Sermon, Sun 4 Sept: Wk2/ In the garden ...[WMTRBW]

1st READING: Ps 8   

2nd READING: Genesis 2:4-25

SERMON

Two stories of beginnings...

Last week, we reflected upon the first account of the beginning of all things, as described in the book of Genesis, chapter one.

In the beginning, God –

bringing order from chaos,

speaking everything into being

with a life-affirming ‘let    there    be’

This, over a period of time described as 6 days

and with an added seventh day – for rest.

And, as each day, filled to the brim with creative energy 

and fusion, came to an end, further affirmation of life:

‘and God saw all that had been created, and it was good.’

Mountain and valley – good;

flowers, and plants, and trees – good;

sun, moon, stars – good...

human beings, male and female, 

created in God’s very image – good.

While God is shown to be intimately connected 

to all things, through the act of creating,

it is in this second account that we see 

the equivalent of God’s hands getting dirty –

this, in the act of creating the first human:

‘adam’ – which sounds like, and very probably is, 

derived from the Hebrew word for ‘ground’, ‘adamah’.

This account of creation is where we get the reference 

used within a funeral service: 

‘from dust we come...and from dust we will return.’

In this second story - a somewhat different account of the creation,

we learn of streams springing up from the dusty earth, 

watering its whole surface.

And then we hear of this first human,

gathered and formed from the ground itself,

but there’s no life in this sculpted shape

until God breathes into the nostrils of the human,

and upon doing so, behold:

the human...‘being’ – 

living, existing.

It’s in this second account of creation 

that we come across the Garden of Eden –

somewhere in the east.

A garden in which rivers of life-giving water flow out into all the earth;

a garden in which there are trees, pleasing to the eye and good for food;

a garden in which is placed two particular trees:

the tree of life

and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

It is this garden, into which the human being is placed, 

to work and to care for it.

And, just as God spoke the creation into being,

so the human speaks to the beasts of the field and the birds of the air –

and names them.

And God says to the human being –

created in God’s image,

created with the power to name things,

and created with the power to make decisions –

the power to choose –

God says to this human being:

you are free to enjoy the fruit of all trees in this garden, but, just one thing:

‘don’t eat the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, 

for when you eat of it, you will surely die.’

As the poet, Edwin Markham, once observed:

‘choices are the hinges of destiny...’

For, into the story of creation, 

and the relationship between God and human beings, 

comes, for the first time, the possibility of 

creation having the potential of not being good anymore.

But, for the moment, within our text today,

all is well for a time, in the Garden.

Or, well enough...

something yet is lacking:

if God is a communal being –

for whom relationships are important,

then, it follows that human beings were created to be relational creatures.

There is the divine and human relationship,

as we look at our two accounts of beginnings.

However, it seems that God understands 

that the human, as with all other creatures, needs a companion:

‘it is not good for the human to be alone.’

Looking at all of the other creatures in the garden, none is like the human –

all are good, but only the human being is made in God’s image.

After casting the human into a deep sleep, God takes a rib.

And there is new life – 

and new relationship:

male and female 

connected by God,

connected to each other,

connected to creation.

It’s useful to note, too, that here in our reading,

‘helper’ is not meant to be inferior,

not meant in a subservient way –

these two human beings help each other,

share, care, and bear one another’s burdens:

this is not a hierarchical relationship.

The man does not create the woman – 

in fact, the man is sound asleep throughout 

the whole process, utterly passive, 

and probably...cheerfully snoring!

It is God who creates the woman. 

‘Eve, like Adam, owes her existence to God alone. 

Both Adam and Eve are created from fragile materials – dust, a rib – 

and in both cases those materials depend upon God’s 

careful shaping of those raw materials into human creatures.

‘So here we have a passage that affirms the creation of human creatures 

as interdependent – helpers and partners, who live in mutuality and discovery.’

[from: Meghan Florian, ‘Femmonite’ blog]

While this latter part of Genesis, chapter two, is a classic text for weddings – 

it goes beyond marital relationships:

it speaks to a web of relationships on different levels.

Yes, there’s the love shared within the bonds of the marriage relationship,

but there’s the wider bonds of love that we’re called to have for all human beings:

for the whole of the human race is our neighbour.

But what about the trees?

We know that those two trees are still hovering 

in the background, there in the Garden.

We know that one brings life,

and the other brings death.

We know that the story in the Garden 

doesn’t have a Disney-style happy ending...

there is shame, blame, and estrangement from God.

But we also know that the story of God, and of God’s people continues.

Desiring reconciliation,

desiring to no longer be estranged from humanity but a friend

God’s hands once again get dirty –

and echoing the words 

‘flesh my flesh, bone of my bone,’

God becomes one of us,

and hunkers down into the mess and muck of what it is to be human –

with all our potential for good,

and all our potential for not doing good.

Shortly, in bread and wine,

products of God’s good creation,

we remember God’s connection to us, through Jesus,

and our connection to God, as Christ’s body on earth,

seeking to follow him as we serve one another,

and the wider world, in his name.

We gather together to share a meal

in which Jesus talks of bread as his body,

and wine as his blood...

It is a meal of friendship,

of reconciliation,

of celebration - of all that is good,

of all that is ...God’s.

It is a meal that has at its heart life –

abundant life;

it is also a meal that has, at its heart, love –

freely given.

Let us, this day, commit ourselves again

to choosing life, 

and to choosing love –

and to share that life and love with all we meet,

this day and always.  Amen.