This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created. When the Lord God made the earth and the heavens – and no shrub of the field had yet appeared on the earth and no plant of the field had yet sprung up, for the Lord God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no man to work the ground, but streams came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground – the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. (Genesis 2:4-7)
Since – as the children know - this is, indeed, Earth Day, this passage – which speaks of the creation of the earth and all things on it, including us – seems appropriate. This passage is about life – it's about God creating life, sustaining life, nurturing life. The passage is a reminder to us that life itself comes from God, and therefore it's a reminder to us that we're supposed to celebrate life in all its diversity – with both its promise and its challenge – and that we're supposed to live life in such a way that we also celebrate the God who's given life to us. We're also meeting here today two weeks after Easter Sunday and now in the midst of the Easter season – which is perhaps the greatest celebration of life there is. Easter is not just a celebration of life, and it's not even just the celebration of Jesus' resurrection (although it's certainly that.) Easter is a celebration of victory. Easter celebrates hope's victory over despair and life's triumph over death. Easter is the promise of eternity given to all of us because Jesus' resurrection was for all of us. Jesus' resurrection demonstrates to us that God chooses life. Long ago, the Book of Deuteronomy tells us that a choice was placed before the people of Israel by Joshua: “... I have set before you life and death ... Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord Your God, listen to His voice, and hold fast to Him. For the Lord is your life ...” The good news that we celebrate today as followers of Jesus is that this choice is no longer before us. Why is that good news? Because the choice has been made for us – by God! In the resurrection of Jesus, God chooses life for His people. That's what resurrection is about. “Because I live, you also will live,” Jesus said. There's no choice there. We don't have to wonder. We don't have to be unsure. Assurance doesn't have to be an elusive thing. “Because I live, you also will live.” Sounds pretty definite to me! And it's supposed to sound pretty definite to us all! The choice has been made. It's been made by God. There's no doubt about it. Life wins! Every single time. It never goes to overtime and there are no seven game series in this. Life simply wins – because God chose life for us by raising Jesus from the dead! That's why proclaiming that “Christ is risen” is so important – because if Christ is risen, then so will we be raised – not just to eternal life (although I believe that's also assured to us) but to a new quality of life and a new way of life right now. Rising to that new life is both our challenge – because we're the ones who have to live it, after all – but it's also our destiny – because it is, in some way, God's will for us. It's always been God's will for us. That's why, in this morning's reading, I took us all the way back to the Bible's beginning, where we learn that it's always been God's will to raise us to life.
a-dam . That's the Hebrew word. It can mean a lot of things. In English we think of it as a name – Adam – which has caused us perhaps to misinterpret what the passage has been trying to tell us for thousands of years. In Hebrew, it's not commonly used as a name. I did a bit of research and discovered that it's really not in use in Israel, for example, as a name – because in Hebrew it's a word. It means broadly “mankind” or “humanity.” If we think of the word in that way, we start to see that the story we read isn't about the creation of a specific person; it's about the creation of all humanity – it reveals truths about humanity (about our nature, our origins and even our destiny.) It also tells us about ourselves and about how to live this life God has given us.
a-dam comes from the earth. We – humanity – are essentially of the same stuff as the earth. That's basic science these days, and it's revealed here to be true as well. The word a-dam comes from another Hebrew word “a-dam-ah” which means “earth.” We are of the earth. We have a kinship of sorts with the planet and with all the creatures on the planet. We're all of God. When the United Church's New Creed tells us to “live with respect in creation,” that's presumably a part of what's meant – if we can't live with respect in creation, we can't really live with respect with one another because we are all of the same stuff. And if we can't live with respect with one another, then there's no real relationship, and that's what God seeks to create – relationship. We were created to be in relationship – with God and with one another. That's our destiny. Relationship with God. That's our present reality – the relationship with God guaranteed us by the resurrection of Jesus, which promises that Jesus wasn't only “God with us” at the manger in Matthew 2, but that He remains “God with us” long after the empty tomb – because He's still with us. God desires relationship with us. If life is about living with respect and right relationship how do we do it? How do we achieve it? The creation story is rich with advice.
