Scripture can be found here...
And the people
gathered in the sanctuary at Union Presbyterian Church, and they experienced
worship as a kind of liturgical “Pop-up Video”…
Remember that? It was good.
VH1, noon,
weekdays…
Pop-Up Video: Video
playing while bubbles popping,
Bubbles, to tell
you interesting or weird facts
about the artist,
or the song,
or the process of
making the video.
Liturgical Pop-Up
Video:
Worship going on
while bubbles popping,
telling us
interesting,
or maybe weird,
facts about
worship.
And hopefully, it
was good.
And it was time
for the sermon,
that time when
the preacher shares thoughts or insights
but always,
hopefully something relevant to the faith journey,
hopefully,
something God-breathed,
hopefully, something
that opens the minds and hearts of the people
to the action of
God in the world and in their lives.
And the preacher
hoped and prayed with all her heart that it was good.
And one of the
ways the preacher hoped to help it to be good
was by using the
Narrative Lectionary.
The Narrative
Lectionary—
a set readings
that will take us through the bible,
beginning at the
beginning….
the story of
Creation,
and then the
stories about God’s covenant with the people of Israel,
and then the stories
of slavery and freedom in the Exodus,
and then the
rise—and fall—of kings,
and then the time
of exile and prophets.
And then—oh
then!—Jesus.
Jesus, this year,
as he is known in the Gospel of John.
And then the
story of the early church…
And oh I hope and
pray and trust in my heart,
It will be good.
In the beginning…it
was good.
The story of God
and God’s people begins in mysterious darkness…
there is water,
and there is a
wind from God,
Spirit of God,
breath of God.
God is an artist,
and artists need light…
So God spoke and
there was light.
And it was good.
And one by one
the days… or maybe it was millennia… of creation unfolded.
And God saw God’s
good creation unfolding, or maybe evolving…
And God’s
creation, God’s artistry, was good, so very good.
All of it,
God-breathed:
Every leaf
Every blade of
grass
Every luscious
blueberry
Every dewy-eyed
cow
Every color,
fragrance, temperature, elevation
Heights of
mountains, depths of ocean,
Sparkle of stars…
All of it, every
thing, too many zillions of things and places and specificities:
All of it, the God-breathed,
the Word of God, the breath of God creating:
And it was good,
so very, very good.
And God created
people,
people to be
co-creators with God.
That’s what sets
us apart.
An amoeba can
find food.
A human being can
plant and grow food for the specific purpose of giving it away.
A deer can find a
cool stream.
A human being can
help to bring safe water to parts of the world
where people are dying for lack
of it.
A sparrow can create
a nest, a shelter.
Human beings can
figure out how to shelter one another.
A pride of lions
can hunt a herd of gazelles.
Human beings can
find ways to live together peacefully.
This is what
sets us apart. God the Creator has given us creative capacity.
We are
God-breathed creations, and very specific creations at that:
God created
humankind in the Divine image,
in the image of
God we were created;
male and female we
were created.
We were created
to be creative:
We are co-creators
with God.
We are called to
think creatively, to act creatively,
To solve
problems creatively.
That is our gift.
And it is, it
can be, so very, very good.
When we use it.
So let us be who
we were created to be:
Living images of
the Creator.
Let us know that
the tomato from the vine is, indeed, good,
And it is better
when we give it away.
Let us know that
we are God-breathed for dominion, not domination,
And “dominion”
is tender care.
Let us know that
we are called to use our God-breathed hearts, souls, minds, and strength,
All in the loving
service of the one who gave us breath,
and in service
of all the God-breathed creation.
And it is all
very, very good.
All praise and
thanks be to God our Creator.
Amen.
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