Genesis 1:1–2:4
Whether you are most comfortable embracing Celtic Christianity, or if you are grounded in the theology of Martin Luther, or if you are still seeking a spiritual path within a Jesus framework, you can be assured that we all share a common beginning found in the Book of Genesis in our Bible. Listen….
Eons ago before time was time, God began to create—all you see, all you don’t see…..Before it was anything else, earth was a soup of nothingness ….a bottomless emptiness….. an inky blackness. As far as the eye of God could see, darkness covered everything, blacker than a hundred midnights deep in the woods of Maine.
God’s Spirit brooded like a bird above the dark and watery abyss…like a mighty eagle or a wild goose, like a mother hen guarding her nest. It was the same Spirit that fluttered down as a dove at Jesus’ baptism. It was the same Spirit that drove Jesus into the wilderness for 40 days to figure out just how to do what God had called him to do, that is, to make God’s sacred dream for the world come true. It was the same Spirit that blew out windows, created little eddies of dust and debris, and went on to surround the apostles, causing a spontaneous and joyous surrender in that upper room in Jerusalem at Pentecost. It was the same Spirit that, from the beginning, has breathed itself into each and every human heart – even yours, even mine. God’s Spirit. Holy Spirit…..
Then God smiled, and the darkness rolled up on one side, and the light stood shining on the other. When that light materialized out of the deepest night, and order emerged from chaos, love and blessedness prevailed, and God said, “That’s good!”
We all want to know where we came from. We all want to hear the stories of our beginnings, stories that shape who we are today and offer guidance on who we should be in the future. These stories are where we find our roots and our wings.
The tale I just paraphrased is the start of one of two creation stories in our Holy Scriptures. They are told without using scientific jargon because there was no scientific jargon when they were first told and eventually written down. These stories that found their way into Genesis were in a setting and language that would have been familiar to the first ancient listeners. Just imagine them sitting around a campfire in the cool of the evening asking life’s most persistent questions. Who am I? Where did I come from?
These early listeners would have intuitively understood that their story, our story, this tale of the beginning stood in stark contrast to other creation tales bandied about in ancient days. One might even say that, as UCC pastor Kathryn Matthews writes, their story, our story is “a counter-cultural protest of the people of Israel against the creation story of their Babylonian captors. While their oppressors saw the origins of the universe as violent and bloody, the Israelites told their children a different story, a story rooted in goodness and blessing.”
Lutheran pastor Kathryn Schifferdecker puts it this way. Their story, our story “does not describe the world of ancient Near Eastern creation myths, where the gods have to defeat the sea or the sea dragon in order to create the earth. There is only one God in Genesis, and that God is the Creator of everything, including the sea monsters themselves. There is no chaos-monster in Genesis 1 that must be defeated.”
Ours is not the story of a cosmic clash between good and evil that characterizes so many creation stories. In stark contrast, it is the story of what goodness and love can do. And so, throughout that first ancient narrative, we are reminded that the earth and all that is in it is good – and blessed by God. Before original sin, then, there was original blessing.
Our story is a beautiful theological poem - mythology at its best - because it offers in imaginative language a reflection on the world and the nature of its creatures (including us). It is a poetic ode to the God whose love lies at the heart of all creation, making that creation nothing other than good.
Contrary to what the flat earthers and religious fundamentalists say who insist that all of this magnificent creation occurred in six 24-hour days about 6000 years ago, this passage was never meant to be taken as literal fact. Its truth lies far deeper and is far more complex.
But let’s continue this story, our story….
God separated the water under the sky from the water above sky. “Water-beneath-Heaven, gather into one place; Land, appear!” And there it was. God named the land Earth and the pooled water Ocean. And God smiled and said, “That’s good.’
God spoke: “Earth, green up!” Then the green grass sprouted, and the little red flowers blossomed, the pine tree pointed her finger to the sky, and the oak spread out his arms. And God said, “That’s good.”
God spoke: “Lights! Come on! And God set the sun blazing in the heavens. And the light that was left from making the sun God gathered up in a shining ball and flung against the darkness, sprinkling the night with the moon and stars. And God said, “That’s good.
God spoke: “Swarm, Ocean, with fish and all sea life! Birds, fly through the sky over Earth!” Fishes and fowls and beasts and birds swam the rivers and the seas, roamed the forests and the woods, and filled the air with their wings. And God said: That's good!
