Genesis' Two Creation Stories

St. Mary’s Episcopal Church

The Book of Genesis has two stories about the creation of the world. These stories are not meant to be science or history, but that doesn’t mean they don’t contain truth. They contain a lot of truth, really important truth that we need to remember: theological truths, moral truths, ontological truths, truth about who we are.

Our first reading today comes from the second creation story. But before we talk about that, we need to talk about the first creation story because these two stories are in dialogue with each other. They are in conversation, and we can’t understand one if we don’t understand the other.

You know how the first creation story begins in the First Chapter of Genesis: In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was Tohu Vavohu, a Hebrew word that only shows up here. Scholars, because they cannot cross reference this word, have some good guesses. It’s something like a formless void, or welter and waste, or primordial chaos. Into that chaos God is making order. God is taking all this stuff and creating objects, creating creatures that have their own being, their own identity, their own separation, their own boundaries. God makes light. God makes water and sky. God makes land. God makes sun, moon, and stars. God makes birds and all the sea creatures and all the land animals. This all takes about six days, according to the story. At the end of each day, God looks over his creation and says, it is good. It is good. It is oh, so very good, God even says on some of those days. And on the sixth day, the last of the land creatures that God made was humanity. You and me. And it says that when God made humanity, he made it in God’s very image. It also says that when God made humanity, God invited, or perhaps we should say God commanded, us to be stewards of the rest of creation, to care for it.

That is the first creation story. In this story there are so many truths for us. I would reckon that we focus on this first creation story more than the second one. I think it is meet and right for us to focus on this story because there are some important truths that we need to remember. We need to remember that in all the chaos of life, God is in the midst of it and God is at work. God is continuing to create, God is continuing to bring things together, God is continuing to bring order out of the chaos.

We need to remember and keep before us the truth that we are made in God’s image. You are made in God’s image. When you look in the mirror in the morning, you are staring at the image of God. That might be a hard truth for some of us to realize and accept. We might not feel so good about that image. There are a few gray hairs, a few age spots are appearing. But we need to be reminded that we are made in God’s image, as is all of humanity. That means your neighbor is made in God’s image. So if you look to your left and look to your right, that is the image of God. That person, the neighbor next to you, is the image of God. We need to hold that truth in front of us. That also means that our enemy is made in the image of God. That is the hardest one of all, isn’t it? The person who makes your blood boil, they, too, are made in the image of God. So we need to treat ourselves, and our neighbors, and our enemies with the respect and dignity that that God-bearer is worthy of. That is truth we need to remember when we read this first creation account.

We also need to remember that we must care for God’s creation. We must be stewards. We are at a point in humanity’s ability and power that we can destroy creation in ways we have never been able to before. We need to remember that is not God’s vision, God’s dream. God’s vision for us is not to consume or destroy creation. God’s vision is for creation to nourish us, and we are to nourish it, to be caretakes and stewards of that creation. These are important truths that we need to hold up in front of us, all the time.

But there is the second creation story. It is saying, I have things I want to add to this conversation. These additions to the conversation are not necessarily in conflict. For instance, the second creation story reinforces the message that we are to be stewards of creation. Both creation stories say that. But the second creation story also says, all right, Mr. First Creation Story, you think that God is making order out of chaos. But what about the chaos I still see all around me? Are you telling me my eyes are lying, that I don’t see all the pain and suffering that still exists in this world? The second creation story is making things a little more complicated.

The second creation story is also saying, OK, you may be made in the image of God, but let me tell you a story about taking that a little bit too far by trying to be like God. The second creation story is saying it is OK to remember that you are made in the image of God, but you are not God. That is an important distinction the second creation story is making. You may be made in God’s image, but you are not God. It is a distinction not unlike having a good healthy self esteem or being a narcissist. You are made in God’s image. Do not forget that fact. But also remember you are not God. Let God be God and you be you. You are the one who carries God’s image, but don’t put yourself in God’s place. The second creation story is offering this corrective by saying if you take this too far, it might go off the rails.

In the first creation story, everything that was made was good. The second creation story confirms that, but it also says there is still bad. While you may be good deep in your core, that doesn’t mean we don’t fall short of the dream, the vision, the mark that God has set. Falling short of the mark, falling short of the dream that God has is called sin. I know we don’t like to use that word all that much, but it is an important one to remember. Every single person is good, and yet sometimes we don’t live up to that. The whole point is not to make you feel shame, but to say, come back to that good. Keep trying, because you are good, and you can do good things.

So, my friends, hold these two stories up before you. Don’t just pick one, but hold both of them up. Remember your goodness. Remember that you are made in God’s image. Remember that God is at work in this world bringing order out of chaos. Remember to be a good steward of God’s creation. But also remember that sometimes we miss the mark, and when we do, try again. For as it says in the Psalm, there is plenteous redemption in the Lord. God’s mercy and God’s grace abound. We may be prone to wander, as a good old hymn writer put it, but remember that grace is amazing, as another hymn writer wrote. Keep trying. Keep coming back, remembering the goodness of the Lord. Remember that you are made in God’s image, as is your neighbor and your enemy. Treat them with the respect worthy of that image, but don’t try and be God. Let God be God, and you be you. Because God loves you without question, without reservation. God made you in love and God loves you more than you can ask for, or begin to imagine.

AMEN.