Back to Genesis Ch1
Ge 1:5 God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.”
In Genesis everything gets given a name, it is not just people who have names but the day and the night. We get to verse five and God starts to give things a name. Pure science can cope with descriptions, but the poet demands words. The omnivorous quadruped is called a rabbit, and things have a greater sense a greater meaning. Every hair on your head is numbered. Not a sparrow falls to the ground but He knows it.
God is a God who watches over His garden and delights over it. We give names to things we value, so people name their cars and assert to them personalities, it is a sign of affectation - if not affection. God does not just look and observe, he gets involved. When we give something a name we enter into a relationship with it, it becomes more real. So God uses words and gives names.
There is something mystical about creation and the relationship that God has towards it. So often we treat the planet like these are just routes to somewhere else, and we spend life travelling to somewhere not knowing that where we are matters. God though gives names like a tourist taking snaps shots. This I call day, this I call night. Like a artist naming his works, this is not just a splash of paint, this is "A Sunflower", "Water Lillies", or a "Madonna Col Bambino"
Names matter, they give the opportunity of distinction and description. The world finds not just a physical but a literary form. It is not just a flower, it is a rose.
" What's in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet;" Romeo and Juliet.
But if Juliet could only call Romeo, him over there, and could not have nouns and descriptors then the whole of the play might be spent in trying to describe Romeo so that he could be identified. Of course if we did not have variety, if everyone did look just the same then it really would be very difficult to identify who they were. Names give us language they enable us to communicate and interact.
Of course the problem is that God did not call day, he called it something else in a language that we do not entirely understand or is perhaps beyond language, since of course there was no man to hear God's utterances.
Words matter, the gospel of John begins, "In the beginning was the Word". Words have a certain significance. Words matter, God says let there be light and there is light. Words matter in our relationship with one another, and words matter in our relationship with God.
We live in a world created by the Word, we need to start talking God's language.
Showing posts with label Genesis 1. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Genesis 1. Show all posts
Monday, 21 May 2007
Wednesday, 28 February 2007
Special features commentary
I wonder what it would have been like if you could watch creation. Everything starts off with darkness, and then there is light. Then after the light appears, the blur starts to separate, shapes and forms, sky, water and earth. Then from this barren earth, out from the very mud plants emerge, and not just one plant but many different species. The sky is shaped, the stars of the sky, the moon the sun. Then fish start swimming in the sea, and then the birds and then the animals on the land and then mankind.
Imagine if you were to watch it unfold on a DVD and you could see it all happening, it would be wonderful. It's great, but we may want to know what the Director had in mind, how did they achieve this wonder? Then you would go to the menu, click on special features and the Director's commentary and we would hear those familiar words from Genesis, "In the beginning..."
And we realise that the film of life has a Director, and that He is interested in the plot and suddenly it all means so much more. We understand, but then we continue to watch.
The action changes from the good world without death, without a shade a pain, things start to go wrong. There is the fall, there is murder, there is death, and without the commentary you are lost. Why has all this happened? What has gone wrong?
You watch the tape, but you do not understand, and because you do not understand you do not see it coming.
It is interesting in the Sixties, people said they wanted free love, none of the restraints of society they wanted love without restraint.
The seventies was the decade of consent, what did it matter so long as there was consent. What went on between consenting adults was no one else's business. So long as no one was hurt.
By 1984 Tina Turner was proclaiming, "What's love got to do with it?"
It was about me and my pleasure.
By 1998 it was not ice creams and deck chairs, but "Sex on the beach."
We live in a selfish generation where it is no longer so long as no one gets hurt, we know that people get hurt but heh it's a tough world. Consent is debatable, so long as the other does not object too strongly. The family breaks down and we ask the question where is love.
It is like we are playing the film in reverse. We have switched off the commentary and ignored the warnings.
Paul in Ephesians 4v19 comments,
Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more.
Or as the Rolling Stones put it in 1965 "I can't get no satisfaction."
We can make our world without God but it is formless and dark, but as John comments at the start of his gospel, writing perhaps in prison in an occupied country far from home,
"The light shines in the darkness."
If we turn from God we soon find ourselves far from God, there is a certain inescapable inevitability about the decline of culture without God. The problem with British society is not essentially drink, drugs, family breakdown - the essential problem is that we are fallen human beings and that without God's help we quickly collapse, and that affects the whole of our lives and our culture.
