Gospel of Love: From Genesis to Jesus
Week 1: Genesis 1:27, NRSV
Creation lives in the both/and & beyond!
Genesis prepares us for the journey ahead. No matter where we are – through chaos or times of peace – God’s reflection of expansiveness, love and connection to the divine is infinitely within us. Creation is expansive and fluidly nimble to rise to the occasion of love.
To embrace how creation lives and breathes in both/and & beyond all binaries, we begin with Genesis.

In our Bibles this verse is indented. The indention is a form Hebrew poetry signaling from the author what’s being shared holds significant importance for the reader.
Let’s dive in:
- God says, “let’s make humankind in our image.” God when translated from biblical Hebrew in this verse is plural. I hold this, just as this poetry asks of us, as an invitation to pause and reflect on how vast and mysterious the divine is.
- It’s worth asking ourselves what does this plurality; this fluidity of the Creator mean for us?
- The Word Adamah, which is translated from Hebrew to Adam in our bibles, is repeated 3x in this verse. Adamah means groundling – a both/and – a genderless being. In Genesis 1:27 humankind = a both/and.
The Gospel of Love found in Genesis 1:27 shows us humankind is comprised of male, female and beyond. And embraces all of our human complexities because God created us in their image.
Our creation: our lives – just as we are – is evidence of God’s diverse reflection in the world.
Rachael Ward (They/Them), Minister & Team Lead for Gender & Sexuality Justice Ministries
When we read scripture at its face value, we can miss opportunities to discover a more expansive Gospel of Love. The beauty of love is we are always invited to witness its transformation over and over again.
Week 2: Psalm 139, NRSV
Author bell hooks* offers in her book “All About Love” a profound foundational definition for the word “love.” She shares, “love is the will to extend one’s self for the purpose of nurturing one’s own or another’s spiritual growth.”
Spiritual growth here, according to hooks, is referring to our mind, body and spirit as one. I like to think of this as a harmony of presence rooted in nourishing love – first toward self and then outward toward all.
For hooks, love is an act of will. We choose to love with both intention and action. And in Psalm 139 I read this love unfolding from God to us and then from us to others onward with the witness of God’s love for all we are and will be.
bell hooks writes about how we need a map to guide us on our journey to love – one that starts with a place where we know what we mean when we speak of love. As a queer person, Psalm 139 speaks and mirrors unconditional love.

The phrase “my inward parts” comes from the Hebrew word Kilya meaning kidneys. In Hebrew tradition the kidneys were viewed as one of the most critical internal organs.
The kidneys were thought of as the core of a person. It’s where their identities are, their emotions, their morality, their being.
Psalm 139 declares God formed our body, mind, and spirit intimately and intentionally.
This passage reverberates a wisdom of remembrance for all bodies. A reminder and mirror that God formed our most inward parts. That the Creator knitted us together in the womb and knows us intimately—knows the person we were uniquely woven to become. That each of us is fearfully and wonderfully made in the Image of God. Psalm 139’s mention of the being created from the depths of the Earth transports us to another reminder: our sibling Adam, who was created from the soil, the nutrients of God’s love and joy of our becoming.
In other words, this is where love is born and placed within us from God that we are made wonderfully from the depths of this Earth with purpose, attention and delight.
Rachael Ward (They/Them), Minister & Team Lead for Gender & Sexuality Justice Ministries
This is a Gospel of Love worth nourishing for us and those we meet along the journey of love.