1 St. James United Church Genesis 1-3 Sunday September 20, 2015

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Esmond Franklin
5 years ago
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1 1 Prayer: Almighty and Gracious Creator, you spoke and all things came into being through your Word. That Word has woven itself into the stories of your people for countless generations. As we read, may it give purpose to our living and peace to our souls. You alone can fill the empty places within us. In this time of prayer and meditation, may we open the door of our hearts to welcome you in. Amen. Sermon: In the beginning So begins the epic story of God and his people. Like those bedtime stories of old Once upon a time The first words locate us in space and time; set a mood. This is a very old story, and ancient story; older than our civilization, our language, older even than the earliest writings by which we have come to know it. It is a sacred story, a mysterious story, one passed down through the ages in poetry, myth, wisdom, and song; oral traditions that shape life and give meaning. Let s listen. Shhh! In the beginning! A sound. Youtube audio clip Haydn s Creation (2:07) from Infinite nothing, endless night, everlasting stillness, only the breath of God and angels ever heard. Then suddenly, God speaks; the big bang, a sonic boom that shatters the darkness in an explosion of light and colour, energy and matter that spills out into the farther corners of forever. Particles dance, planets form, galaxies are suspended on a thread; life. When? The beginning. Who? God; he/she is the star. What? Creation; heaven and earth, the seas, the dry land. God set the moon and the stars, filled the rivers and lakes, lifted the mountains, carved the valleys, mowed the plains, fashioned plants and animals, birds and swimming things, and then finally us. The masterpiece done, God blessed it, called it good, and then he called it a day; the 6 th day. Long before human beings could speak or write we were aware that a power much greater than our own is at work; that what we see and enjoy, all that sustains our life, all that lies beyond our life, it is a gift. And a gift always has a giver.

2 2 Did you know all religions have a creation story; a purposeful intention, a something out of nothing, a fall and a flood, and they are remarkably similar. All share a common understanding that we are not alone. Unique to Genesis is this, a 7 th day upon which the Creator rested. So precious was that day He called it holy, from the Hebrew qodesh meaning set apart. Odd to we who claim there isn t enough time, that God, the maker of time, makes time to spend with, rejoice in, and delight in all that he has made. Creation wasn t made for us. It was made for God; for his glory, for his delight. And you are part of that creation. Do you know you were made for God s glory? Do you know that God delights in you? Do you know that you are made in God s image and in God s eyes you are beautiful? When you woke up this morning, how many of you looked in the mirror and said to your reflection, God made me. Wow, I m perfect? Not too many of us think we are perfect. In fact I dare say most of us spend a lot of time thinking the opposite; that despite our best efforts, in every way we fall short of the glory of God. We hurt, we get angry, we feel lonely, and afraid, hoping no one notices. Not so perfect. Not so beautiful. Not so holy; but still God s. Just ask an artist and they will tell you; their very best work comes through sweat and tears, suffering and sacrifice; when whole heart and soul are given to the effort. Ever an artist, God pours his whole heart into what he makes, and loves his Creation with his whole being. Resting and beholding the work of his hands, God smiled and called it good. And integral to what makes creation so precious and good is its frailty, its fragileness; one wrong move, one bump, one fall, and the whole thing might just break. It didn t take long 1 chapter. Genesis contains 2 creations stories. The 1 st is about the making. The 2 nd is about the breaking; the fall. It goes like this. When nothing else existed, only heaven and earth, God took a handful of dust from the ground, formed man, breathed into him the breath of life, and gave him a garden; a beautiful garden. In the middle of the garden God planted 2 trees; the Tree of Life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This one s okay, God said, but don t eat from that one (Good & Evil), or you will die.

