Genesis 1:1-2:4
“Relational Creation”
17 September 2017 St.
Andrew’s Military Chapel
Anyone in here willing to admit
they are a perfectionist? Maybe just to having perfectionist tendencies? I know
I can admit to having some areas of my life where I seek perfection and can
beat myself up over not meeting unrealistic expectations.
Most of us work in jobs where there
isn’t much grace in reaching standards of perfection. We hear phrases such as
“no fail mission” or “zero defect mentality.” To make matters confusing on what
is expected, the same people who seek perfection are many times the same people
advocating that we look for the 80% solution.
As I have gotten older, spent more
time in Uncle Sam’s Canoe Club, and even with some serious study of Scripture,
I’ve come to the realization that perfectionism isn’t our purpose in life. In
fact, I’m pretty sure not even God set out to create a perfect world.
Before you get out the pitchforks
or start thinking your pastor is the biggest heretic in Singapore, let’s turn
towards Scripture and take a look at what God created, how and why creation is
the way it is, and how the beginning of the story makes sense.
Two weeks ago we took a look at the
end of the story in Revelation 21 and 22. During that discussion, I reminded
everyone to not forget those chapters of the Bible when understanding and telling
our story of faith. I also mentioned that we often forget the first two
chapters of the Bible when we look to understand life, the universe, and
everything.
The last two chapters of Revelation
show us our teleos, or our completion, purpose, culmination, what we are made
to be in the universe. It’s a glorious vision where all of creation is redeemed
and made good as God intended. Revelation isn’t an end, rather it shows our destiny, what we are meant to
become, of what we are meant to be a part. It shows what the world looks like
when the Gospel is fulfilled. Everything is made new, remade and resurrected
according to God’s plan. It assumes that God has been involved in all of
creation from the beginning and that all of humanity is invited to participate
and flourish in that creation.
So now we look at the beginning of the story, that moment
where God decided to include humanity into a cosmic drama that we will never
fully understand. It’s too big for us to grasp all of the detail and nuance,
but through revelation, or revealing parts of the plan, throughout the
centuries we get glimpses of our role in creation and what the fulfillment will
look like.
These first two chapters of Genesis attempt to describe from
whence we, and everything around us, came. And here’s the crazy thing, creation
was never stated to be perfect.
Sometimes we get sucked into the
trap of thinking everything was idyllic back at the beginning when God spoke
and the universe followed God’s command. God says, “Let there be” and it was.
We make an assumption that a perfect being would only create perfection. The
Bible only describes one perfect human and he doesn’t show up for a long, long
time. Go back and read what God says at the end of each creative act. God says,
“and it was good.” Except for humans, we get the label of very good.
Notice that God never says we were
created perfect. What’s also interesting is that in the beginning God never
eliminated or destroyed chaos, God moved chaos to the side and created beauty
from chaos. This lets us know that chaos is part of creation. Perhaps that’s
why there will always be the eternal question of why do bad things happen?
Chaos is there in the background occasionally seeping into the very good
creation that we see every day.
So, creation isn’t perfect. Reading
this passage we see that it has never been perfect. And maybe that’s the point.
If everything began in a state of
perfection, with all of creation in our teleos or final place of culmination,
what would we do every day, what would be the purpose of life?
Because this passage is so familiar
to many, when we read or hear it for the thousandth time, we don’t slow down
enough to catch some little nuances that can answer big questions.
In verse 26 God says, “Let US make
humankind in OUR image, according to OUR likeness.” As we read the faith story
throughout Scripture we come to learn that humans weren’t the first beings
created by God. There are angels and others among the heavenly host. But what I
find striking about this verse is that God was part of a community where
relationships are vital and sought to create a place that depended on
relationships. Not just between one or two beings, but a complex web of
relationships that are all equally vital to our flourishing.
What if when God said to make
humans in our image, God wasn’t referring to a physical image but a spiritual
image? An image of relationship and community.
From an early age, every one of us
craves relationship with something. Deep in our minds we know that the only way
to flourish in this world is with others. This plays out in many ways
throughout our lives. At first it’s through the touch and cuddling of infants.
Without meaningful touch in the first few years of our lives we will develop
severe emotional wounds that can take decades to heal.
As we grow we develop relationships
outside our family unit. Sometimes we develop a strong and loving relationship
with pets and other creatures. We find friends with whom we bond over some of
the strangest reasons. I have a friendship from college that grew out of a
snowball fight. Some of us may be called to a lifelong relationship with a
spouse. Regardless of the nature of those relationships, each one is an image
of God, God working in and through us in the world.
We also need to remember that we
are created for a healthy relationship with all of creation. When God gave us
dominion over creation it wasn’t to dominate creation but rather to cultivate
and develop a healthy relationship with all of creation. Because we are beings
with critical thinking skills and creativity, we should use those basic skills
to find ways to care for every part of creation so those things in the world
that can’t take care of their selves are looked after and allowed the same
opportunity to flourish as ourselves. Caring for the whole of creation is an
important part of our living into our innate relational nature.
Now, I recognize that not all
relationships last and that losing a relationship is painful. But, that just
furthers the point. Because we are meant for relationship, we experience a very
sharp, distinct, and sometimes lasting pain when a deep relationship is lost.
In a way, that leads us back to the lack of perfection in creation. If creation
were perfect and without chaos, every relationship would self-sustain with no
conflict in the world. We’d never understand the importance of each other. We’d
never have an impetus to grow and improve ourselves and the world around
us.
Now we see
how the beginning of the story connects with the end of the story that we read
a few weeks ago. We were brought into this world seeking healthy relationships
with each other and all of creation. The world wasn’t created perfect and
idyllic, for chaos was never eliminated and is still present in our daily
lives. It doesn’t take much research to confirm its presence.
We aren’t
here to seek perfection, but that shouldn’t keep us from working to better the
world and the lives of those who live with us. As we read Scripture, we’ll see
glimpses of what the Kingdom looks like, God’s purpose for all of us here on
earth. We can’t achieve that on our own, we need each other, working together
relationally to move in that direction. Reading the end of the story, we know
it is a vision of healthy relationships that know no boundaries, no barriers,
no pretense, just joy at the recognition that we are all blessed to be working
together to take care of each other and all of creation.
Relationship
is in our DNA, in fact we were created to seek and nurture relationships in our
lives and throughout the world. The Larger Catechism, or a series of questions
and answers to help people learn the faith, begins with the question, “What is
the chief and highest end of man?” The answer is, “Man’s chief and highest end of
man is to glorify God, and fully to enjoy him forever.” The only way we can
fully enjoy God is through relationships with God and all of creation, all of
those the bear the image of God in the world.
So as we go forth from here let us
look for ways to not just improve the relationships we already have, but to
find and cultivate relationships in unexpected places. The more effort and
focus we place into this task will move us closer to the purpose for which we
were created. Then we will fully enjoy God and fulfill our chief end, our
purpose in life.
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