. Once the children have participated in the scripture studies, they will go forward with a more individual reflection which I will detail here soon!
God's Blessings!
Mandie DeVries, CGS Catechist and Director of Religious Education
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