{"id":2843,"date":"2019-02-28T13:51:28","date_gmt":"2019-02-28T02:51:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/?p=2843"},"modified":"2019-02-28T13:51:28","modified_gmt":"2019-02-28T02:51:28","slug":"adam-eve-humanity-and-living-24-02-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/?p=2843","title":{"rendered":"A’dam-eve: Humanity and Living 24-02-2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

A\u2019dam-eve: Humanity and Living<\/i> \u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Genesis 2: 8-9, 16 \u2013 22, 3: 1 – 13, 20 \u2013 24;\u00a0 <\/span>Psalm 8<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Is\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The Children\u2019s Story sets our sermon theme today. The story of Adam and Eve has greatly influenced Christian thinking. \u00a0 <\/span>It was formed to help us understand our relationship to God the Creator. Traditionally it is taken to mean that God Created two people, a man and a woman, and placed them in a garden that met all their needs. But God gave them one command – not eat the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden. Encourage by a serpent they disobeyed and God punished them by banning them from this garden. We go on to say that through our disobedience we have earned God\u2019s anger and we need forgiveness, but we cannot really change our ways so Jesus came to die for our sins and save us. There are a few problems with this traditional interpretation.\u00a0 <\/span>Firstly, God is portrayed as a pernickety and punitive God.\u00a0 <\/span>I say pernickety because God sets up a rule, which inevitably will be broken.\u00a0 <\/span>And it follows that God is punitive because humanity broke a rule and consequently they were driven out of the garden. No forgiveness was offered, which contradicts the rest of the Bible story. Secondly, sin is reduced to an act of disobedience.\u00a0 <\/span>Thirdly, we need someone to take our punishment. This traditional understanding is essentially simplistic. The notion that God is pernickety and punitive flies in the face of the grace of God revealed in Jesus.\u00a0 <\/span>Defining sin as disobedience misses the depth of sin. Sin is much more than an act of disobedience.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Now scholars have come up with many different interpretations of the Adam and Eve story. I wish to share with you an interpretation which I understand to be close to the mark.\u00a0 <\/span>I understand Jerome Berryman\u2019s interpretation, which was expressed in our children\u2019s story time, to be most helpful. I met Jerome in 1992 at the Banff seminar on religious education and values<\/i>. There I saw him introduce his Montessori method of teaching the Bible to students, which he called Godly Play<\/i>.<\/i> I use his materials in Children\u2019s Time on a Sunday. Jerome presented such a story to a bunch of international grey haired professors and leading educators. I was caught up in the method and I saw all these learned men and women equally enraptured.\u00a0 <\/span>My relationship with Jerome was renewed in Goslar, Germany and Carmarthen, Wales.\u00a0 <\/span>We got on well together. He certainly gave me an invaluable gift, which I hope is passed on to our children. Today\u2019s lesson introduced another way of understanding this story, which he calls the a\u2019dam- eve <\/i>story.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Permit me to enlarge on this interpretation of Genesis chapters 2 and 3.\u00a0 <\/span>Remember that when this inspired story came to the people of God they wrote in a language and a culture giving rise to a completely different understand from ours. We are Westerners. Our culture is dominated by a scientific way of knowing. We are wholly enmeshed in a view that fact is truth and truth is fact. We read things like this story with a type of literalism. We read it as if it was an historical narrative; hence some want to know where Eden was. We take Adam and Eve to be names of people, but they are not. They have become names of people. They weren\u2019t then.\u00a0 <\/span>The name Adam is a literal taking of the Hebrew word a\u2019dam<\/i>, which means humankind. Wherever else the word is used in the OT it is translated humankind. Secondly, eve<\/i>, means \u2018mother of all living\u2019.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s be clear about some of the facts included in this story. We are told that God created humankind in God\u2019s image, male and female [Gen 1: 27].\u00a0 <\/span>Then God put humankind, a\u2019dam<\/i>, in a garden.\u00a0 <\/span>We are given the most general description of its location, which would be in northeastern Middle East. That\u2019s hardly a location. The location of the garden is irrelevant to the story. What is relevant is that humankind is given responsibility to care for the garden and that the garden meets all their needs. They lived in harmony and peace with all their needs met. The point of having eve<\/i> come from humankind\u2019s ribs, is to show that male and female are essentially one.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

