Genesis 1:1-5 (NIV)
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.
Today is the Fourth Sunday in Lent, though because of our visit to Geyserville this is only our third in-church week. The first Sunday we spoke about not “storing up treasures” for ourselves here on earth, and our discussion revolved around the idea of taking the time to recognize just what our true treasures are and learning to value them as such.
Last week, the third Sunday in Lent but only the second Sunday actually here in our normal routine, we spoke of the generations that came before us who preserved and passed along the great stories of our faith and the teachings of those beliefs. Again, this message revolved around us recognizing our role and responsibility as storytellers in our own time and place – as part of the great long span of storytellers down through the centuries passing our knowledge along to generations to come.
We are just about in the middle of Lent for this year – halfway to Easter – and if any theme is developing for this Lenten season I would say that it is recognizing and acknowledging that we do not play a passive role in our faith journey. We are not meant to be simply passive receivers of what others tell is the truth of our lives. We are instead to be active agents of our faith. To be active agents of our beliefs. To be active agents of our relationship with our God.
Our faith journey is between God and each one of us. It is up to us to know rights from wrongs. Up to us to know the where’s and the why’s of this thing we call faith. It is up to us to responsibly pay attention and not just accept that we know it all because of things we have been told.
Many of the things I was told about God when I was a child seem very doubtful to me as an adult. Even though the things told me were said by good, sincere people who believed they were doing the right thing and teaching me the right way. Looked at through my adult eyes, I simply cannot any longer accept them without question. As a child, I received passively, but as an adult I recognized my own responsibility to judge the rightness and wrongness of things I had been taught.
For instance, even as a child I could never fully accept the doctrine of original sin – that I, and every other soul alive – had been born into irredeemable sin because of the actions of two people who, maybe, lived thousands of years before me. That made no sense to me then and it still makes no sense now.
In fact, as scripture tells the story of the Fall, God does not come out looking very good. God’s response to that piece of fruit being eaten is a huge over-reaction. It is unkind and not remotely loving. As an adult, then, I have to look at that story and decide that, rather than the truth, it is a fable that tells us much more about the people who wrote it than it does about God, who I believe to be much more loving then the God in this story.
We are taught by scripture and the church that humankind began to go wrong almost from the beginning, with Adam and Eve’s “sin.” The church made it easy, then, to think that we are doomed from birth, with almost no chance to “get it right” except through the agency of the church. And yet, if we are indeed created by the One who made us with love and grace – as the church also teaches us – how can we see ourselves as doomed? How could a God who loves us blame us – and punish us all -- for someone else’s error?
I remember having a teacher in the seventh grade who if anyone in the class did something wrong, the entire class was punished. Even at that young age not a one of us agreed with that policy. We thought it was unfair and mean, and not terribly intelligent, to be honest. I don’t believe God plays this kind of game with us.
God did not create us to fail. God even gave us the tools we need to be the people God calls us to be. We are given God’s own wisdom. And I believe we are expected to use it. And it is our responsibility to use it well – deciding for ourselves what is truth and what is story.
So I chose a reading that starts us literally at the very beginning. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth,” we are told. And then, as the very first thing God did after this initial act, God said, “Let there be light,” and God “separated the light from the darkness.”
Before we humans even existed ourselves, God gave us light to see our way. Light to see each other. Light to see the difference between good and evil, between life and death, between truth and story. Light to know the choices before us.
Lent is a time for us to journey deeply into the depths of our own souls. When we make this journey into ourselves there will be times when the choice before us is a difficult one to make. This business of being responsible for our own journey can be hard and uncomfortable. We can find ourselves torn between the easy answer and the answer that we really suspect is right. Sometimes when we’re in this spot, we try to convince ourselves that gray is not really a bad choice – that we can split the difference between right and wrong and still be OK.
And yet, our reading demarcates a clear, easy to read choice between right and wrong, between light and dark. We can take the easy way out and accept what may be a fable, or we can do the hard work and find God’s actual truth in the stories we are given – be they stories of Creation or of Jesus walking among us. And when we are giving our own stories for future generations to add into the mix, we can be certain to make them as honest as we can – not glorifying ourselves, or seeking to make ourselves seem important, but seeking God’s glory instead.
