My wife Kirstin had a high school teacher that asked her to write an essay, “What does it mean to be human?” How would you answer that question, where does one begin? I do not know if the high school teacher had incredible insight into the future of our society, but the answer to this question has never been more germane to our cultural moment. The question is one of what philosophers call “ontology”, or what does it mean to be something? What does it mean to be alive, good, well, healthy…human? Every culture offers a vision of what it means to be something. This vision usually comes through more in stories, art, songs, and intuitions, rather than straight forward information. Our current culture is facing a new manifestation of that vision in the form of a world driven by technology, globalization, and self autonomy. We have been in this moment for quite some time. Let me illustrate: 31% of teenagers would rather talk to an Artificial Intelligence therapist than a human. The average person spends 5-7 hours a day staring at their phones. (Imagine if the average Christian spent 5-7 hours a week in prayer or reading God’s Word) Social Media algorithms bolster our proclivities from internet usage to shape what we see on our screens. These images, stories, news reals, and so forth form our idea of the world, and what it means to be human in our world. We are influenced so strongly by the media, news, and stories we consume that while we have never been more connected to the global world, we have also never seen so much loneliness, anxiety and depression. We feel increasingly polarized from the “other”; political, ideological, religious, racial group. Humanity has never been more connected and, at the same time, never felt more polarized. Our society has placed the incredible weight of having to determine our own paths, forge our own expertise, and make ourselves great. This self autonomous human centered approach is the vision we are offered from our culture; but is it good, true, and beautiful?

How did we get to this point? Is there some truth that we can stand on to help us understand what humanity is, how it can flourish, and why things go wrong? The answer to these questions and many more are found in Genesis chapters 1-11. Starting Sept. 13th we will start a new preaching series as we let God’s Word give us a Biblical anthropology, or, an answer to the question, “What does it mean to be human? How can we flourish, and why don’t we?”

This Sunday we will finish our time in Acts, this series to be continued at a later date, with the center of Paul’s message to the Corinthian church. Also, we will have an opportunity to hear about how God is ministering to the Muslim community through a missionary couple. Their story is an incredible, tangible, example of our sermons series on Acts, and a wonderful way to end the summer.

Rev. Ben Melli