Day 56- On Creation

Total Mileage: 6,544

Song of the Day:
"I Called Out Your Name" (The Thermals)


So, driving around Yosemite, I decided that I'd post something I've had in the vault for a while now: my last sermon from my preaching course this past Spring.  We had to pick from a list of possible Old Testament/Hebrew Bible texts, and I chose the Genesis 1:1-2:4a creation story.  Since I spent all day enjoying creation while taking in the sights at Yosemite, it seems only appropriate to share the sermon here:




"The Creation Song"
(April 25th, 2011)
 

In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was welter and waste, and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a breath from God swept over the face of the waters. Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light.  And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness.  God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.  And God said, "Let there be a dome in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters."  So God made the dome and separated the waters that were under the dome from the waters that were above the dome. And it was so.  God called the dome Sky. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.  And God said, "Let the waters under the sky be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear." And it was so.  God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good.  Then God said, "Let the earth put forth vegetation: plants yielding seed, and fruit trees of every kind on earth that bear fruit with the seed in it." And it was so.  The earth brought forth vegetation: plants yielding seed of every kind, and trees of every kind bearing fruit with the seed in it. And God saw that it was good.  And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.

And God said, "Let there be lights in the dome of the sky to separate the day from the night; and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years, and let them be lights in the dome of the sky to give light upon the earth." And it was so.  God made the two great lights-- the greater light for dominion of day and the lesser light for dominion of the night-- and the stars.  God set them in the dome of the sky to give light upon the earth, to have dominion over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good.  And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.  And God said, "Let the waters bring forth swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the dome of the sky."  So God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, of every kind, with which the waters swarm, and every winged bird of every kind. And God saw that it was good.  God blessed them, saying, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth."  And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.  And God said, "Let the earth bring forth living creatures of every kind: cattle and creeping things and wild animals of the earth of every kind." And it was so.  God made the wild animals of the earth of every kind, and the cattle of every kind, and everything that creeps upon the ground of every kind. And God saw that it was good.  Then God said, "Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them hold sway over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth."

So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and hold sway over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth."  God said, "See, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food.  And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food." And it was so.  God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their multitude. And on the seventh day God completed the work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done.  So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all the work that he had done in creation.  These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created.

(Genesis 1:1-2:4a, NRSV with modifications based on Robert Alter’s Genesis)

            Situated just south of the Cincinnati interstate loop in northern Kentucky is one of the most interesting and controversial American religious landmarks ever designed: an expansive museum dedicated exclusively to the teaching of creation science.  The brainchild of Ken Ham and the organization Answers in Genesis, the Creation Museum features exhibits of animatronic dinosaurs and biblical characters spread throughout a series of expansive displays dedicated to the teaching of the Bible as historical fact-- particularly the creation of the world over six literal 24-hour days approximately 6,000 years ago.  Exhibits in the museum include a partial reconstruction of Noah’s Ark, a Garden of Eden in which dinosaurs are present, and even a talking Methuselah.  Frankly, whether you’re in favor of young earth creationism or opposed to it, the museum is still kind of a surreal experience.  It represents a genuine attempt by good people to reconcile the book of Genesis with modern scientific findings, but there is one area in which the museum falls very much short.  It incorrectly answers a very important question:

 What is the proper relationship of humanity and creation and God?

             Throughout the Creation Museum are signs that read “God Says/Man Says” and display the words of the Bible set against more modern scientists and philosophers (particularly Rene Descartes, whose philosophies were actually intended to defend the faith rather than assail it).  An early villain that we encounter in the first room of the museum is a nonreligious archaeologist intent on disproving the biblical account of creation, and the display sets this archaeologist against Ken Ham himself, who argues that the Bible and fossil evidence correspond.  Though its goal is to teach the words of the Bible and the importance of the book of Genesis to the Christian faith, the museum establishes God and the world as forces in absolute opposition, constantly looking to dominate and disprove one another.  The museum suggests that God is an absolute monarch over a disobedient world, and that is not how Genesis 1 tells it.

              No, Genesis 1 shows a very different Creator from this.  Genesis 1 shows a Creator who is willing to trust the newly-made creatures enough to involve them in the process of forming and governing the world.

In the beginning, we see a world of primordial waste and wild, a deep dark void, but a breath from God flutters over the abyss and speaks the world into existence, creating light and sky and sea and land.  The holy breath then speaks into being the entities that will populate these realms: plants, sun, moon, stars, fish, birds, and animals of every kind-- including the funny little bipeds that God calls ’adam or “humans,” which it turns out is a nice little pun on ’adamah, the Hebrew word for “dirt.”  How flattering.  As the Spirit speaks these things, the creation itself becomes involved in the act.  The holy breath demands of the infant world, “Waters!  You will swell and teem and bring forth the fish and the leviathans!  Sky!  You will give birth to the birds of the air and cradle them in your firmament!  Earth!  You will rise up and, from your own dust, bring forth the animals!  The feral beasts!  The tame cattle!  The creeping, crawling things!  All will find a home across your expanse!”  All creation participates and rejoices with God as its conductor, responding joyfully to every perfect command.  When C.S. Lewis retells this creation story in his Narnia series, he shows Aslan the Lion actually singing the nascent world of Narnia into existence.  The voice is not so much a set of words or declarations, but a sweet and powerful melody swelling and building as the stars appear in the sky and the animals appear on the new earth, all of them joining in the chorus as the song continues in its cadence until all of creation is singing the glory of Aslan and of his Father, the Emperor beyond the Seas!  So it is in the Genesis account!  By the sixth day, the world is at its highest pitch!  All things cry out in celebration of the Lord, God, the Creator of Hosts, the Ruler of Heaven and Sea and Earth, Alpha and Omega, Orderer of the Spheres, Sovereign over Light and Darkness, Inventor and Sustainer of All Things!  All of creation sings in one accord, “Praise be to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, for all creation is God’s to command!  Lead us as You will!  Show us Your way, oh Lord!  Give us Your next great commandment, that we may be obedient to Your will!”

