NL-Year 3 / Week 1: Creation

Intro to Main Reading

If one were to ask me about my grandfather on my mother’s side, I might start with a few facts. For instance, he was born in 1906 in a little town called Flora, Indiana. But eventually, I would tell you a story about him. For example, he enjoyed several hobbies during his life. In the 1960’s he was into tropical fish…big time. In his basement he had a dozen fish tanks from 10 gallons up to 30 gallons in size. In one of the tanks he even had two piranhas. During this time, he also obtained a baby alligator, which he named, Roy. Eventually, when Roy grew to 3 feet long, my grandfather gave him away to the Indianapolis Zoo. Like I said, when my grandfather got interested in a hobby, he went “all in.”

Over the last fifty years or so, sociologists have come to realize the basic nature of the human experience is narrative – stories. Stories are the fabric of human knowledge and of interpersonal communication. We construct stories to explain other people’s actions, or to make sense of what’s going on. For example, in the three years Nancy and I have been here in Hector/Lodi, it has been grey and threatening to rain every time they’ve held the Grand Prix Festival in Watkins Glen. Now there’s no real connection between the festival and the weather, but we’ve already begun to build a story. When it’s the Grand Prix Festival it will be grey and drizzly.

Stories are also the basis of personal identity and of communal identity. I shared a story about my grandfather because that’s the easiest way for me to give you a little sense of who he was. And since we’ve been here in Hector and Lodi, we’ve heard numerous stories about the history of this congregation, mostly in the form of stories. One of the reasons you take great pride in the cemetery is that the names out there evoke memories of relatives – memories that are in the form of stories.

For Christians, our identity comes out of the biblical story, what one person has called the “God story.” Through these 66 books, the Old and New Testament, we gain a sense of who we are, who God is, and what is God’s purpose for us. The problem is that we don’t really read this story in any real coherent order. If you’ve ever wondered how we determine what texts to read each week, thank the committee who came up with the list of readings about 40 years ago. It was designed to give congregations the main theological points of our faith over the course of three years. This common list or lectionary has been used by thousands of churches. A lot of resource material has been developed to support it – calls to worship, hymns, prayers of confession, anthems. But the readings jump around a lot. You don’t get a real sense of the overarching “God story.” We’re about to address that.

Today, we begin a new set of readings called the narrative lectionary assembled a couple years ago by a group at Luther Seminary in Minnesota. We hope over the next nine months to give you a better sense of the sweep of the Christian narrative, the story that runs from Genesis through the Old Testament, then one of the gospels, and finally some of the writings of the early church.

So, we begin in the beginning…or nearly the beginning. You heard Pastor Nancy share the first creation story with the kids. We’re going to start our reading with the second creation story, the one with Adam and Eve. Now we all know that story…or, at least, think we know it. But various interpretations over the years have inserted things into the story or made assumptions that are not in the biblical narrative. So, I invite you now to listen with fresh ears for what the Spirit is saying to the church: Genesis 2, starting with the second half of verse 4. This can be found on page 2 in your pew bible.

Genesis 2:4b-8a, 15-17; 3:1-8, 21-24

In the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens,5when no plant of the field was yet in the earth and no herb of the field had yet sprung up—for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was no one to till the ground; 6but a stream would rise from the earth, and water the whole face of the ground—7then the LORD God formed the Adam from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being.  8And the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east

15The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it.  16And the LORD God commanded the man, “You may freely eat of every tree of the garden;17but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die.”

[what follows is the creation of a helper as the Adam’s partner: the woman who is flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone]

1Now the serpent was more crafty than any other wild animal that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God say, ‘You shall not eat from any tree in the garden’?” 2The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden; 3but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or you shall die.’ “4But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not die; 5for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

6So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate.7Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves.8They heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.

[what follows is shame, blame and punishment: there are consequences for disobeying God]

21And the LORD God made garments of skins for the man and for his wife, and clothed them.  22Then the LORD God said, “See, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”—23therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he was taken.24He drove out the man; and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim, and a sword flaming and turning to guard the way to the tree of life.

The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.

Sermon

There was a series of ads recently for pomegranate juice. In one of those ads they show a clearly naked woman wrapped very strategically by a large snake. Meanwhile, the announcer tells us that some scholars believe it was a pomegranate, not an apple, with which Eve tempted Adam.

