Having just
returned from being immersed in God’s good creation at the Feliciana Retreat
Center, and Camp Agape, these words from Genesis have a special meaning for me
today. In that place – just as in this place – we were held in the arms of God.
I had the good and wonderful opportunity of being a counselor for the Adventure
Camp group of Sr. Highs. One of our “adventures” was a day hike, not far away
at Clark Creek in Mississippi.
While on the
trail we were encouraged to look for, and think about, ways in which we saw
each other make a choice to love – that is to make a choice based on someone
else’s need before our own. I’ve led lots of these trips, and I have to say
that this one seemed unique in a lot of ways. Maybe it was the mix of kids, or
the time of day, or something in the air – but there was something different
about this group.
I saw a
wrestler offer to carry a back pack for an overweight nerdy kid who plays a
ukulele for fun. I saw young people competing with adults to pick up another
people’s trash. I saw those with weak ankles leading those with strong, and I
saw the beauty and diversity of God’s creativity all around us. So, not only
did I see people choosing to love one another, I saw God’s creation wrapping
around us in a loving embrace.
In that embrace,
we also had horse flies and poison ivy and the threat of the sun and of heavy
rains. John Calvin, one of the early church reformers, would of course have
agreed that all of nature reflects the goodness of God – even those terrible
things that bite and sting can chasten and hasten you to greater faith. That
may be true, but it does not create space in my heart for mercy for horse
flies. Still, it was a welcomed treat to turn from moments like those to the
story of creation.
I think it’s
important to call it “the story of creation”, because that opens up more
opportunities for us. Stories describe events, but they also tell us what is
important about those events. Stories connect our emotions with our thoughts
and help us to value the reason for the event along with the people and places
involved.
This event – this
creation event – is not so much about the how of creation as it is about the
who and the why. In other words, this story is as much a story about the
Creator as it is about the creation. It’s not a cookbook for the Universe or an
answer to the question of the chicken or the egg (answer: archaeopteryx).
It’s a story
that has allowed us, throughout time, to ascribe meaning and purpose for the
ordering of our world. And while there were other stories that are believed to
pre-date the Hebrew scriptures (Marduk and Tiamat and her son Kingu), the difference in the Hebrew God was
that this was a God that not only created everything from nothing, but this was
a God who created people to be image bearers.
What mattered
to them in this story is that, because God created everything that is, God also
has authority over all that is. The breath that you are breathing right now
would have been considered evidence of the handiwork of God. The floods of 2016
would have been considered an intentional action of God (not just by
insurance)!
So, the
question we are left with is something like, “Who’s in charge around here?” Did
the Creator just set it up like a clock and skip out of town? Does God not care
about all of the suffering in this world? Of course, the traditional response
is that all of creation is broken because of our sinfulness, and the Creator
mourns our brokenness. Not only that, but the God who created you and me and
ticks and fleas is also the one who redeems us from our brokenness. And that
same One is also the one who sustains us in times when we just don’t know how
to get through the day.
I think that
God’s sustaining presence is the common thread in all of the readings today.
Paul comforted the church in Corinth by reminding them that God would be with
them if they can find a way to listen to one another, to agree with one another
and to live together in peace! I’d love to say that we are so far beyond that
in the church today, but we all know that it is as important today as it was
then.
It’s not that
God comes and goes. It’s just that we forget. We forget what it’s like to be in
God’s presence. We seek anything and everything to cover us like sleeping under
a blanket that’s just a little too small and never quite covers your toes just
right. We assume that we are alone, and sometimes we set up boundaries and
barriers to make sure that we will be.
But God is
still at work in and through creation. God is still drawing us in and weaving
us together as God’s people, even while we doubt God’s presence. God moves us
from isolation to restoration and constantly says, “I am with you!”
There are so
many spaces and places this plays out in the world, and one of them that I
think bears repeating is in Oxford, Michigan. It started one morning in the
announcements at a local High School with these words, “Hi, I'm Morgan Abbott,
younger sister of Megan Abbott.” Morgan went on to tell of her sister’s
suicide, and she initiated a program called “13 Reasons Why Not” in which
others that had considered suicide – or simply felt outcast – could describe
the situations that others had put them in (without naming names) and then name
the people that had helped them to feel valued and not alone.
Can you
imagine the power of hearing your name called over that speaker as a person who
has made a difference in someone else’s life? Can you imagine the power of
naming someone else who has made such a difference in yours?
At or core, at the most basic level, that kind
of naming and claiming is what we are all about as followers of Jesus. It is
through our faith that we come to see that the universe has been created out of
love. It is through our faith that we come to see that – whether we choose to
love God or not – God has chosen to love us. And it is through our faith that
we come to see that the God who is our Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer, is
still creating, still redeeming, and still sustaining us through every
challenge and every great and good thing.
That is why we
send kids to camp. That’s why we fret over meeting minutes and budgets. That’s
why we sing. That’s why do anything and everything that we do as the church. It’s
not to uphold a legacy. It’s not to get people to commit to words and phrases
that they say without meaning. It is always and only to glorify the one who
chose to love us before we even knew about it!
We’ve been
wrestling with that idea this past week at Camp Agape. We wrestled with the
idea of receiving the love of God and reflecting God’s love out into the world,
because God’s love can never be contained but only shared. Consider that this
week as you think of God’s presence in you, with you, and in the space between
you and others.
It is good to
rest in God’s presence alone, but eventually we have to put it into action by
listening to one another, finding those points of agreement, and replacing the
tension between us with peace. With some people and groups, it’ll come as easy
as hiking with a group of high schoolers. With some people and groups, it will
be as hard as you might imagine hiking with high schoolers could be, but I
imagine that beginning with the choice to love is a good idea.
I pray that it
may be so with me, and that it may be so with you, and that God’s kingdom might
come in all its glory through the likes of us – but also that we might see it
when the kingdom is revealed by those with whom we share absolutely nothing in
common. Amen.
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