Creation stories in the Bible are weird - Rev Allister Lane
READING: GENESIS 1 AND 2:1-4
Today we are starting a four Sunday series on ‘Creation’.
This may seem a bit yawn-ey. We might think we’ve got a good grasp of what creation is – after all we can see it all around us, every day!
But I wonder if there is much we take for granted. And, if we probe it carefully, we might find how much our lives are shaped by our assumptions.
And the implications are real – we know that ‘creation is groaning’. Our choices have a very real affect on this planet. So what we believe about creation (past, present and future) matters.
The Christian tradition helps us grapple with BIG questions…
Why does the universe exist?
How do we describe what is here?
Why is there beauty? Why is there pain?
Every culture wants to express an understanding of the universe around them in a way that gives life coherence and meaning..
There is an ancient Babylonian creation story called Enuma Elish. In this creation story, the god Marduk defeats a goddess Tiamat and then tore her body apart, using the two halves to make the world. Pretty violent stuff, huh?
Closer to home, the ancient Maori creation story has its own violence. You may recall, Ranginui, the sky father, and Papatūānuku, are clung together in a firm embrace, with their children in the darkness between them. Desperate to find space and light, one son suggests, “Let’s kill our parents”. In the end, they decide not to kill them, but to force them apart.
These ancient creation stories show the importance of expressing an understanding of the universe and what it means to exist within it. Both these creation stories understand violence to be the engine of creation.
The Babylonian creation story was one the people of Israel encountered when they were in exile. One significant way the people of Israel kept their distinct identity in the world and remained faithful to their vision was by expressing a different understanding of creation.
Their creation story was not of violence, but of joy. Not death, destruction and division – but overflowing generosity.
What passage of the Bible comes to mind when you think about the origins of the universe…? What is the most familiar creation story in the Bible…? Let’s listen again to Genesis 1 and 2:1-4…
When we think about how the Christian tradition expresses the understanding of creation, the prominence of this Genesis passage is because of
the beautiful poetry …and
the position in the Bible.
But there are actually many, many creation accounts in the Old Testament.
There is Psalm 104:
1 Bless the Lord, O my soul.
O Lord my God, you are very great.
You are clothed with honour and majesty,
2 wrapped in light as with a garment.
You stretch out the heavens like a tent,19 You have made the moon to mark the seasons;
the sun knows its time for setting.
20 You make darkness, and it is night,
when all the animals of the forest come creeping out.27 These all look to you
to give them their food in due season;
28 when you give to them, they gather it up;
when you open your hand, they are filled with good things.
29 When you hide your face, they are dismayed;
when you take away their breath, they die
and return to their dust.
30 When you send forth your spirit, they are created;
and you renew the face of the ground.
Professor Tom McLeish – who spoke here at St John’s a couple of years ago, theoretical physicist at the University of York - reminds us the creation story in Genesis is not the only biblical creation story. In his book Faith and Wisdom in Science, McLeish points to over 20 different references to creation, “all using different metaphors, pictures, and language.”
Psalm 139:13-15
13 For it was you who formed my inward parts;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
that I know very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
And from the book of Job…Job 38:1-7
38Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind:
2 ‘Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?
3 Gird up your loins like a man,
I will question you, and you shall declare to me.4 ‘Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
Tell me, if you have understanding.
5 Who determined its measurements—surely you know! [I love God’s sarcasm!]
Or who stretched the line upon it?
6 On what were its bases sunk,
or who laid its cornerstone
7 when the morning stars sang together
and all the heavenly beings shouted for joy?
This creation account reminds us that a doctrine of creation is centred on JOY. It also highlights the distinction between Creator and creature – this is something significant I want to return to next week.
There are many creation accounts in the Old Testament, and the opening chapters of Genesis effectively capture the essence of them all. McLeish says,
we ought to read them all together, interpreting each in the light of the others,
and he notes that such a plethora of stories makes it difficult to speak of any one particular story that should be interpreted ‘literally.’.
G.K. Chesterton is credited with stating:
Fairy tales are more than true – not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us dragons can be beaten.
How might that help us to better understand the Bible for us today? When we fully appreciate the Bible is a really like a library, with genres of history, law, poetry, wisdom, prophets, gospels, letters, etc – we can better hear the Word of God speaking to us about what really matters.
For Christian theology the primary source is the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which the New Testament bears witness to. I want to say more next week about the doctrine of creation in relation to Jesus Christ.
But it’s important that we see the consistency in the New Testament as God’s Big Story unfolds.
Hebrews 11:3
3 By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible.
Rev 4:11
‘You are worthy, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honour and power,
for you created all things,
and by your will they existed and were created.’
And let’s acknowledge the opening of John’s Gospel: John 1:1-5
1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was in the beginning with God. 3All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being 4in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. 5The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.
Jesus Christ is the mediator of creation, the One through whom God the Father created and continues to uphold the universe.
For Israel exiled in Babylon, the creation stories remind them of who they are and the vision of hope they have been given.
For the early church persecuted by Rome, the creation stories reminded them they are loved, even when the power-brokers dehumanise them.
The stories of creation remain real for us, as they keep our vision for hope alive and our appreciation of what it means to be human, intact.
The creation stories in the Bible express joy and generosity.
Today we’ve considered the biblical stories of creation. I will continue our series on creation next week by summarising all you need to know for the Doctrine of Creation, and addressing the question: ‘Is there any meaning behind what we see?’
To God be the glory, AMEN.