Teaching & News From Eastgate PCB Rob Woodrum & Others

One of the intriguing puzzles of the Biblical narrative is the amount of detail that is afforded some elements of the story, and the shocking lack of detail given to others that feel like they deserve more. Part of that, I believe, is intentional. There is no better way to draw your readers in than to push their minds to fill in the gaps. Much like an impressionist painting, the story of the Bible has many moments that virtually demand our participation.
One such section is what we’ll be reading this Sunday as we continue our study of the first four chapters of Genesis. We’ll be reading ch 4:1-16, which describes the start of life outside of the Garden.
The structure of chapter 4 is pretty important. It fairly mirrors certain aspects of chapter 3. Re-read chapter 3 after reading chapter 4 – what similarities jump out at you? What does God ask the humans in ch 3, what does he ask Cain? How do the humans respond in ch 3 and how does Cain respond in ch 4? Are you picking up the similarities.
The consequence for Cain’s sin mirrors the consequence of his parents: exile. Something to ponder: the humans are already outside of the Garden, where do you think is Cain being exiled to? What might be the point of this consequence and what could it be describing about humans and their Creator?
Who do you think the “they” could be that Cain is afraid of? We aren’t told what the sign is (there’s that lack of detail) that God gives to Cain – but what is the purpose of it? What does this reveal about God’s character in the face of abject human failure?
I hope you can join us this Sunday as we continue examining at the roots of the Biblical narrative in Genesis.
Click here for a pdf of the teaching slideshow.

We’re coming to the most tragic part of the Biblical narrative this Sunday – we’ll be reading Genesis 3:8-24 in our continued study in that book. It’s a tragedy that sets up a pattern that gets set on repeat throughout the whole Hebrew Scriptures, leading right up to the Gospel.
As you read about God’s response to human failure, what are some of the images that your mind conjures up? Imagine (and it shouldn’t be too hard) that you’ve messed up royally – how do you imagine God responding to that sin? As you read about God’s appearance in Genesis 3, how would you describe His entrance?
God speaks 7 times and ands 3 questions. What does He ask? More importantly, if God is omniscient, why do you think He asks?
Do the humans come clean and confess what they did wrong right away, asking forgiveness? What do they do instead? Does this seem consistent with human nature as you know it? What message do you think this is trying to give us?
Read the section very carefully. Who or what is cursed by God? Who or what is not cursed? As you perceive it, does that mean anything, and what might it be?
God forecasts a war between the offspring of the snake and the offspring of the woman (we would assume she represents human existence). How do you think this plays out through the Bible and through history? We must carefully note that biology or lineage have nothing to do with who is who’s offspring – it is all in the context of choice – whose voice is listened to. Jesus called someone the offspring of a snake in Matt 12 – do a little digging to determine who he called snake-offspring, and why.
We’ll have a lot we’ll be covering in this teaching – it’s sobering but encouraging at the same time. I hope you can join us this Sunday!
Click here for a pdf version of the teaching slideshow.

Have you ever done a diet, say restricting carbs or something? I don’t know if it’s your experience as well, but the moment I decide to cut out carbs the only food I ever think about is full of carbs. “Just don’t think about it, Rob.” – Heh….for me, the moment I’m told not to think about something the only thing I can think about is whatever I’m not supposed to think about. Can I get an “amen”?
I wonder about that forbidden tree in the Garden of Eden – the one tree the first humans were told not to eat from and I wonder if they had that experience too: “All these fruits are great! They’re the BEST!….I wonder what the fruit tastes like on the one we shouldn’t eat?” They were in an idyllic environment, so it’s hard to say if that was a thing, but it didn’t take a very hard push to get them to that tree.
This Sunday we’ll be reading about when everything got ruined – Gen 3:1-7.
How well does a talking snake sit with you intellectually? Is that a hard one for you, and is that easy to accept? I know it’s different for different people. We’ll discuss the nachash, the snake, on Sunday and consider some possibilities.
The text describes the snake as “crafty” – some translations say “cunning” or “subtle”. We usually assign a negative spin on that description, however, a quick word search indicates that it is often used in a positive context, especially in Proverbs. A negative or positive connotation comes down to how that ability is used. What might that tell us about the nature of sin, since the origin of sin is the theme of the text?
In the dialogue that follows, the snake asks a question which the woman answers and the snake concludes the dialogue. Read that exchange very carefully. What jumps out to you, if anything? Read the divine command in Gen 2:16-17 – how does the snake’s quotation match up with God’s words? How do Eve’s corrective quotation match up to the original wording? What do you observe about this – what can it teach us about how we view or interact with God’s words?
The snake suggests that God has been holding out on the humans. He tells them they will achieve something if they take matters into their own hands – what does he say they’ll become? How does Gen 1:26-27 reflect on what the snake was offering? What could that tell us about the nature of temptation?
Read Gen 3:6 with 1 John 2:16 – what parrallels can you find between Eve’s consideration of the fruit and John’s warning about what the world offers?
I’m really looking forward to this study – I hope you can join us. We’ll be observing the communion ceremony after the teaching!
Click here for a pdf of the teaching slideshow.

