When
I think of the creation story in the Bible I tend to think of Genesis one, the six
days, and then the day of rest, but with Genesis 2 version of the creation of man
and woman. A combination of two stories, that are separate accounts. Just as in
the 2 gospel accounts of the birth of Jesus, we weave them together, which is
not always helpful.
Notice
how, in this account, God made man, which may be translated as man or human or
the name Adam; then a garden for the man, then animals and birds, which the man
named. Then God made woman.
The man naming the animals, puts the man as a
co-creator with God[i]
This
creation story is much more person focussed. In Genesis one, God made the
world, and people were part of that. Here God makes man, then a place for him
to live and animals and another person to keep him company.
This
creation story is much more fun, God is playing in the dirt, making the man,
then seeing what else is needed; not like the Genesis one story, which seems very
organised orderly.
There
are two sections I want to mention this morning.
The
second is, verse 18: The Lord God
said, “It isn’t good for the man to live alone. I need to make a suitable partner
for him.”
Partner
is sometimes translated as helper – neither is accurate in the sense of the Hebrew.
It is partner but not in the business or marriage sense. The same word is used when
God is described as a helper.
It
is a recognition that people rarely do well in isolation,
we
need people around us,
people who care about us
people who treat us with respect
Remember
the Emmaus road story, people walking together trying to figure out what had
happened the past few days – we need relationships like that, people we can
reflect and mull over what is happening around us and within us.
There
are people in this community who are lonely,
o
I hear it from the mothers of young children
o
And people whose spouse has died
o
I hear of loneliness from people who struggle
to get out due reduced physical ability
o
And people whose mental health makes it hard to
leave the house
In
some cases, social media, Facebook, email etc helps, but in other cases it
makes the loneliness deeper.
Frontier
Service Patrol Ministers offer a listening ear,
a
friendly face and
a
link to the church and the world
for
people who live in isolated areas
Firstly
verse 15: The Lord God put the man in the Garden
of Eden to take care of it and to look after it.
Man was
to care for the earth. Where Genesis One
has the idea of humans having domination over the earth, this version of
creation has man responsible for the care of the earth.
I wonder
what it means to care for the earth?
In the midst
of drought, how do we care for the earth?
With
the political discussion around pricing of electricity and gas,
With
claims and counter claims about climate change and what to do about it
It
is easy to forget that people were given the task of caring for the earth.
People
are made to live in community, and to have something meaningful and useful to
do with their lives.
What
can we do to build community that allows people to connect in healthy and life-giving
ways?
What
can we do to care for the earth?
