Pastor Betsey’s sermon, “In the Beginning,” reflects on Genesis 3:1–13 as a story that isn’t just about what happened long ago, but about what keeps happening in human life: crossing boundaries, feeling shame, hiding, and then blaming others when we’re caught. She explains that God’s boundary in the garden was not a trap but a gift that made real relationship and freedom possible, because freedom requires limits and the ability to choose. When Adam and Eve break that trust, their first instinct is not confession but scapegoating—Adam blames Eve (and even God), Eve blames the serpent—revealing a pattern that still shapes families, workplaces, churches, and society, where people and entire groups are blamed so others can avoid facing their own complicity. Pastor Betsey challenges the obsession with the science of creation, saying the deeper question is how this story “happens” in our own lives and public life today, especially when the vulnerable are made scapegoats for the sins of the powerful. She then points to Jesus as the one who enters this very human cycle of shame and blame, stands with the marginalized, speaks truth about greed and injustice, and ultimately becomes the scapegoat himself—yet breaks the pattern by offering forgiveness and calling his followers to live differently: to resist the blame game, take responsibility, stand with those who are scapegoated, confess when we fail, trust God’s grace, and keep moving forward into the light of new creation.