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Let there be — hope!
During Advent, members of the A Nun’s Life community will be posting reflections on the Jesse Tree and the O Antiphons.
Day 2 :: Eve And Adam written by Sister Maxine
I clearly recall the first essay that I wrote that pleased me. It was preceded by tons of writing that did not. But what made the essay pleasing to me wasn’t that it was perfect (it was far from perfect….). It was that I managed, at long last, to adequately express what I was thinking and feeling. Through it all, I learned that the act of creation has beauty and power and pain and joy.
When I read the creation accounts in Genesis, I can only imagine how God must have felt. In the first creation story (Gn 1:2-3), God brings forth order from chaos and shapes the universe. Each day, God creates something new. Creation nears its high point on the sixth day, with land animals and humanity, and reaches its apex on the seventh day, with the sabbath. On the last day, I imagine that God breathes a sigh of relief and satisfaction and thinks about creating pizza as a way to celebrate.
When I read the second creation account (Gn 2:4ff) which introduces us to Adam and Eve, I see God at work once again. But the story line is different—and foreboding. The story begins with God making a man out of earth and reaches its high point with God’s last act of creation, a woman. There is only one thing that God forbids the humans to do – to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Everything else in the garden is theirs to enjoy.
At this point, the writer in me is like, “Things are NOT going to go well for the humans.” Maybe I’m projecting my own human weakness, but I can almost taste the apples from that tree.
What am I to do with these two stories – one that speaks of the intrinsic goodness of creation and the other, of the potential for tough challenges and temptations along the way. For me, there is comfort in knowing that God hasn’t yet written the final word on the story of creation. I am part of that story. By living with the compassion, love, and integrity that Jesus models, I seek to shape a story of hope for all of creation.
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{ 5 comments }
Lots to think about Maxine. Many thanks.
i love this, max. this is one human that would head straight for the darned tree before god even stopped speaking. i am so bad.
i look at these two stories in a different way. in the first, god is distant and commands creation into being; in the second, he touches us and creation is more intimate.
a take on the different aspects of god, sort of.
I’ve been thinking a lot recently about the idea of the “Happy fault.”
(I’ll throw in a “Felix Culpa” as Latin seems to make Sister Julie happy.
)
As bad as the Fall was (and as bad as our daily, hourly falls are) — that’s also what brought us Jesus. And as terrific as Eden was, if losing Eden means we get Jesus, it’s far far far better to lose Eden and have Jesus.
It would be WONDERFUL if we had never needed grace. But it is EVEN MORE WONDERFUL to need grace and have it.
This makes my little head explode. I want to be the good strong competent faithful disciple. The sort of person Jesus can delegate to and rely upon! The sort of person who doesn’t need grace.
And yes, faithful discipleship involves doing stuff. We don’t have a mission, God’s mission has us. Yes yes yes.
But for me at least (and I don’t think I’m alone) that can too easily get twisted into an idea that what this Christian life is MOST about is “I work really hard for this mission.” And that’s horribly wrong.
It’s most about grace.
Oh happy fault, that won for us so great a savior.
A few … many … years ago this reading came up when I was presiding. I think Gen 1 is a liturgical hymn used in Temple worship and we sang it that way, like the responses today, thanks to a creative organist who set it to simple music. Remembering Fr Tony’s talk, the reminder that all of creation is God’s delight has deeper meaning today, along with this hymn of praise to the Creator. Pizza indeed! I love that image maxine!
Ann Mortifee also has a wonderful Creation song in her album “Crooked Walking”