This story wants us to understand how disharmony, discord, dissension and division entered humanity. The two trees represent life that is living forever and life\u2019s differences.\u00a0 <\/span>The knowing of good and evil is about coming to understand the differences in life. Good and evil are mentioned but they represent all differences such as high and low, close and far, male and female.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The first lesson concerning humankind in this story is that humankind is created and has a Creator. It is telling us that our creation was good.\u00a0 <\/span>Good is a better word than perfect. Remember that the Bible uses \u2018good\u2019 not perfect. Perfect suggests no flaws and no need for improvement. Something is just perfect. Good means it meets God\u2019s approval and is entirely satisfactory. Perfect means that we don\u2019t need to change anything. Good implies there is room for change and growth.\u00a0 <\/span>God created a good world and gave humankind responsibility for it. That implies the dynamic of change and growth.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The second lesson of this story is that humankind was created with freedom to choose. We often misunderstand the wonder of our Creator God, who made us in \u2018his<\/i>\u2019 image and set us free to be creative and relate to God. One cannot have a relationship that is meaningful with someone who is not free to be themselves. I don\u2019t think I need to explain that truth. How frustrating it is when we encounter people so tied to someone, or a set of conventions, that they can\u2019t do anything without seeking permission. They seem to have no freedom to be themselves.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The third lesson takes us to the cause of our disharmony and alienation.\u00a0 <\/span>The cause is tied to our freedom to choose.\u00a0 <\/span>We are placed in this world – a garden<\/i> \u2013 that is all sufficient. But in living in it we see the differences. The tree of the \u2018knowledge of good and evil\u2019 [Gen 2:9] represents the differences in life.\u00a0 <\/span>We see that there are differences between things. The differences raise questions. The differences lead to value judgements. We begin to prize different things and then fight over them. Our different opinions and value judgements lead to separation and ultimately to alienation. By the way, the point of humankind covering their nakedness, hiding behind trees and blaming each other is all about the deep seated alienation in humanity.\u00a0 <\/span>There is also a positive side to these differences. Because humans can differentiate they can dissemble and assemble things creatively.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

I understand the command not eat of the fruit of the tree of \u2018good and evil for in the day that you eat of it you shall die\u2019 [Gen 2:17] to be significant. If you analyse this statement the focus is on the verb \u2018to eat\u2019.\u00a0 <\/span>Here lies the clue to the significance of the command. If you eat something you ingest it. You take it into your body. It becomes part of you. You are familiar with that healthy diet statement, \u2018you are what you eat\u2019. That is the point here. If you eat of the fruit of the tree of differences you will be captured by differences. Difference will be your focus not unity.\u00a0 <\/span>The point about dying is not to be taken literally. That is, this is not simply you will die physically. What dies when you are absorbed with difference is harmony, compatibility, agreement and peace. That\u2019s what dies \u2013 our unity and harmony. When we consume and absorb this knowledge of difference into our lives disunity, dissension and disagreement take place. There lies the issue. That is what this story of a\u2019dam-eve is about. I would add that God didn\u2019t prohibit difference but prohibited being absorbed by it. Western humans are absorbed by difference.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

It is one thing to appreciate differences.\u00a0 <\/span>They are important. The knowledge of differences enables us to expand our knowledge and ability to re-structure differences into new things. The ability to understand differences contributes to our creativity. In that sense we are like God, but humans cannot make things out of nothing, only God can.\u00a0 <\/span>However, we humans have so focussed on difference that we have let difference corrupt our relationships and perspective on life. Our differentiation is the root cause of classicism and racism. Differentiation leads to individualism at the expense of community.\u00a0 <\/span>You can see how individualism unravels our harmony and community. You can see it in the Church undermining our fellowship and unity.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

I hope you can see that we are wonderfully made, as the psalmist says. I hope you can see that the A\u2019dam-eve story is a deep story that helps us understand that we belong to God, that we have become absorbed with difference and become alienated. I hope I have helped you see the people we are meant to be \u2013 a community of people reconciled to God and reconciled to each other. We\u2019re important to each other and we\u2019re important to God. It is in our unity and love for one another we show the world God\u2019s wonderful possibility for God\u2019s world.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

*******<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Peter C Whitaker, Leighmoor UC:\u00a0 <\/span>24\/02\/2019<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

