St Mary’s. Choral Evensong 11th Feb 2007: Colin Hull

2nd Sunday before Lent

Texts:
Ps 147: 13-end
Gen: ch1 v1- ch2v3
Matt: 6 v25-end

Theme: Creation, Evolution and Material Worries

Introduction

This evening’s lessons offered me two possible avenues to explore;

On one hand we had the first chapter of Genesis, today a controversial story with the potential battle between faith and science ( a favourite topic for me). On the other hand we have part of the Sermon on the Mount with Jesus telling his disciples not to worry about things, even using pictures of nature to illustrate his case. And then there was also Psalm 147, the choir sang earlier, where the two themes of God’s creation and providential care are intertwined.

What was I to choose? In the end having explored all the texts I decided to say a little about both Genesis1 and Jesus’s words. Hope you can stay with me, they’ll be united at the end.


1. First - Controversy with Genesis 1

Ever since Charles Darwin published his “Origin of Species” it has seemed to many that Christian faith and the world of science have been locked in a kind of combat. On one hand there have been Christians who have wanted to maintain the integrity of scripture by arguing that first chapters of Genesis tell a true story about earth’s origins, created by God. To question the stories is to cast doubt upon the authority and reliability of scripture. In this view the theory of evolution remains just a theory.

There is evidence within nature of an order and many believe this cannot have come about by chance and random events that the theory of evolution that natural selection presupposes. The order within nature is evidence of design and a designer; hence “Intelligent Design”. Some would like to have Intelligent Design taught in classrooms in science lessons alongside evolution as an alternative. They do not want young people just exposed to an atheistic interpretation of the natural world.

The other side of the debate is from the scientific community, with the strongest voices from scientists who seem to resist religious faith. Despite some variations in thought about the exact mechanisms of evolution it is largely accepted as fact that evolution is the best basis for describing the way life has arisen on this planet and the second assumption that it has happened in different ways elsewhere in the universe. In In this view there is no need to invoke God in the origins of earth and life.

Very often you cannot watch a wildlife program on TV without some reference to evolution in some way, and then there have been popular films and computer animations of dinosaurs. There is of course resistance to any attempt to have Intelligent Design alongside Evolution as a rival theory, because there is no provable way to show there is a Designer.

However… this apparent conflict is far too simple to hide a wide spectrum of religious and scientific views that have arisen in the past few hundred years. There is also a wide variety of scholarly views about the nature and character of the story in the first chapters of Genesis. Even as early as the second century the Christian theologian Origen declared that it was foolish to think that God had made the world in six days and that the story should be taken as allegory or parable. Genesis was more about what God is like and what the origin and destiny of Man means. It is about Man’s place in creation with God and in relation to other creatures. Genesis should not be used as historical and scientific text book.

Some have tried to adapt the idea of the six days in Genesis 1 as six long epochs of time to fit in with the age of the earth. But it is probably better to accept the stories as parable and not try to match them with scientific theory in a more literal way.

There is another group of people; the Theistic Evolutionists. They accept that natural evolution of life has occurred , but not completely unguided. Some claim that Charles Darwin himself still believed in God behind the theory he was proposing. Evolution was the means God had chosen to make the world. Therefore it is today perfectly reasonable to hold with view of the theory of evolution as revealing the mechanisms by which God has created the world and then try to interpret the Genesis stories in ways that do justice to this naturally acquired knowledge. The task of interpreting Genesis 1 and 2 is then about what it actually means about who human beings are, and how they should relate to God and the world. It is about our place in the world rather than the history of the beginning. To me this is far more fruitful than a continuing battle between evolution and more literal interpretations of Genesis.

Leaving that aside for the moment…my second consideration


2. Jesus talks about people having an undue care and worry about the material things of life.

In the passage from the Sermon on the Mount Jesus talks about not worrying about what to eat or what to wear. God looks after the birds, and short lived flowers have no equal. Undue concern about even the basic necessities of life are for the pagans and unbelievers. People without a proper understanding of God run after material things, so don’t be like them. God, your heavenly Father, knows what you need for your material welfare. Instead, seek God’s kingdom and His revealed Way of Life first and you will have what you need as you go along, working for His Kingdom.


This passage comes after a section when Jesus has warned that a person cannot serve two masters, and be slaves to two people at once. The same is true with service to God and being a slave to material things.

