A very long story

I have been engrossed in this book Before the Dawn, which is about the evolution of human beings-- it's fascinating, because it's primarily about genetics, but uses data from linguistics and archeology. I have always been interested in the relationship between human languages and cultures in the distant past.

I believe in the amazing story science is uncovering through all these disciplines, about how we are all descendants of a small ancestral population from Africa, and due to genetic drift, we share common ancestors scientists have cutely named Y Chromosome Adam and Mitochondrial Eve. And I also believe that human beings are the people of God, that God has been present in this very long history of evolution.

In Godly Play, the Sunday School curriculum we use at Epiphany, we refer to humans as the people of God, and the bible as the story of the people of God. As I read Before the Dawn, I have been musing what a long story the story of the people of God is. I hope that how we understand ourselves and God will also evolve, and take into account the new parts of the story we are learning, because I think that story is perhaps as sacred as some of the ones we know better.