Sermons
Names matter. In one of the two creation stories in Genesis, God does not want Adam to be alone. The animals are brought to Adam and he gives names to every living creature! A kind of companionship, but not quite enough. English translations miss a fascinating detail. This first human creature of the dust wasn’t necessarily gendered. Was ha-adam both genders, neither gender, gender fluid?
This reading tells us that we were created as one humanity, from one earth. That not only are we one humanity, but every animal, bird, fish, bug, reptile, and mammal - is our sibling of Earth and Spirit. They were all created to be in community with us. They are meant to be our companions - not to be brutalized and captured, but to be loved and cared for. This scripture names that it is a human need to be part of the whole community of creation! It is not good for humans to be alone - so God created animals and new people and a way to create more people - so that we could all be here together.
We are related. We are one with the earth. We are one with the plants and animals—including the pets in our home. All creatures great and small, especially and sadly those named as extinct in the past week’s news, as extinct. Saint Francis thought of creation as kin, as family. Mother earth. Brother sun. Sister moon. Christians go so far to proclaim a Triune God who is relational by its—or shall we say—their very nature.
Let’s be fools in this community. Foolish enough to trust that God is making a new creation out of chaos and waste. Foolish enough be counter cultural. Foolish enough to find joy even when it looks like everything is falling apart.
God’s mercy is foolish, you could say. Despite our fickle foolishness, God is forever faithful.
Being known. It’s almost scary to think about, almost like it feels like being found out, but the truth is that God knows every part of you that you try to hide from the world. Those parts of yourself that you think are unlovable, unredeemable, unmanageable, God knows those parts and blesses them. Self-consciousness may be a weight around each of our necks, but having places to lay that weight down is necessary. So whether its with your pet at home after a long day, or here at church, trust that your real self is who God created you to be, and whenever you allow your real self to be known it’s an act of praise and thanksgiving to God who fearfully and wonderfully made you. It may be the curse of self-consciousness that sets us apart from other animals, but it’s these other animals that set us back to our real selves and reveal who God is to us.
