Genesis 2:4b-25
Psalm 19

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

Last week we began learning about creation, and now we continue that study.  Take out your Bible or bulletin and turn to Genesis chapter 2.  

Starting halfway through verse 4, we see another creation story, and this one is very different from the story we heard last week.

This time we don’t hear anything about the making of the heavens and the earth, we simply hear that God has already created them.  The earth is lifeless, because God has not yet put life on earth.

In verse 7, God takes some of the dust of the ground and forms it into the body of a human being.  Here the connection between humans and the dust is very apparent in the Hebrew.  As you heard last week, the Hebrew word for human is “adam”.  The Hebrew word for dust is “adama”.  It would be like saying that the human was made out of humus.

This body, this formed dust, is lifeless until God blows breath into the body.  And remember that the breath of God is also the Spirit of God – it’s the same word in Hebrew.  Life comes to humans only when the Spirit of God comes into the body.  Without God’s Spirit, we are merely lifeless dust.

On Ash Wednesday and throughout the season of Lent, we remind ourselves of this direct connection between humans – ourselves – and the dust of the ground.  When your forehead is marked with ash, you hear the words, “Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return.”

Life is a gift of God’s Spirit.  Life is dependent upon God’s willingness to give us breath.  Last week we heard that we are created in God’s image.  This description of God’s Spirit being the nature of our every breath could be another way of saying that who we are as living creatures is directly connected to the power of God in our lives.

We need God as we need the air that we breathe.  We cannot survive without God living within us.  If you’ve ever been under water longer than you planned, and you’ve felt your lungs burning to get new air, you know how your body needs to have that air.  Our bodies begin to be damaged within minutes of being deprived of that oxygen.

In the same way, our life depends upon having God present with us.  How many of us recognize or acknowledge God’s presence and power in our lives with every breath that we take?  As you breathe in and out, listening to my voice, consider what God is doing in your life at this very instant.  

With each breath in, consider what God is bringing into your life.  
•	What blessings … 
•	what challenges … 
•	what opportunities … 
•	what relationships … 
•	what message of comfort or forgiveness … 
•	what word of conviction or call to confession and repentance …  
•	What is God bringing into your life?  
•	What is the Spirit leading you toward?

And with each breath out, consider what God is removing from your life.  
•	What fears … 
•	what temptations …
•	what choices …
•	what relationships …
•	what challenges …
•	what potholes …
•	what guilt …
•	what feelings or thoughts or actions …
•	What is God removing from your life?
•	What is the Spirit guiding you away from?

We cannot escape God’s presence in our lives.  With every breath we take, God’s Spirit comes into our hearts and souls.  This second creation story reminds us of God’s constant, continual, unrelenting presence with us.

In verse 8, we learn that God plants a garden so that the human will have a place to live.  The vegetation that surrounds the human has several purposes.  It is beautiful to look at – humans need to have pleasure in their surroundings.  It is good for food – humans need to be nourished physically.  And in verse 15, we see that God put the human in the garden to work it and take care of it – humans need a purpose in life.

There is a river in the garden and it is the source of life for all the world – the named rivers are what make the middle east fertile.  In the ancient world, where there were not the means to mechanically irrigate land or draw water from deep wells, the rivers were the source of life.  As humans need air to breathe, we also need water to drink.  Without these rivers, there would be no water and no life in this region of the ancient world.

Water and air – two vital needs for human life.  Once again, we are reminded that our life is a gift from God.  The first creation story reminded us that God created a safe place for humans to live and gave us rhythms and patterns to order our lives.  This creation story reminds us that God has given us the basic essentials that keep us alive, and that staying connected with God is one of those essentials.

Does your perspective on life change if you consider each breath as a gift from God?  Or if you remember that the gift of water – 98 percent of your body is water – that water is also a gift from God?

Take a deep breath in … let that breath out slowly … feel your heart beat … the blood in your veins, the air in your lungs … feel the presence of God in your breath and in your body as you become aware of your breathing and your pulse.

[pause]

God is not finished with creation yet.  There are more gifts of life to come …

In verse 9 we hear that there are two specific trees in the middle of the garden – the tree of life and the tree of knowledge.  The tree of the knowledge of good and evil – or the tree of the knowledge of everything.  It was common in the ancient world and is still common for us today to list extremes in order to encompass everything.  All the members of Calvary from Arnemans to Zummachs.  The whole world east to west, north to south.  This is the tree of knowledge of everything from good to evil … or just plain everything!

In verse 16, God tells the human that the fruit is for food.  The human may eat any fruit from any tree, except the tree of knowledge.  Why?  Because the human will die if that fruit is eaten.  Is that a threat?  Will God kill the human?  Or is it a warning?  Is the fruit somehow harmful to human beings?  What would be the problem with a human being knowing all that there is to know?  We will come back to this question next week … 

For today, notice that fruit from the tree of life is not forbidden.  God wants the human to have a full life.  And God’s next action shows that even more clearly.  God sees that it is not good for the human to be alone – the human needs companionship, a partner with whom to share the life and work and pleasure of the garden.

In verse 19, we hear that God made other animals out of the dust of the ground.  You may notice that there is no mention of God “breathing life” into these animals, as had happened with the human.  And you can also see that none of these animals is a suitable partner for the human.  

The human gives each animal a name.  In the ancient world, knowing the name of something or someone gave you power over that thing or person.  You see this when Jesus asks a demon, “What is your name?” and the demon responds, “Legion, because there are many of us.”  With the name comes the power to control what is named.

So the human gives the animals their names, and we are reminded that humans are able to dominate the other species that live around us.  Last week, we learned how that dominance is to be used in order to care for creation, not to destroy or subdue it.

But again, no partner suitable for the human has been created.  And so God caused the human to fall asleep and, in the description that follows, it seems as if God performs a basic surgery upon the human … creating a second human out of a piece of the first.

When the human awakens and sees this partner, the human says, “this is woman, for she was taken out of man”.  The Hebrew words again show us the connection.  Man in Hebrew is “ish” and woman is “isha” … the “ah” ending can also mean “out of” or “from” … so “isha” literally means “out of ish” – “out of man”.  And so it is that the man and the woman were perfect partners – one flesh in two parts.

Creation is now complete … the humans have a place to live, water to drink, food to eat, beautiful surroundings to enjoy, a purpose for their lives, work to do, each other for companionship, and the presence of God with every breath that they take.

It is good.  It is finished.

And we are reminded that God has given us all that we need.  Sometimes we forget how much we need these things.  Air, water and food are rarely forgotten as necessities for life.

But sometimes we forget that we need to have the beauty of art or music or play in our lives.  We get focused on supplying the air, water and food for our lives that we forget how much we need to bask in the beauty of creation and simply enjoy the feast that our senses give to us.  

Sometimes we forget that we need to hold on to a purpose for our lives.  We get so caught up in the day-to-day details, that we forget the larger purpose and reason that we are alive.  

Sometimes we forget that we need one another.  We think that we can, or even should, be independent and do things on our own, and we forget that God designed us to live in a community with other human beings.  “It is not good for the human to be alone,” God said.  “I will make a partner for this human – a suitable partner – an equal.”

As you look out your window at creation, let it be a reminder to you of God’s gifts … breath, water, food, beauty, a purpose in life, companionship … and most of all God’s own presence with each breath.

Amen