A Day of New Beginnings
a sermon based on Genesis 1:1-5 (& Mark 1:4-11)
by Rev. Randy Quinn

I’ve read through Rick Warren’s book, The Purpose-Driven Life, at least three times now. And each time I’ve read it, I’ve found new pieces onto which I can cling. But the one thing that captured my attention each time – and continues to be the line I remember most vividly – is the very first sentence of the first chapter where Rick Warren reminds us that “it’s not about [us].”

The same can be said about the creation story in Genesis. It’s not about us. It’s not about the world in which we live. It’s not about the stars in the heavens or the trees in the forest or the fish in the seas. It’s about God.

This entire book, The Holy Bible, is about God. From beginning to end, it’s about the God who, in the words of James Weldon Johnson,

. . . stepped out on space,
And he looked around and said,
“I’m lonely –
I’ll make me a world.”
And far as the eye of God could see
Darkness covered everything,
Blacker than a hundred midnights
Down in a cypress swamp.

Then God smiled,
And the light broke
And the darkness rolled up on one side,
And the light stood shining on the other,
And God said, “That’s good!”

(If you’ve never read Johnson’s sermon/poem, “The Creation,” you need to find a copy and read the entire thing. It’s really quite beautiful.)

My point in reading this portion, however, is to say that the story in Genesis isn’t about the light. It isn’t about the darkness, either. It’s about the God who shattered the darkness by creating light; it’s about the God, who in Johnson’s thinking anyway, was just plain lonely.

I couldn’t find the reference for it, but I remember reading the words of another theologian who said it in more philosophical terms. I think it was Paul Tillich; it may have been Alfred North Whitehead or John Cobb.

As I remember the discussion, he suggested it was out of a sense of longing that God created – a longing for community, a longing for love, a longing for companionship. It was a Divine Longing that resulted in a word being spoken and from that word, a world came into existence.

It wasn’t about my longing for God. It wasn’t about our need for a Creator, nor was it about our need for a savior that is behind the sacred page.

This story is first and foremost about God. It isn’t about us.

• It’s a form of idolatry that makes the story about us or about the world in which we live.

• It’s a form of idolatry when we make the story about history or astronomy or geology or biology.

• It’s a form of idolatry when we make any one part of the story itself more important than the God whose story is told here.

But – where that story intersects our story we find good news. Where the story of God’s love meets our lives, where the story of God’s creation includes a place for you and for me, we find good news because we are included in God’s story. And so we tell God’s story with great joy and delight because this God, this God who was lonely, this God who was longing for love, this same God loves the world enough to come to us in human form. This very same God who created light on the first day of creation comes to us as “the light of the world” in the person Jesus, of Nazareth, the one who was crucified and died and raised from the dead.

It may be God’s story. It may not be about us; but it is a story of great news because God has included us in it. With God, we can look at the light and the darkness that has been given a place and a purpose, and we too can say, “It is good”!

This week Jesse and I did some woodwork. We bought some lumber and we cut it into pieces and made a small two-shelf stand out of it. (It isn’t quite done yet – we still have to paint it.)

But the wood was a little warped, so the shelves don’t fit exactly right. And the edges are a little crooked, in part, because Jesse cut some of the wood by himself – with a hand saw. And I put a screw in the wrong place so there is a hole where there shouldn’t be a hole.

It isn’t perfect. But we made it.

And in years to come, the story of the stand will not be about the shelves that don’t fit; it will be about the day Jesse and I spent in the garage learning how to use tools as part of a Cub Scout project. And all of those little imperfections will become part of the story.

Now the stand itself will no doubt be put to good use because when Ronda saw it the first time she said, “It is good.”

Not because the shelf is perfect, but because of who made it.

In much the same way, the creation story tells us more about God than it does our world. Ours is a God who is bigger than the world in which we live, who is bigger than our greatest fears, who is able to create with a word, and who is able to provide structure and meaning for our lives. It isn’t a story about supernovas and black holes, however. It’s about the God who is bigger than the universe.

• When we think there is no hope, when all we can see is the darkness surrounding us, this story is good news, because God is bigger than our problems.

• When we think there is no purpose, when it feels like we are just spinning our wheels and getting no where, this story is good news, because God has a wider view.

• When we think we are forgotten or lost or left out, this story is good news, because God’s love has included us in the story.

Out of the nothingness of our lives, out of the emptiness of our existence, God comes and creates something brand, spanking new.

When I saw the spray cans at the auto parts store the first time, I was taken aback. Maybe I was a little surprised. But as I thought about it longer, I realized that the aerosol can with “new car scent” was something new car owners might want to use in order to keep that smell in their car as long as possible.

If you’ve ever owned a new car, you know what I’m talking about. That new car smell is unique. Some people may even make periodic trips to the car dealer just to sit in a new car and experience it again and again. I can see why someone might want to find a way to capture that smell and put it back into their car.

But spraying that scent into our car will not make it a new car. There have been too many miles under the wheels already. There have been too many crumbs of food spilled in the seats. There have been too many muddy feet that have piled in and out of it.

It was brand, spanking new at one time. But it is no longer – and can never be again – even if I invest in a can of “new car” scent.

That’s what makes God’s story so amazing.

God created the world, brand new. And then God invites us to become a part of the story so that each day becomes a new gift, a new creation, a new beginning point.

Mark is the first to put the story of Jesus into writing. His is the oldest written Gospel. He and the other Gospel writers had certainly heard stories told. But he is the first to collect them and put them on paper – well, he probably didn’t use paper. 

But it’s always been a curious thing to me that Mark chose to start the story with the baptism of Jesus rather than the birth of Jesus. I think a large reason is that in Mark’s understanding the new thing God was doing wasn’t recognized until Jesus began his ministry – and that ministry began at his baptism.

Here the story changes direction. It is a day of new beginnings.

When we are baptized, we become willing participants in that story as we imitate Christ. We are not only imitating his baptism, as today’s text from Mark tells it; more importantly, we are imitating his death and his resurrection (see Rom. 6:4 and Col. 2:11-12). It is a day of new beginnings.

We bring who we are into God’s presence, God infuses us with light, the same light that shone on the first day of creation, and we become something new. We are incorporated into the church family and have a new beginning.

It’s still God’s story, however. For God is the primary actor in baptism. God welcomes us and God makes this a day of new beginnings.

Thanks be to God.

Amen.