Genesis 2:4b-7,
15-17, 3:1-8
Well, I came upon a child of God
He was walking along the road
And I asked him, Tell me where are you going?
This he told me
He was walking along the road
And I asked him, Tell me where are you going?
This he told me
Said, I'm going down to Yasgur's Farm,
Gonna join in a rock and roll band.
Got to get back to the land and set my soul free.
Gonna join in a rock and roll band.
Got to get back to the land and set my soul free.
We are stardust, we are golden,
We are billion year old carbon,
And we got to get ourselves back to the garden.
We are billion year old carbon,
And we got to get ourselves back to the garden.
Joni
Mitchell
“And we
got to get ourselves back to the garden.” These lyrics are from the song Woodstock Crosby , Stills, Nash and Young. I’ve listened to this song
countless times over the years, but until I started working on this sermon, I’d
never thought too much about the line, “And we got to get ourselves back to the
garden.” I’m assuming, and I believe my assumption is correct, that this is a
reference not just to Yasgur’s farm or to the Woodstock
It’s a
nice idea, isn’t it; getting back to the garden, getting back to a time and
place when human beings and creation, human beings and God lived in perfect
harmony. Wars were not yet fought.
Poverty was not even a concept, much less a reality. There were no isms to
overcome; racism, sexism, ageism, etc. Justice was not necessary because there
was nothing to cause injustice. If only that snake would have kept his mouth
shut. I almost entitled this sermon, “This Is Why I Hate Snakes.” But the snake
is only one part of this story.
That
leads to the question I have been asking myself all week; what is this story
really all about? I know that theologically speaking, it is about God’s
creation and humanity’s fall. It is about original sin, and Adam and Eve’s
disobedience. It is the story that has justified centuries of violence toward
women because Eve took the first bite of the forbidden fruit. It is the history
of humanity’s first bad decision. It is the reason there is a garden to which
we are constantly trying to return. It is the story of how Adam and Eve lived
in paradise, until the tricky serpent came along, and God’s original children
listened to the snake instead of God.
But was
the garden perfect? What do we mean when call something “perfect”? Was it
without flaw? Was it a place where no mistakes could be made? If that’s true,
then it wasn’t perfect because mistakes were made; hence, why we’re trying to
get back to it. If God created it to be perfect, then the snake would not have
had the ability to whisper tantalizing suggestions in Eve’s ear. If it were
perfect, then Eve would not have considered disobeying and taking the fruit. If
it were perfect, Adam would not have stood beside her through all of this and
done nothing.
Maybe
the Garden of Eden was not perfect. Maybe God did not create us to be perfect;
at least not perfect in the way we understand perfection. God created Adam to
be in relationship with God. As one of my friends pointed out in Bible study,
God spoke creation into existence. If you read the first account of creation
that is what God did. God spoke it into existence. But when it came to Adam,
God got his hands dirty. God took the ground and formed Adam. The name Adam is
a Hebrew play on words from the word for ground, which is adamah. God
formed Adam from the ground, and you would think that if God’s hands formed
humanity, then humanity should indeed be perfect, right? Yet Adam and Eve were
not perfect. Perfect people do not disobey. They did.
I loved
playing with my dollhouse when I was a kid. I could arrange the furniture
anyway I wanted to. I could put the doll family who lived there in any room,
have them do anything I chose, say anything I wanted them to say. They were
inanimate objects, and they did what I commanded. I guess if God had wanted to
create perfection, we would have been created like those dolls. God could move
us around where God chose. God could make us do and say what God wanted. But
that is not how Adam and Eve were created. That is not how we were created.
God
created Adam to be in relationship with God and with the rest of God’s
creation. God created Eve to be in relationship with Adam and with God and with
the rest of God’s creation. God created us for relationship. God created us
with free will. We were given brains to think and bodies to move and use. We were
given the freedom to say, “No.”
I’ve
come to believe, as heretical as it may sound, that the Garden of Eden was not
a perfect place – at least not in the way that I have always defined
perfection. I believe it was a place of abundance. I believe it was a place
where the chaos was kept at bay. Remember, when God spoke the world into being,
God pushed back the chaos. But the chaos was not destroyed or eliminated. The
Garden of Eden was a place of abundance and safety, but not perfection. The
couple and the creatures that inhabited it were also not perfect. Those two
free-thinking, imperfect people did what all free-thinking, imperfect people
do. They messed up. They acted wrongly. They broke relationship with God. They
fell, and they were sent out into the world where the chaos threatened to come
rushing in – and often it did. Often it does.
It seems
to me that the story of Adam and Eve is the story of us. It is the story of the
human condition. It is the story of broken relationship and the sadness and
consequences that follow. It is the story of us. We are Adam and Eve. We
continue to break relationship. We continue to make bad choices. We continue to
suffer the consequences of our brokenness. It is the story of us.
How
fitting it is, then, that this story of us is chosen for this particular day. Fifteen
years ago, on a beautiful September morning, while I held my two-month-old in
my arms and watched my two-year-old play on the floor, I and the rest of the
country, the rest of the world, also watched in horror as planes flew into the
Twin Towers and the Pentagon. We heard of another plane bound for Washington
D.C. Pennsylvania
Fifteen
years later, we are still broken. The chaos still threatens to overwhelm us.
This is the most rancorous election seasons I have ever been privy to, and I
know that I get caught up in and contribute to that rancor. I wonder sometimes,
especially when I feel to the depths of my being the hatred and anger that
seems all around me, if the story of us will ever have a happy ending; if there
will ever be a chapter devoted to peace and compassion, to justice and righteousness.
If the writing of this story is left up to us, then I doubt that chapter will
ever be written. But the good news is that it is most assuredly not left up to
us. Because back when the story of us began, back when we were still in the
Garden, back before we listened to that sneaky snake, God created us to be in
relationship with one another and with God. We broke the relationship. We broke
it and we have suffered and struggled ever since. But God didn’t break the
relationship. God did not end it there. God kept trying to help us write the
story. We speak of us trying to get back to the Garden, but in reality I
believe it is God who is trying to lead us back there; back to relationship,
back to abundance of life and love.
God is
still with us, still writing the story of us. In spite of the terrible things
we do to one another, God is still pushing back the chaos and calling us to do
the same by showing the same love, compassion and mercy to others that God
shows us. It seems to me that the story of us is not yet finished, because the
story of us is the story of God. We are broken, but God is still creating,
still shaping us with his merciful hands; still loving us with his
unconditional love. Thanks. Be. To. God.
Let all
of God’s children say, “Alleluia!”
Amen.
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