Genesis 1:1-31 (NIV)
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In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
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And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. (day one)
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And God said, "Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water."
Sky…land…seas… (day two)
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Then God said, "Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees…” (day three)
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And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night,
and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years…” sun…moon and stars… (day
four)
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And God said, "Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across
the expanse of the sky." (day five)
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And God said, "Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures
that move along the ground, and wild animals…."
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Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of
the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that
move along the ground."
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So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he
created them. 31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. (day six)
Genesis 2:1-3 (NIV)
Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. By the seventh day God
had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. And
God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of
creating that he had done.
“The first holy thing in all of creation was not a people or a place but a day. God made everything
in creation and called it good, but when God rested on the seventh day, He called it HOLY.”
Abraham Heschel
Exodus 20:8-11 (NIV)
"Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but
the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you,
nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien
within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is
in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made
it holy.”
“A being is free only when it can determine and limit its activity.” Karl Barth
“Saying NO requires us to rise up against our history, our ego, our culture and our ravenous
society.” Barbara Taylor