Genesis 2:4b-25 - September 10, 2023

Creation. We start at the beginning. Well, almost. We are actually in chapter 2 of Genesis, where we get another creation story. We’re familiar with Adam and Eve, though I must admit, this narrative doesn’t have the same rhythmic, poetic feel as the first creation story. In that story, God takes time to create, speaking things into existence day after day after day. It shows God’s power, omnipotence, and grandeur - all good things to know. 

But in the story we have today, God is portrayed very differently. God isn’t a distant voice, but right there in the mud, crafting and forming and shaping - taking immense care to form this earthly vessel. And then God breathed into this lump of dirt from the ground and there was life! The man became a living being. 

And while the text doesn’t say this, we like to fill in for God, “And it was good.” 

But we all know what ends up happening in the Garden of Eden. Even though we don’t read that part of the story today, we know that things quickly turn not-so-good. We know about the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and the serpent, and the fruit… It’s the Fall from perfection. It’s not good anymore. 

When we think of things “not being good,” we think of disobeying. We think of not listening to what God tells us to do. What comes to mind are sins - those things we do: breaking the rules or the laws or the commandments. The bad words we say about another. The pain we cause others either physically or emotionally. The loyalty we give to things that aren’t God or that don’t honor God. All of that is part of it, but it is just a part.

There are also those things we don’t do that stem from the Fall of God’s perfect creation. And if I’m honest, these are the things that we are all probably a little more guilty of. Martin Luther turned the “thou shalt not” commandments to showing us how to live properly; the commandments raise the bar on how we should live. We aren’t just not supposed to murder someone, but we are to help foster life. We aren’t just not to steal, but to give and share what we have with others. We’re pretty good at not murdering; we’re not so good at building others up so they have abundant life. These are sins of omission, and they are also part of the Fall. 

But evidence of the Fall is more than just us; it’s the general state of being. Things are not as God intends. Hurricanes, floods, fires… God doesn’t send those things to punish, to prove a point. God’s not vindictive like that. But it is evidence of a broken world that doesn’t function the way God planned - and sometimes in our brokenness, we attribute things to God just so we can have the comfort of “a reason.” 

And so, as we sometimes confess, our world is broken because of what we have done, and by what we have left undone… and because it just is. It just simply is. It is not the good God intends. 

But, do you know what the very first thing that was “not good” in creation was? Even before the tree and the eating and the hiding. It’s actually in our lesson for today. “It is not good that the man should be alone.”

The very first thing that is not good is that a human was not in relationship. And what did God do about that? God made relationship. God kept working at it - creating relationships for the human with animals and birds and fish. But when God saw that this wasn’t quite working out either, God took it a step further and made bone of bones and flesh of flesh - another human being, created in the image of God. 

God made us for relationship, and God didn’t stop until the relationship was right. Which is a great way to view the whole story of the Bible, not just this particular story.

See, God made us for relationship with each other and with God, but often - because of those things we do and the things don’t do - our relationship with God and each other is not good. I’ve already listed a bunch of things, so I don’t need to rehash them again. 

From pretty much the very beginning, our relationship with God has been rocky. But God doesn’t stop. God keeps trying different things, different ways of reaching us - having us see and know and live in relationship. 

God walks in the garden with Adam and Eve. God makes a covenant with Abraham. God frees people from slavery. God sends prophets to preach and proclaim promise. God works really hard to help us see that we are loved and in relationship. But each time, we somehow turned away from what God was doing. 

And still, God didn’t give up! After trying all these other ways, God comes down to earth. God comes in skin and bones in Jesus - not just an image or a representation, but God in the flesh. Jesus came and preached and healed and shared stories of God’s love for us. And still, we turned away - we fought so much that we killed him, hung him up on a cross. Yeah, sometimes we blame God for the things we do. 

Be that as it may, God did not stop. God didn’t let us kill the relationship. God brought life out of death. God brought relationship to us, relationship that we can’t create or destroy. God brought a love so strong that no matter what we do or leave undone, our relationship with God will never end, never die, never be “not good” again. 

And because we still have a tendency to forget this or we try to screw it up in one way or another, God continually reminds us of this loving relationship. God keeps coming to us every week in bread and wine, inviting us to eat and drink and share in that relationship. What is a meal but food and relationship? 

God works in water to forgive us, to refresh us, to fill us up with the Spirit. God comes through the stories we tell, the songs we sing, the people we gather with. And every time we splash, every time we hear that melody, every time we assemble, God reminds us of the gift of relationship. 

And this relationship with God is all so we can help others see that they, too, are loved and in relationship with God. God keeps working so that we can be God’s hands and feet and voice. So that we can bring good to all the areas that are not so good. So we can share love and grace and forgiveness. All because God wouldn’t stop with the relationship. 

God created us for a reason, and that reason is to love and be loved. God created us for relationship. And no matter what we have done or left undone, God won’t stop. God has established relationship, and God will keep loving us, in the beginning, and to the very end, and forever.