Today is Humanity Sunday in this season of creation…So what
do we look at differently or what perspective on humanity do we take that is
different from other Sundays? What does
this season call to attention? There are
3 assigned readings for today
Genesis 1:26-28
The message reads this verse this way…
God spoke: “Let us make human beings in our image, make them
reflecting our nature
So they can be responsible for the fish in the sea, the
birds in the air, the cattle, and yes, Earth itself,
And every animal that moves on the face of the earth.”
God create human Beings they were created godlike,
Reflecting God’s nature.
God created them male and female
God Blessed them:
“Prosper! Reproduce! Fill the Earth! Take Charge!
Be responsible for fish in the sea and birds in the air,
For every living thing that moves on the face of the earth.”[1]
Then in Genesis 2:7-8 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 God put the man that God had formed. 2:15 God took the Man and
set him down in the Garden of Eden to work the ground and keep it in order or
in another translation to till and keep it.
How should human beings relate to Earth, our planet
home? Does Scripture give us the right
to dominate and subdue creation as many have claimed in the past.
If you read this, it doesn’t quite sound that way. In my
hearing we are called to be co-creators with God. God Planted a Garden and then
humans are established in the Garden to continue Gods work.
This concept of the right to dominate has even been used as
justification for suppressing Indigenous peoples as mere animals! As it stands, Genesis 1.26-28 reflects the
language of royalty, of ruling and subjugation.
But should we be satisfied with that text as the basis for our
relationship with Earth and the creatures of Earth.
There have been several interpretations around this. We have evolved in our understanding;
In God’s Image…How does being
formed in God’s image make humans unique in creation? Interpreters have
answered that questions in many different ways. Their answers typically relate
to how they themselves view human nature.
Early Christian interpreters
believed that having God’s image made humans like God spiritually.it gave
humans a soul. For example, Augustine believed the image of God referred to the
rational soul, placed by God in the human body. Thus, God and humans were
spiritual beings, while all other life was merely material. However, this
division between soul and body, or spirit and matter, is a later development in
Greek thought. The idea of a soul is not shared by the OT writers.[2]
We spoke of this a bit last week. It out of this concept that we hear these
theologies that give humans an excuse to dismiss the earth. This is also what
gave permission to dismiss others as not human.
By claiming others did not have souls gave certain races permission to subjugate
other races.
A different answer given by
interpreters from ancient to modern times is that being made in God’s image
gives humans special dignity. According to this interpretation, the divine
image refers to worth of all human beings. In this view, all persons carry
God’s image and are to be treated with equal respect. This understanding of
human nature focuses, as genesis does, on the whole person rather than on the
soul alone. It has given powerful support for those demeaned, marginalized, and
oppressed.[3]
This calls us to recognize the dignity in each person. As Christian it calls us to see the face of
Christ in any and all persons. We are called to treat each with the respect
called for as if we are meeting Christ ...no matter how they may treat us. For
in each human is the face of God.
Recent biblical scholars have
looked in ancient cultures around Israel to understand this idea of the image
of God in Genesis 1. Egypt and Mesopotamia described reigning kings as the
image of particular gods. The phrase designated a ruler as a certain god’s
special representative on earth. So by adapting this expression, the writer of
Genesis 1 identifies human beings as the representatives of divine rule on
earth.
This interpretation of humans as
representatives of divine rule matches what comes next in Genesis. God says
that humanity is made in the image of God so that humans can take charge of
animals (gen 1:28). So, when read in light of its literary and ancient culture
contexts, the image of God describes humanity’s prominent position in the
world. It shows humanity’s responsibility to rule creation as God’s
representative. Human beings are thus considered mediators of God’s presence in
the world.[4]
So let me ask the question again, Does Scripture give us the
right to dominate and subdue creation as many have claimed in the past? No!
because we are smarter than that. We know better. No! Because the very next
chapter (2.15) reinterprets this relationship!
Rather than being hailed as a ruler of Earth Adam, our ancestor, is
given the responsibility of ‘serving and preserving Earth’. It is time to
confess that we, especially in Western Christianity, have often abused our role
as human beings by assuming we have the right to dominate the rest of creation
without considering the word of God that calls us to serve and preserve what
God has given us as our home.
We must confess we have yet to treat each other with the
respect that is called for by these verses in Genesis. Daily we degradate,
subjugate, segregate and mistreat people in the name of well, pick it, in the
name of greed, in the name of corporations, in the name of governments, in the
name of religion!
