Chaos, Order and the General Assembly!
Genesis 1 (Selected)
Beaumont Presbyterian Church
June 15, 2014
The Rev. Susan Warren
Chaos is a good way to describe my state of mind as I pondered this sermon
and the many topics that come to mind on this Trinity Sunday. We read the first
words of the bible, the description of who God is and how God works; the glorious
song of praise in Psalm 8, and Paul’s sort of pleading words for the folks in his
Corinth church to get their acts together and try to get along. I read and studied all
of this with the backdrop of our Presbyterian Church’s General Assembly, which
meets every two years to hash out the rules that guide us and the messages we want
to send the world. The 2014 session began yesterday and continues all week in
Detroit. So, where oh where to begin?
Well, let’s try the beginning. The first word of the bible in the Hebrew in
which it was written is pronounced be’reshit. Hebrew scholars strongly disagree
about whether this word means “in the beginning” or “in a beginning,” because the
word contains no article. Despite my inability to fully conquer biblical Hebrew, I find
this debate fascinating and so have done some reading about it. I’ve concluded that
there simply is no way to know what the creator of this story had in mind. However,
unlike theologians who insist on the definitive article “the,” I’m captivated by the
possibilities that open with the use of “a,” “in a beginning.”
I once read a book called The Laughter of God that postulated many creations,
all by a monotheistic god, as if each were a sort of experiment. Interesting to ponder.
But any meaning we give the creation accounts causes us to anthropomorphize God
– to give God human characteristics – like the inclination to want to count the
number of creations! Or to count time – in hours and days – before and after.
Let’s not take this magnificent creation story and try to bring it down to size.
Instead let’s try to enter into the mystery of a formless void, darkness covering the
face of the deep. Think about that. Formlessness. Nothingness. Then the wind, the
Spirit, hovering, brooding, sweeping through the stillness until there comes: light.
This isn’t the light of the sun or the moon or the stars – those come later in this
story. No. This is the light of God.
In the beginning, GOD.
Preaching professor Dave Bland of Harding University Graduate School of
Religion in Memphis notes that scripture is theocentric not christocentric. Scripture
absolutely centers on God – and how God works – including how God works through
Christ and the Holy Spirit.
Much that is important to our faith tradition occurs in the book we call
Genesis – the stories of Abraham and the covenant and the patriarchs. But scripture
begins with, and its overarching theme throughout, is creation.
“This means,” writes Bland, “that we must jettison any ethnic, parochial, or
provincial understanding of God. God is a universal God, not a God of any one
people, nation, or race.”i
In this great creation story the sun rises on the world – not the Christian
world or the American world but all the world. And God blesses creation and calls it
good. God is ecstatic! Earth and seas, trees and fruit, moon and stars, sparrows and
robins and dolphins; caterpillars and pandas and elephants; woman and man. A
dazzling panoply of living beings.
Out of the void, out of the chaos, God creates order.
What follows is a perhaps a misguided effort to create our own sort of order.
Soon after we learn about creation we begin hearing the stories of exclusivity. Israel
becomes the “chosen” community. Christianity is the only way. Islam is the one true
religion.
Walter Brueggemann says monotheism led to monoethnism.ii Israel came to
believe in one God, but also that Israel alone was chosen for God’s blessing. We
understand that way of thinking, don’t we? We are in, they are out. We are right,
they are wrong. And the broad, magnificent view of God and God’s creation is lost.
Soon you have poor Paul cajoling his church at Corinth to put things in order,
agree with one another, live in peace. How many pastors, I wonder, have issued a
similar directive to the church? Not here, at least not now. I’ve never felt the need to
implore you to try to get along. I almost wish that were the case, though, because it
seems when folks here disagree or become dissatisfied they just leave!
In his book Original Blessing, Matthew Fox captures the importance of a
spirituality of blessing, noting that “blessing involves relationship.”iii When we are
blessed, or when we offer a blessing, we are invested in each other, we’re in
relationship.
“And if it is true that all of creation flows from a single, loving source,” he
writes, “then all of creation is blessed and is a blessing, atom to atom, molecule to
molecule, organism to organism, land to plants, plants to animals, animals to other
animals, people to people, and back to atoms, molecules, plants, fishes. On and on . . .
there is blessing.”iv
Late last night I checked to see how things were going at GA and was
dismayed to learn that the Internet and other technical support systems had
crashed in the massive Detroit auditorium. This, on the first evening when a new
moderator is elected. They tried using colored paddles. They tried clickers. Finally,
in a process described as “surreal,” they resorted to paper ballots for the 654 voting
commissioners. Talk about trying to bring order out of chaos!
You may remember that in 2010 I was blessed to represent Transylvania
Presbytery as a voting commissioner to the General Assembly in Minneapolis. It was
a profoundly moving and meaningful experience. Gathering with Presbyterians from
across the country to study issues, to engage in conversation with folks of like – and
unlike – minds; to participate in incredible worship together – it truly was a blessing
of a lifetime.
It was that assembly that, after many, many years of acrimonious debate,
voted to lift the ban on ordination of gays and Lesbians. This year an important issue
will be dealing with same-gender marriage in states where it’s legal. Also on this
year’s agenda are proposals to divest from three companies that supporters say
contribute to Israeli oppression of Palestinians. You’ll hear about those issues in the
news. You may hear also about various overtures on the death penalty, gun violence,
drones, and fossil fuel divestment. No shortage of controversy. And permeating the
assembly will be the awareness of how PC(USA) membership is declining, there is
division in the ranks on social and theological issues. So there will be anxiety and
fear.
But this year’s theme is “Abound in Hope.” There will be that, too, and there
will be courage. And there will be ongoing creation. Most of all, there will be
blessing. Let us continue to remember the assembly in our prayers throughout the
week.
And never forget the many ways that you are blessed, and Beaumont Church
is blessed. This afternoon and for the next three days we will travel to Westminster
Village to engage the children there in Vacation Bible School.
If it’s anything like the last few years, children of all ages – babies with their
mothers up through early teens -- will flock to the small community center for a
chance to have some fun, some dinner, and some bible learning. Most if not all will
be from the Congo or other African counties, some first generation, some second.
Only a handful of us from Beaumont will be there. But this mission team represents
all of you. They are a blessing to this church and to those children. If you miss VBS –
and want to offer up your own blessing – you have another chance to contribute
next weekend when we serve up our annual picnic at the Hope Center. We need
food. Sign up to give something.
We extend ourselves to bless others as we can, grateful that we all are a
blessed part of God’s creation. You, each of you, is fully blessed, and fully equipped
to be a blessing to the world. May it be so. Amen.
i
Dave Bland, Feasting on the Word, Year A Volume 3; 26.
Walter Brueggemann, Texts That Linger, Words That Explode: Listening to Prophetic
Voices; Minneapolis: Fortress, 2000, in Feasting on the Word, Year A, Volume 3: 29.
iiiMatthew Fox, Original Blessing, A Primer in Creation Spirituality; Bear & Company,
Santa Fe: 1983, p 44.
iv Ibid
ii