REPEATING THEMES 2 - Creating

Reading: Psalm 98, Genesis 3:1-9,2 Corinthians 5:17-21, Mark 16:3-15

Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY, July 18th 2010


I’m continuing this morning on a series I’m calling “Repeating Themes”. In this series I want to try and identify some repeating themes that weave in and out of the 66 books that we call the Bible. I will be suggesting to you that these themes are ones we should focus upon in our own spiritual journeys. The first theme I’m calling “CREATING”

We all started somewhere. There was a day when our life began. Some time in the not so distant past we removed our self from bed and made it to a pew. Everything, in a world governed by time, begins somewhere. The most atheistic scientist and the most belligerent theist agree that all things have a starting point.

Where people enter into debate is how things got started. Some suggest it was a matter of random chance. Others that it was a Big Bang. The Gospel of John suggests it began with a Word. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (John 1:1)

The very first statement of the very first Book in the Bible, the Book of Genesis (a name which means ‘Beginnings’) reads “In the beginning God created…” (Genesis 1:1) and how did God create? “God said… ” (Verses 3 and many following!). In Genesis God speaks life into being. In the beginning was the Word.

The first preacher in the Bible is God and the very first sermon ever preached is Creation. One of the poets from the Book of Psalms reflects “The heavens declare the glory of God” (Psalm 19:1) and again in Psalm 33, “By the Word of the Lord the heavens were made” (verse 6).

For centuries a tension has existed between the ‘scientific’ view and the ‘religious’ view of how all things got their starting orders. On one side are those who are convinced by their observations that our world moved from lower forms of life into the place it is now, and that for such a process to happen no involvement from any kind of god or gods is needed.

On the other hand are those who are equally adamant that the world came into being through an all powerful Creator, varying from those who believe in a literal seven days of creation, to those who accommodate some form of evolutionary theory.

At the end of the day they all rely on that thing that they either claim to have… or deny having anything to do with. Namely ‘faith’. (Faith that God ‘is not’ is just as much a supposition the faith of the one who says ‘God is’.) Both claim to have valid reasons for their assertions.

The bottom line remains that nobody knows, with absolute, total, completely, concrete, verifiable, certainty how things began. Everybody has a worldview. What is a world view? Simply… a view of the world from where you are standing. YET…there remains one thing that we all know and which nobody can refute. Life has begun and it’s still going on and to prove it, here we are.

Today rather than speak about ‘God the Creator’ I want to make our focus the scriptural notion of ‘Creating’. Every book in the Bible reveals a God who has an ongoing relationship with people, a relationship that is constantly being re-energized and re-formed. God is all about ‘Creating’.

The narrative of the Garden of Eden is one of the most intriging of the Bibles stories. It testifies to something that even those who claim to have no religion recognize. That somewhere along the way, things have become completely messed up.

It suggests that life could be a paradise, but by our actions; by our subtle lies and insatiable lust for power and everything we should not have; by our ability to give in to temptations; that our failure to take God at God’s word; has created a situation where we no longer feel totally at home with each other or with God. So we hide and we cover up. We are ashamed of our nakedness and stumble around surviving in the shadows. The last thing we want is for God to come looking for us.

But that is what happens. God walks into that Garden and demands “Where are You? Why are you hiding?” He pronounces words of warning but then creates clothes to hide the nakedness. He takes Adam and Eve out of a situation where everything is already ruined and could get a whole lot worse and puts them in a place of new beginning and new possibility.

Time and time again, in story after story, this pattern is repeated. People messing up and God creating new opportunity. For Noah it’s cleansing waters and a big boat. For Abraham it’s about a new land and more children of faith than he could count. For Joseph it’s about turning what people meant for harm into an opportunity for blessing. With Moses it is out from slavery and into freedom.

Through Judges and Kings and prophets, through times of tragedy and treachery, times of unfaithfulness and recovery, all the time God weaves in and out of the stories as the one who is creating new and greater opportunities for people to experience blessing and know themselves as God’s much loved children.

We move into the Books of the New Testament and see a whole new focus. God enters into human life in an unthinkable way. God in Christ changes all the rules. Miracles that shouldn’t happen. Going places He shouldn’t be welcome. Telling stories that violated all conventions. Touching people that should be excluded. Suggesting servants should be Kings and Kings should become servants. Making claims that people who were in the know recognized as blasphemous. Bringing into the light much that was wrong with religion.

This time there was no garden to hide in. So what’s done is what is always done when our sins get the better of us. Like Cain did with Abel the Christ is killed. But this is no normal assassination. We see public humiliation and torture and contempt. We see those closest to Him abandoning all that they believed and denying they ever knew Him. In the midst of it all, as Jesus hangs naked, bloody and in agony on an accursed tree there comes words that were so new and so creative that we still struggle to understand them. “Forgive them Father, for they don’t know what they are doing.”

From here on the story just gets more radical. Three days later there are claims and counter-claims of resurrection. The stories are kind of garbled. Kind of like witnesses to an explosion who can’t quite grasp what’s happened because they are still struggling with the intensity of the experience. It’s not clear exactly who knew first or was there at what time, but it is clear that once again God was doing that creating. This time on a vast canvas. Creating life out of death, hope out of despair, light out of darkness, and order out of chaos.

We move into the Book of Acts. There’s a story about Christ’s Ascension followed by the creation of a new community through the Holy Spirit descending on fearful disciples and transforming them into fearless apostles; still with a lot to learn, but now having the boldness to explore where it may lead and flow with it wherever it may go. Again it’s all about the Creating God, re-forming community, birthing this thing we call Church.

The letters of the New Testament are equally unlikely. Many of them are written by a one time zealous opponent of the faith, struck dumb and blind, whilst recognizing the voice of Jesus calling him to make a complete about turn with his life. The unique character and historical perspective of Saul, who became Paul, gives shape too much of what remains core Christian teaching.

The final book in the Bible is a vision of things yet to be. The Book of Revelation belongs to a genre of literature known as apocalyptic and is filled with dramatic visions and reflections, whose concern is to stretch the mind of its readers and encourage them to reflect that when it comes to God’s creative plans ‘You ain’t see nothing yet!’

Returning to my original theme. This idea of the God who is always ‘Creating’ touches on so many aspects of our lives.

It touches on the way we read the books found within the Bible. If you come to those pages with pre-conceived ideas and notions about what you are going to find there then you may well find reading Bible study a barren and fruitless exercise.

However if you approach it with the notion that what you are dealing with is living testimony of a person or community who encountered the creative power of God, then that changes things.

Likewise with worship. Every line of liturgy, every single word of the songs and the rhythm, melody and harmony of the music, all the prayers and the mystery of baptism and the breaking bread and sharing of wine, it’s all a reflection of the creating God.

In fact the way we live our lives reflects how we understand the creating God. God still invades our personal gardens of Eden and asks where we are and what we are about. Uncomfortable and naked as that may make us feel we carry on pretending to know so much about everything.

God comes offering new beginnings, comes as He came in Jesus Christ, up close and personal, inviting and challenging, whilst forgiving and healing, coming as the Holy Spirit, a refreshing wind and empowering presence.

A common theme in any journey of faith is the idea that our God is the Creating God who greatest desire is that we share in the love Christ died to give us and was raised to show us, the One who reigns to make all things new.

So today I invite you to consider in what ways the work of creating is taking place in your own life. Are there areas where you feel God may be doing something new, but you are resisting the change? Are there areas where you really need a change? What would that change look like? Prayerfully and carefully we can allow God to recreate our lives so we become more like the people Jesus calls us to be and more open to the moving of His Spirit.

Our God is a creating God. To God’s name be the glory. Amen!