Except that’s not the story we just heard – one of several misinterpretations of what is commonly referred to as the story of the Fall or Original Sin. In the text, Eve doesn’t tempt Adam, there is no apple or pomegranate – just fruit, and nowhere in the rest of the bible are the words “fall” or “original sin” used to describe this story. It is not an attempt to explain how sin entered the world and has contaminated all of Adam and Eve’s descendants, including us. So what is this story trying to tell us? And does it have any relevance to today?

This second story of creation begins with God forming man from the dust of the ground, and breathing into his nostrils the breath of life. This God is intimately involved with creation. Unlike the first creation story where God is somewhat above it all like a king on a throne who speaks and things happen. God in this story isn’t afraid to get his hands dirty working the ground, the adamah. By the way, that’s the Hebrew word for dirt. Adam made from the adamah. It’s word play, like saying God made the human from humus. But the human isn’t fully alive until God breaths into his creation.

And the first thing God does with the human is give him a vocation, a calling, a job. He is to till the garden and keep it. The words for “till” and “keep” can also mean to serve and protect. The human is called to serve and protect the garden to which he is intimately connected having been formed from the dirt. Yes, care for creation, for the environment, has always been a part of our vocation. How we do that responsibly and fairly is our challenge. For those who are interested, the Presbyterian Church (USA) has an Office for Environmental Ministries to show congregations how they can care for God’s creation.

Having a calling is not enough. Work is not enough. So in one of the parts I skipped over in the story, God creates a helper to be the Adam’s partner. It’s the storyteller’s way to remind his audience that human beings are not only created for a vocation, but also created for relationship, one in which each is a partner. This includes marriage in which the two shall become one flesh.

The human has work and a life partner. But one more thing is needed: guidance in the form of life-giving rules. So God tells the humans they can eat of any tree in the garden except one. So now with work, a partner, and a simple command, everything should be paradise. They lived happily ever after...except they didn’t.

There have been studies done in which a group of children are placed in a room full of toys and told they can play with any toy they want, except for the toys in the box in the corner of the room. And pretty quickly the kids are fighting over the toys in the box in the corner of the room. When I was in college, there was a battle over setting the thermostat in our dorm. Eventually, the house manager put one of those plastic boxes that lock over the thermostat so no one could change it. The next day there was a ping pong ball in the box (I’m still not quite sure how it was done). We don’t like being told, “No,” even if it’s for our own good. And prohibition so often turns into desire for that which is forbidden. That is one of the truths in this story about the human condition.

The humans are working in the garden when along comes the serpent – not the devil, not Satan, but a serpent, who is crafty. Actually, the word can be translated as shrewd or sensible or prudent. One can’t really tell whether the serpent is inherently evil. But the serpent raises a doubt and offers an alternate story. No, you won’t die, but you’ll be like God knowing good and evil. Who are people going to listen to?

So Eve takes the fruit and gives some to her husband who was with her. For centuries women were blamed for bringing sin into the world. But look at the story. She’s not tempting him. He’s not off in some other part of the garden. He’s standing right next to her hearing the whole conversation. He’s taking the fruit and eating. Adam is just as guilty of disobeying God.

Now, even before she takes and eats the fruit, the woman already knows the good. She sees the tree is good for food, and that it is a delight to the eyes, and to be desired to make one wise. They both know the good, but it’s not enough. They want what they aren’t supposed to have, what isn’t life-giving. And here we have another one of the great human truths.

Just because we know, doesn’t mean we act appropriately. Knowing doesn’t mean doing. We know what foods we should eat, but I still love my ice cream. We know smoking is bad for us, but millions still smoke including by father. We know we shouldn’t drink and drive, but thousands are killed every year in this country in accidents caused by people under the influence. The knowledge of what’s good and right doesn’t equate to our acting appropriately. The will to do good is not always there. That’s the human condition and another of the central truths of this story. It’s also why this story has endured to the present.

So what’s God to do about all this? Well, there is punishment for disobedience, there is judgment and consequence. But there is also mercy. They two don’t die after eating the fruit. God who is merciful makes clothing for the man and woman and sends them out of the garden to continue to work the land.

This is a theme we will hear throughout the coming year. The Biblical narrative is about the human condition of brokenness and broken relationships. But it is also about discovering that a good and gracious creator won’t give up on us, wants to be in relationship with us. And the ultimate proof is Jesus Christ, whom the Apostle Paul called the new Adam. So stay tuned for part two of the “God story” next week. The story continues.