We are back to Genesis this week. Last week, we began by considering the vastness of God’s creation. From beauty to wonder, we reveled in creation. As we move into the second chapter of Genesis, we find another account of creation. Not a contradictory account, but another account.
Have you ever found yourself talking to a sibling about an event from your childhood and wondered if you really grew up in the same house? You might remember your father’s pride at your high school graduation or his words of wisdom as you went into your first job. You might recall moments spent together in hobbies and recreation. Then, you talk to a brother or sister and they recall the reprimand for sneaking in late, the long hours worked to care for the family, or the work travel. You find yourself wondering are we talking about the same person? And you are! From different angles and experiences, you might describe your father in different ways.
So, it is in the book of Genesis. The story of creation is told in Genesis 1 and John 1, in Genesis 2 and Luke 2. Creation of life, the universe, and everything is too large to be told in only one account, it is glimpsed in multiple accounts. So, in this account, we hear God’s call that we might be helpers, workers in God’s world. Traditionally, we have read this distinction as helper as gendered. The church has spilled ink and heartache over the roles of men and women from these verses of scripture.
This morning, I want to call you to another glimpse of the fullness of God’s creation. God, who we have met in Genesis as caring, creative, thoughtful, and nurturing, assess the singular creation and finds the need for companionship. This is a profound statement about what it means to be human – we need one another! We need those who are the same, and we need those who are different. So, creation continues with a helper. We have often misunderstood, “helper” as a subordinated person, less than the one to whom they relate. However, throughout the biblical witness, God is often described as a helper to God’s people.1 Humanity, who is created in the image of God, helps and works in the fullest sense of those words reflecting the character, purpose, and of being of God.
In our gospel lesson, we catch Jesus doing what Jesus does. Jesus is teaching and preaching, healing, and curing. Jesus is doing the very work which he was called. And in being with the people, in the healing and teaching, he finds that reflective moment in which compassion wells inside like a heart that might burst. The people are in such deep need. They are described as sheep without a shepherd. Jesus sees the people, and they are harassed and helpless. In the midst of serving them well, Jesus calls other to come forward. Jesus says, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore, ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”
We may find ourselves understanding how Jesus could look around too those who are hurting and addicted, those who are grieving and unsettled, those who are refugees and suffering with ptsd, those who are surviving the fires of London and the shootings of Washington DC, and have compassion. We, too, see those who are like sheep without a shepherd. We, too, see those who are harassed and helpless. Do we have compassion, concern for the sufferings of others? Do we find our hearts moved to action, answering the call to serve those most in need? Or do we find ourselves with compassion fatigue? Compassion fatigue is a state in which the volume of appeals and needs in the world leads some to disengage from the vital work of compassion in exhaustion.
“The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore, ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” We pray for ourselves, for each other, for those whom God will send with compassion to do the work of caring for those in need of compassion and healing, proclamation, and justice.
This week, Pastor Jim, Pastor Shirley, Cindy Haley and I were all at Annual Conference. We were called by the theme to “Rise UP and Pray.” You will hear more about annual conference in the weeks to come. One of my favorite moments of Annual Conference comes in the ordination service. After the processing of all clergy, after promises of deacons and elders to a life set apart, after the commissioning and ordination, the Bishop gives a call. A call to all God might be calling into the field. “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore, ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” And the response is incredible. This year, many folks came forward to say, yes! God is calling me! It might be to ordination or licensure. It might be certification or Christ Servant Minister. God is calling me to work in God’s world and I will go!
For me, my call came in the midst of prayer. My freshman year of college, I was at Goucher College in Towson, Maryland. October 9th, 1999, I began my day as I did almost every day. On my way to class, I went into the chapel to pray. There in prayer, I heard the voice of God say to me, “Look at the ministry packets.” I walked over to the career counseling center, asked for the “ministry packets”, which had never been requested before at this postmodern, liberal arts, previously all women’s college, and I began a journey answering the call to work with God.
All of us are called to celebrate the gift of work. For those who count the stars and those who teach counting. For those who grow cotton and those who create out of cotton. For those who build bridges and those who drive across them. For those who see the needs and those who have them. Work is God’s good gift to serve one another.
On this day, may we celebrate creation – the beauty and the vastness, and also the purposes and dignity of work. May we respond to God’s creation as we are called to work with and among creation, so that in all things God may be glorified and the fullness of God’s way will be known in every place!
This is the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, thanks be to God, Amen.
1Influenced by http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=2537
Old Testament Lesson: Genesis 2: 4-25
These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created.
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, 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.
A river flows out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it divides and becomes four branches. The name of the first is Pishon; it is the one that flows around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold; and the gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx stone are there. The name of the second river is Gihon; it is the one that flows around the whole land of Cush. The name of the third river is Tigris, which flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.
The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, ‘You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die.’
Then the Lord God said, ‘It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper as his partner.’ So out of the ground the Lord God formed every animal of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. The man gave names to all cattle, and to the birds of the air, and to every animal of the field; but for the man there was not found a helper as his partner. So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then he took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. Then the man said,
‘This at last is bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
this one shall be called Woman,
for out of Man this one was taken.’
Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked, and were not ashamed.
Gospel Lesson: Matthew 9:35-10:8
Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and curing every disease and every sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest.’
Then Jesus summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to cure every disease and every sickness. These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon, also known as Peter, and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax-collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Cananaean, and Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed him.
These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: ‘Go nowhere among the Gentiles, and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. As you go, proclaim the good news, “The kingdom of heaven has come near.” Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. You received without payment; give without payment.
Meditations For Your Week
Sunday, June 18 ~ Saturday, June 25
Sunday: “And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east; and there he put the man whom he had formed.” Genesis 2:8 When God created humanity, God desired for the peace-filled work of a garden. Where can you discern God seeking your best path?
Monday: “The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it.” Genesis 2:15. God has always been calling God’s people to be stewards of what God has made. Prayerfully ask God how you are a steward of God’s creation.
Tuesday: “Out of the ground the Lord God formed every animal of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name.” Genesis 2: 19. God tasks humanity with caring for creation. How are you caring for God’s world?
Wednesday: “So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then he took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man.” Genesis 2: 21-22. Humanity is necessarily integrated. Men and women are to care for one another. People across borders and around tables are connected. Ask God to show you God’s connection among people.
Thursday: “Then he said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore, ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.’” Matthew 9:37-38. Prayer for leadership to rise up in our congregation and community to labor in God’s fields.
Friday: “These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: ‘Go nowhere among the Gentiles, and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Matthew 10:5-6. How are you sharing the good news of Jesus with those who have never heard it?
Saturday: “As you go, proclaim the good news, “The kingdom of heaven has come near.” Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. You received without payment; give without payment.” Matthew 10:7-8. Jesus tells us our work is tell others about God, and then watch their lives be changed! Prayerfully ask God how you might do this work.