When God began to create the heavens and the earth— the earth was without shape or form, it was dark over the deep sea, and God’s wind swept over the waters— God said, “Let there be light.” And so light appeared. God saw how good the light was. God separated the light from the darkness. God named the light Day and the darkness Night.
There was evening and there was morning: the first day.
God said, “Let there be a dome in the middle of the waters to separate the waters from each other.” God made the dome and separated the waters under the dome from the waters above the dome. And it happened in that way. God named the dome Sky.
There was evening and there was morning: the second day.
God said, “Let the waters under the sky come together into one place so that the dry land can appear.” And that’s what happened. God named the dry land Earth, and he named the gathered waters Seas. God saw how good it was. God said, “Let the earth grow plant life: plants yielding seeds and fruit trees bearing fruit with seeds inside it, each according to its kind throughout the earth.” And that’s what happened. The earth produced plant life: plants yielding seeds, each according to its kind, and trees bearing fruit with seeds inside it, each according to its kind. God saw how good it was.
There was evening and there was morning: the third day.
God said, “Let there be lights in the dome of the sky to separate the day from the night. They will mark events, sacred seasons, days, and years. They will be lights in the dome of the sky to shine on the earth.” And that’s what happened. God made the stars and two great lights: the larger light to rule over the day and the smaller light to rule over the night. God put them in the dome of the sky to shine on the earth, to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. God saw how good it was.
There was evening and there was morning: the fourth day.
God said, “Let the waters swarm with living things, and let birds fly above the earth up in the dome of the sky.” God created the great sea animals and all the tiny living things that swarm in the waters, each according to its kind, and all the winged birds, each according to its kind. God saw how good it was. Then God blessed them: “Be fertile and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let the birds multiply on the earth.”
There was evening and there was morning: the fifth day.
God said, “Let the earth produce every kind of living thing: livestock, crawling things, and wildlife.” And that’s what happened. God made every kind of wildlife, every kind of livestock, and every kind of creature that crawls on the ground. God saw how good it was. Then God said, “Let us make humanity in our image to resemble us so that they may take charge of the fish of the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the earth, and all the crawling things on earth.”
God created humanity in God’s own image,
in the divine image God created them,
male and female God created them.
God blessed them and said to them, “Be fertile and multiply; fill the earth and master it. Take charge of the fish of the sea, the birds in the sky, and everything crawling on the ground.” Then God said, “I now give to you all the plants on the earth that yield seeds and all the trees whose fruit produces its seeds within it. These will be your food. To all wildlife, to all the birds in the sky, and to everything crawling on the ground—to everything that breathes—I give all the green grasses for food.” And that’s what happened. God saw everything he had made: it was supremely good.
There was evening and there was morning: the sixth day.
The heavens and the earth and all who live in them were completed. On the sixth day God completed all the work that he had done, and on the seventh day God rested from all the work that he had done. God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all the work of creation. This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created. --Genesis 1:1-2:4a (CEB)
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God, our Creator, Jesus, the Word, and the Holy Spirit, brooding over the waters. Amen.
The human story could have started anywhere. Our first peek at humanity could have been paradise. It could have been the fall from grace. But, the human story - our story - starts at the beginning, with the creation of everything. And it starts with the Creator of all things.
We just watched a video of one person’s interpretation of this Genesis story. Yet, if we go back to the holy scripture and read it carefully, we see just how intentional God was about creation. God was thoughtful. Careful. And creative. God included everything - light, universe, stars, sun, atmosphere, seas, land, plants, animals. And then, it was time for people.
People could simply have been made a higher form of animals. But God did something quite unique with humanity. God created people in God’s own image. Putting God’s fingerprint on humanity in a way not done with anything else in God’s creation.
So, we were created in the image of the Creator, which means we were created to create. This is no small distinction. We were not created to break down or to destroy. We were not created to hate, which is at the root of our desire to destroy.
In our lives, we have decisions to make all day long. At their core, each of our decisions comes with an underlying question. Will our choice create or destroy? Will it build up or break down? Will it contribute or remove?
We are living through very difficult times in our world. There is so much division. So much instability. So much destruction of God’s creation. So much that is bad in our world.
Yet, the flip side is true, as well. I’ve been listening to many stories over the past few days - stories that reminded me of what that time was like after 9/11. That world-changing event that happened these 20 years ago. Do you remember that time? I remember how, in the midst of the destruction and the devastation, people pulled together - first responders in particular. We pulled together to do what was necessary to save as many lives as possible.
Now, I recognize that life is complex. My own attitude after 9/11 was that we, as a nation, had taken the right steps, began to change. As I saw mistakes made by leaders, as I heard stories from my own son deployed to Afghanistan, that attitude began to change. And I began to question whether we had, in fact, done the right thing. Isn’t this often true. That we go into a situation thinking we are doing something right. Then, when we’re in the midst of it, recognize that, perhaps, our choice wasn’t so right after all. I wonder if we’d asked these questions - will our choice create or destroy? Will it build up or break down? Will it contribute or remove? If we’d asked these questions, maybe our choice would have been different. And the outcome better.
We are living right now in a world divided by partisan rhetoric. Where too many issues with complex questions and answers have been simplified into sound bites simply for political gain. Can things change? Can we come together to face the complex issues that affect our world?
I say we can. If we listen and watch for the breath of God brooding across the dark waters and ask these difficult questions about creating and building up and contributing I say we can. Isn’t that, after all, what our three congregations are doing right now? Isn’t that what the Holy Spirit is doing right now in our very midst - leading us to change and to form new and different types of partnerships, so that we might together live out our mission as God’s called people in new and creative ways. It’s not always easy and often very hard. But, this is what creating looks like! This is what building looks like! This is what contributing looks like!
So, as we leave here today and over this next week, I invite you to ask these questions of yourselves throughout each and every day. Am I creating or destroying? Am I building up or tearing down? Am I contributing to or taking away from all the goodness that God has created in our world?
As you consider these questions this week, may you also remember that you have been created in the image of God - that God has marked you as God’s own with the very fingerprint of God.
Amen.
Preached September 12, 2021, at New Goshen Presbyterian, Prospect, with Grace & Glory, Prospect, and Third, Louisville.
16th Sunday after Pentecost
Readings: Genesis 1:1-2:4a, John 1:1-5
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