Genesis Is Not the Name of an Inferior Beer

 

 

Genesis 1:1-2:4a
1:1 In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth,

1:2 the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters.

1:3 Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light.

1:4 And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness.

1:5 God called the light Day, and the darkness God called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

1:6 And God said, "Let there be a dome in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters."

1:7 So God made the dome and separated the waters that were under the dome from the waters that were above the dome. And it was so.

1:8 God called the dome Sky. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.

1:9 And God said, "Let the waters under the sky be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear." And it was so.

1:10 God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together God called Seas. And God saw that it was good.

1:11 Then God said, "Let the earth put forth vegetation: plants yielding seed, and fruit trees of every kind on earth that bear fruit with the seed in it." And it was so.

1:12 The earth brought forth vegetation: plants yielding seed of every kind, and trees of every kind bearing fruit with the seed in it. And God saw that it was good.

1:13 And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.

1:14 And God said, "Let there be lights in the dome of the sky to separate the day from the night; and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years,

1:15 and let them be lights in the dome of the sky to give light upon the earth." And it was so.

1:16 God made the two great lights--the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night--and the stars.

1:17 God set them in the dome of the sky to give light upon the earth,

1:18 to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good.

1:19 And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.

1:20 And God said, "Let the waters bring forth swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the dome of the sky."

1:21 So God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, of every kind, with which the waters swarm, and every winged bird of every kind. And God saw that it was good.

1:22 God blessed them, saying, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth."

1:23 And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.

1:24 And God said, "Let the earth bring forth living creatures of every kind: cattle and creeping things and wild animals of the earth of every kind." And it was so.

1:25 God made the wild animals of the earth of every kind, and the cattle of every kind, and everything that creeps upon the ground of every kind. And God saw that it was good.

1:26 Then God said, "Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth."

1:27 So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God they were created; male and female God created them.

1:28 God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth."

1:29 God said, "See, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food.

1:30 And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food." And it was so.

1:31 God saw everything that God had made, and indeed, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

2:1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all their multitude.

2:2 And on the seventh day God finished the work that God had done, and God rested on the seventh day from all the work.

2:3 So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all the work that God had done in creation.

2:4a These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created.

 

I know I’ve told this story before, but it bears repeating, as we look at part of the Creation story we find in Genesis 1 and 2. Many years ago, two good friends of mine and I, as “young adults,” were in Washington, D.C. on a “mission from God,” so to speak. During the latter days of the Watergate mess, we were holding daily prayer services on the steps of the U.S. Capitol Building, and were passing out Bible portions, courtesy of the American Bible Society, that urged such prayers, as the nation struggled. We were staying at the Washington YMCA on G Street, which was a kind of little United Nations, back then. Sunday came around, and the three of us were going to go out and look for a church to attend. Had we gotten out of the YMCA, we might have ended up at Foundry United Methodist Church, but as we were milling around the YMCA, we saw a very diverse group of folk carrying Bibles, so we asked them if someone was holding a service in the building. “Yes,” they answered, “You are welcome to join us.” So, we did—three very inquisitive (but possibly not so bright) young Christian men wound up in a church service run by a splinter group of the Mormons. A strange splinter group. The speaker that day kept saying he was reading from the “Book of Genesees.” Now, as a Western Pennsylvanian, I only knew “Genesee” as the Rochester, New York equivalent of Pittsburgh’s Iron City Beer, both of which were really bad beers, in my opinion. To call Genesis the “Book of Genesees” wasn’t doing this ancient and classic text any favors.

 

The splinter Mormons aside, history is rife with arguments and even outright fights about the Creation story in Genesis. As you know, some fundamentalist Christians want to see Genesis as a literal telling of how the universe was created by God, kind of like a kid makes a snake out of Playdoh. To varying degrees, they turn it into a “science book,” with some going as far as postulating that the Earth is only a few thousand years old, and was created in six calendar days (our calendar!). Others give allowances for the days of Genesis representing epochs, but still holding out for God creating by just “speaking forth.” And there are those “progressive fundamentalists” (how’s THAT for word jambalaya?) who believe God created, but used evolutionary processes identified by science to do so. Have you ever taken time to ask yourself what YOU believe about the Creation? 

