And it was good

Sermon for Epiphany 1, 11th January (Genesis 1: 1-5; Mark 1:4-11)

After creating heaven and earth, God created Adam and Eve. And the first thing he said was "DON'T!" "Don't what?" Adam replied. "Don't eat the forbidden fruit." God said. "Forbidden fruit? We have forbidden fruit? Hey Eve.. we have forbidden fruit" "No Way!" "Yes we do!" "Do NOT eat the fruit! " said God. "Why?" "Because I am your Father and I said so!" God replied, wondering why He hadn't stopped creation after making the elephants. A few minutes later, God saw His children having an apple break and He was not happy! "Didn't I tell you not to eat the fruit? " God asked. "Ye….es" Adam replied. "Then why did you? " said the Father. "I don't know," said Eve. "She started it!" Adam said. "Did not! " "Did" "DID NOT! " God's punishment was that Adam and Eveshould have children of their own. So the pattern was set and it has never changed.


But there is hope in this story. If you have persistently and lovingly tried to give children wisdom and
they haven't taken it, don't be hard on yourself. If God had trouble raising children, what makes you think it would easy for you?
THINGS TO THINK ABOUT!
1. You spend the first two years teaching them to walk and talk. Then you spend the next sixteen telling them to sit down and be quiet. 2. Parents of teens now know why some animals eat their young.
3. Children seldom misquote you. In fact, they usually repeat word for word what you shouldn't have said.
4. The main point of children's parties is to remind yourself that there are children more awful than your own.
Be nice to your children. They will choose your nursing home one day.


Today is all about God’s Creation. It’s not intended as a scientific account. Its roughly in the order science tells us it happened, but it tells a lot about how we relate to God and to his Creation. It does not start at the beginning as science shows us now. There’s no big-bang in this account (although that is in one of the Psalms); there’s not creation of the planets or solar systems – it goes straight to earth, as earth is forming – it’s still a ‘formless void’ (vs2) in space –the Spirit hovered over the waters, and no suns

Day 1: God created stars. Stars were always there; they came much later and amongst all the stars, God created one for the universe as we see it, our solar system, so we have light and heat. It was good.

Day 2: God created the weather and land: Water began to form, an atmosphere developed. Without that atmosphere we would have a planet like the moon, no atmosphere, just darkness beyond. We have sky (blue, grey, red sometimes even green) and clouds. Weather means plants can grow. Weather means water. As the earth cooled and solidified and moved, the sea condenses, and earthquakes thrust mountains from the seabed - land appears, leaving deep troughs - oceans. And it was good.

Day 3: God created plants: Now this is the bit that no science has ever really explained. Even my Michael with his Cambridge Biology degree cannot explain how life appeared – it just did. Somehow the carbon in the ground came together to produce living matter – algae, mosses, plants, trees, and the earth begins to produce oxygen. And DNA allows these plants to reproduce themselves And it was good.

Day 4: God created night and day: Remember this is not a scientific account, for the stars were already there. But the nearest star creates light and heat for us all day long. The Moon, the nearest planet even reflects some of that light for us at night, as do the starts to a lesser extent. But it suggests an ordering of our weather to the point where animals can survive. And it was good.

Day 5&6. God created living creatures: Amoebae, become fish and whales, become amphibians, became the first land animals, dinosaurs come and go, animals coem next including dogs like Sparky. Our world is almost finished. The icing on the cake if humankind – you and me. And it was good.

Day 7. God had a day off: God rested and so should we.

The Creation story is not scientific; it’s a story with a point, or more than one point. It tells us:

i) God created and we are the ones he created. We owe him everything

ii) God has provided everything we need – all we need to do it is learn to share it

iii) Every part of creation is good, and loved and valuable, not just us. We should treat all plants and animals with respect, even the planet as the environmental crisis has shown us.

Genesis 1 is not a scientific account; it tells us about our relationship with God and tells us about our partnership with God in looking after this planet and sharing out all God has freely give to us.