MARRIAGE & THE MISSION OF GOD

In Session 1, we'll spend most of our time considering the identity and mission of God, providing in conclusion one fitting and helpful articulation of how marriage fits into the big picture.  Then we will shift from the ideal, from God's purposes in creation and history through marriage, to our present experience, which is far from ideal.  We'll focus tomorrow on ways in which sin distorts and disorders and destroys God's purposes in the world and in marriage, using the specific metaphor of "curving in on ourselves."  All sin, we will suggest in Session 2, is a curving inward rather than a bending outward in self-giving love and relationship, and this "curve of sin" unleashes all kinds of chaos and sadness and deadness upon our marriages and the world.  Finally, in Session 3, we'll consider the most crucial questions that arise from our considerations of marriage and the mission of God and the curve of sin–nemely, what might breaking the curve of sin look like (that is, what are some ways in which might a marriage that harmonizes with the mission of God be lived), and how is the curve of sin itself broken?