However God is a God of redemption and victory. In the 18th Century following the realisation of what it all meant, either John or Charles Wesley wrote a rather different song
Long my imprisoned spirit lay,
fast bound in sin and nature's night;
thine eye diffused a quickening ray;
I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;
my chains fell off, my heart was free,
I rose, went forth, and followed thee.
Jesus comes into our lives, and there is light!
Imagine if you were to watch it unfold on a DVD and you could see it all happening, it would be wonderful. It's great, but we may want to know what the Director had in mind, how did they achieve this wonder? Then you would go to the menu, click on special features and the Director's commentary and we would hear those familiar words from Genesis, "In the beginning..."
And we realise that the film of life has a Director, and that He is interested in the plot and suddenly it all means so much more. We understand, but then we continue to watch.
The action changes from the good world without death, without a shade a pain, things start to go wrong. There is the fall, there is murder, there is death, and without the commentary you are lost. Why has all this happened? What has gone wrong?
You watch the tape, but you do not understand, and because you do not understand you do not see it coming.
It is interesting in the Sixties, people said they wanted free love, none of the restraints of society they wanted love without restraint.
The seventies was the decade of consent, what did it matter so long as there was consent. What went on between consenting adults was no one else's business. So long as no one was hurt.
By 1984 Tina Turner was proclaiming, "What's love got to do with it?"
It was about me and my pleasure.
By 1998 it was not ice creams and deck chairs, but "Sex on the beach."
We live in a selfish generation where it is no longer so long as no one gets hurt, we know that people get hurt but heh it's a tough world. Consent is debatable, so long as the other does not object too strongly. The family breaks down and we ask the question where is love.
It is like we are playing the film in reverse. We have switched off the commentary and ignored the warnings.
Paul in Ephesians 4v19 comments,
Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more.
Or as the Rolling Stones put it in 1965 "I can't get no satisfaction."
We can make our world without God but it is formless and dark, but as John comments at the start of his gospel, writing perhaps in prison in an occupied country far from home,
"The light shines in the darkness."
If we turn from God we soon find ourselves far from God, there is a certain inescapable inevitability about the decline of culture without God. The problem with British society is not essentially drink, drugs, family breakdown - the essential problem is that we are fallen human beings and that without God's help we quickly collapse, and that affects the whole of our lives and our culture.
However God is a God of redemption and victory. In the 18th Century following the realisation of what it all meant, either John or Charles Wesley wrote a rather different song
Long my imprisoned spirit lay,
fast bound in sin and nature's night;
thine eye diffused a quickening ray;
I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;
my chains fell off, my heart was free,
I rose, went forth, and followed thee.
Jesus comes into our lives, and there is light!
Friday, 23 February 2007
A strange parallel
There is a strange parallel between Genesis 1v28 God's instruction to mankind to "Be fruitful and increase in number" and Matthew 28 the Great Commission to go and make disciples, and implicit in this to see the Kingdom of God come. Two go forth and multiply.
While in some ways looking at Matt 28 with Genesis 1 in mind may bring about the insight that, it is not just about mankind but about the whole of creation. It seems to me that there should be more than this. But I have struggled to get my head around this one.
The church is called to multiply and yet we see in many ways that man's increase in number has been at great cost to the environment in which he lives. We seem to have tried to subdue the environment when we should perhaps have been better stewards of it. When you look up the words subdue and dominion they do not help. Quite clearly the idea that man should be reigning over God's creation is there.
I think the issue is that the reign of man should be a reign, but it should be benign and beneficial - in the way that our God reigns. God's reign blesses rather than harms. Similarly perhaps the concept before the fall has a totally different idea to what it has actually become post fall. Perhaps our thinking is too much shaped by the fall, which is what we see around us.
Jesus spoke often about the coming of the Kingdom of God\Heaven, which could perhaps be called the Rule or Dominion of God.
It seems to me a strange parallel. Perhaps one of the common factors is that in the coming of the reign of God and the reign of man were not meant to be in competition but complementary. We were created to be the co-rulers of creation. In the new Kingdom we will once more reign beside him, and as the Kingdom grows. So we take back dominion over the creation, we reclaim to some degree through medicine and healthcare the dominion over creation from sickness and disease. When we fight against poverty and injustice we take dominion over creation to feed the hungry and clothe the naked. It was the rule that God intended us to have.
