Witnessing Spiritually May 18,2008

Genesis 1:1 – 2:4
Matthew 28:16-20
2 Corinthians 13:11-13

Increasingly there has been a demand for things to be MORE SPIRITUAL.
We have witnessed a LITURGICAL REFORMATION of Mystic practices, Gregorian chant, Labyrinths, and affectations to try to be more “Churchy”, more Spiritual, more Orthodox, and simultaneously more Contemporary, as if to market ourselves as more faithful and religious. As if, following the Modernist ideal, we could find the right theory, the correct explanation, and be able to replicate even the experience of God and an understanding of faith across the Cosmos. With the right idea, we could understand life and death, and have the answers to peace and war, Cyclones and Earthquakes, Draught and Flood, and the Economy, or be able to dismiss all this as irrelevant because the SPIRIT is other worldly, Spiritual.
To WITNESS the WORLD SPIRITUALLY, is not a matter of reading a book, adopting a new program, following a different teaching, but rather our going back to our most basic understanding of the BEGINNINGS, of WHO God IS, WHO We ARE, and WHAT WE ARE TO BE.

There are NO MORE FAMILIAR, and yet more MISUNDERSTOOD passages than these from Genesis and Matthew.

GENESIS is not about the FORMATION of NATURE, not an explanation of HOW or WHEN THE COSMOS was MADE. This whole Chapter can be reduced down to three words: CREATOR CREATES CREATION... Subject, Verb, Object, CREATOR CREATES CREATION. Those who reference this passage as Refutation of Science miss the point, because SCIENCE operates within a CLOSED UNIVERSE explaining HOW, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE and WHY. Scientific Theory can only determine in a MATERIALISTIC way, that the Cosmos exists, and that somehow, Ancient Israel CENTURIES before Galileo let alone Darwin, got the order right. However, where Scientific Theory traces CAUSATION arriving at the Accidental Cataclysmic Combustion of Gases, a BIG BANG; the ANCIENT THEOLOGIANS claimed PROOF OF GOD

At the Opposite Extreme are those who believe in and hold this story up as MYTH. GOD Called out of the other worldly mystic realm, light and life and land, as if everything were Divine Myth and therefore everything is SACRED, yet nothing is real, and nothing is as it appears.

GENESIS is not Scientific Proof, or Transcendental Myth, Genesis is a Theological Affirmation. GOD is the CREATOR, who both Created the Heavens and the Earth out of Nothingness, and Created out of this shapeless, formless, void of reality: CREATION.
Distinct from MAKING, or FORMING, or MANUFACTURING which results in a THING, a Product, a known quantity, the CREATOR CREATES with all the transitions that VERB represents. GOD AGONIZES OVER... GOD WILLS and INTENDS, THE CREATOR uses every facet both the perfect and the imperfections. CREATOR CREATES CREATION is a Declaration of GOD'S RELATIONSHIP with CREATION.
Before Moses, before Abraham, before Noah, before Adam was a conscious being, GOD CREATES A COVENANT with ALL CREATION, that God will be Creator, who creates, who agonizes over, who wills and intends and recreates, who Calls for a purpose.

Throughout the Millennia, scholars have fought over the harmonization of Genesis. Why do we have one story in Genesis 1 of the CREATOR CREATING CREATION the last creation created being humanity; then in Genesis 2 there is another story of Creation, where Humanity is the first Creation Created with power and dominion over all Creation? Then a third explanation of the Origin of SIN and Sins. Are these three separate stories of Creation, and if so how long is a day, which came first the Earth or the Earthling, what is the relationship of GOD'S COVENANT to HUMAN SIN?

We can attempt to understand each story separately, telling us individual elements about the Nature of God, which never will address how many lifetimes are in a single day; but the point of having laid these side by side by side, emphasizes that THE CREATOR CREATES, CALLS and ENTREATS, INVITES and ENCOURAGES, REMAINING FAITHFUL to the COVENANT. While CREATION has a Freedom of Will. Like a two year old rejecting everything, saying NO to every question, Human Creation identifies what we do want to be by having rejected everything we are given. We do not seem to know or understand our need or desire for a thing, for a person, until we have rejected, then we have given ourselves permission to decide what we do want. GENESIS affirms GOD CALLS to Be; HUMANITY questions and DOUBTS before being ready to LISTEN.

The most overlooked "spiritual discipline" is what God does on the seventh day. There is a mistranslation in many of our recollections of this story. GOD DOES NOT REST on the seventh day, sleeping after all the creation. GOD DOES NOT STOP, as if stopping were a holy thing. On the Seventh Day, GOD REFLECTS UPON ALL GOD HAS DONE. In addition, to singing, and prayer and sharing together, reflection is a critical spiritual task for witnessing.

