I've noticed that since the Genesis of creation, everything that is healthy appears to have some form of protective covering. Feathers cover birds, fir covers animals, and vegetation or organic matter covers our soil. Coverings have always protected and provided characteristic variances that drive an organisms distinctiveness in our Creator's majestic ecosystem; however, when God made man on the sixth day, Scripture tells us two details about mankind that it says about nothing else regarding what God created. First, man was naked. Second, man walked with God.
Those two defining and significant characteristics, I believe, are inextricably tied to the fact that only man was created in the "image" of God (Genesis 1:27); hence, man needed no covering, nor even knew he had any needs, because he walked with God. Their fellowship broke that day Man believed the questioning lies about God's Word assuming life could be better without His protective and personal covering. At that point in time, Man knew the guilt of sin and became aware of his nakedness. God chose to provide a temporary covering through a sacrifice- one that foreshadowed God's plan to establish a permanent covering (total forgiveness) for man's sin. He offered His innocent son, Jesus Christ, as the perfect, sinless sacrifice and allowed his blood to be shed to forgive our sins. Through faith in Christ who lovingly took our consequence, we can have direct fellowship with God as Adam once did. "If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved." Romans 10:9
It is within this foundational idea that The Covering was named. Our purpose is to point visitors to Jesus Christ, the ultimate covering required to be joyfully sustainable in this life and the next. At the Covering, we hope to give guests direct and indirect opportunities to understand how all of creation can live, grow, and rest through man's renewed fellowship with God. (Romans 8:19-25).
Those two defining and significant characteristics, I believe, are inextricably tied to the fact that only man was created in the "image" of God (Genesis 1:27); hence, man needed no covering, nor even knew he had any needs, because he walked with God. Their fellowship broke that day Man believed the questioning lies about God's Word assuming life could be better without His protective and personal covering. At that point in time, Man knew the guilt of sin and became aware of his nakedness. God chose to provide a temporary covering through a sacrifice- one that foreshadowed God's plan to establish a permanent covering (total forgiveness) for man's sin. He offered His innocent son, Jesus Christ, as the perfect, sinless sacrifice and allowed his blood to be shed to forgive our sins. Through faith in Christ who lovingly took our consequence, we can have direct fellowship with God as Adam once did. "If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved." Romans 10:9
It is within this foundational idea that The Covering was named. Our purpose is to point visitors to Jesus Christ, the ultimate covering required to be joyfully sustainable in this life and the next. At the Covering, we hope to give guests direct and indirect opportunities to understand how all of creation can live, grow, and rest through man's renewed fellowship with God. (Romans 8:19-25).