Today’s Word from Pastor Jim
“In the beginning God created the heaven and earth.” Genesis 1:1
“In the beginning of the beginning that is always beginning, God created the creation that is still.” A more literal translation of the Hebrew Genesis 1:1
If God created all that there is, we might say that God is responsible for everything. Good and bad, God is somehow responsible. What do we do with this virus, with natural disasters, drought, and genocide? What is up with evil? If God set this system up, then I guess we can blame God, right?
In the beginning that is always beginning, God created this most amazing, beautiful, and diverse planet. For now, we will not even talk about the galaxies and the stars that are as numerous as the grains of sand on Earth. God created and continues to create on Planet Earth. And according to the Bible, the final and crowning jewel of this Earth experiment was the creation of humans.
Female and male, they were created. Female and male, they were created in the image of God. Let that sink in for a moment. You were created in the image of God. What does that mean? Does God look like us? Is God a female or a male? What does it mean that we were created in the image of God?
What did that creation look like? The creation dialogue may have gone something like this:
“Let me see, I think I will give them two legs and two arms. Two eyes in case one does not work so well. A nose to detect scents. Two ears that they might listen to me and to each other. One mouth so that they might listen more than they speak. Putting this model together is not so difficult, but will they really be like me? Will they have the capacity to love, to feel empathy, to have compassion? Can I take the chance of making them free beings? No, free will is off the table. It would simply be too dangerous. I will make them to be puppets. They will do only what I make them do. There will be little risk then; they will never be mean to each other or do self-centered things.”
Then God scratched her head and thought more deeply about it.
“But wait, God is love; I am defined by love. God is a free being with free will. Can they really be created in my image if they are not free? OK, two eyes, one mouth, two ears, and free will. This may not end well. They could choose sin, they could reject me, they could wage war on each other. This could be bad, but the only way that I can truly love them is to make them free.”
Do you have children or grandchildren? Are you responsible for the decisions and life choices that they make? Remember, you created them, so in some ways you are responsible.
Let me ask another question: if you could protect your children or grandchildren forever by locking them up in a padded room and making every decision for them, would you do it? Would you take away their freedom to protect them from heartache, accidents, and the inherent dangers of life in a world where people have free will?
God does not send us a virus to see how we will respond. God does not send cancer to our family to bring us closer together. God does not take our children from us because God needed another angel in heaven. God does not inflict us with sorrow to teach us a lesson. No loving parent would do such a thing.
This virus came from somewhere, and someday scientists may be able to explain its origin to us, but let’s be clear: it did not come from God. God is not testing us. But this virus does provide us with an opportunity to learn. We can come closer together even as we stay further apart. We can have our eyes opened to the value of community, to see the precious gift of daily life and daily bread. It was not long ago that the Seattle Times featured an article about how Washingtonians do not have much interest in knowing their neighbors. I hope that has changed.
Much of life is a mystery. I don’t know why I have had it so good and so many have been dealt a lousy hand in the game of life. We may never understand this virus, but we can choose to live in the image of the one who created us. God is love and we have the free will to choose love each day.
We are one day closer to the end of this crisis.
Much love,
Pastor Jim
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