Preached June 15, 2014
St. Paul’s United Church of Christ
Gerald, Texas
Friends, it is good to be back with you
today.
You
have been in my prayers,
And
I am grateful for you and for this church family.
We live in a miraculous, wonderful,
complex world
Made
up of uncountable species
Of
animals and plants and life of all kinds.
And we worship the God,
Who
is Creator of all things.
God
our Mother and God our Father,
The
source of life and breath and
Ruler
over all Creation.
And across creation,
There
is such diversity
Beings
of all different kinds, shapes, sizes, and varieties,
Diversity
of animals,
Yet
all one family
Diversity
of humanity
Yet
all one family.
Yes, humans are incredibly diverse.
Even
within a group that seems like it would be homogenous,
We
find stunning brilliance of differences.
Think
about the color blue
Think
about the crystal clear blue waters
Of
a tropical beach
Or
the deep, rich shade of a sapphire
Or
the night sky between dusk
And midnight.
And midnight.
Stunning brilliance, differences,
All
proclaiming praise to God our Creator
Who
is the source of all things.
You may have heard some debate about
Creation,
People
arguing about whether to read the text
Scientifically
or theologically
Or
historically or allegorically.
It is natural to be interested in
Creation
We want to understand the world
around us
And interpret our realities.
But I want to challenge us to revisit
this text in a new way
I
think we have been asking the wrong questions.
When I read about God’s creation,
I
am little concerned with “How” or “When.”
Isaiah
55 says that God’s ways are higher than our ways,
And
God’s thoughts are higher than our thoughts.
Think
about it.
No
one was there to witness creation.
Saying
that God was the one
Who
brought order to chaos
Is
an affirmation of faith.
It can only be known through
faith.
Church,
I think “how” and “when” are not the right questions
It’s
not “how” but “who.”
It’s
not “when” but “why.”
Not about
process
But
about purpose.
We
can’t scientifically prove God’s existence
Or
God’s creative act.
When we proclaim that God is
Creator,
We
are affirming our faith in God,
A
reminder of what and whose we are.
Any God worthy of our devotion
Is
big enough for all of our questions.
We are right to ask questions,
But
let us be sure that we are asking the right ones.
Why did God create the world and
humankind?
What
is our purpose on this earth?
What
does it all mean,
That
God created the world,
That
God created us,
That God created us in God’s own image?
And as I sit in my wondering, I think
about other questions
I would like to bring to our text
today,
Some follow up questions for God
About
the deeper concerns of being a human,
Created
by God in God’s image.
Who
am I?
Where am I going?
Why
did I do that?
Can
I make it through this?
Where is God in this suffering?
I want to encourage us to read Genesis
as a book of testimony
As
voices of the community of our faith
Witnessing
to their trials,
Articulating
how God is moving
Within
their community
In
spite of struggles,
Speaking
solidarity with us
As fellow sojourners,
As fellow sojourners,
Proclaiming
that no matter what is happening,
We
are not alone
God
is with us
In
our disappointments
And
in our victories.
Let us approach Genesis with our
questions
And
even if we leave this encounter with God limping away,
Not
fully understanding what has happened,
May
we know that
God
is with us.
In the beginning was the Word
And
the Word was with God
And
the Word was God.
In the beginning was God,
And
everything that is and ever has been
Is
because God spoke it into being.
There was a formless void
And
a great darkness over the watery deep.
And like a mother hen tending to her
nest,
Waiting
for life to come
God’s
spirit hovered over the waters.
Just like God’s Spirit still hovers
Over
the formless void
Of
broken lives and great darkness.
We may not be able to see or detect
God’s presence
But
the good news of “in the beginning”
Is
that God is with us.
While it may seem that sometimes
Our prayers only go as high as
our ceilings
We are not alone
God is our Mother hen
Brooding
over us,
Waiting for life to spring forth.
Recall that Genesis was written
During
the time of exile
When
the people of Israel had lost everything
And
were waiting for God to send rescue.
So the entire book has a message between
the lines,
A
message of hope for the hopeless,
Freedom
for the captives.
Church, can you hear their testimony?
God
is Almighty!
God
is more powerful than other gods.
You
can hope in God
Because
God is with you.
And did you notice that when God
created,
God
said, “Let us”?
In
the beginning was the Word
And
the Word was with God
And
the Word was God.
Humans are created in God’s image
Male
and female in the image of God
For God is our Father and our Mother
Bigger
than one gender or the other
And
bigger than any of our words and
categories.
God can’t be contained in a human
depiction
Humans
are created in diversity.
Humans
are created in love,
Love
that seeks companionship,
Love
that exists for others.
God’s identity is “us”, plural
And
our identity is belonging to a community.
We are not created for ourselves, but
for God
Whose
image we bear
So when we read this text to justify
domination
Of one group over the other
We completely miss the point
It’s not about “how” or “when”
But
about “who” and “why”
Not
process, but purpose
Not
power and authority, but community
Genesis 1:28 calls for joint dominion
over the earth.
Dominion,
not domination.
If you read Genesis 1 as justification
of man over woman
You
have not really read the text
Because the entire story of God’s
creation
Is
about community
By
a God who is in very nature,
Community
Not process, but purpose.
And
this is not just between the humans,
Not
just about man and woman
But
about humankind and the earth.
We are created in community by a God who
is Love
And
we are to love each other and our world.
Sexism and the hierarchy of humans over
nature go hand in hand.
Exploitation
of things or others
Comes from a sense of entitlement.
Comes from a sense of entitlement.
But let us remember that God created us
For
community
Partnership
Harmony,
Not
domination.
The story of creation also has a
challenge.
Just
as God created in the darkness with nothing
We,
who may be trapped in darkness, are called to create.
We,
who may have nothing, are called to create.
