Rakel Bible Study

Bible Study: "Time of Twilight"

In Food Fight, Daniel Imhoff writes that the Farm and Food Bill is crucially important because of many reasons, one being that we are in “the twilight of cheap oil age and the onset of unpredictable climactic conditions.” The price of gas keeps going up and up. Australia has faced such a drought that their rice crop is now down 98%, a major contributing factor the rice shortage. We all feel the tipping point and waking up to the reality that gas prices will not go down nor food shortages lessen is a very, very hard thing to do.

Bible reading: Genesis 1
Notice how many times the narrator of the creation story says “and there was evening and there was morning.” Twilight introduces the evening and says adieu to the day. In the Hebrew Bible, or Old Testament, the twilight was a longer stretch of time than just those few minutes we might notice as the sun goes down but the night has not completely fallen. The writer of Genesis would have thought twilight to be an important time of transition into the next day, of time for beginning to rest, offer sacrifice, or begin or end the Sabbath (Lang and Heasman, 27).

Twilight is a time of mystery. We know what has happened in the day, we are unsure of the night and will come in the next day. For earth-human health, twilight is time we find ourselves in. We know what has happened, food policies, oil over usage, and modern agricultural practices have led to poor, poor earth-human health. How will we transition into the night? Gently? Aggressively? Thoughtfully? Anxiously?

During the days of creation God did something at night. It is a wide open time with no real structure. To preserve and renew earth-human health, twilight is a time to capture and claim for transition, sacrifice, and Sabbath. Restoring earth-human health will mean changing habits, making sacrifices of time, treasure, and talent to restore human health around the whole world, and giving the earth a Sabbath, a deep rest from deforestation, depletion, and destructive. During the days of creation God was still creating at night. Capturing this creative time for restoring earth-human health is crucial.

Prayer:
Abundant God, we give you thanks for the fruitful earth, which produces what is needed for life. Bless those who work in the fields; grant favorable weather to all engaged in agriculture; and help us to ensure that all people share the fruits of the earth, rejoicing in your goodness; through you Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.

Other activities to include in the Bible Study:
1. Watch the movie “The Story of Stuff” online at http://www.thestoryofstuff.com. It is about 20 minutes long and details connections between problems through pictures.

2. Find out what time sunset is in your corner of the world. Somewhere else the sun is rising. See what connections there might be between your home and another’s home. Besides sharing different parts of the sun, does this other place experience problems with water, food shortages, high oil prices, orclimate change? http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/RS_OneDay.php will give the complete sun and moon day for one day, for any place in the world.

3. Make a covenant together about one thing each person will do to learn more, change a habit, make a time, treasure, or talent sacrifice, or give the earth some Sabbath. Write it up, sign it, and post it somewhere, or give each person a copy to hang themselves. Or sign the Covenant with Creation found on the webofcreation site: http://www.webofcreation.org/Pledge/index.htm

FOOTNOTES

The prayer is found under “Creation” under Additional Prayers in Evangelical Lutheran Worship (Augsburg Fortress: Minneapolis, 2006) 81.



				Bible Study: "Time of Twilight" In Food Fight, Daniel Imhoff writes that the Farm and Food Bill is crucially important because of many reasons, one being that we are in “the twilight of cheap oil age and the onset of unpredictable climactic conditions.” The price of gas keeps going up and up. Australia has faced such a drought that their rice crop is now down 98%, a major contributing factor the rice shortage. We all feel the tipping point and waking up to the reality that gas prices will not go down nor food shortages lessen is a very, very hard thing to do. Bible reading: Genesis 1 Notice how many times the narrator of the creation story says “and there was evening and there was morning.” Twilight introduces the evening and says adieu to the day. In the Hebrew Bible, or Old Testament, the twilight was a longer stretch of time than just those few minutes we might notice as the sun goes down but the night has not completely fallen. The writer of Genesis would have thought twilight to be an important time of transition into the next day, of time for beginning to rest, offer sacrifice, or begin or end the Sabbath (Lang and Heasman, 27). Twilight is a time of mystery. We know what has happened in the day, we are unsure of the night and will come in the next day. For earth-human health, twilight is time we find ourselves in. We know what has happened, food policies, oil over usage, and modern agricultural practices have led to poor, poor earth-human health. How will we transition into the night? Gently? Aggressively? Thoughtfully? Anxiously? During the days of creation God did something at night. It is a wide open time with no real structure. To preserve and renew earth-human health, twilight is a time to capture and claim for transition, sacrifice, and Sabbath. Restoring earth-human health will mean changing habits, making sacrifices of time, treasure, and talent to restore human health around the whole world, and giving the earth a Sabbath, a deep rest from deforestation, depletion, and destructive. During the days of creation God was still creating at night. Capturing this creative time for restoring earth-human health is crucial. Prayer: Abundant God, we give you thanks for the fruitful earth, which produces what is needed for life. Bless those who work in the fields; grant favorable weather to all engaged in agriculture; and help us to ensure that all people share the fruits of the earth, rejoicing in your goodness; through you Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen. Other activities to include in the Bible Study: 1. Watch the movie “The Story of Stuff” online at http://www.thestoryofstuff.com. It is about 20 minutes long and details connections between problems through pictures. 2. Find out what time sunset is in your corner of the world. Somewhere else the sun is rising. See what connections there might be between your home and another’s home. Besides sharing different parts of the sun, does this other place experience problems with water, food shortages, high oil prices, orclimate change? http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/RS_OneDay.php will give the complete sun and moon day for one day, for any place in the world. 3. Make a covenant together about one thing each person will do to learn more, change a habit, make a time, treasure, or talent sacrifice, or give the earth some Sabbath. Write it up, sign it, and post it somewhere, or give each person a copy to hang themselves. Or sign the Covenant with Creation found on the webofcreation site: http://www.webofcreation.org/Pledge/index.htm FOOTNOTES The prayer is found under “Creation” under Additional Prayers in Evangelical Lutheran Worship (Augsburg Fortress: Minneapolis, 2006) 81.
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