pcwhitaker@icloud.com<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>\/ www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A\u2019dam-eve: Humanity and Living \u00a0 Genesis 2: 8-9, 16 \u2013 22, 3: 1 – 13, 20 \u2013 24;\u00a0 Psalm 8 Is\u00a0 The Children\u2019s Story sets our sermon theme today. The story of Adam and Eve has greatly influenced Christian thinking. \u00a0 It was formed to help us understand our relationship to God the Creator. Traditionally it is taken to mean that God Created two people, a man and a woman, and placed them in a garden that met all their needs. But God gave them one command – not eat the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden. Encourage by a serpent they disobeyed and God punished them by banning them from this garden. We go on to say that through our disobedience we have earned God\u2019s anger and we need forgiveness, but we cannot really change our ways so Jesus came to die for our sins and save us. There are a few problems with this traditional interpretation.\u00a0 Firstly, God is portrayed as a pernickety and punitive God.\u00a0 I say pernickety because God sets up a rule, which inevitably will be broken.\u00a0 And it follows that God is punitive because humanity broke a rule and consequently they were driven out of the garden. No forgiveness was offered, which contradicts the rest of the Bible story. Secondly, sin is reduced to an act of disobedience.\u00a0 Thirdly, we need someone to take our punishment. This traditional understanding is essentially simplistic. The notion that God is pernickety and punitive flies in the face of the grace of God revealed in Jesus.\u00a0 Defining sin as disobedience misses the depth of sin. Sin is much more than an act of disobedience. Now scholars have come up with many different interpretations of the Adam and Eve story. I wish to share with you an interpretation which I understand to be close to the mark.\u00a0 I understand Jerome Berryman\u2019s interpretation, which was expressed in our children\u2019s story time, to be most helpful. I met Jerome in 1992 at the Banff seminar on religious education and values. There I saw him introduce his Montessori method of teaching the Bible to students, which he called Godly Play. I use his materials in Children\u2019s Time on a Sunday. Jerome presented such a story to a bunch of international grey haired professors and leading educators. I was caught up in the method and I saw all these learned men and women equally enraptured.\u00a0 My relationship with Jerome was renewed in Goslar, Germany and Carmarthen, Wales.\u00a0 We got on well together. He certainly gave me an invaluable gift, which I hope is passed on to our children. Today\u2019s lesson introduced another way of understanding this story, which he calls the a\u2019dam- eve story. Permit me to enlarge on this interpretation of Genesis chapters 2 and 3.\u00a0 Remember that when this inspired story came to the people of God they wrote in a language and a culture giving rise to a completely different understand from ours. We are Westerners. Our culture is dominated by a scientific way of knowing. We are wholly enmeshed in a view that fact is truth and truth is fact. We read things like this story with a type of literalism. We read it as if it was an historical narrative; hence some want to know where Eden was. We take Adam and Eve to be names of people, but they are not. They have become names of people. They weren\u2019t then.\u00a0 The name Adam is a literal taking of the Hebrew word a\u2019dam, which means humankind. Wherever else the word is used in the OT it is translated humankind. Secondly, eve, means \u2018mother of all living\u2019. Let\u2019s be clear about some of the facts included in this story. We are told that God created humankind in God\u2019s image, male and female [Gen 1: 27].\u00a0 Then God put humankind, a\u2019dam, in a garden.\u00a0 We are given the most general description of its location, which would be in northeastern Middle East. That\u2019s hardly a location. The location of the garden is irrelevant to the story. What is relevant is that humankind is given responsibility to care for the garden and that the garden meets all their needs. They lived in harmony and peace with all their needs met. The point of having eve come from humankind\u2019s ribs, is to show that male and female are essentially one. This story wants us to understand how disharmony, discord, dissension and division entered humanity. The two trees represent life that is living forever and life\u2019s differences.\u00a0 The knowing of good and evil is about coming to understand the differences in life. Good and evil are mentioned but they represent all differences such as high and low, close and far, male and female. The first lesson concerning humankind in this story is that humankind is created and has a Creator. It is telling us that our creation was good.\u00a0 Good is a better word than perfect. Remember that the Bible uses \u2018good\u2019 not perfect. Perfect suggests no flaws and no need for improvement. Something is just perfect. Good means it meets God\u2019s approval and is entirely satisfactory. Perfect means that we don\u2019t need to change anything. Good implies there is room for change and growth.\u00a0 God created a good world and gave humankind responsibility for it. That implies the dynamic of change and growth. The second lesson of this story is that humankind was created with freedom to choose. We often misunderstand the wonder of our Creator God, who made us in \u2018his\u2019 image and set us free to be creative and relate to God. One cannot have a relationship that is meaningful with someone who is not free to be themselves. I don\u2019t think I need to explain that truth. How frustrating it is when we encounter people so tied to someone, or a set of conventions, that they can\u2019t do anything without seeking permission. They seem to have no freedom to be themselves. The third lesson takes<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2843","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"rttpg_featured_image_url":null,"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"Leighmoor.Master","author_link":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/author\/leighmoor-master"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":"Sermons<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"A\u2019dam-eve: Humanity and Living \u00a0 Genesis 2: 8-9, 16 \u2013 22, 3: 1 – 13, 20 \u2013 24;\u00a0 Psalm 8 Is\u00a0 The Children\u2019s Story sets our sermon theme today. The story of Adam and Eve has greatly influenced Christian thinking. \u00a0 It was formed to help us understand our relationship to God the Creator. Traditionally…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2843","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2843"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2843\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2844,"href":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2843\/revisions\/2844"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2843"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2843"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2843"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}