Genesis 1:1-2:4a
Psalm 8

Brothers and Sisters in Christ, grace to you and peace from our Creator God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Let us pray.  O God, you made us in your own image and redeemed us through Jesus your Son.  Look with compassion on the whole human family; take away the arrogance and hatred that infect our hearts; break down the walls that separate us; unite us in the bonds of love; and, through our struggle and confusion, work to accomplish your purposes on earth; that, in your good time, all nations and races may serve you in harmony around your heavenly throne.  We pray through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen

Please open your Bible to Genesis 1, or your bulletin to the reading from Genesis.  I’ll start this morning by saying that I am NOT going to take on the question of whether or not the world was created in seven 24-hour days.  If you want to hear my ideas about that, we’ll schedule a time for discussion – some give and take and questions and answers are needed for that sort of Bible study.  So, knowing that I’m not going into anything so controversial, you can sit back and relax as you take in the rest of the sermon.

This reading from Genesis is so well known to most of us, that we don’t pay attention to it anymore.  We assume that we know what it says.  As we look more closely, we may be surprised by what is present and by what is NOT present.

I want to take you back a few thousand years and across the ocean to the time and place that this passage was originally told – yes, told.  In the Jewish world, the leaders of the temple whom we would call priests TOLD the story of God’s creation.  They recited it and passed it down from one generation of priests to the next, simply by word of mouth.  This continued for countless years, decades, perhaps even centuries.  Eventually it was written down for the community to preserve in the form that we have in Genesis, chapter 1.

Take a look at some of the highlights and repetitions in this creation story …

Vs. 5 – there was evening and there was morning, the first day.  Repeated in verse 8, verse 13, verse 19, verse 23, and verse 31 for days two, three, four, five and six.  Evening and morning … you may remember that the Jewish day begins at sunset, runs through the night, the morning, and the afternoon, and ends at sunset the next evening.

This creation story reminds the Jewish community of why they mark the days the way they do – why Sabbath begins at sunset on the sixth day – which marks the beginning of the seventh day, the day of rest.  The entire Jewish week was (and still is) geared around the Sabbath Day.  The first three days of the week reflected on the Sabbath that had just passed – reminding the people of the God who created the world and established this seventh day as a day of rest and reflection.  The next three days were spent preparing for the Sabbath to come – making the meals, cleaning the house, washing the clothes, setting the tables, preparing the scriptures … all had to be completed BEFORE sunset arrived on the sixth day.  They celebrated Sabbath for the whole seventh day of the week – with prayers and worship and special meals and stories from scripture.  Then the cycle would start again.

Genesis 1 and its story of God creating the world was all about how the Jews lived their lives – day after day after day.  The Jews lived in accord with how God created the world.  Every evening when the sun set they would be reminded of this story … there was evening, there was morning, another day created by God and lived in accord with God’s creation.

We probably wouldn’t talk about days this way.  We would begin the day with dawn, then morning, afternoon, evening and night … and the day would end with dawn of the next day.  But we can still look at this story of creation and be reminded of the work that God has done in creating the world around us.

As we get up in the morning with the dawn of each new day – do we look at it as another gift from God?  Each day a new creation?  Genesis 1 reminds us that we should, because God creates each day uniquely … one at a time.  What will we do with this new day that God has given to us?  What will come with the dawn?

The story also gives us some clues to what God will give to us through the continuing creation … but we have to keep in mind how the people thought the universe was put together thousands of years ago.

Vs. 2 … formless, empty, void, waters … chaos.  You see, the people of the ancient world thought that the universe was surrounded by the waters of chaos – real water!  They saw it when the rain fell from the sky, they saw it as rivers flowed up from below the ground, the saw it in the tides that rose and fell each day.

When the Spirit of God (also translated as wind and breath of God), when the Spirit of God hovers over the waters of chaos, God finds a way to overcome that which cannot be controlled.  God simply speaks a word, and chaos obeys.  Light appears and the light and the darkness are separated within the waters of chaos.

