Genesis 1:1–2:4a
Creation
Boiled Down
First, when
chaos reigns and life is ruined,
There will
always be light;
Second, when
we find ourselves lost and at sea,
There is yet
air to breathe;
Third, when
we are flailing around thinking there is no tomorrow,
There are
still grounds for planting trees and tilling gardens;
Fourth, when
we are completely under the weather,
The sun and
the moon will rise;
Fifth, when
we feel like a fish out of water, with bird brains,
We really
don't have to be everything to everybody;
Sixth, when
we think it's all about us,
There are
countless other creatures, but we're made to create;
Seventh, when
we think we have to work until we drop,
Even God
said, "I've gotta get out of the office."
Man, that's
good!
Scott L.
Barton
(Walter
Brueggemann used the line about getting out of the office in a talk I
heard
many years ago. The last line of the poem is how a colleague, the Rev.
Jim Cortelyou,
ended his mini-meditation one morning long ago as all the canoes of an
Adirondack Canoe Expedition trip of the Presbytery of Northern New York
rafted up for morning devotions on a still and misty pond. Since then,
I've
wondered if Jim ("Les Voyageurs") was thinking at the time of James
Weldon Johnson's sermon on Creation in God's Trombones.)
In the
beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless
void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept
over the face of the waters.
Then God
said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. And God saw that the light was
good; and God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day,
and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning,
the first day.
And God
said, “Let there be a dome in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the
waters from the waters.” So God made the dome and separated the waters that
were under the dome from the waters that were above the dome. And it was so.
God called the dome Sky. And there was evening and there was morning, the
second day.
And God
said, “Let the waters under the sky be gathered together into one place, and
let the dry land appear.” And it was so. God called the dry land Earth, and the
waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was
good. Then God said, “Let the earth put forth vegetation: plants yielding seed,
and fruit trees of every kind on earth that bear fruit with the seed in it.”
And it was so. The earth brought forth vegetation: plants yielding seed of
every kind, and trees of every kind bearing fruit with the seed in it. And God
saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, the third
day.
And God
said, “Let there be lights in the dome of the sky to separate the day from the
night; and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years, and
let them be lights in the dome of the sky to give light upon the earth.” And it
was so. God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the
lesser light to rule the night—and the stars. God set them in the dome of the
sky to give light upon the earth, to rule over the day and over the night, and
to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. And
there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.
And God
said, “Let the waters bring forth swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly
above the earth across the dome of the sky.” So God created the great sea
monsters and every living creature that moves, of every kind, with which the
waters swarm, and every winged bird of every kind. And God saw that it was
good. God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters
in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” And there was evening and
there was morning, the fifth day.
And God
said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures of every kind: cattle and
creeping things and wild animals of the earth of every kind.” And it was so.
God made the wild animals of the earth of every kind, and the cattle of every
kind, and everything that creeps upon the ground of every kind. And God saw
that it was good.
Then God said,
“Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them
have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over
the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping
thing that creeps upon the earth.” So God created humankind in his image, in
the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. God blessed
them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and
subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the
air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.”
God said,
“See, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is upon the face of all
the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food.
And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to
everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I
have given every green plant for food.” And it was so.
God saw
everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good. And there was
evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
Thus the
heavens and the earth were finished, and all their multitude. And on the
seventh day God finished the work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh
day from all the work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and
hallowed it, because on it God rested from all the work that he had done in
creation.
These are
the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created.
+ + +
Matthew 28:16–20
His Face,
Everywhere
Sometimes it
seems most of my Facebook feeds
Are full of
rants and diatribes and screeds
That, I
admit, all have their point that we
Must pay
attention, and not fail to see
Injustice
wheresoever it might lie,
Not be
complacent, ills of the world deny.
And yet, I
also know that I need more
Than simply
outrage over sin abhorred.
Be angry,
yes, but then never forget
The time they
worshiped, and some doubted, yet
He told them
that despite the wrong they'd known,
Authority
o'er all was his alone;
Which means
his way, his grace, his love, his face
Can never be
supplanted or replaced
By anyone or
anything; so sing,
Since his
enduring life is one sure thing.
Scott L.
Barton
Now the
eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed
them. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. And Jesus came
and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of
the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey
everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to
the end of the age.”