Perhaps therefore the problem is not with the passages but with our thinking. In both the reign of man, should actually be identical to the reign of God, and that as something very beneficial and good - and this not just for the few - but for everyone.
The Old Covenant was that we should obey and prosper, and that creation should prosper. The second is that we should obey and prosper, and that all should prosper through us. The reign of God that is introduced through the church therefore should not be a threat (though it may be perceived as such) but should actually be a blessing to the world.
When you read it more closely this idea is clear from Matt 28v16-20 - teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. This emphasises perhaps the requirement for more joined up thinking. The Holy Spirit coming is not so that we may feel good, but that God's Kingdom might come. That God may once more through us have dominion as was God's intention. The parallels are therefore because redemption and restoration is about precisely that. Mankind not just being redeemed but the whole of creation being redeemed as man once more takes His place, not to exploit creation but to enjoy it and care for it. Indeed in God's Dictionary perhaps care for and rule over are not that different.
The key of course is Jesus, the servant King. Rule includes not excludes service. The problem is we have such a wrong view of authority, because of the way that it normally operates - whether it is the Kings and Empires of the past, or the politicians of the present. Once you deal with that problem then perhaps the parallel is not so strange. God rules - and everyone is blessed, and by God's will and on His behalf man rules and everyone is still blessed.
And the multiplying bit... it is not about conquest but enjoyment.
While in some ways looking at Matt 28 with Genesis 1 in mind may bring about the insight that, it is not just about mankind but about the whole of creation. It seems to me that there should be more than this. But I have struggled to get my head around this one.
The church is called to multiply and yet we see in many ways that man's increase in number has been at great cost to the environment in which he lives. We seem to have tried to subdue the environment when we should perhaps have been better stewards of it. When you look up the words subdue and dominion they do not help. Quite clearly the idea that man should be reigning over God's creation is there.
I think the issue is that the reign of man should be a reign, but it should be benign and beneficial - in the way that our God reigns. God's reign blesses rather than harms. Similarly perhaps the concept before the fall has a totally different idea to what it has actually become post fall. Perhaps our thinking is too much shaped by the fall, which is what we see around us.
Jesus spoke often about the coming of the Kingdom of God\Heaven, which could perhaps be called the Rule or Dominion of God.
It seems to me a strange parallel. Perhaps one of the common factors is that in the coming of the reign of God and the reign of man were not meant to be in competition but complementary. We were created to be the co-rulers of creation. In the new Kingdom we will once more reign beside him, and as the Kingdom grows. So we take back dominion over the creation, we reclaim to some degree through medicine and healthcare the dominion over creation from sickness and disease. When we fight against poverty and injustice we take dominion over creation to feed the hungry and clothe the naked. It was the rule that God intended us to have.
Perhaps therefore the problem is not with the passages but with our thinking. In both the reign of man, should actually be identical to the reign of God, and that as something very beneficial and good - and this not just for the few - but for everyone.
The Old Covenant was that we should obey and prosper, and that creation should prosper. The second is that we should obey and prosper, and that all should prosper through us. The reign of God that is introduced through the church therefore should not be a threat (though it may be perceived as such) but should actually be a blessing to the world.
When you read it more closely this idea is clear from Matt 28v16-20 - teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. This emphasises perhaps the requirement for more joined up thinking. The Holy Spirit coming is not so that we may feel good, but that God's Kingdom might come. That God may once more through us have dominion as was God's intention. The parallels are therefore because redemption and restoration is about precisely that. Mankind not just being redeemed but the whole of creation being redeemed as man once more takes His place, not to exploit creation but to enjoy it and care for it. Indeed in God's Dictionary perhaps care for and rule over are not that different.
The key of course is Jesus, the servant King. Rule includes not excludes service. The problem is we have such a wrong view of authority, because of the way that it normally operates - whether it is the Kings and Empires of the past, or the politicians of the present. Once you deal with that problem then perhaps the parallel is not so strange. God rules - and everyone is blessed, and by God's will and on His behalf man rules and everyone is still blessed.
And the multiplying bit... it is not about conquest but enjoyment.
Wednesday, 13 December 2006
Variety is the spice of life
Ge 1:20 And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky.”