God spoke: “I will make human beings in my sacred image, full to the brim with goodness and light. They will reflect my love for this world and be responsible for the fish in the sea, the birds in the air, the cattle, and, yes, even for the Earth itself.”
Imagine: God Almighty who lit the sun and fixed it in the sky, who flung the stars to the most far corner of the night, who shaped the earth gently: This great God formed us – male and female - in that holy image. Then into us God blew the breath of life, and we became living souls.
And God blessed us and gave us one command: “Be responsible. Be responsible for the fish in the sea and the birds in the air, for every living thing that moves on the face of the Earth. Be responsible.” And God said one more time, “That’s good.”
Be responsible: Those are powerful words that will continue to haunt us down through the ages when we realize that we are answerable not only to God, but to one another, to our children, to all the generations yet to come. Be responsible as God is responsible. Love the world as God loved the world.
I think the ancient Celts who lived principally in Britain and Ireland understood that command to be responsible for creation.
You see, their theology was founded on a respect for and love of the natural world. These ancient Western Celts were animists. That is, for them, God was found in the world around them and was manifested by everything in it.
However, unlike so many ancient animists, they did not fear the wildness of creation. Rather they were fascinated by it and embraced the natural world. For the ancient Celts, everything was sacred and worthy of a blessing.
They did not at first accept orthodox Christianity which emerged out of urban Rome. However, when they did, they did so on their terms, retaining that reverence for the natural world, for all of creation, and weaving it seamlessly into their Christian faith.
Though some of Jesus’ parables may not directly touch our experience, the ancient Celts would have related easily to them – lost sheep, vineyards, fig trees. All of these images were aspects of God’s amazing creation for which, down through the ages, we are responsible to love and sustain and bless.
Call it what you will – global warming, climate change, climate dis-regulation. We are in the midst of a crisis, and we humans are the root cause. We consume more than we care. We take more than we share. We feel entitled to far more than our due.
What will happen to our grandchildren - and their children - if we do not take our responsibility seriously today? What will happen if we fail to see that we are part of a sacred web that includes all of creation, something the ancient Celts intuitively understood. What will happen if we have forgotten that God said it was all good?
What will Maine be like when we no longer have maple trees to tap for syrup in the spring? What will Maine be like when most of our children will contract Lyme disease at some point in their lifetime – but that will be the least of their tick-borne disease worries? What will Maine be like when the Southwest becomes a desert wasteland? Will we welcome the great migration northeastward to our towns and villages and neighborhoods where there is still water?
We may argue with enormous intensity about whether the earth was created in six days or a billion years, but, when we do, we miss most important point in this creation story. As Kathryn Matthews blogged: “We were created, by whatever process and whatever length it took, by a gracious Creator, in love and goodness, and we are called to care for this earth, this good creation, not to dominate or abuse it. We are responsible for its care.”
My prayer is that we will wake up and face the world that we have made. However, prayer is not enough, and so that prayer is coupled with a challenge to you. It is simple. It is this: Understand and act upon your God-given responsibility not only for what has happened to creation, but also for what will happen in the years to come.
Care for your own little spot in the world. Know your carbon footprint and be prepared to offset it by planting trees and moving away from fossil fuels. Leverage your privilege. You may not feel affluent, but you are. Leverage your privilege through what you choose to buy – where it is from, how it is packaged - and, for those lucky enough to have money left over, in what you choose to invest. Vote for politicians who are wise enough to embrace creation care.
We may not have all the answers, but surely we can affirm that we are on this precious planet together, committed to God’s command uttered in the very first chapter of the Book of Genesis: Be responsible.
Our younger son once asked me about his relationship with his then serious girlfriend (now his wife and our wonderful daughter-in-law). “When do you move,” he queried, “from things being about “me” to being about “us”?”
That is a good question about serious personal relationships but also a good question when it comes to our relationship with the earth and its creatures, when it comes to defining our responsibility. When do we embrace all of creation as the ancient Celts did? When do we acknowledge that we too are part of a sacred web, that we are part of the warp and woof of a marvelous tapestry that God began weaving at the very beginning of time? When do we understand that all of life is worthy of a blessing? When, as our son asked, does it move from being about “me” to being about “us”?
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