Spirituality is not knowing what an angel looks like or how to pronounce glossallalia, not knowing how many generations passed in one day of Creation, BUT being affirmed and encouraged to feel confident GOD CREATES. To TRUST, that Created in the image of God, with God pausing on the seventh day to reflect upon all that is, we are encouraged to act as CO-CREATORS with GOD.
THIRTY YEARS ago, a member of this faith community had a dream. His dream was that just because a person aged did not mean we should abandon them. Simply because they no longer had the strength and resources to care for an entire house did not mean they had to die or move away. The SPIRITUAL Journey he began in us, has twisted and turned, no longer is the Manor a 10 room Boarding house. No longer do we envision Seniors as those over 65. Part of our CALLING has become encouraging these who had lived alone for the last many decades, to make the transition to sharing with others. Part of our SPIRITUAL CALLING has been to share the gifts we possess, and to inspire those who never thought they had talent to give something of value to the world.
It seems like only yesterday, we were dreaming if it would be possible to provide health care to a people half-way round the world. Containers were hijacked and trucks lost in the wilderness, but miraculously these resources appeared when we needed and were ready. The well ran dry, and at a wedding in the middle of the African Savannah a well driller came as a guest. We worried about WAR and the presence of oil making this Clinic a target for bombing. Who would have imagined we could have developed the infrastructure that OIL Companies would want to see for development outside of governments, for the building of a new future.
We discovered a lump in a breast or prostate, and rather than dying of Cancer, each began a journey of claiming and reclaiming what truly is important to share with others. Through prayer and Reflection, several have witnessed tumors go into remission, others have been able to die at peace at home, others still have provided care to those they love learning they are not doing so alone.

Harmonizing Genesis' stories, we tend to harmonize the resurrection in the Gospels as well. But we need to hear that according to Matthew, what was important was NOT THE EMPTY TOMB, NOT that a dead body had come to life, NOT the Road to Emmaus, NOT going back to Fishing, NOT Gathering in the Upper Room. According to Matthew, the RESURRECTION was GOD CREATING ANEW. The RESURRECTION is the CREATOR CREATING CREATION no longer apart from God, but having an example of what it is to live in RELATIONSHIP with God.

Disciples were given new authority, to baptize, to teach, to make disciples. We have heard this passage so many times at BAPTISMS and Reception of New Members, we forget that this was the reason for the CRUSADES.
Part of SPIRITUAL SEARCHING is questioning whether “Making Disciples of all NATIONS, baptizing them in the Name of the FATHER, SON & HOLY SPIRIT, Teaching them All that Christ Commands” requires that everyone become like us? There was a time, when this Sanctuary was built in the 1890s, when Christianity believed in CHRISTENDOM, the Cross & Crown at the Center of the Chancel was declaration that there could be a CHRISTIAN EMPIRE with all the world made like us. A more recent twist on the Cross & Crown is that in every Nation, every Government and Family, we would search for FAITH, for ETHICS and COMPASSION as Christ taught. That is praying for one another. Forgiving. Having Compassion especially upon those who hate you.

As your pastor, I have the privilege of observing the congregation differently that anyone else. NOT who is sleeping and who is awake, NOT knowing who cheated on their taxes, NOT wanting to know gossip about others, BUT RATHER at the end of every worship, this congregation has many who exchange a kiss.. Like a remnant from their wedding, the minister pronounces the Benediction and you pucker up. A HOLY KISS as described by Paul to the Corinthians, is not romantic, or erotic. A Holy Kiss is a SPIRITUAL RELATIONSHIP, of claiming one another as intimate, like a parent kissing you on the forehead and each cheek before bed. A HOLY KISS is an affirmation that we watch over you and miss you until we meet again. A HOLY KISS is the PASSING OF THE PEACE. I once went to series of churches in a single day, at Ebenezer Baptist Church, they had all the visitors stand, while the Church members went around as fast as they could to greet everyone. Not looking you in the eye, not listening to you, but being greeted and received by as many as possible as quickly as possible. The second was one of the largest and most prestigious of Presbyterian Churches, where visitors were asked to rise, then be seated, while the members greeted one another, ignoring the visitors all together. Often it is difficult with a long sermon, a loud postlude, plans for after Sunday's Worship, but the FINAL WORD of Paul is that we would mend the brokeness, search for ways to agree, greet one another with CARING. In addition to asking the person how their spouse is medically, asking how they are coping as a care giver. In addition to delivering a meal, stopping in to visit over a glass of water. A Holy Kiss is not so much a smooch, as truly caring and seeking one another out for a time and place apart. We are to carry to one another all the greetings of those who have brought you to one another, and be BLESSED, living life as a SPIRITUAL RELATIONSHIP of WITNESSING THE WORLD DIFFERENTLY.