Ge 1:21 So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living and moving thing with which the water teems, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. (NIV)
There is the saying that variety is the spice of life, but if you walk down any street, you will see that rather than variety you will have conformity. Look in clothes shops and you will find many adaptations of the same "now" style - whatever that currently is, but try and look for other things and you will struggle to find it. We may call if fashion or trends, but basically we are creatures of conformity. God though creates all sorts of wondrous creatures. God is a God of mountains and plains, all sorts of wonderful and different creatures, there is an amazing variety to creation.
There is also an amazing variety to humanity, we are all different and we work in different ways. One man's drink is another's poison, what works for one, will not necessarily work for another. God gives us a lot of freedom. There are no biblical passages specify particular worship style (though there are general principles it should be reverent and about God etc). There are no biblical passages about pews or seats or little knitted kneelers. However at various times the church has made up these rules. The service had to be in Latin, even though not even the priest can understand it. Today of course we do not do such silly things as that, we do other silly things instead.
We enforce conformity, because it gives us security. God works this way for us, and therefore it must be true for others. I have seen church leaders cause amazing problems trying to enforce what perhaps God was saying to them for them on others.
Paul wrote, "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your minds." Rom 12v2 NIV
Meeting Jesus is about transformation, Jesus had a tendency to turn the world upside down, to embrace the leper and the unclean, to be tranformation. It is not about enforcing conformity, it is about finding freedom. A freedom to break free from conformity and discover who God created us to be, not in a selfish way or a way that damages other people, but one that can serve in the security of knowing that they are accepted, loved and precious.
God is a God of amazing variety, God's dream is of a church that can bring together different people and make them one, but still maintaining their own uniqueness and God created identity.
Ge 1:21 So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living and moving thing with which the water teems, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. (NIV)
There is the saying that variety is the spice of life, but if you walk down any street, you will see that rather than variety you will have conformity. Look in clothes shops and you will find many adaptations of the same "now" style - whatever that currently is, but try and look for other things and you will struggle to find it. We may call if fashion or trends, but basically we are creatures of conformity. God though creates all sorts of wondrous creatures. God is a God of mountains and plains, all sorts of wonderful and different creatures, there is an amazing variety to creation.
There is also an amazing variety to humanity, we are all different and we work in different ways. One man's drink is another's poison, what works for one, will not necessarily work for another. God gives us a lot of freedom. There are no biblical passages specify particular worship style (though there are general principles it should be reverent and about God etc). There are no biblical passages about pews or seats or little knitted kneelers. However at various times the church has made up these rules. The service had to be in Latin, even though not even the priest can understand it. Today of course we do not do such silly things as that, we do other silly things instead.
We enforce conformity, because it gives us security. God works this way for us, and therefore it must be true for others. I have seen church leaders cause amazing problems trying to enforce what perhaps God was saying to them for them on others.
Paul wrote, "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your minds." Rom 12v2 NIV
Meeting Jesus is about transformation, Jesus had a tendency to turn the world upside down, to embrace the leper and the unclean, to be tranformation. It is not about enforcing conformity, it is about finding freedom. A freedom to break free from conformity and discover who God created us to be, not in a selfish way or a way that damages other people, but one that can serve in the security of knowing that they are accepted, loved and precious.
God is a God of amazing variety, God's dream is of a church that can bring together different people and make them one, but still maintaining their own uniqueness and God created identity.
Tuesday, 12 December 2006
Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness," Gen 1v26
Before we move on something else struck me about Genesis Chapter 1. God makes man in his image, but that is plural, not God says "Let me make man in my image." but let "us make man in our image." God is not just one individual, God is a community.
Now that thought is a bit mind-blowing for us mere mortals, but God does not appear to have a problem with it. There is no multiple personality disorder in the Almighty, though at times when God the Father turns away from God the Son on the cross, the tensions are significant.
We live in a world that is fast fragmenting into its various tribes and cultural groups. The church has a tendency to do the same. We have churches full of old people and churches full of young people. We have black led churches and white churches. We are divided by worship styles and mission strategies, by biblical interpretations and traditons. Paul is emphatic,
Col 3:11 Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all. (NIV)
God is community, that is a creative tension not a weakness. We need to be in community with people who we disagree with that we may grow. Surrounding ourselves with spiritual yes people, does us about the same amount of good that it does politicians. It may feel comfortable but we die.
We need churches that struggle together, that disagree, but still love and grow. The world needs acceptance, and if we cannot accept each other then others will not feel accepted in our midst. Acceptance is not about pretending that we agree, but about being open and honest about where we are, and loving each other all the same.
