The Creation stories of
Genesis 1 and 2
God’s Work, Our Hands Sunday
God’s Work, Our Hands Sunday
On Wednesday evening this
week, in spite of some communication gaps and general confusion, most of our Confirmation
families got together and shared a meal – this year, we have 17 kids in
Confirmation (!), a peak year for us for the foreseeable future. I shared why
it’s important that we get together and what we’ll be doing this fall. We spoke
our summer highlights into the room (with some sadness that summer adventures
and summer schedules are past for now), and we blessed each other before we
left…. Or I should say, before some very high volume foosball and ping pong got
underway. One mom told me later that her 6th grader LOVES
confirmation.
On Thursday night, 14 of us
gathered at the invitation of the Isaiah Core Team to tell our stories of pain
in our present everyday life— people shared experiences of racism, the expense
of health care, the broken systems we have to address mental illness and
addictions, financial fears when money is very tight, and fears about
deportation of our neighbors, fears about the health of the earth in a season
when one record hurricane follows another in just over a week…we told our
stories around the circle and noticed the big picture stories that the dominant
white culture of the U.S. holds up. The lies are powerful—there is not enough
to go around, you better protect what you have & make sure you have enough
for you & your family because that’s all on you, you better not tell about
your pain because people are not compassionate–your pain will be your fault. We
noticed how these lies keep us isolated, unconscious to how much we share, and
how very interconnected we can become… but that there’s power in recognizing
our connections.
Then, on Saturday, some of us
gathered in the morning to work outside in Peace garden, preparing the ground
for new plantings in the spring along the west side of the building. Others
practiced Cambodian music upstairs. Still others prepared fleece for our
blanket tying service project—one of three projects we’ll do together after
worship. On Saturday evening, we gathered for our fourth Second Saturday meal
and story—this time, featuring Thaly Cavanaugh’s marvelous Cambodian meal and
her story of her journey from Cambodia to Minnesota, a story of deep suffering
and incredible resiliency.
Sharing food together,
singing together, sharing work, sharing our stories, sharing our highs and lows
draws us closer to one another and helps us to notice the presence of God in
new ways, not only as we gather, but as we are sent into our daily lives.
Behold, a new creation!
Everything is becoming new…
This year, we are trying
something new in worship—it’s called the Narrative lectionary—and what that
means is that we are going to try to get more deeply in touch with God’s big
story, God’s big narrative, as we read stories from the Bible together. We
start today with stories of Creation from the first chapters of Genesis, and
each week this fall, we’ll move through stories from the Hebrew scriptures
(sometimes called the Old Testament), so we can get to know them better… again or
for the first time.
We don’t necessarily assume
that we all know these stories. A pastor or seminarian told me a story of
sharing with church people that there was more than one creation story in the
Bible, and this was totally new to them.
Over the years, there have sometimes been arguments about whether the creation really took place in seven days… and here’s what we learn about that argument today. Not even the Bible tells the story in just that one way. Genesis one paints the story of creation in seven big days. Genesis two describes it as happening all at once. The stories are not about literal details… the stories of creation are about God’s presence in everything that happened, whether it was a day or a million years. I think that the people who told these stories, passing them on from generation to generation, and much, much later, who wrote them down… wanted to communicate these things:
Over the years, there have sometimes been arguments about whether the creation really took place in seven days… and here’s what we learn about that argument today. Not even the Bible tells the story in just that one way. Genesis one paints the story of creation in seven big days. Genesis two describes it as happening all at once. The stories are not about literal details… the stories of creation are about God’s presence in everything that happened, whether it was a day or a million years. I think that the people who told these stories, passing them on from generation to generation, and much, much later, who wrote them down… wanted to communicate these things:
God was involved from the very beginning. Remember God’s Spirit, hovering over the void, the
empty universe, the face of the deep, the watery nothingness? Even way back
then before everything we think of as something… God was.
The storytellers of Genesis
wanted us to know:
God loves to create something from nothing. We know this… but this story paints it in beautiful
detail. The beautiful creation wasn’t created from the violence and jealousies
of gods. No, from the cosmically big to the tiniest part of creation, God creates beautiful variety… and calls
all good. And there was evening and there was morning, and each day… some more
was created and blessed.
OR according to that second,
all-in-one version of the story, God creates Adam (the earth person, the one formed from the ground, and isn’t satisfied
until God surrounds the human with food to eat, a tree of life, creatures to be
in relationship with… and finally a partner).
And God thinks this whole creation, the work and the rest, is good.
You might notice that on your
bulletin cover, there is word art. Typically, this type of word art is
generated by a computer program that measures frequency—how often the word
shows up. But, on this example, if that was the case, some of the words would
be different sizes.
God, absolutely should be the
biggest. In just these two chapters of Genesis, God appears 42 times! But the
word “over” is nothing like that often. Yes, God’s Spirit hovers over the deep
and in the storytellers’ view, the sun and moon are over the day and night. But
all in all, over shows up just 10 times. What shows up more? Earth = 26 times.
Day = 16 times. Water = 12 times. Good = 11 times. And one of those times… very good.
So, if I were going to design
the word art for the cover, the biggest words would be God, earth, day, waters,
good… and doesn’t that have a different feel? I think you’ll find that as we
get deeper into the stories that point us to God’s big story this season, the way
that we’ve sometimes taken in these stories, in the middle of all the stories
we live everyday—has trapped us in cycles of thinking we are alone, we are
powerless, we are sad, lonely, and fearful all by ourselves.
But God’s story is trying to
communicate something so different to us—that God created us from the very
beginning in community and that we are better together. We are stronger the
more deeply we realize our ties to the whole creation. We have the opportunity
for more hope and solidarity, for purpose and meaningful work, when we listen
to one another and see ourselves as partners. And… yes, this creation bit is
all God’s good work, but God wants our participation. Or as our church names it
on this day, it’s God’s work using our hands.
So whatever you have brought
of yourself to worship this Sunday, remember we are better because you are
here. That’s the way it’s been since the very beginning when God was creating
all things new… and that’s the work that God is still doing, drawing people together
because we’re better together, and through the Holy Spirit—that same Spirit
that hovered over the deep in the very beginning—God is still calling &
strengthening us to be God’s creative partners through all the twists and turns
of daily life.
How will God use your hands,
your feet, your story this week? Who knows…
But watch for it… because
that’s how God works—in and through, over and under—we’ll practice here after
worship: putting together Kids Kits and tying blankets for children who have
experienced disasters in their communities and moving out into our own
neighborhood to lend a helping hand. But what we practice here is just to
reaffirm that this is the work we’re called to each day as we walk with the One
who is making all things new.
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