Vs. 6 … with another word God corrals the waters of chaos – God creates a dome that holds the waters apart.  The dome of the sky opened a space – a pocket of air protected from chaos by this hard shell that the people would come to call sky.

(visual aid)

vs. 9 … with another word, God organized the water at the bottom of the bubble – pushing it aside so that dry land could come forth.  The power of the waters of chaos can be seen as the seas rise and fall with each tide – but God keeps them hemmed in, God keeps the seas in their place, tames them and teaches them what their limits are.

(visual aid)

vs. 11 … and now that God has dry land to work with, God puts plants on that land – plants that produce fruit, plants that reproduce on their own (they contain their own seed).

(visual aid)

vs. 14 … On the fourth day, God takes this stuff called light and creates separate and individual lights, that we call sun and moon and starts – the signs for marking time in the days, the seasons, and the years.  And they are placed in the dome of the sky – remember this dome is a solid thing, so God can attach the sun and the moon directly to it.  The dome revolves around the earth causing the sun to set and rise again for the passing of the days.

(visual aid)

vs. 20 …  within the waters that have been confined to their proper places, and in the air pocket that resulted from the separation of the waters, God now creates life – sea life and birds, so that the waters and the air are filled with living creatures.  Like the plants, they are given the means to reproduce – be fruitful and multiply, God says in verse 22.

(visual aid)

vs. 24 … on the sixth day, God creates animal life that lives on the land – domestic and wild animals, things that creep and walk, and at last God creates “adam” – the Hebrew word for human beings – in verse 27, God creates “adam” male and female and in God’s own image.

For those of us who are used to hearing the story of the woman being created from the rib of the man, this verse throws us off a bit.  Here in this creation story God creates male and female human being at the same time, and gives them the duty to be caretakers of the creation (vs. 26).  Some translations say, “have dominion” but this is the kind of control that a shepherd has over the sheep – it is a care-giving, watchful power, not the kind of control that concurs or subdues.

God tells the male and female to be fruitful and multiply.  There is a reminder that the plants that were created first are food for the animals that were created later, vs. 30.

(visual aid)

Chapter 2, verse 1, God dedicates the seventh day as a day of rest.  A holy day, a day set apart from work, a day to remember the Lord God and all that God has done.

Look at this model of creation – God created a safe space for human beings in the midst of the waters of chaos.  What does it mean to you that God created a safe space for YOU to live?  Would it make a difference in your life, if the dawn of each new day was a reminder that God had put this world together in order for you to have a safe, healthy, peaceful place in which to live?

The creation story of Genesis 1 tells us just that – God created a space apart from the waters of chaos, God controls and tames that power every moment of every day, so that YOU will have a place to live and breathe.

God also provided food, God provided beauty, God provided tasks and a purpose in life – care for creation.  And God gave humans the gift of being created in God’s own image – with the ability to care for and nurture the creatures around them, with the ability to create and care for life, and with a commission … a command … to care for the world that God had just finished creating.

When you look out your window each morning, with the dawn of each new day, do you hear God’s Word – this is my creation, my gift to you … care for it well?  Or do you close the drapes and wish that you didn’t have to deal with hurricanes and droughts and forest fires and global warming?

Genesis 1 reminds us 
•	that God created all that exists
•	that God created natural rhythms in the cycles of darkness and light, in the weekly rest of Sabbath, in the seasons marked by the changes of the constellations
•	that God created human beings to live in this place, to enjoy the world of nature, to care for the world and all of the creatures in it
•	and that God creates each day as a new day.

Does this gift, this great and glorious gift from God make a difference for you as you live your life from one day to the next?  Our Jewish brothers and sisters have shown us that it probably should make a difference.

Consider your response to this gift … and next week, we’ll see what other wonders come, with Creation, Part 2.

Amen