“You cannot serve both God and money”

If we serve God we cannot be in love with material things at the same time. Our love for material things is a form of slavery and service to a false god. So in this context even the worries over the basic necessities of life are making us slaves to the false god of wealth and material security, it can divide our love for God and the search for His Kingdom and way of life.

I don’t think Jesus was demanding not to seek the rightful needs of ourselves and family, and some degree of financial provision. But over-anxious worries and concerns can be a distraction from what we are to be and to do. While we are worrying we lose sight of the bigger picture and lose sight of who we really are as His followers.

We should remember two things about this passage.

1) In Jesus’s time and place there was large scale poverty in Palestine.

A small elite held most of the land and people relied either on agriculture or some small trade, or working on other people’s estates. Many of Jesus’s first hearers might have been people who indeed worried very much about having basic necessities. Maybe many dreamed that if only they had more wealth they could be secure and all would be well.


2) Jesus during his ministry was also poor and dependant on others

It occurred me when I was thinking about this passage that Jesus and His disciples maybe had to make do with scarce resources as they travelled about. We know that Judas was the keeper of a common purse for the group. They had no income except what people probably gave to support them as Jesus went on His preaching tours. There might have been a few wealthy donors and sometimes people invited them to stay in their homes. How many changes of clothes did they have and carry with them? How often did they rely on donated food? How often did they have to sleep under the night sky because they had no bed for the night?


Jesus lived by His own Word trusting God for basic things for tomorrow as He went about preaching the Kingdom of God and carrying out His healing ministry. On some occasions Jesus sent the disciples out on their own with instructions to travel light.

“Do not take along any gold or silver or cooper for your belts. Take no bag for journey, or extra tunic, or sandals or a staff, for the worker is worth his keep”

So the disciples had to learn trust in God’s provision for their needs, and not to be anxious about their daily needs.

Maybe we sometimes pass through times of hardened financial circumstances and worry where the necessary money for even basic expenses will come from. Jesus says we should not be overly worried or unduly caring about trying to get even more financial security and possessions. His promise is that if we are doing His business He will look after ours. Our aim should be as Jesus; to be seeking and ministering for the Kingdom of God and His ways and Revelation to be found in our communities, work and society. Our concentration should be on what we can do for Him and His kingdom, not gaining more security. It is an upside-down way of life for many and at odds with some of our more animal instincts to have and possess. It is the demand and the challenge of trust.


Jesus the New Man

St Paul says that Jesus was the Second Adam, hence the New Man, the true Man and therefore the new pattern for all humanity. Jesus was showing a new way to be fully human as God intended. This takes us back to Genesis and the stories of creation.

The first story of the creation of the world includes men and women, made in God’s likeness. People are part of God’s last acts of creation. The second story is about Adam and Eve placed in the Garden of Eden, a place of peace and love, honour and dignity. Both stories in different ways celebrate the acts of God giving order to the world and the web of life, and creating human beings to be in fellowship with Him, with each other and the rest of the creation.

As I said earlier, while the world of science may uncover and speculate on that order and its origins. We may use science to enquire and study the basis of life and how it came about. Theories such as natural evolution do not destroy the basic messages of what the Genesis stories are about. In the light of both Science and Jesus, they are about who we are in God’s sight. They are about our continued destiny as the children of God, now being remade in the pattern of Jesus Christ, being His partners, His brothers and sisters. The Genesis stories are not simply about the past, they are about our present and future too. Humanity may have descended from apes and we retain many animal instincts, but that is not how we are meant to remain.

Genesis shows we have a greater purpose and destiny as people in a Divine plan. Christ is the Revealer of the highest point of creation, the true humanity and character we are to become. If we are being faithful followers of Jesus we are becoming Christ People, remade in His pattern, seeking His renewal and change in His Kingdom. By following Him rather than by having undue concerns about financial gain and security we will be fulfilling our original destiny in God’s creation, and the basic necessities of life will be given in the process of our seeking His Kingdom.

We probably will not have all we want in this life, but we will have what we need, enough to become the new Christ-shaped humanity; Homo Christus.


“Seek first the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well”


Prayer

Christ the Revealer of the Way
In whom we find creation’s goal.
Our life and our purpose.
Show us how to be the New Humanity you are making.
Help us to trust you in all things,
To find our security in you.
To look ever to the things of Your Kingdom,
And the changing of this world and all in it,
Your new Creation.

Blessed are You forever.

A-men.