This Sunday is Mother’s Day and coincidentally enough, in our study we’ll be reading about the very first mother, the creation of Eve. We’ll be continuing our study in Genesis, reading ch 2:18-25.
Once again, I want to remind us to manage our expectations when we come to a study like this. Remember, Genesis isn’t a modern science text-book – it is sacred spiritual literature – and we are approaching it to discover its theological truths. We’ll be reading about the creation of a counterpart for the human (Adam), and we’ll consider what this part of the story is trying to tell us. Whole fields of ideology on gender and gender roles have been derived from this section, for good or bad. Issues of gender are in the foreground of the text, but whether or not they’ve been well understood is another matter.
As you read the text, you’ll see we are confronted with another obstacle, maybe even crisis, since it is described as “lo-tov” – not good. What is it? God determines to resolve or eliminate the obstacle by providing a “helper”, which was “just right/suitable” for him.
The word “helper” in the Hebrew is EZER. Now, if you’re interested, click HERE to look at the word and a concordance list of all the times that word is used in the Hebrew bible. As you examine the passages, how might it indicate what an EZER is – that is, is it describing a subordinate who assists, or something else? Does its usage elsewhere inform you about the nature of the EZER God provides for the solitary human (Adam)?
When it describes the EZER who is “suitable” for Adam, that word is NEGED in the Hebrew, meaning “in front of, or opposite of”, like a mirror. Again, does that seem to imply someone inferior, superior, or an equal?
We’ll look at the woman’s formation, and the deep sleep Adam goes into, and consider the significance of that. Adam began alone, then the one became two, for the purpose of becoming one again. While this certainly has the marriage relationship in view, this idea spills over into a variety of relationships, not least of which is the one we have with the church in Christ. There is a pattern being revealed in this – one which carries through the entire biblical narrative, landing at John 17 and arching like an arrow through the NT epistles.
This has the potential of being an intense study – but one that can be inspiring, albeit, challenging to some of our pre-loaded assumptions about the nature of humanity as God has made us. I hope you can join us this Sunday at 10 AM!
Click here for a pdf of the teaching slideshow.

Do you remember the old Mad Magazines, how the inside back page was an Al Jaffe cartoon that had an image on it which, if you folded it in, created another image which was a commentary on the first. I used to love those things. In many ways, the book of Genesis, if we metaphorically folded it to touch the book of Revelation, operates similarly. We begin and end in a Garden…and everything in between functions to elaborate on that hope. The imagery of the first few chapters of Genesis unlock the meaning of the imagery used in the rest of the Biblical narrative.
 We’ll be returning to our study in Genesis this Sunday, looking at Gen 2:8-17.
In Gen 2 we are introduced to the Garden of Eden, Adam (the human) in connection with it, and the two trees in the center of it.
Most of us have picture book ideas in our heads about the Garden of Eden – an image of an entire world in a tropical paradise setting and nothing unpleasant anywhere around. But the Genesis narrative doesn’t really validate that picture.
For instance, as you read v8; is all the land Eden? Is all of Eden a garden? Was the human “formed” in the garden? All of this implies that there is something outside that paradisical space. Isn’t that intriguing? Eden was an anomaly in the midst of non-paradise. A project begun to which we will return.
On Sunday we’ll look at the significance of the river that comes from Eden, and where it flows to.
What do you make of the trees and the warning God issues to the human? What is the first part of God’s command? Do you find it interesting that God leads with an invitation to enjoy what he’s made? Does that influence your understanding of the warning God concludes with?
If the human was made from dust (stuff of mortality), what does the Tree of Life represent to him? The forbidden tree is not the Tree of Good and Evil- it is something else – what word comes before good and evil? How would you interpret what that means?
We have a really interesting study in front of us – I hope you can join us this Sunday as we dig into this together!
Click here for a pdf copy of the slideshow.

Robbie and I were watching a movie some time ago. It was a popular film based on an equally popular novel called “Water for Elephants”. When it was over, Robbie quietly said, “I didn’t like that movie. They never gave that elephant water even once!”
“So you felt misled?” I asked between chortles.
“Yes!” she said, “I waited through that whole movie for them to give that elephant water and they never did, they only gave it whiskey!”
“Hmmm, you have a point. Maybe they should’ve titled it ‘Whiskey for Elephants’, or ‘The Pickled Pachyderm'”?
It really illustrates the point that the expectations we have when watching or reading something really play a huge role in informing our understanding of the work. Robbie has very literal expectations based on the title of that film – but the film had other intentions in mind. That’s the real struggle for us when it comes to Scripture as well. It’s very difficult to set our expectations or pre-loaded assumptions about its meaning aside and let the text say what it wants to say. That is never more true than it is for the first book of the Bible, the Book of Beginnings.
This Sunday we’ll be continuing our study in the opening of Genesis, and we’ll be reading chapter 2:4-7.
Verse four is a “hinge” verse – it concludes the happy picture of chapter 1 and opens the story of chapter 2. You’ll notice a reversal of the order of the subject matter half way through the verse. Take a moment to consider why that might be.
In the opening passage (v5-7) we are presented with a new creation narrative. It begins with disorder – but something is different from chapter 1:2 – in both accounts there is a state of disorder, but in chapter one there’s too much of something and in chapter 2 there’s not enough. What is it, and what might be significant about that?
We’ll dig in to why there seems to be two different creation accounts between chapter 1 and 2.
When we come to the formation of Adam (Hebrew for man or human), we really have to work hard at setting aside all the children’s books we’ve read and pictures we’ve seen represent this, and really meditate on what the text is saying.
We’ll contemplate the nature of humanity, based on this text. We’ll consider God’s activity and motives – and I think we’ll find it very encouraging and challenging as well.
I hope you can join us this Sunday as we take a deep dive into the ancient realm of Genesis!
Click here for a pdf of the teaching slideshow.