3 3 Now, God knew better than anyone the sadness that comes from being alone, so he made Adam (meaning red like the soil) a helper; took one of his ribs and made woman (Eve because she was the first). They lived happily in the garden; days spent caring for the earth, evenings spent in the garden walking and talking with God. Until one day a snake slithered up to them, Go ahead, eat from that tree. You won t die. You ll just be more like God. One bite of the fruit from the tree, and it was over; in that moment their innocence was forever lost, life as they knew it was over; died. That night God came into the garden. Adam & Eve were ashamed and so they hid. Something had changed. Something was different, God knew. From that moment on their relationship, with God and with each other, would never be the same. Casting them out from the garden, God set cherubim and a flaming sword to guard the tree of life. What follows is a tale of betrayal, greed, violence and death. God s beautiful creation was broken. What was the sin in this? (ASK - eating fruit, disobeying God, giving into temptation) The interesting thing in this story is that God creates man first. All there is are dirt and air (God could have made everything else too) but God chose to make a human being first. No longer one, but two. This God knows the pain of loneliness, and desires, above all else, to have someone to love, to be in relationship. God desires to love and be loved, and there can only be love, if there is trust. Adam and Eve broke that trust with God. And when a trust is broken, even though there may be forgiveness, everything changes things. That starry-eyed, pulse-racing, romantic kind of love is suddenly dimmed by the shadow of hurt and the loss of something precious. I have always thought, with this story, their disobedience made God mad, and it was in anger/punishment God expelled them from the garden. The reality is that when trust is broken, innocence is lost, we can t ever go back to the garden, even if God wants us to, because we are different; we are changed. When I was in grade 2 Miss Marshall s class, I stole a piece of blue chalk (I can still see it). I loved playing school at home. It was thick chalk, I didn t have any, and I

4 4 wanted it. My mother found it, made me return it the very next day, and apologize to my teacher. It was only a piece of chalk. Miss Marshall thanked me for apologizing and forgave me; a child-hood mistake. But the knowledge that I had stolen, done something I knew was wrong, and felt the shame of it, remains imprinted in me even today; along with all the other little and big mistakes and sins of omission and commission I have stumbled over. But that s what growing up is; testing limits, making mistakes, facing challenges and learning from them. If God didn t want them to eat from the tree then why put it there? If God (who knows everything) knew they would eat it, then why toss them out of the garden for it? Could it be that in God s infinite wisdom, that they/we were never meant to stay there? Beyond the bliss of childhood, beyond the innocence of the garden, lies the fullness of life, maturity of faith, and an even deeper relationship with and love for God. In one of the best books on sin I have ever read, Barbara Brown Taylor 1 laments the loss of the word sin in church circles, especially mainline churches. We don t talk about sin, don t confess it much, much less acknowledge it and hold it up for what it is into the light of our life together. The grace, peace, and love of God are much more pleasant to ponder, easier on our ears and sensibilities, and more attractive to guests. What is sin? Well, there s Sin (with a capitol); that is turning from God. There are little sins (small s) things we do wrong, or the things we don t do that we should, like not welcoming the stranger, feeding the hungry, loving my enemy (Jesus says). Sin is that which denies the image of God, or diminishes life in, others. And we all do it; all of us. (I see you thinking oh not me, you mean the guy beside me.) I mean all of us. Sin is part of being human, part of being this fragile, broken and precious creation of God s. 1 Barbara Brown-Taylor, Speaking of Sin

5 5 Adam and Eve, having sinned, knew they were naked, were ashamed, and in that, in that honesty, they began a journey that would ultimately lead them, their descendants, and us into the hope of a deeper relationship with God. To confess our sin (to ourselves and to God) is to open ourselves to the riches and redeeming power of God s grace. That blue chalk still haunts me. But because of that wrong/sin I know something more, something tangible and true, about the forgiveness and love of God. Our frailty, our imperfections, our blemishes, our wounds, our sins, these make us all the more precious in God s sight (beauty marks), because they are the places of brokenness where God draws closer to us, and where in love and grace he sets his hand upon us, to mend in us, that which we cannot mend alone. This is what the church was made for. Not to be places that seek to attract, entertain, or even to inspire, or God forgive us, be relevant. The church is a community of broken, hurting, sin-sick, frightened, soul-starving failures (or at least it should be); people like you and me, who bear upon our hearts and in our bodies and in our collective body (the Body of Christ), the scars of sins being forgiven, hurts being healed, truth being told, sacrificial love being lived, and boundaries being broken down so that Christ, the wounded Christ, may enter in. Well, way back when, things got so bad, that all God could think of to do was start again. He said, Noah, you are to build an ark, and fill it with two of every kind. This, Noah did. God sent the rains, wiped everything out. Washed everything clean and started life again. Even God, it seems, still learns. This time there would be no garden, no tree, no blinders (or fig leaves), no pretend innocence. This time there would only be truth; brutal honesty and a promise, written in a rainbow, to always be there, to never let us go, to love us and cherish us, for better, for worse, forever. Thanks be to God!

REVIVAL MINISTRIES AUSTRALIA

REVIVAL MINISTRIES AUSTRALIA REVIVAL MINISTRIES AUSTRALIA Written by Rhoda Jackson Lesson 1 Everything that God made was Good Bible Reading: Genesis chapter 1 In the beginning God created the heavens and