United Presbyterian Church of West Orange

Genesis 1:1-2:3 – Rev. Mike Capron (2/12/17)

We are going to do a careful reading of Genesis…

1. Read it. 

2. Start with what we learn about God: God is there in the beginning. God creates movement and light and life. God brings about all this flourishing life. God makes women and men in God’s image. God blesses them. God makes all this creation and gives it away.

3. God sees that it was very good. And God rests. I picture a sigh of satisfaction.

4. <get them to sigh>

5. Now, what do we learn about the world. 

6. You don’t start with nothing, there are primeval waters that the spirit of God hoovers over. And God puts a dome in the midst of the waters, so there is water above the dome and below the dome, and only a little inside the dome.

7. Then God manipulates the waters inside the dome so as to make the land appear.

8. Then God creations the sun and the moon and puts them inside the dome—and decorates with stars.

9. Now there are people in the world ready to make fun of this. 

1. I am not one of them. 
2. These ancient writers did the best they could with what they had. 
3. Before we mock them, we should remember that our knowledge is not complete. 
4. When I was in school, they told me what was in outer space between the stars was nothingness, vacuum.

1. Today scientists will tell you that was completely wrong. Between the stars is dark matter, somehow mingled with dark energy. The two of them together are estimated to comprise 95.1% of the entire universe.
2. 95.1% of the universe and we missed it a scant few decades ago.
3. When I was in school, they told me that only higher animals could alter their behavior in significant ways. 
4. A little while back, I listened to a lecture explaining how bacteria alter their behavior based on the chemical signals produced by other bacteria around them. 
5. A few decades back, I listened with interest to creationist arguments about how species cannot radically change. 
6. Our current understanding tells us that dramatic change is possible through genetic mutation. 
7. We should be humble about what we think we know, lest our great-grand-children mock us not only for our ignorance but for our pride. 
8. The world is more diverse and complex than any of us know, even in 2017.
9. In similar fashion, we should always remain a bit humble about how we speak of God. 
10. While we can know some things about God, complete knowledge of God is beyond human comprehension. 
11. The Bible is not intended to be read as a tightly plotted novel, or worse yet as a series of propositional statements intended define once and for all time the structure of the physical universe. 
12. When ancient people wanted to describe something in detail they knew how to do that.  Read the descriptions of the ark of the covenant or Solomon’s temple. 
13. Those are the parts of the Bible that everyone skips over because they quickly tire of reading how many cubits long something was and exactly what kind of materials it was made of. 
14. Genesis one reads like a song or poem with repeated motifs and refrains that would help an audience remember what is happening. 
15. The physical details of the universe are incidental to the story.  The author assumes that readers or hearers already know what those are. 
16. The good news of God in the story is here—in the description of the character of God. 
17. I find it helpful to think of the Bible as laying down pieces of a mosaic.  A mosaic is a picture made up of smaller pieces, usually tiles or puzzle pieces. 
18. That is good news; there is also good news in our growing knowledge of the physical universe.
19. First, there are all the fringe benefits of medicine and technology that we enjoy. 
20. But secondly, there is such beauty in the complexity and diversity of the world, that those of us who have eyes to see it cannot help but see God all the more—more pieces in the mosaic. 
21. One of the things I love about being a Christian is the opportunity to reflect on the mysteries of God, to appreciate the beauty and the love of God, to contemplate the dance of the trinity and the wonders of God’s unfolding plan for restoring everything!
22. <pause>
23. I am sad for those who cannot see it. 
24. I am even more sad for those who misguidedly attack it.
25. They are missing so much. And we do not need to justify ourselves to them. 
26. We are serious readers of Scripture. Heirs of a great Reformed and Presbyterian tradition which engages the Bible in its many nuances and forms.
27. That is what the church needs, Christians who are sophisticated readers of Scripture, who not only know their Bible, know how to apply it to 21st century life. 
28. But too many who call themselves Christian don’t even know what it is they are defending against presumed attacks from science. 
29. We need to know the Bible, but our faith is not in the Bible. 
30. Our faith is in the triune God who is pointed to by the Bible. 
31. I read the Bible so I may come to know God by reading about how other people have experienced God. 
32. In doing so, I prepare myself to experience God in my own life. 
33. <pause>
34. You know, if we listen to news stories about schools, we learn that children in the US are not learning math and science rigorously enough to prepare them to meet competition from other countries. 
35. I am stepping slightly out of my role as preacher and voicing my personal concern as a citizen here, but not completely. 
36. I want children who have been raised in the church to be in the first rank of scientists and doctors and engineers. 
37. I them to bring your faith in Jesus Christ and your moral conscience formed by our faith to the table when decisions are made about how to utilize new scientific discoveries. 
38. So study hard.  If you have ability in these areas, please cultivate it. 
39. Some years ago I met Ken, a Presbyterian elder.  He was a physician who became deeply frustrated by his inability to treat children with a particular genetic condition.  He felt called to go back to school, get his Ph.D. in genetic science and do research to help combat that disease. 
40. And you know what, he did it!
41. He found a treatment. 
42. No doubt some of it was due to his own efforts and natural gifts. 
43. But he didn’t tell the story that way.  He gave the glory to God and had a humble, grateful heart. 
44. <pause>
45. It is sad to me that the early chapters of Genesis have become identified with conflict, conflict between people of faith and people who believe in science.
46. It is sad first, because there is no real conflict.
47. But it is even more sad that this text which describes God’s love and generosity to humanity became a locus of defensiveness and angry rhetoric. And yes, that is still going on in 2017.
48. Instead of that path, we must approach 21st century life with a reverent humility and a passionate engagement, reflecting God’s love as the moon reflects the sun’s light.
49. May it be so with all of us and throughout the world! Amen.