Adam and
Eve story. Genesis 3
Adam and
Eve turned away from God, and towards themselves, away from God and towards
what they wanted, to be wise. The
result? They were driven out of the
Garden of Eden. The most beautiful place
that has ever existed on this earth. The
most perfect place any of us could live.
Adam and Eve were driven out because they chose themselves over God.
When I
think about this story of Adam and Eve, I think about driving. Before cell phones, and I-Pods, text
messaging, CD players and radios, TVs, DVD players…before all of these entered
into the culture of automobiles, I imagine that driving was probably a little
safer. All of these distractions. I mean, just for one short moment while
driving I look down to put a CD in my player, and look up and the car in front
has slammed on its brakes. Just that
short moment. Not that this happens to
me a lot, but it has certainly happened.
And, with the exception of the perfect drivers in this congregation, I’m
sure that something similar has happened to most of us. I mean, you just look down for a second to
pick up your coffee cup and look up only to see the brake lights of the car in
front of you. It’s pretty scary.
When we
are distracted such that we take our eyes off of God, only bad things can
happen. Whether it be getting driven out
of the Garden of
When I
first read the Old Testament passage for today, I really only heard,
“Arrogance, blah blah blah…pride, blah blah blah…sin, blah blah
blah…abomination, blah blah blah.”
Seriously. That’s actually what I
heard in my head. Sort of like, when I
was a teenager and my mother would lecture me.
After about 10 minutes the words would change from English to sounding
more like the teacher in the Charlie Brown episodes: “Wah, wah ,wah…”
These are
difficult words to hear. I mean we have
these wonderful pictures of a loving God throughout the Bible, and then here we
have all of this chiding. It’s like a
parent chiding a child:
·
How
can dust and ashes be proud? Even in
life the human body decays.
·
…the
king of today will die tomorrow.
·
The
beginning of human pride is to forsake the Lord; the heart has withdrawn from
its maker.
·
The
Lord plucks up the roots of the nations, and plants the humble in their place.
·
Pride
was not created for human beings, or violent anger for those born of women.
The one
that sticks with me the most, hands down, is, “The beginning of human pride is
to forsake the Lord; the heart has withdrawn from its maker.”
The heart
has withdrawn from its maker. No longer
facing God: the son, light, love.
Turning away from that light, into the self, into darkness, evil,
loneliness. A turning away from God and
towards the self. Building up a wall
between God and myself. The heart has
withdrawn form its maker.
A short
time ago, I was involved in a traffic accident.
It’s a long story, but the point is that we had to go to traffic court
over it. Now, the whole thing was a
little shady, and I felt the whole that I was getting taken advantage of. Like, he had to have his car towed from the
place where the accident happened, even though he was able to drive his car
away. And, he showed up to court with a
cane, limping, walking in a way that suggested that he was in a lot of pain. Now he wasn’t claiming any injuries from the
accident, but it certainly made me, and I’m sure the judge, feel badly for
him. So, I started to think, “You know,
maybe I’m just really wrong here. Maybe
this whole thing was my fault, and he really a very good person. Poor guy.”
After leaving court, my in-laws and I went to lunch right across from
the court house and sat right next to the window looking out onto the
sidewalk. And would you believe, this
poor guy, limping with a cane, very painfully—this same guy walked by, at a
clipped pace, no cane in hand, not painfully walking. I was right all along. This guy was scamming me.
I was so
angry that I actually laughed out loud.
I mean really. I totally got
taken advantage of. I lost time, and
money, and a lot of energy thinking about this.
And the whole time, all that lost time and energy, and it was all just a
scam.
How dare
he. I had thought about this for
months. I had ruminated over it. No, I had obsessed
over it. I had started to question
myself, thinking that maybe I was a bad person.
And all the while it was just a scam.
I had spent so much time and
energy obsessing over this.
And I
looked up one day and realized that I had lost God. All this obsessing, and questioning myself,
and being scammed, and being angry, and just all of these things running
through my head, like being on a merry-go-round, going faster and faster, and
suddenly it stops, and I realize that I have lost God.
“The
beginning of human pride is to forsake the Lord; the heart has withdrawn from
its maker.”
I imagine
we all experience something like this.
We get so caught up in these other things. Many of them aren’t really important, like
this guy scamming me. Some of them are,
though. Making money in order to eat and
have electricity—that’s important.
Helping the poor, the hungry, the abused—important. Making sure our children are safe, and
happy—vital. Taking care of a spouse or
a parent who is slowly dying—that is so important. These are ultimately important things. They are so important, in fact, that the
danger is we’ll get so caught up in them that we will lose sight of God. We may be like Adam and Eve, and selfishly
eat from the tree of knowledge, and therefore turn away from God and towards
ourselves. But we may also become so
wrapped up in caring for others that we may turn away from God and towards
others. And that is also…dangerous.
I
remember my bishop saying to me during my ordination in June that I needed to
be concerned about the salvation of my soul.
Those words continue to run through my head, thankfully. Those are the very words that, running
through my head, made me look up from my obsession over this man who had scammed
me, and realize that I had lost God. I
had lost concern over the salvation of my soul.
We are
all going to get caught up in things on this earth. We cannot help it. Adam and Eve got caught up in it, and they
lived in the most perfect earthly setting possible, a setting where they
experienced God daily walking in their midst.
And even they messed it up. Even they turned away from God. How much easier, then, is it for us to
do. This does not mean that we no longer
care for these things that are so important: our family, friends, children; the
poor, needy, and abused. It does mean,
however, that we must always remain mindful of the salvation of our soul. Our soul.
Our heart. It must remain open to
God, facing God, a light so bright, a love so strong, a peace that we cannot
even begin to imagine. Because when we
turn away from that light, when our hearts turn away from God, we have turned
to darkness. We have turned in on
ourselves, and that is such a lonely place to be.
How do we
remain turned towards God, though? I
preached in my very first sermon here about community, about the importance of
coming to church to be surrounded by other Christian people, people who have in
some way devoted their lives to Jesus.
That is one thing that helps us remain turned towards God. But it is not all. We also do this through prayer, praying every
day. Seriously. Every day.
That may mean getting up before everyone else in your house and having
time to yourself. It may mean praying in
the car. I used to pray on the train in
We can
continue to put off praying, put off moving into deeper relationship with
Christ, but the more we turn from God and in on ourselves, or in on others, the
more and more unhappy we are going to become.
Our hearts cannot survive separated from their maker.
So, while
I initially heard these words from the Old Testament reading as “blah blah
blah,” I pray that they become for all of us like the words my bishop said, “Be
concerned about the salvation of your soul.”
I pray that we hear them, as a warning, as a sign of what it means to
turn away from God: deep, deep unhappiness, a darkness in which it seems no
light can break through.
May we be
diligent such that we do not forsake God, such that our hearts are never, ever separated from their maker.