When It All Began

Genesis 2:4b-9 (NRSV)

In the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens, when no plant of the field was yet in the earth and no herb of the field had yet sprung up--for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was no one to till the ground; but a stream would rise from the earth, and water the whole face of the ground-- then the LORD God formed man from the dust of the ground,a and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being. And the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east; and there he put the man whom he had formed. Out of the ground the LORD God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

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In this garden
This lovely garden
I build a temple of love
Walk with the Father
Won’t be a bother
To touch the Earth as it was

I Build This Garden For Us by Lenny Kravitz, from Let Love Rule, 1989, Miss Bessie Music, Virgin Records

If we have learned anything from The Sound of Music it is that we should start at the very beginning. It is after all, a very good place to start. It all began when the Lord created. The Lord didn't have to create, the Lord chose to create, and a glorious creation sprang from the Lord. In it, a garden was built for Adam (the Hebrew word for "a man") to live.

What a wonderful and glorious relationship: creation, created, creator; forever in a dance of love and joy. In this beginning, the Lord builds the garden and the man builds a temple to the love the Lord gives. The ethereal dawn of all creation comes through in glowing and flowing music, a joining of guitar, organ, and dreads.

But beware the foreshadowing, Lenny Kravitz sings about touching the earth as it was. Yes, as it was. Even in this idyllic recreation of the garden, we know that it didn't last. But this knowledge should not stop us from remembering. It must not stop us from remembering.

Yes this is a glory we do not live in today, but this does not stop the glory from breaking into the world. We can never stop the Lord from showing us glory from time to time. God's glory breaks into our lives like lightening flashes across the skies. There is a flash, there is light, and yes, there may even be a sound of fury along with the glory of the light because sometimes that is the way of the light.

The garden has been built. The garden is real. What a wonderful and glorious relationship: creation, created, creator; forever in a dance of love and joy. Oh the thought of touching the earth as it was when it all began.

Love Is

Genesis 3:6-9 (NRSV)

So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves.

They heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called to the man, and said to him, "Where are you?"

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Ours is not to reason why
As we fall from way up high
Into the water (Into the water)
Like a lamb to the slaughter.

"God's Mistake" by Roland Olazabal, Tears for Fears, from Raoul and the Kings of Spain, 1995

The chorus of this song tells us that love is "God's Mistake." Is there a more harsh reading of God's love than this? God makes a mistake and that mistake is love? Not any specific love either, all love, the best love. That's just plain harsh. But there is, even if flawed a logic to this.

Imagine God creating us and placing us in the garden without love. Without love, God would have felt free to, would have been forced to control humanity from the first moment of creation. Without love, God could play with humanity the way a child plays with dolls. Without love we would have simply been playthings for God and we would not known any different. But instead, we were created in love, in the image of God.

We were created to tend to creation and enjoy God. But here's the twist, the only way we could have been guaranteed to be obedient is to be created either without either love or free will. Without the love of God and the freedom to love God that freely given, we would not have been able to sin.

Without God's love, we would just be playthings, puppets, we would be without value. But we would not be able to sin.

Because of God's love, we were able to fall from way on high. Because God created us to love freely in return, we are able to misuse this freely given gift. I suppose God knew this possibility from before the beginning, still God chose to love freely give us the opportunity to return that love just as freely.

Here's the twist, and it may feel like the twist of a dagger. Because we can choose to love, we can choose to sin. We were not given one without the other. To love without giving love's object the option to refuse love is abusive. It's stalking. It's far worse than that.

But if Love is God's Mistake, it is only because it is also God's greatest gift. Love is a risk worth taking.