We have used and abused sacred text for so long that we
sometimes do not see what we have done or what we are doing. This is why we must focus on humanity during
this season of creation.
Todays Gospel of how we are called to be servants
The message interprets the reading this way;
Jesus got them together to settle things down. “You’ve
observed how godless rulers throw their weight around,” he said, “and when
people get a little power how quickly it goes to their heads. It’s not going to
be that way with you. Whoever wants to be great must become a servant. Whoever
wants to be first among you must be your slave. That is what the Son of Man has
done: He came to serve, not to be served—and then to give away his life in
exchange for many who are held hostage.”[5]
This text from Mark is often cited as a guide to the way we
should live as disciples of Christ, serving others rather than dominating
them. Jesus reminds us that among the
Romans of his day, the aspiration of leaders was to dominate and control, to
have power over others. Jesus declares
that his way is just the opposite. His
followers are to serve rather than rule.
The language used here reflects a reversal of the language in Gen.
1.26-28. Those who follow Christ are not rulers, but servants.
Marjorie Suchoci, reflects on this in her own context in the
Methodist church
Muse a while on the
seeming oxymoron of “servant
leadership.” We have
lost the shock value of Jesus’
words and actions
that specify that true leadership involves
serving others, not
ruling them. Yet, in many ways we have
reversed Jesus’
reversal by accepting the term servant leader
but reinvesting it
with the trappings of power and privilege.
…If we truly valued
servant leadership, wouldn’t pastors vie
for appointments to
rural or inner city or poor churches
where leadership
would indeed be sacrificial? In Mark 10
Jesus explicitly
reverses the social position of leader from a
place of power to a
place of sacrificial service, even to a place
he calls slavery.
His crucifixion sealed this reversal where
the Highest suffered
with the most lowly for the sake of
saving the lowly. We
are followers of Christ.
(By Marjorie Hewitt
Suchocki from The Upper Room: 60 Days of Prayer for General Conference 2016) [6]
I love this for I live by the belief I will go where I am
called, and I will be called where I am needed. I confess I do not have an
inkling what that will look like and or where it will be yet. This is true for
our relationships with creation and the creatures of Earth as well as our
relationship with other humans. In
short, Jesus’ words make it clear that the way of serving Earth (in Gen. 2.15)
is more consistent with the way of the cross than the way of domination (in
Gen. 1.26-28).
The ways humans have treated each other and continue to do
so is disturbing history even here in Petaluma we cannot ignore what has been
done to our indigenous people and what we have don to this land.
I was reading an article from KCET titled the last woman
form Petaluma I want to share just some of her story
Her Indian name, or at least one of
her Indian names, the only one any of us know, was Tsupu. She was my
great-great-grandfather’s mother, or my great-great-great grandmother, and,
again as far as any of us know, the last native of Petaluma, not the city we
know today, but the ancient Coast Miwok village of the same name….
Though the village was abandoned
once and for all after the 1838 smallpox epidemic claimed its remaining
citizens and though American farmers demolished its large midden, using the
centuries-old refuge of decomposed shells for fertilizer, eradicating any trace
of the village, Tsupu never forgot it. The last time she visited she was
completely blind, yet nodding with her chin to an empty hillside, she said
“there,” as if she could see Petaluma plain as day, tule huts and fire smoke.
The village was atop a low hill,
east of the Petaluma River, located about three and a half miles northeast of
the present city of Petaluma. Petaluma in Coast Miwok means “Sloping ridge,”
and, as was often the custom, was no doubt named after that distinct feature of
the landscape associated with its location.
Petaluma, a thriving community of
at least 500 individuals, was a major village of the Lekatuit Nation,…
The Petaluma Valley region was
prized for its enormous herds of deer and elk as well as for its productive
groves of valley oak and black oak. Coast Miwok elder Maria Copa (from Nicasio)
told anthropologist Isabel Kelly in 1932 that “deer and elk used to be
plentiful in the valley this side of Petaluma [present city] -- just like
cattle there [and that] Nicasio people got acorns from the Petaluma Valley.”
Ducks and geese flew up from the Petaluma River and its tributaries so thick as
to obliterate the sun for an hour at a time, and seasonal swarms of monarch
butterflies passing through the Petaluma Valley a mile wide, several miles
long, forced the Lekatuit there to take refuge for sometimes a full day.