Of course, literally Adam is brought out of the earth (formed out of the earth; one with creation) but it seems at first that nothing happens. The story in that sense is pretty bare bones. It seems as if Adam's body is formed but it lies lifeless in the dust; little more than a corpse – until something happens. God “breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.” point here is that our life comes from God. There is no life until God's breath enters us. This isn't God's Spirit, although it's a similar concept. The word for God's Spirit in the Old Testament carries the idea of an uncontrollable wind. This word means a controlled breath. The point is that God's work in creating Adam and all humanity is deliberate and planned and purposeful. There is a point to our existence, and right from the start that point revolves around relationship with God. Think about the imagery. How do you breathe life into someone else? “Mouth to mouth!” What an intimate portrayal of the connection between God and humanity! And the end result is not just that Adam and humanity is formed out of the earth – we're lifted from the earth and granted special status as those with authority over the earth – a word that means we have responsibility and accountability for how we live out our relationship with the rest of creation, because we really are of one stuff with the animals, the plants and the earth and with one another. No true spirituality can promote mere exploitation of anything. Real spirituality acknowledges the connections and ensures that we care for each other and for the earth from which we came. The earth is for us. It feeds us and nourishes us and provides us with a home. But we are also for the earth. We have to take care of it, because God has entrusted it to us. But there are so many things that can get in the way of the relationships we enjoy with God and with all that's around us.
Remember that Adam had to be lifted out of the earth; in a way placed above it by the very breath of God. We're still in the process of being lifted; of rising with Christ from death into life. One of our problems is that we get stuck in so much muck and mire in our every day lives that we often miss out on every day life! We become so consumed by the details of what's happening at any given moment that we miss the big picture. Sometimes – too often in my own life, I admit - we even let those details get in the way of God. Think about this. a-dam had to be lifted out of the earth - and not just formed from the earth - by the very breath of God in order to become a living being. If we want to extend this concept to our own time and circumstance, does the Spirit of God in a way not have to lift us out of the earth and set us apart (not above) for a very special purpose? Is it in this purpose that we find meaning in life. What is the purpose of life – in simple terms? "The chief end of man is to glorify God" says the Westminster Catechism. We are called to enjoy a relationship with God; we were created for that very purpose. We cannot enjoy that relationship as long as we are stuck in the mud and mire around us, as a-dam was before the breath of life came from God. In the same way, God gives us life; God lifts us above the everyday problems and trials and challenges (not freeing us from them, but lifting us above them) to be able to see God in the midst of it all and to be able to proclaim God to all who need to be freed from that which enchains and imprisons them - everything from actual human oppression to the simple but powerful demands of the time clock which often keep us too busy to really enjoy our relationship with God, instead demanding that we be constantly moving on to something else, some higher purpose, some more meaningful activity than fellowship with God and God's people. This breath of life that God breathes into us frees us to focus on our real purpose - to be in relationship with God, and when we do that we find ourselves also in relationship of one sort or another with all that God has created, seeking to liberate it as well - fellow humans, animals, plants, the land itself - to glorify God rather than to simply serve us.
That's called life. That's life as God intended it to be – at peace, at liberty. It's we who choose to be enchained and imprisoned and reduced to mere existence by what goes on around us. The Spirit of God wants to enter into us, just as the breath of God entered into a-dam. The Spirit of God wants to free us from mere existence and raise us to actual life. God brought a-dam forth from the earth into life, where he found himself with God. God raised Jesus from the tomb into life where He found Himself with God. God raises us from whatever holds us in bondage and oppression and into life where we find ourselves with God. That's life. That's life as God intended it to be. Freed from mere existence to enjoy life with God. It's one of the lessons of creation – we are one with all that exists and called to relationship with all that exists. It's one of the lessons of Easter – that Christ is risen, and as a result, we are rising!
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