 

The Creation stories (and yes, there is more than one—Genesis 1 and 2 tell different versions of it) in the Bible are there to say WHO created, rather than HOW. Genesis was never meant to be a science book. All great religions have creation stories, as they all want to postulate as to how things came to be, giving credit to the Divine. What is unique about Genesis is that it eschews the kind of “turtle stacking” metaphors or “parade of gods” that other faiths tend to feature in telling their stories. Genesis is out to tell us that THE God that was the “God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob” created the world out of a spirit of creativity, beauty, and great love for the world—and for us! That the Hebrew “bereshith” (In the beginning) story evokes God “speaking” the elements into creation is the dead giveaway of how much God cares for it, as the God of Israel is a God of “The Word.” God speaks, and the universe becomes. The Creation is the paint-on-canvas of the very thoughts of the Divine mind and mouth! While Genesis is not the mispronounced name of an inferior beer, it IS a story of how God “brewed up” the world we know, with great intentionality, affection, and “eternally miraculous” design, “exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think,” in the words of the Apostle Paul, in Ephesians. Hold that thought, for a moment.

 

And what of humanity? We are the “crown jewel” of this creation story! One of the other lectionary passages for this weekend is Psalm 8, which says we were made “a little lower than God (or angels, depending on your translation).” While it is arrogant to think that the world was created to be our “playground,” the text does say that we have been given “dominion” over it, an idea which some have taken to mean we “rule” it, or even “use it UP,” as we will and have. A better translation would be that we are to be “stewards” of it, free to gain life and sustenance from it, but also to help perpetuate it for future generations, and to honor the Creator by prizing and polishing the creation. Our Moslem siblings have this idea as a central understanding of how we have been “put in charge” of the creation. One Imam I heard speak said that God “loaned us the world” like we rent a car from Avis. We are free to use it, but must return the car in the same condition it was in when we drove it off the rental lot, and FULL OF GAS, as well, or we pay the penalty. I think that, biblically, that is a fair metaphor. 

 

But what ABOUT us? If we’re the “crown jewel,” or “God’s favorite,” what does it mean that we are made in the “image” or “likeness” of God? We don’t really know what God looks like. The only actual images we have are: a burning bush, a pillar of cloud, and a pillar of fire, in Exodus, or the shekinah “glow” or “glory” of God that would show up on the mercy seat in the tabernacle or temple at high holy days. Not very helpful, when we look in the mirror, though. We have the Holy Spirit, but then we’re back to metaphors, whether it be the “wind,” or the dove, or the flames over the heads of believers at Pentecost. Again, not very helpful. We have Jesus, of course, but he came in the model of a male, essential, I’m sure, to be at least taken a BIT seriously, in the era when he appeared. But the text says that we are made in the “image” of God, and that is “male and female.” We can play all kind of theological games with this one…and we do. On one hand, we must acknowledge that God must include both “male and female” attributes, if we are made in God’s image. Fundamentalists hate going there. On the other hand, we could say that the “male and female” manifestations of humanity are just part of the procreative blueprint of all of life, the way God created it. Plants, animals, and protozoa have male and female manifestations that must come together in some way (a little more technical for the protozoa, but let’s not go there right now) for an organism to reproduce itself. Hence, it makes sense that humanity was created in this same order. 

 

There are some important points to be made here. First of all, that God made us “male and female,” biologically, in order to mirror the rest of living things, in terms of procreation, this does NOT have to mean that “men” can only love “women,” and vice versa. Biology and fertilizing “eggs” does not have to also mean that beings can only have intimate affection for the “opposite sex,” as some have postulated. Throughout the creation, biological procreation is often uncoupled (forgive the phrase) from life in community, and even in the closest of companions. That in the human community, “males” and “females” inordinately “fall in love” and enter into intimate (hopefully life-long) relationships, is necessary to preserve the species of homo sapiens. However, as the world (“creation”) is groaning under the excessive weight of human beings (8 billion of us as of January of 2023), might it be possible that as human evolution continues, less of our covenantal relationships must exclusively be between the biological males and females, since procreation needs to slow down a bit? As society advances, “whom we love” need not be always driven by the biological ability to fertilize an egg. Imagine, if you will, that “male” and “female” might either be just the biological descriptions of humanity, OR at the ends of a continuum of human expression. Same-sex relationships, in this understanding, are not only not sinful, but may naturally occur along parts of this continuum. We know this happens in other manifestations of nature. Might we be living in a time, as the creation advances, that these “non male and female,” intimate relationships become more normalized, as the Earth needs less humans to be “created” in this era? It is my view that what honors the God of Creation is genuine love and a commitment to love one another, more than a limited understanding of covenantal love being only between two people who are biologically able to produce babies. 

