Trinity Lutheran Church

Text: Genesis 1

 It was a foreign land…the people of Israel were captive in a foreign land.

 The land of Babylon…the land we call Iraq.

 And there was a story in this land, a story they heard time and again. A story which said, “Our god (who by the way beat up that silly god from Israel…i.e., YOUR god, in the war we just had) our god, the Babylonian god, created the world.”

 And this story made some assertions about the world and about humanity. This strange tale told of a battle between gods and of how the body of the slain, evil god in this battle became the building blocks for the world. The body of the evil god became land. The fluids of the evil god rivers, oceans and streams. And the blood…well there was kind of an accident with the blood.

 You see, in the process of creation, in the midst of the good god’s chopping up of the old, evil, god, in the midst of his tossing about the elements of the evil god to create the world a lot of blood spilled…and from that blood (quite by accident) people…like so many ants…sprung up.

 Quite by accident. Quite unintended. Quite to the surprise of the good god and his friends who looked on.

 And the message of this story was simple. If you wondered why people were so nasty at times, look at where they came from. People were steeped in evil because they emerged from evil. The blood in their veins was the same blood they had sprung from. The blood of an evil god.

 That’s the story the Jews in exile were hearing. That’s the story that was being whispered in their children’s ears. And for a people in exile…already down on themselves and clinging to their religious and cultural identity, it was a dangerous and damaging tale…

 So they told their own story. A story (like much of scripture) which had been handed down orally through the years. They took the tale, put it to paper, and they emphasized some things in the story that flew in the face of what the Babylonians were saying.

 And what were those things?

 That what happened in creation was intended. That God brought order out of chaos. That all of what God brought about was not evil, but created good, and that human beings…far from being steeped in evil, were created in the image of the divine.

 It was good.

 Creation wasn’t the product of an after battle clean-up. It wasn’t a spur of the moment thing. It wasn’t an accident. It was intended; it was planned; it made sense; it was a beautiful gift given.

 It was good.

 Creation was, in a sense, the dream of God. Created by a God so powerful that merely speaking the word brought the dream into physical reality. A dream filled with beauty, wonder, and glory. A dream springing from the depths of the creator’s imagination…filled with the creator’s presence itself.

 And what did God do with this remarkable gift? God gave it to you. To those born in God’s image. To the ones God would call “children.”

 That was the story the Jewish people told one another about their God and the beginning. And it was…very good.

 In our modern age, people wrap themselves in concern over “Is this how it really happened?” “Is it true that birds came before cattle?” “What about dinosaurs? Where are they?”
 But these concerns miss the point of the story. The point is not the creation of a science book—but rather that God gave us, and still uses this story to affirm several things that speak to us as strongly today as they did to those ancient Jews in exile.

 That God created life. That God made the world and adorned it with beauty and made it good.

 That God thought enough of us to create us in the divine image and, in turn, present this jaw dropping gift of a world to us. For us.

 Creation was neither an accident of science nor heavenly conflict. It was, and remains, a grand symphony that can be explored by science and understood through faith, but very much the masterpiece of a God who loves us and wanted us to have all that is good.

 Usually in a sermon, I give you something to do…but that’s not really the point today. What I want for you, as we drink in this story and wonder at the fact that so much that is wonderful could have been given to us, is recognize some very important things.

 First…it isn’t all about human beings. All creatures are pictured in Genesis as springing from God’s being and imagination. The little lamb to the terrible tiger. All reflect God in some way. Life—not just human life—is holy.

 Second…recognize your worth. There is so much in this world that makes us doubt ourselves, doubt our purpose, question what God wants from us, even sometimes question if God cares. Look at this story and pinch yourself.

 You have been made in God’s image. The image of the creator! You have been given the gift of creation to love and to share. No matter what the world tells us, no matter what we experience, nothing can separate us from that. Nothing, as Paul reminds us, can separate us from God’s love.

 Finally, I want you to carry this story in your heart this week. Carry it in your heart and look upon others and the world around you using the lens it provides. See the work of God in the handiwork of the stars. Sense the gift of God in the foods you taste, the water you wash in, the air you breathe. Look upon your brothers and sisters and recognize…yes, even though it might seem buried….something of the divine is there. Just as, even when you feel like something the cat dragged in, something of the divine is in you.

 We are not just here by happenstance; we are not fortunate or unfortunate travelers in the midst of an accident. There is purpose amid the wonder and the beauty.

 It is good.

 Carry the story in your heart. Despite the evil that can befall us, see the good. Live out the good. And it will be good.