We are created in the image not of a singular diety but of a community. We need the humilty to say we disagree, but let us walk together and grow. To say if you don't like it leave, is not Christian. We are created in the image of community, and we need to seek as churches to be one, as God is one.
Now that thought is a bit mind-blowing for us mere mortals, but God does not appear to have a problem with it. There is no multiple personality disorder in the Almighty, though at times when God the Father turns away from God the Son on the cross, the tensions are significant.
We live in a world that is fast fragmenting into its various tribes and cultural groups. The church has a tendency to do the same. We have churches full of old people and churches full of young people. We have black led churches and white churches. We are divided by worship styles and mission strategies, by biblical interpretations and traditons. Paul is emphatic,
Col 3:11 Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all. (NIV)
God is community, that is a creative tension not a weakness. We need to be in community with people who we disagree with that we may grow. Surrounding ourselves with spiritual yes people, does us about the same amount of good that it does politicians. It may feel comfortable but we die.
We need churches that struggle together, that disagree, but still love and grow. The world needs acceptance, and if we cannot accept each other then others will not feel accepted in our midst. Acceptance is not about pretending that we agree, but about being open and honest about where we are, and loving each other all the same.
We are created in the image not of a singular diety but of a community. We need the humilty to say we disagree, but let us walk together and grow. To say if you don't like it leave, is not Christian. We are created in the image of community, and we need to seek as churches to be one, as God is one.
Sunday, 10 December 2006
In the beginning...
"In the beginning..." God's purposes in creation.
Rather than starting with a theological examination of what makes a church, I will start with a simple definition. People together with God equals church.
Mt 18:20 For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them." (NIV).
Church starts with people and God. Therefore the place to start is Genesis to see what God's orignal plan was.
We begin with nothing, an empty page, and God starts creating. Therefore what is here is here because God made it so, unless of course it has gone wrong since because of sin. However, very importantly God gives us a glimpse of the original, and it was good. God is a Deity with a purpose, He says let it be, and it is. The majestic power of God is emphasised, let there be light, and there is light. There was no light switch to flick to light the heavens, but God says let it happen and it happens.
During this people are made (male and female) in God's image, blessed and given a role to steward the earth. Humanity is given a place and a purpose under God.
God does it all in six days (ages/stages I'm not getting into that debate) and then sits down for a rest. Both work and rest are important in his character. This is no austere world, God does not create us with just the bare necessities for life, but gives far more. Food is not just some sludge but an array of plants (in Genesis 1 it is just plants). There is an extravagance, and even God sits down to enjoy it. God made the world and it was good.
God created us to enjoy good things. There is always the tension created by sin, as we will look at afterwards, but we need to keep sight of God creating us for good.
We sometimes have an idea of an austere mean God, but the most exuberant church building does not compare with the riches of God's creation. God wants people to be blessed with good things, that is the character of God, and part of the purpose of the church!
Rather than starting with a theological examination of what makes a church, I will start with a simple definition. People together with God equals church.
Mt 18:20 For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them." (NIV).
Church starts with people and God. Therefore the place to start is Genesis to see what God's orignal plan was.
We begin with nothing, an empty page, and God starts creating. Therefore what is here is here because God made it so, unless of course it has gone wrong since because of sin. However, very importantly God gives us a glimpse of the original, and it was good. God is a Deity with a purpose, He says let it be, and it is. The majestic power of God is emphasised, let there be light, and there is light. There was no light switch to flick to light the heavens, but God says let it happen and it happens.
During this people are made (male and female) in God's image, blessed and given a role to steward the earth. Humanity is given a place and a purpose under God.
God does it all in six days (ages/stages I'm not getting into that debate) and then sits down for a rest. Both work and rest are important in his character. This is no austere world, God does not create us with just the bare necessities for life, but gives far more. Food is not just some sludge but an array of plants (in Genesis 1 it is just plants). There is an extravagance, and even God sits down to enjoy it. God made the world and it was good.
God created us to enjoy good things. There is always the tension created by sin, as we will look at afterwards, but we need to keep sight of God creating us for good.
We sometimes have an idea of an austere mean God, but the most exuberant church building does not compare with the riches of God's creation. God wants people to be blessed with good things, that is the character of God, and part of the purpose of the church!
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