Genesis -- the beginning

Grace and peace to all of you! Just a few thoughts on the readings we're doing together:

Wow--it has been a long time since I read the flood story--Tuesday's reading from the Transformation Journal! Probably because of the course I'm taking on the sacraments, I kept thinking about the words in our baptismal covenant: "In the days of Noah you saved those on the ark through water. After the flood you set in the clouds a rainbow."

You know, this is a confusing set of chapters, mostly because there really are two flood stories being woven together here. One comes from a source scholars call "P" for Priestly, and the other from a souces called "J" for Yahwist. (The insight comes from German scholarship, and they use J where we use Y.)

Anyway, you tell which source is being quoted by looking at the name used for God. The "J" or "Yahwist" author always uses God's proper name, YHWH, usually pronounced "yahweh." It gets printed in English Bibles as LORD in all caps. In the verses from the Priestly souces, God is called God--from the Hebrew "elohim."

Now, if I haven't turned you off the reading completely, check back for some more spiritual reflections later this week!