Genesis Project: Finding Our Place in All Creation
Genesis 1:1, 26-31
A surgeon, an architect, and a politician found themselves in a friendly debate about which of their honored professions happened to be the oldest. “The Lord removed a rib from Adam’s side,” said the surgeon, “to create Eve. That was obviously a surgical procedure.” “Yes,” replied the architect, “but the world was formless and void before the Spirit of the Lord moved upon it. The precision of the universe had to be the result of a masterful, architectural design.” The politician, smiled and said, “And who do you think created the chaos in the first place?”
I invite you these summer Sundays to revisit your Biblical roots. As surely as families need to know their ancestors and businesses need to understand their predecessors, so people of faith need to grapple with their beginnings. How did we get here? Where is God? What does it take to survive a flood? And what can we do and learn from family feuds? Let us see life from our beginnings!
Today, on our way to Communion, let us consider again the Genesis story of Creation.
With this simple, but profound, affirmation of faith, the Bible begins. Throughout the scriptures this affirmation of creation is repeated and restated. Isaiah 40:28 says, “Do you not know, have you not heard, The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth?” Acts 4:15 states “Turn from worthless things to the living God who made the heavens and the earth. Hebrews 11:13 says, “By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.”
For years there has been a war of words in the United States. It started with ultra fundamentalists who believe the incorrect Biblical interpretation of John Lightfoot that the world was created specifically and precisely on Sunday, October 23rd 4004 B.C. with humans appearing on the planet the following Friday at about 9:00 a.m.
If we could ever stop shouting at one another long enough, we might find common ground along the paths of universal order which points to a prime mover whom we know to be in Hebrew as Elohim, the Creator of all, with whom a thousand years is but a day or as a watch in the night when it is past.
In the meantime, let this simple affirmation that opens the Bible ground our hope and our faith. In the beginning, God…..all things begin with that profound faith. God is in our beginning and in our ending. We are not alone. We live in God’s world. We believe in God who has created and is creating. Let that old Biblical creation story empower us to understand that we are the creation of God.
In fact, good seems to be the prominent word of the creation story of Genesis 1. It was good, it was very good. Like an artist that has painted a masterpiece, a poet who has stirred souls with a poem, a musician who has raised the congregation to its feet in praise, so it is that the God of creation steps back from creating and says, “yes, that’s what I want it to be. It is just right. Very good.”
To be good is to be right. To be good is to be reliable. To be good is to be fitting. To be good is to be flawless. Goodness is not a sudden blaze of glory that is won. Goodness is not fame and glory. Goodness is the accomplishment of the purpose for which we were made. Goodness is at the core of the universe.
Everybody needs a place to reconnect with that which is good at the core of the earth. A place where goodness still reigns and things are still right with the universe.
They are old words, you know them as well as I. In the beginning God created and God saw everything that God had made and it was very good.
Humans have dignity that must not be denied. You are a chip off the divine block, a spitting image of your heavenly parent. Before you were born, God molded you in the depths of the earth and knitted you together in your mother’s womb. God has carved you on the palm of God’s hand and hidden you in the shadow of God’s embrace. Even the hairs on your head are numbered by God. No matter who you are, the color of your skin, your gender identity, your sexuality, you are loved by God.
You were made to be a human being created as a reflection of God on the earth. You are more than a complex animal. You are a child of God. You have the power to reason, the capacity to love, the ability to serve. You are a human being. There is no such thing as just a mere human being. You are a precious creation of the living God.
You have worth, value, purpose and place in this universe. I will never forget a severely handicapped child who had been inspired to believe that he had worth and value. He, with a group of others, composed a choir which sang with unusual confidence and joy. At one point in the concert, this young man had a solo. The crowd waited as he made his way to the microphone and began with these words, “I am a promise, I am a possibility, I am a promise with a capital P. I am a great big bundle of potentiality.” Before he could get to the next line of that little song, the crowd came to its feet in praise, thanksgiving, and joy to the Lord. My friends, let us never forget, we were created with promise. We were born with possibility.
Such kinship to God brings a particular partnership with God. As children of God, the first chapter of the Bible tells us we are supposed to help God take care of this place. We are responsible as stewards of creation to make this place safe. If there is a hole in the ozone, then it is our problem. If our streams are polluted, it is our issue. If haze covers our cities and hazards fill our highways, is it not a result of our greed and our grabbing and search for glory? Sooner or later, we are accountable to God who created us and put us in charge of this place.
As children of God, we are called to be faithful. We are also called to be fruitful. God probably meant more by this than just having children. Sow the seeds of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Let the sacredness of human life permeate our decisions concerning issues that our society face. Let that old story speak to us about the dignity of human life. You see our beginnings determine our endings, to paraphrase the psalmist.
O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth. You have set your glory above the heavens
From the lips of children, you have ordained praise. You have made us humans a little lower than angels
and crowned us with glory and honor. O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name. Amen