Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“Then the Lord God said, ‘It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper as his partner.’”
NL Daily Devotion for Monday, September 13, 2021
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
This is the first time God says something is not good. Yes, it’s a completely different account of creation, but after hearing about how everything was “good” in Genesis 1, this kind of brings me up short.
What’s not good? For the adam, the “human being” made from the earth, to be alone. From the very beginning, then, God knew we needed to be in community. It flies in the face of the entire U.S. idea of rugged individualism and pulling yourself up by your bootstraps.
I would not be who I am without the other people in my life. Even as an introvert who frequently jokes about selling everything I own and moving into the middle of the woods, I know that I would soon wither and die without connection to my fellow human beings.
The adam was not complete without another adam to be his partner. I am not complete without others in my community who love and support me, work with me, play with me, challenge me and uplift me. This is nothing to do with male and female or marriage (which concept didn’t appear in the Bible for a long time after this). This is about humanness. Even the African concept of ubuntu: I am because we are.
Do I embrace others in community? Or do I tend to isolate myself?