 

Of course, there is an entirely different way to view how humanity is made in the “image of God.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer came up with the observation, based on his exhaustive study of scripture, that what makes the God of the Bible unique is God’s being “for others.” Throughout the scriptures, God goes out of God’s way to relate to humanity, constantly striving to guide humans to their best life in community together, forgiving them for their penchant for selfishness, self-destruction, and violence. This “for others-ness” of God is supremely manifest in the Christ Event. God WITH us, in the most profound sense of that phrase (“Emmanuel”) to lead us, teach us, redeem us, and launch us out to “make disciples” is what Jesus was—and IS—all about. So, if God is ultimate “for others-ness,” and we are made in God’s image, are we made to be “for others,” as well? Bonhoeffer thought so, and I’m convinced. One of the reasons I am convinced shows up in how HARD it is to aspire to this “image” of God. No matter how hard I try, I find it so difficult to organize my life such that I value even DARA’S life more than (or at least equal to?) my own! When we have our difficulties, it is almost always over my wanting her to meet some need of MINE, rather than me looking out for her welfare, desires, and pleasures, first. And she’s the woman I LOVE and have spent 46 years with! Imagine how much harder it is to apply the “love your neighbor as yourself” standard Jesus put out there for us! Especially when my “neighbor” just cut me off on Rt. 228! The very fact that this is, at least for me, a continual, not-going-too-well, “work in progress” is proof enough that Bonhoeffer is correct. We are made in the “for others-ness” of God, and have been challenged by Jesus, himself, to live into this goal of the created order of humanity. It not only “takes a village” to raise a child, as they say, but it is the ONLY way it will work. We were created to be “in community” with each other, and life apart from that model will constantly disappoint, foster depression and desperation, and erode the possibility for the “abundant life” Jesus is trying to offer us. My whole denomination is splitting right down the middle over what we think the Bible says about “homosexuality.” If that honors God, then I’m a monkey’s uncle. And if Jesus were dead, he’d be rolling over in his grave.

 

Here's another element of the miracle of the Creation to ponder: it’s not over. While God set it in motion (“finishing it,” as the text says), God also put deep in the DNA of the Creation an amazing ability to continue the creative energy by evolving, adapting, improving, and exploring! Some have criticized the scientific theory of evolution, saying that it “goes against the second law of thermodynamics,” namely that things, left alone, will “run down,” not evolve to a higher level. (They often use the example of an unkempt lawn.) Of course, you see where I am going with this? Their assessment totally dismisses God’s incredible DESIGN and ENERGY in the system! Things ARE evolving because we were MADE to do so, and to adapt, improve, and explore, as well! And God’s continual presence with the world adds fresh energy to the system. It isn’t designed to “run down,” and it will NEVER run down, as long as God’s energy flows through the created order—and through us, as believers. It is precisely this “pro-evolution” tendency that best demonstrates God’s creativity, and God’s on-going LOVE for us all. God loved the world so much God not only couldn’t abandon us when we failed, but God couldn’t STAY AWAY! The God who used to “walk with Adam in the cool of the evening” came walking again on the shores of the Sea of Galilee! And right now, continues God’s peripatetic journey through the indwelling Holy Spirit!

 

This Sunday is Trinity Sunday, when we recognize that God is “Three-in-One”—God the Creator, God the Son (Redeemer) and God the Holy Spirit (Sustainer). Of COURSE we may affirm this construct, as our “for others” God is also therefore a God of COMMUNITY. Christians believe that, even in the Godhead, God is a “community,” modeling this for all of creation. The Creation story is one of the texts chosen each year for this observation, as it has that mysterious little reference to “let US make humankind.” And yes, I know that in Hebrew this is not meant to be a reference to God as somehow a “community,” but might it foreshadow it? And as God journeys throughout the evolving creation, “visiting” us anew in Jesus Christ, and then taking up permanent residence with us through the Holy Spirit, may we acknowledge that the “us-ness” of God is something to accept as a possibility, while affirming the “oneness” of God, as the Divine, as well? I also know this gets to be pretty heady theology, but when it comes to actual practice, we should be able to affirm the depth and genuineness of God’s love for us as our Creator, the intimate and sacrificial love of God for us in Jesus Christ, and the empowering, wise, and guiding love of God for us in the Holy Spirit! 

 

Maybe I’ll go and scare up a Genesee to celebrate? Have a meaningful Trinity Sunday, Dear Ones! And find a neighbor who needs a “random act of kindness!” Amen!