GENESIS 1:26-28 & 2:1-4
2 CORINTHIANS 5:17 – 6:2
Gordon E. Ellis
September 9, 2007
THE 8th DAY OF CREATION
And there was evening, and morning, the 8th day. I’ll bet you didn’t KNOW there was an 8th day of creation, did you? You probably thought there were just 7! Well, you’ve been misinformed all these years! Let me read you a passage straight out of The Gospel According to Gordon. And it may only be Gordon’s thinking, but IF you LISTEN to it in light of today’s Scripture Lessons, you’ll KNOW that it’s TRUE. So HEAR it!
After God rested on the 7th day, the Sabbath, God arose and looked around. God looked OUT over the UNIVERSE that She had given BIRTH to, and the PEOPLE whom She had formed. And She SAW that creation was VERY good! In fact, She was PROUD of the FRUIT of her divine WOMB. There were only a FEW mistakes: TICKS, mosquitoes, BEETS, anchovies… Not BAD for my first TRY, She thought. And God allowed humankind, created in her OWN image, to become the CARETAKERS, the STEWARDS, of God’s CREATION, for THAT is BIBLICAL meaning of the word, DOMINION: caretakers or stewards, because God KNEW that CREATION was not yet COMPLETE! There were PICTURES to be painted, and SONGS to be SUNG; telephones and computers to be INVENTED and MEDICINES to be developed; FRUITS and flowers to be GROWN, and even SERMONS to be preached. And God thought: THAT’S why I created HUMANKIND in my OWN image! That’s why I’ve ENDOWED them with the GIFTS of CREATIVITY and IMAGINATION, so that they might help me to COMPLETE my creation and to BRING it to PERFECTION, to make this a PERFECT planet.
And SO, the MORNING of the 8th day of creation BEGAN! And CAVE dwellers took up their primitive PAINTS and brushes, painting the WONDERS of creation on the WALLS of their caves. LATER, others created the beginnings of technology by developing that ROUND thing we call the WHEEL, and OTHERS learned to channel the power of FIRE. Soon MOST realized that it is SAFER, easier and more FUN to live in GROUPS, rather than ROAMING around ALONE upon the Earth. And THUS, the 8th day of creation had its DAWNING!
But AS the 8th day of creation CONTINUED, God WATCHED as HUMANKIND began to REBEL against their Creator, USING their God-given GIFTS, talents and inventions for EVIL purposes. HATRED and LUST, injustice and oppression, VIOLENCE and war ALL began to SATURATE the Earth with the BLOOD of God’s creatures. So THEN, God called Abraham and Sarah, and their DESCENDANTS to become Her CHOSEN people, a people who could be a LIGHT to the NATIONS and a BEACON for ALL people. But EVEN God’s CHOSEN fell into the TRAP of using God’s GIFTS to bear EVIL fruit! SO, God sent PROPHETS to CALL Her people BACK to God’s path, BACK to being CO-CREATORS with God. BUT, the words of God’s PROPHETS fell mostly on DEAF ears as humankind CONTINUED their EVIL ways.
Finally at NOON, on the 8th day of CREATION, God could STAND it no LONGER! So, God CAME to Earth to DWELL among us, to pitch a TENT in OUR neighborhood, and to SHOW us the WAY, the TRUTH and the LIFE. Yes, God CAME to the Earth HERSELF, in the person of JESUS of Nazareth, to RECONCILE the world to HERSELF, to DELIVER humankind from their EVIL ways, and to set humankind FREE from the CHAINS of their SEPARATION, the CHAINS of their SIN, so that they might become CO-CREATORS with God, as God had envisioned it in God’s DREAM for them. And BECAUSE of the life and ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus, God KNEW that humankind would seek after the SPIRIT of God that lived WITHIN Jesus, that it might ALSO live in THEM.
Well, SINCE Jesus of Nazareth, humankind has lived in the afternoon of the 8th day of creation. And though MANY still USE God’s good GIFTS for EVIL purposes, promoting WAR and DESTRUCTION, promoting prejudice and oppression, promoting violence and hatred, and POLLUTING the earth’s WATER, AIR and LAND; there are many OTHERS who have HEARD God’s call, and SEEN God’s LIGHT, and ALLOWED God’s SPIRIT to live WITHIN them. And THOUGH they are mostly ANONYMOUS, there are MILLIONS, and even BILLIONS of them! And EVERY day, they are living for God, and faithfully CARING for God’s CREATION. And THOUGH their NAMES will never be embossed in HISTORY books, and they KNOW that they will be FORGOTTEN just a generation or two after they are GONE, they CONTINUALLY work HARD at being CO-CREATORS with God; at promoting PEACE and harmony, DIVERSITY and goodwill; at trying to live more SIMPLE and GREENER lives; and at trying to LEAVE this Earth at least a LITTLE better than when they came INTO it.
Well friends, AS the CHURCH of Jesus Christ, these ANONYMOUS co-creators are who WE are called to BE -- dreaming GOD’S dream, doing GOD’S work of creation, LIVING greener lives, and moving GOD’S 8th day of creation CLOSER to its TWILIGHT, CLOSER to its CULMINATION, CLOSER to its FULFILLMENT! And THOUGH it’s not EASY work, especially living in a society that is SO violent and bloodthirsty, SO consumeristic, SO self-centered, and SO short-sighted, it is the most MEANINGFUL and most PURPOSEFUL, most REWARDING and most JOYOUS work that there IS on this pretty PLANET. And we need to THANK God for INVITING us to DO it.
So you see: there IS an 8th day of creation, for we are LIVING in it, and it is the AFTERNOON. SO, let us FULFILL our calling, and let us be CO-CREATORS with God, so that WHEN the twilight comes on this 8th day of creation, WE might be living on a PERFECT planet.
Friends, it’s my pleasure now to introduce you to MAD AGNES, who will BEGIN their presentation with a song entitled, PERFECT PLANET….