There is a book of Jewish stories about
stories in the Bible
Called
Does God Have a Big Toe?
And
the story of creation is very profound.
God
created the world
And
God created humans in God’s image
To
be partners with God in creating the world.
Some
of the animals in the garden ask God
If
the world is finished being created.
God says that the animals will
have to ask Adam and Eve,
For they are God’s partners in
creation.
There is a line at the end of the story
that I wanted to share with you:
“On
the days you think I am not doing enough,
And
on the days I think you are not doing enough,
Even
on those days,
We
are still partners
And
we must not stop
Trying
to finish the world.”
Out of the watery deep comes order and
harmony
And
just as God brought order to the universe
Through
us, God will keep bringing new life.
Through
us, God will continue creating
And
recreating the world,
Lighting up the darkness,
Ordering the chaos.
If we are made in God’s image
Then
let us focus in on what God is doing.
God is concerned with life
And
with the forces that nurture life and threaten life.
God speaks into emptiness even when
there is no one to listen.
Life
depends on light,
So
let there be light.
God is with us in the light of day
And
the dark of night
In
the pinnacle of our hopes
And
the deep valleys of our despair.
No darkness can swallow God because God
is over all things,
Even
darkness,
And
in the midst of the darkness,
God
says, let there be light!
God knows that we need nutrition and
water
So
God created the seas
And
the atmosphere
And
vegetation.
God knows that we need reminders of hope
and joy,
So
God created flowers and beautiful landscape.
God knows we need order,
So
God created a cosmic clock of lights
To
order the passage of time.
And just as God has done,
So
are we called to do.
We are to be concerned with life
And the things that nurture and
threaten it,
To use and preserve water
And
vegetation and the environment,
To
be reminders of hope and joy,
And to leave reminders of hope and
joy
For others behind us.
We
are called to speak into the darkness
To
create order out of chaos.
When I was at the lowest point in my
life I had ever been,
A
friend sent me a poem by Frank Butler
That
reminded me what and whose I am.
“Everyone who
terrifies you is sixty-five percent water.
And everyone you
love is made of stardust, and I know sometimes
You cannot even
breathe deeply, and
The night sky is
no home, and
You have cried
yourself to sleep enough times
That you are
down to your last two percent, but
Nothing is
infinite,
Not even loss.
You are made of
the sea and the stars, and one day
You are going to
find yourself again.”
I love this poem.
When I read it, I remember the nights I
could not sleep,
When
my anxious heart could not find rest,
When
even my home did not feel like a safe place,
When I did not know if everything
would be alright,
When I wondered where God was,
If God could hear me,
And if there
was even any point
In
hoping anymore.
I remember when I was down to my last
two percent,
When
I was running on fumes at best,
When
I felt completely alone
And
forgotten
And
forsaken,
Maybe
even by God.
But my friend breathed life into me.
She
spoke the truth of God’s power
And
justice and mercy,
Of God’s faithfulness
Of God our Mother and God our Father
Whose spirit blew over
The
dark formless void of my life
And
brought forth life
And
light
And
order.
Church, we were made in the image of God,
And
are called to be the hands and feet of God in the world.
So let us bear the image of God
As
we exist in the world.
To those among us living in darkness,
In
addictions,
In
abusive relationships,
In
financial trouble,
In
uncertainty,
In
despair,
In
sorrow,
With
hurts that do not seem to heal,
With
losses that cannot be replaced,
With
blind faith awaiting fulfillment of promises
that
just aren’t coming yet,
Let
us speak light!
Let
us speak light into their darkness!
To those among us living in a formless
void,
Those
who suffer at the hands of injustice,
Those
who are oppressed,
Those who are slandered and violated and exploited,
Those who cannot even afford
To ask themselves about purpose,
To ask themselves about purpose,
Because they are just trying
to survive,
Those
who have nothing left to hope in
but
hope itself,
Let
us speak order into their chaos!
We are called to speak truth to power,
To
enter the darkness without fear,
So
that we might breathe
The
creative power of God,
And through some mystery of being
created in God’s image,
Bring
redemption and healing and hope and harmony.
Where there is discord,
We
are called to breathe peace.
Where there is oppression,
We
are called to breathe freedom.
Where there is exploitation,
We
are called to breathe partnership.
Where there is despair,
We
are called to breathe joy.
Where there is hopelessness,
We
are called to breathe the wind of God,
Who
is the creator of all that is
And
ever was
And
ever will be,
And who is faithful to fulfill
promises.
May our lives be like a wind sweeping
over the dark chasm
Of chaos around us,
Spreading life and light and the
power of God,
Which nothing can conquer.
In the beginning, God created the
heavens and the earth
In
the beginning was the Word,
And
the Word was with God,
And
the Word was God.
In the beginning, God was with us,
And
God is still with us,
In
our splendor and brilliance,
In
our success and achievements,
When we
blossom and nurture
And
thrive,
In the beginning, God was with us,
And
God is still with us,
In our darkness,
In our formless voids,
When we fail and falter,
When we are
down
To our last two percent.
To our last two percent.
Even then, we are not alone,
Even
then, we are not forsaken,
And
even then, we are not without hope.
For, from the very beginning,
God
is our Creator,
Our
source of life,
Our
ever-present help in trouble,
Our
deliverer and redeemer,
Our
constant companion,
Emmanuel,
God with us.
Thanks be unto God.
O Lord my God,
when I in awesome wonder,
Consider all the
worlds Thy Hands have made;
I see the stars,
I hear the rolling thunder,
Thy power
throughout the universe displayed.
Then sings my
soul, My Savior God, to Thee,
How great Thou
art, How great Thou art.
Then sings my
soul, My Savior God, to Thee,
How great Thou
art, How great Thou art!
No comments:
Post a Comment