And so God rests, and the creation song takes a grand and reverent pause.

 

And in that time between verses of the song, between its majestic creative cadenzas, God and sea and sky and plant and animal and fish and bird and sun, moon, and stars breathe in one another, and they are of one spirit, new and renewed.  And we call this time Sabbath, and we commemorate it every Sunday as we rest and rejoice, cradled in the bosom of our Lord.

And so our world came into being.  God spoke all things into existence and then commanded the freshly-formed creation to participate in the bringing forth of all life, from the smallest single-celled organisms up through the largest and most complicated mammals.  The sky and sea and earth did not rebel against God or stray from the will of their Creator from the start, but joined together in the song, responding to every command and bringing forth the plants and the animals.  From the beginning, Creation is in harmony with God and God’s will.  God entrusts the Creation to the creatures that inhabit it, granting rule and dominion and sway to the sun, moon, and stars (and also to the humans, who are the stewards of the whole of Creation).  God gives to the humans plants for food and other animals for companionship and sets all of Creation to coexist in peace, renewed every seven days when we remember the time that God rested.  Sadly, this perfect order would eventually give way to corruption.

The Bible teaches us that, through a combination of hubris and a constant desire to test God’s commandments, humanity gives way to sin, and the order of creation loses sight of the perfect intention with which it was created, and it is here that the Creation Museum departs from the Bible which it seeks to defend.  The museum stresses how, even in the very beginning, God engineered the animals to be carnivorous and set creation so that it could be at odds with itself after the fall of humanity.  The museum teaches that humanity was destined to fall before the song of creation even began and that God allowed these events to unfold so that humankind might be further corrected and disciplined.  The museum claims all of this in spite of the refrain running throughout the lyrics of Genesis 1:

And God saw that it was good.

After the light appears in the darkness, God sees that it is good.  After the seas recede and gather together and the dry land emerges, God sees that it is good.  When the plants grow on the land for the first time, God sees that it is good.  Sun, moon, and stars-- God sees that they are good.  The birds and the fish and the sea monsters are good!  Wild animals, cattle, crawling things-- they are all good!  The very image of God is imprinted upon humanity, establishing for them sway over the entire world, and the Lord sees that it is very, very good!  The world did not begin as some disaster waiting to happen.  It did not start out predisposed to sin and selfishness.  Genesis 1 gives us a picture of a perfect creation, one in which the whole of the universe sings together, and humanity governs the world in peace and love and charity as God has commanded.  God gave us a good and beautiful and bountiful earth to be treasured, not trampled!  This planet is not out to get us!  We are not at odds with Creation!  There were not velociraptors waiting in the bushes of the Garden of Eden, eager for humanity to fall so that they could finally put their sharp talons and teeth to tearing and desecration!  No, God gifted us a good earth, for if the Lord God Almighty says that this creation is good, then it is good!

As humans, yes, we are imperfect, and yet God entrusts to us the reins of this good earth.  Male and female, we were created and assigned to be caretakers over all creation-- to tend to it and preserve its goodness.  We sing together with God and the world, protecting this place and continuing the first creative song of praise.  The very rocks and shrubs cry out to the Lord and seek to fulfill God’s will for Creation, and we join in their song!  This world is not evil!  God made it, and God made it good, and God wishes us to take part in the celebration!

What role have you played in the creation song of late?  Have you lost touch with the sacred music that moves the spheres?  Have you dismissed this world as evil and corrupt?  Have you let yourself believe that God holds this creation in disdain?  Have you yielded to discord?  Whatever is on your heart this morning, whatever your attitude toward this world, I would call on you to rejoice this day in creation anew!  There is a world all around you that is singing God’s glory!  Can you not hear the song?

“Holy, holy, holy Lord!  God of power and might!  Heaven and earth are full of Your glory!  Hosanna in the highest!  Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!  Hosanna in the highest!”

[in prayer]

Creator God, we know that You have given us a good world, and though we fall short constantly and create for ourselves chaos and discord, in Your mercy, You bring us back into harmony with Your perfect hymn of creation.  Help us not to forsake Your creation, Lord.  Help us to bear Your image proudly to a world that yearns day and night for You.  Make us good and responsible stewards who look not to condemn the world, but to fill it with Your redemptive mercy.  We know that You looked upon Creation in the first days and saw that it was good, and we ask that You would fill our hearts with love and mercy so that we might say the same.  It is good, Lord.  It is good!  For the many blessings that you have spoken into our lives, thank you, and please continue to bless us as we tend Your creation.

Amen.