We meet Jesus not only in scripture, but in our communities, and especially, in our own lives. This is the Good News we are called to share – that we are loved by God. That we are not intended to be passive receivers but that we are meant to be active agents in our life-giving, on-going relationship with God.
Amen.
Last week, the third Sunday in Lent but only the second Sunday actually here in our normal routine, we spoke of the generations that came before us who preserved and passed along the great stories of our faith and the teachings of those beliefs. Again, this message revolved around us recognizing our role and responsibility as storytellers in our own time and place – as part of the great long span of storytellers down through the centuries passing our knowledge along to generations to come.
We are just about in the middle of Lent for this year – halfway to Easter – and if any theme is developing for this Lenten season I would say that it is recognizing and acknowledging that we do not play a passive role in our faith journey. We are not meant to be simply passive receivers of what others tell is the truth of our lives. We are instead to be active agents of our faith. To be active agents of our beliefs. To be active agents of our relationship with our God.
Our faith journey is between God and each one of us. It is up to us to know rights from wrongs. Up to us to know the where’s and the why’s of this thing we call faith. It is up to us to responsibly pay attention and not just accept that we know it all because of things we have been told.
Many of the things I was told about God when I was a child seem very doubtful to me as an adult. Even though the things told me were said by good, sincere people who believed they were doing the right thing and teaching me the right way. Looked at through my adult eyes, I simply cannot any longer accept them without question. As a child, I received passively, but as an adult I recognized my own responsibility to judge the rightness and wrongness of things I had been taught.
For instance, even as a child I could never fully accept the doctrine of original sin – that I, and every other soul alive – had been born into irredeemable sin because of the actions of two people who, maybe, lived thousands of years before me. That made no sense to me then and it still makes no sense now.
In fact, as scripture tells the story of the Fall, God does not come out looking very good. God’s response to that piece of fruit being eaten is a huge over-reaction. It is unkind and not remotely loving. As an adult, then, I have to look at that story and decide that, rather than the truth, it is a fable that tells us much more about the people who wrote it than it does about God, who I believe to be much more loving then the God in this story.
We are taught by scripture and the church that humankind began to go wrong almost from the beginning, with Adam and Eve’s “sin.” The church made it easy, then, to think that we are doomed from birth, with almost no chance to “get it right” except through the agency of the church. And yet, if we are indeed created by the One who made us with love and grace – as the church also teaches us – how can we see ourselves as doomed? How could a God who loves us blame us – and punish us all -- for someone else’s error?
I remember having a teacher in the seventh grade who if anyone in the class did something wrong, the entire class was punished. Even at that young age not a one of us agreed with that policy. We thought it was unfair and mean, and not terribly intelligent, to be honest. I don’t believe God plays this kind of game with us.
God did not create us to fail. God even gave us the tools we need to be the people God calls us to be. We are given God’s own wisdom. And I believe we are expected to use it. And it is our responsibility to use it well – deciding for ourselves what is truth and what is story.
So I chose a reading that starts us literally at the very beginning. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth,” we are told. And then, as the very first thing God did after this initial act, God said, “Let there be light,” and God “separated the light from the darkness.”
Before we humans even existed ourselves, God gave us light to see our way. Light to see each other. Light to see the difference between good and evil, between life and death, between truth and story. Light to know the choices before us.
Lent is a time for us to journey deeply into the depths of our own souls. When we make this journey into ourselves there will be times when the choice before us is a difficult one to make. This business of being responsible for our own journey can be hard and uncomfortable. We can find ourselves torn between the easy answer and the answer that we really suspect is right. Sometimes when we’re in this spot, we try to convince ourselves that gray is not really a bad choice – that we can split the difference between right and wrong and still be OK.
And yet, our reading demarcates a clear, easy to read choice between right and wrong, between light and dark. We can take the easy way out and accept what may be a fable, or we can do the hard work and find God’s actual truth in the stories we are given – be they stories of Creation or of Jesus walking among us. And when we are giving our own stories for future generations to add into the mix, we can be certain to make them as honest as we can – not glorifying ourselves, or seeking to make ourselves seem important, but seeking God’s glory instead.
We meet Jesus not only in scripture, but in our communities, and especially, in our own lives. This is the Good News we are called to share – that we are loved by God. That we are not intended to be passive receivers but that we are meant to be active agents in our life-giving, on-going relationship with God.
Amen.
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