Bible reading
God took the Man and set him down in the Garden of Eden to work the ground and keep it in order … 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 every 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.” (Genesis 2: 15 - 23)
Meditation
Last week we thought about this passage in terms of work being to do with naming the good and the possible. This week we think about it in relation to work being done in collaboration with God, each other and with the creation. In the passage we read of Adam and God engaged in conversation with each other, of the search for a partner to work with Adam and of that search happening through an engagement with other creatures.
This passage suggests that work is intended to be carried out in conversation with God, each other and the creation itself Paul Ballard has said that “human beings can enter into a creative partnership with [God] in terms of [our] own powers over creation” and that the “power to work is a God-given power that finds its place in relation to the service of God and man’s place in creation”.
As a partial example of this, in relation to working with others, Christian Schumacher has written in his book God in Work about team working and the way in which, in teams, “each person should be willing to give up the ‘raw material’ of his or her own ideas in order that they can be subsumed or absorbed into the pool of other ideas being contributed by other team members, so that a new and better ‘product’ of the team’s combined endeavours can be created”. He suggests that this experience “of unity in a warm, effective and strongly bound cohesive team operating within divinely compatible structures” has moved people “to deepen their own inner lives” and has drawn them closer to God.
However, much of the work we have done as human beings has been with our back turned to God - we have been ‘out of conversation’ with him - and, therefore, instead of caring for creation we have exploited it for our own selfish ends. We need to get back into conversation with God in order to have productive conversations with each other and with the created order.
The beginning of John’s Gospel can be read as saying that conversation, dialogue and partnership with God is actually what life is all about: “It all arose out of a conversation, conversation within God, in fact the conversation was God. So God started the discussion, and everything came out of this, and nothing happened without consultation.
This was the life, life that was the light of men, shining in the darkness, a darkness which neither understood nor quenched its creativity …
The subject of the conversation, the original light, came into the world, the world that had arisen out of his willingness to converse. He fleshed out the words but the world did not understand. He came to those who knew the language, but they did not respond. Those who did became a new creation (his children). They read the signs and responded.
These children were born out of sharing in the creative activity of God. They heard the conversation still going on, here, now, and took part, discovering a new way of being people.
To be invited to share in a conversation about the nature of life was for them, a glorious opportunity not to be missed.” (John 1: 1-14 revisited)
Prayer
Holy Trinity, you invite us to share in a conversation about the nature of life. This is a glorious opportunity not to be missed. Enable us to fully grasp that opportunity and, through it, discover a new way of being people.
May we enter into creative partnership with you and find our place in your service and within creation.
Holy Trinity, forgive us because much of the work we have done, as human beings, has been with our back turned to you and, as a result, we have been out of conversation with you. Your Son fleshed out the words but the world did not understand. He came to those who knew the language, but they did not respond. As a result, instead of caring for creation we have exploited it for our own selfish ends.
May we enter into creative partnership with you and find our place in your service and within creation.
Holy Trinity, teach us to use our powers as human beings creatively in partnership with you for the service of others and in ways which serve creation. Enable us to create teams which experience unity through warmth of relationships, effective operations and strong bonds within divinely compatible structures. May the members of such teams or partnerships be moved to deepen their own inner lives and draw closer to you.
May we enter into creative partnership with you and find our place in your service and within creation.
Blessing
Sharing in conversation with God, entering into creative partnership with God, finding our place in God’s service, deepening our own inner lives and drawing closer to God. May those blessing of God almighty, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, rest upon us and remain with us always. Amen.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Washington National Cathedral - Take My Life And Let It Be.
No comments:
Post a Comment