Let’s start at the
very beginning. That’s a very good place
to start….[i]
The ancient Hebrews would agree. The beginning of their Scriptures begins with
Genesis – a Hebrew word meaning “origin” or “beginning.” To make sense of their story, of their
relationship with God, they needed to start at the beginning.
We need to start at the beginning too. Humans have always tried to explain where everything comes from. There are lots of stories of how the earth began - ancient
myths, the Biblical accounts, scientific explanation.
I was in 3rd grade when I first
heard about the theory of evolution. In the 60's they weren’t teaching evolution explicitly to 3rd graders, but my Sunday school teacher was extremely upset that we might believe
this evil theory instead of believing what the Bible clearly said – that the
earth was created in six days and on the seventh day, God took a nap.
I didn’t really understand all the fuss. I was wise enough in 3rd grade to
know that God could do anything, and could do it any way God wanted to. I figured that since the Bible also clearly
said “that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and
a thousand years are like one day (2
Peter 3:8),” whether each day in Genesis chapter one was a 24
hour day, or thousands of years wasn’t really important. After all, God could have created the world
in 6 seconds if God choose to. I wasn’t so sure about the whole
humans-evolved-from-a-monkey stuff, but I figured that probably wasn’t
important either. I knew that God
created me and loved me. That was all I needed to know. God could explain the rest all when I got to
heaven.
Ah, the
faith of a child!
Fast
forward about 30 years. I was on the confirmation
teaching team at Zion Lutheran in Lima Ohio.
I was talking to our new pastor before the first class in our Bible
year. Of course we were studying
Genesis. I casually mentioned that I had
no problem with evolution (citing the above reasoning) – after all the order
God created the world matched the order evolution stated.
Not so,
said Pastor Kent. There are two accounts
of creation – Genesis 1:1-2:4a and Genesis 2:4b-25. And the order things were created in those
two stories is different.
It
was?
How had
I never noticed it before?
I had
to check it out. I made a chart – and sure
enough, the order of creation IS different
in the two biblical accounts of creation!
Go ahead – check it out. I’ll
wait…
So - which account is true?
They both are!
I teach
my confirmation students that the Bible is not about the ‘how,’ it’s about the “Who”
(thanks Pastor Kent!). Put another way,
it’s not a book of science – it’s a Book of Faith. Those ancient Hebrews,when explaining how everything came to be, told two different stories of the beginning. Both were important statements of faith to
them. Both said something vital about
God, and us, and the world.
The
first account tells us something about God.
God is the Creator – of heaven, of earth, of water and land, plants and
animals and humans –everything that is seen and unseen.[ii] The second account tells us something about
God and us. We were created to be in
relationship with God – and through God in relationship with each other and all
creation. These two stories set the
stage for the rest of the Bible.
There’s
one more story in today’s reading: The
Fall. Serpent tempts woman, woman gives
fruit (The Bible never says it’s an apple!) to man. Humans covet God’s wisdom -
relationship with God is broken. God
asks what happened, man blames woman, woman blames serpent – relationship with
each other and creation is broken. Sin
enters the world.
The
last time I preached on this, I noticed something. God says they can eat from every tree in the garden
but one - The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. But there’s another big, capital letter tree
in the garden – The Tree of Life. Adam
and Eve can eat from that tree, but they don’t.
They choose the fruit that brings death.
Why
didn’t they eat from the Tree of Life?
Does
this story teach us that God gives things that lead to life, but humans so
often choose those things that lead to death?
Looking
around our world, I’d have to say yes.
Take-aways
for today:
- · God made everything.
- · Everything God made is good
- · God made humans to be in relationship to God
- · Left to our own devices, humans will choose
death over life
- · Sin is broken relationship with God, which also
breaks our relationship with each other and creation
How will God redeem this beautiful mess?
[i] Opening
lines from “Do-Re-Mi” from the Sound of Music.
[ii] From
the First Article of the Nicene Creed
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