A relationship called covenant.

A call to worship.

Themes

Covenant • Creation • Election • in Christ • Communion • Absurdity • Sin • Chaos • Nothingness • The Flood • Re-creation • The Cross • The Resurrection • God’s “YES!”

Our sin is not simply wrong behavior or moral failure. It is the absurd belief that we can have some imagined autonomous existence apart from God. It is the refusal to be who we truly are in Jesus Christ.

It is not just that we have sinned; it is that we are in sin—in some absurd, false, distorted existence alienated from the source of life and being itself. It is a kind of self-imposed de-creation, because apart from a relationship with the Creator of Life, there is only nothingness. Our sin—any sin—is a return to the nothingness out of which God created our ordered existence.

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Scripture reading

Genesis 6:17–18
Genesis 8:21–22

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This call to worship¹ comes from what God said to Noah. He said:

Everything on earth will perish. 
But I will establish my covenant with you, 
and you will enter the ark.

And then God said this to Noah after the flood when he exited the Ark:

Never again 
will I curse the ground 
because of humans, 
even though every inclination 
of the human heart 
is evil from childhood. 
And never again 
will I destroy all living creatures, 
as I have done. 
As long as the earth endures, 
seedtime and harvest, 
cold and heat, 
summer and winter, 
day and night 
will never cease.

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Prayer

Father in heaven, 
Your covenant is not just a Bible theme, 
one among the many other Bible themes. 
Neither is it just an idea 
or an afterthought 
or a reaction 
to how things unfortunately unfolded 
in Your creation. 
Covenant is not an abstract legal arrangement 
You made with us 
because of the fall. 

And Your creation also, 
is not merely a display 
of Your imaginative, creative power, 
nor was it a reaction 
to some eternal insufferable boredom 
You were experiencing. 

Creation isn’t some neutral cosmic arena 
in which, 
at some point along the way, 
after the fall, 
You chose to have a kind of a relationship with us
—a relationship called covenant—
as if sin was an interruption 
that then called forth from You, Father, 
a kind of grace 
that was never needed until then. 

No. 

Covenant is the reason 
there even is a creation. 

All creation came into existence 
for the very purpose You always had for it to be in existence.
You brought it into existence 
to be the space 
in which You would bind yourself to us 
—covenant with us—
in love and freedom 
through Your Son, Jesus Christ. 

We are not living in Your Plan B. 

Before creation, 
before sin, 
before time itself, 
You, Father, made the decision 
to not be God without us. 
You made the decision 
to be our God. 
You made the decision 
to bind Yourself to us in love. 
And You created creation 
for that to happen.

Before creation, 
before sin, 
before time itself, 
You elected Jesus Christ. 
You, Father, eternally chose Him.
He is the Elected Human Being,
and we 
are all 
in Him. 
And so in Him we are represented, 
in Him we are embraced, 
in Him we are loved, 
and in Him we are reconciled with You. 
In Him, Father, 
the communion You desired with us
—and for which You have created us—
can unfold. 

And all of that is older than Adam.

All of this
—all of creation itself—
is an outflow of Your decision, 
Your desire, 
Your love 
to be in fellowship 
with us!

And now, Father,
we know 
our sin. 

Our sin is not simply wrong behavior. 
It is not primarily moral failure. 
It is far more devastating. 
It is the absurd attempt by us 
to live outside of Your grace, 
outside of this relationship with You 
for which we have been created. 
It is to have some imagined autonomous existence 
apart from You. 
It is the refusal 
to be who we truly are
in Jesus Christ. 

Sin is not just what we do; 
it is a distortion 
of who we were meant to be 
in communion with You. 
It is not just that we have sinned; 
it is that we are in sin, 
in some absurd, false, distorted existence 
alienated from The Source of Life and Being itself. 

It is a kind of self-imposed de-creation, 
because apart from a relationship with You, Father,
there is only chaos; 
there is only nothingness. 
Our sin—any sin—is a return to the chaos—
a return to the nothingness 
out of which You created our ordered existence. 

And we know 
what just such a return to nothingness 
would be like,
because, on occasion, 
such as Noah’s flood,
You allow the threatening forces of chaos 
to be released.
You allow a controlled de-creation.
You allow a rehearsal 
of the terrifying 
and obvious 
and natural consequences 
of wanting to live 
outside of Your grace. 
You allow a falling back 
into the formlessness and void 
that only Your Word overcomes. 

And when You do,
You are still in control. 
Chaos is not sovereign; 
You are. 
This de-creating chaos of the flood 
was a purification, 
a recreation of the earth,
under Your control. 

Your “NO!” to our sin 
is always inside 
of Your “YES!” to us—
always inside 
of Your desire to be 
in communion with us. 
It is why You preserved Noah and his family. 
It is why You have always been faithful 
to Your creation, 
even in judgment. 
It is why all of Your judgments 
have never meant the destruction of creation, 
but only its purification, 
only its re-creation. 
It is why, 
in the cross of Christ 
and in the resurrection of Christ, 
there is new creation. 
All of Your “NO!” to sin, 
all of our “NO!”s shouted back at You, 
they are all swallowed up by Jesus Christ, 
Your final and ultimate “YES!” 
to all humanity, 
to all creation. 

In Him, 
humanity is re-created forever. 
In Him, 
the covenant is renewed in His blood forever. 
In Him, 
your grace triumphs over wrath, 
over chaos, 
over nothingness 
forever.

Amen

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1. This call to worship was given to the small assembly of Christians who gathered at Pathway Church, Beaverdam, Michigan, on Sunday, March 30, 2025.