Morning Prayer: Shannon Cook Choral Amen Hymn of Creation *Morning Has Broken* Witness of Scripture: Genesis 1 Anthem *O God, Creator of Mankind* Sermon *Essentials: Creating* David Spain
Recorded on August 25, 2024
For the next several months, the sermons will focus on the essential, formative stories that give shape to our faith. The Bible is our text for these stories, revealing who and how God is and who and how we are to be. Formative stories begin early in our lives. When a child in the nursery is held in tender care, she might hear the song, “Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so.” It is a formative story, and there are many such stories contained in this collection of 66 books authored over several thousand years. It is right and good to remember these stories, to affirm the foundations of our faith, and perhaps even hear something new along the way.
For those who still put pictures in an album, or for those whose family history scrolls across a screen, a child might see a baby picture. ‘Who is that,’ asks the 4-year-old? This is you when you were 4 days old. It spurs another question—‘Tell me about the day I was born,’ and so the story telling begins. There will be facts included—the day of the week or the time of the day—but that is not what interests the child the most. “How did you feel, did people celebrate, was it scary, what was it like?’You try your best to provide the context and the meaning of that new life and how it changed everything. This puts us in the mind of Genesis 1.
Genesis 1 is a story of origins, as Israel tells its birth story. It is very helpful to remember where Israel is when this story is told. They are in captivity—the Babylonian Empire has laid waste to the temple and deported many of the people. Life is disordered and desolate; there is confusion and chaos. In captivity, Israel is subjected to Babylon’s originating stories—it is a violent story of creation, a warring between gods. The Babylonian origin story is rooted in blood and sword. It is a text of horror and loss. To be in the image of that kind of god is to be violent and conquering, dominating and destructive. Contrary to this story of violence and vengeance, Israel proclaims its origin story of the God who creates life not by war and battle but by word and beauty.Contrary to the Babylonian portrayal of a god who creates by the powerful forces of battle and belligerence, Israel proclaims the God who creates by the empowering words of care and community. Two distinctly different understandings of God, and we are the inheritors of Israel’s birth story, of the God who brings order to chaos, whose word speaks life not death, whose word blesses not curses, who creates with joyful abandon not warring madness. All these years later, we hear Israel’s birth story as our original story also.
How courageous our ancient ancestors were, asserting this story of who God is. It is helpful to remember the context of this story, because it saves us from an unnecessary and unhelpful debate. There are some who want the Bible to do what the Bible never claims to do, assigning the Genesis story to the halls of science rather than the halls of faith. It is a misguided and unfortunate move by those who would push that notion. The Biblical story is a wondrous, faithful telling of who God is and who we are to be. It is truth of a kind that is concerned with the questions of why we are here and what our purpose in life is. These are crucial and important questions. Science pursues another set of questions—where, when, what as it also plumbs the mysteries of creation. Each set of questions leads to wondrous explorations, but they need never be set in opposition to each other; a child need never choose one over the other.As it is with that 4-year-old intrigued by the story of her birth, so it is with us as we consider our origins—yes, the facts as we know them are part of the marvel and wonder of the story which we need, and science is good to explore that; faith invites us to consider the meaning and purpose of our living. Both sets of questions are important, and problems occur only when either science or religion become confused about which sets of questions they are pursuing. We can listen to both and learn from both. Healthy religion never asks people to check their brains at the door in order to be faithful.
So, Israel sits in captivity, confronted by the warring madness of Babylon and their gods, and they do what is incredibly healthy. Israel remembers, goes into the album of its origins, and proclaims its birth story. It is poetry and it is anthem as we heard in our reading of Genesis 1, the form of its story a liturgy and tribute to who God is and what God does—bringing beauty from the void and order from the chaos. This God, and only this God is worthy of worship. What does Israel proclaim that gives shape to our birth story, to our lives all these years later? For God, creating is neither a struggle nor a war, but a delight and a joy.Woven into the story of creation is God’s proclamation that what is made is good. God looks on creation and says, “this is good work,” this is valuable, this has worth in and of itself—the tree, the flower, the bird, the elk, the river, the mountain, the ocean, the wind, the rain—it is all good because it comes from God. It has worth not because it can be harvested and commodified; it has worth because God has made it plentifully and beautifully, and then blessed it.
We have for various reasons, lost touch with God’s proclaiming creation good, and that is tragic. Stephen Shoemaker asks “Where does your Bible begin? Many people whose spiritual lives have been taught according to what theologian Dorothee Soelle calls the ‘curse tradition’ understand their Bibles to begin with chapter 3, with ‘the Fall’ and what since Augustine has been called ‘original sin.’ But as Matthew Fox has reminded us, the universe began not in original sin but in ‘original blessing.’(GodStories, p. 15) It makes a difference to see this world as blessed, not cursed; to see one another as blessed not cursed. Years ago, I heard Walter Brueggemann say that the rest of the Bible is not held in tyranny to Genesis chapter 3. This is still a God-blessed, God-originated world. This world, and each one of you, is not born in original sin but with God’s original blessing. That pronouncement still holds—‘this is good.’
Who are we in this story of creation? Israel remembers that as well, proclaiming that humanity is made in the image of God.We have probably forgotten what a stunning claim that was, because at that time only kings were thought to reflect the divine. Israel says no—you don’t have to look to the palace to see God—you can look on the roadside, in the barrio, in the temple, for there is nothing absent the image of God.Years later, we remember Jesus saying something that echoed that notion, for he said he can be found in the hungry, the thirsty, the least, the lost, the little. God is imaged in all, says Genesis 1—male and female with no one derived nor inferior to the other, both given a stunning, glorious purpose—to care for what God creates, to steward the gifts God gives, to assure that God’s purposes for life are carried out by those who bear God’s image—God the artist and the architect who creates by word and blessing, not the warrior and conqueror who creates by combat and sword. It is a daring proclamation and a life-affirming calling. This is who God is, and we are made in that image to embody that purpose. To be made in the image of God is not to be identical to God; therefore, we do not idolize anyone. Yet we are avenues through which the sacredness of God can live.
Genesis 1 tells us we are created for communion and for community—to safeguard and to enhance what has been given. God works with the elements of the universe to create galaxies beyond our knowing and to stir our imaginations for life and joy and delight. We reflect God when play in the dirt, marvel at the seasons, plant beauty, care for the world by standing against what sours creation’s intricacy and balance. We write poetry, we draw, we sing, we dance, we imagine. Take a few minutes to spend a little time around children—get them away from the screen and the device and let them be imaginative and creative and before you know it whole worlds have come alive, and God is dancing in the very midst of that joyful delight. This is the seedbed for what can come later, as the laborer in the lab imagines how to cure illness and bring well-being, because to be made in God’s image is to help life be better for everyone. Perhaps the Psalmist said it best—"The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it, the world and those who live in it.” (24: 1) ‘It is not your world Babylon,’ proclaims Israel. No empire is to lay claim to what belongs to God.
You may remember the story of the 4-year-old brother leaning into the crib of his baby sister, whispering something. The curious parent listens closely and hears that the brother is asking her to tell him about God, because he has almost forgotten what God is like. Genesis 1 invites us to lean in, to hear the story of this delightful, joyful, abundant God who gives us more than we can ever imagine, who gives us our vocation and our reason for being here. Genesis 1 gives us life’s foundational essential—we are created for creating.Thanks be to God!