Genesis 2:18-24 (NRSV)
Read Genesis 2:18-24 on biblegateway.com
Verse 18Then the Lord God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper as his partner." Verse 19So out of the ground the Lord God formed every animal of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. Verse 20The man gave names to all cattle, and to the birds of the air, and to every animal of the field; but for the man there was not found a helper as his partner.
Verse 21So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then he took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. Verse 22And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. Verse 23Then the man said, "This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; this one shall be called Woman, for out of Man this one was taken." Verse 24Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh.
Devotion
James Weldon Johnson begins his moving poem “The Creation” with:
“And God stepped out on space,
And God looked around and said:
I’m lonely –
I’ll make me a world.”
God is a God of relationship. God is a God of community. God is a God who did not create loneliness. God intended connectedness: “Then the Lord God said, ‘It is not good the man should be alone; I will make him a helper as his partner.’” And so it began, and so it goes. We each are born to union. Most of us grow into committed relationships, start our own households, and continue in community. Those of us who do not find or need life partners still live our lives in the midst of others. We are not alone. God is with us. We are with each other.
Prayer
Connected One, as you give us yourself, give us to others. Let us be together for your good. Amen.