When Tsupu was born, by any
estimate about 1820, the village of Petaluma was in crisis. At least a third of
its citizens had died within the last ten years of European diseases —
smallpox, pneumonia, syphilis — to which the natives had no resistance; and the
great herds of deer and elk, frightened by blasts from Spanish muskets, were
scattering, migrating north, replaced by mission livestock — cattle, horses,
sheep — which spread foreign seed in dung, giving rise to oat grass, among
other invasive species, which supplanted the native bunch grasses and sedges.
The Lekatuit, like other California aboriginal nations, had had an intimate
relationship with their environment, specifically a seasonal schedule of
harvesting, pruning, controlled burning and the like, from which a particular
and sustainable ecology had evolved over 5,000 years or more. With fewer
individuals to tend the landscape, or garden, as we liked to call it, and with
a major disruption of native animal and plant habitats, the valley began to
appear “wild.”[7]
This is only part of a much longer tale. Yet it gives pause. In Sonoma county Indigenous people are only
2.2 % of the population. It is sad note
when you think that at one time they were the only people who lived here. What
happened to the very people who lived here was because one group of people
believed they were better, worthier, than another. What happened here was the land scape and the
natural life of the valley was changed forever because humans transformed it.
The dominant human population, no matter what race or where
they are, have a history of coming into a community and instead of learning
from them we subjugate, control, enslave and kill. This culture of we are
superior, and we know better is what causes pain, distrust and down right anger
even here in the united states.
MY heart aches when someone tells me we cannot fly the
rainbow flag because then we have to fly all flags. My heart breaks when I hear someone say all
lives matter because that diminishes the meaning and the movement of Black
Lives Matter. My heart breaks when I see
images of people burning Nikes because they have an add that features
Kaepernick.
I saw a post that sums up the taking of the knee in
professional sports
It was never about the anthem, it was never about the flag,
it was never about the military.
It was about: Patrick Harmon 50, Philando castile 32, Alton
Sterling 37, Sandra Bland 28, Anthony Hill 27…the list goes on and on it was
about due process of the law it was about justice….
It sad that today its almost a weekly event that someone,
usually white, is calling the police on people of color for living. people have
reported black people for sitting in Starbucks, shopping at CVS, mowing lawns,
playing golf, staying at an Airbnb or napping on a couch in a college dorm, and
selling lemonade.
Of course, most recently a man was shot and killed for being
in his own home…. This is humanity Sunday and we as humanity have a long way to
go…But we are making strides In Petaluma alone you can find a number of
organizations making a difference. Like
our book group you see education is always the first step in making a
difference.
There is hate free Petaluma -We stand together to promote
inclusivity and respect for all
Petaluma blacks for community development - through various
programs and events we share black history and culture within the Sonoma county
community
Onepetaluma -We are a group of Petalumans committed to
encouraging and creating peace, justice, and equity in our community.
It won’t happen here -We raise a call to the officials of
Sonoma County to protect the community from discriminatory orders and law
Interfaith movement for human integrity - We pursue justice
and equality; honor holistic approaches to well-being; cherish peace building
traditions; uphold the dignity and sanctity of every human life
We confess to the fact that human beings over the centuries,
even in the name of Christianity, have exploited creation and abused the
Indigenous people of Earth, we must reclaim one of the messages of our faith that
we have missed. In Genesis 2 it is clear
that all human beings are made of Earth and the breath of God, the Spirit. We all have a kinship with nature, both
physical and spiritual. We now must claim and act upon a spirituality that
celebrates our common kinship with creation and each other. We have a spiritual bond with the Earth, the
creatures of the Earth and all of Humanity. We must surrender our us versus
them attitudes, we must surrender our “God Given Right attitudes and become
humble and walk and live in servitude to each other and to the planet when we
all can start doing this healing will begin.
[1] Peterson,
Eugene H. The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language. Colorado Springs,
CO: NavPress, 2003.
[2] The
CEB Study Bible. Nashville, TN: Common English Bible, 2013.
[3]
Ditto
[4]
Ditto
[5] Peterson, Eugene H. The Message: The Bible in
Contemporary Language. Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 2003.
[6] https://www.dakotasumc.org/news/day-18-mark-1042-45-leader-or-servant
[7] https://www.kcet.org/shows/tending-the-wild/the-last-woman-from-petaluma
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