Words for Worship

Ministry Today

Adam & Eve

Do you remember

those British Telecom adverts

that featured Moira Lipmann?

 

One of the most famous scenes

was when she is consoling

her grandson

about his poor O level results.

 

And when she hears

he passed sociology,

she says you’ve got an –ology

then you a scientist.

 

Well every -ology in the world

has written something

on what is wrong  with humanity –

indeed all the paper generated

by the practitioners of theology,

psychology, sociology

and criminology

on this subject

would cover the planet

and that is before we include

the verbose outpourings

of politicians.

 

Yet none have anyway close

to summing the problem up

as well as this story from Genesis.

 

Yes - a story that expresses

what an ancient and primitive people

thought the problem was.

 

Yes - a story that indeed

could be reduced

to a strip cartoon.  

 

Nevertheless, it is also

a story that draws

the complete picture.

 

Let’s take that first cartoon picture

and it shows perfection.

 

Teased out we see God

and his created children

together in beautiful peace.

 

But in the next picture,

the rot is setting in.

 

 

We see the tempter

coming into the situation.

 

Eve attempts to deflect

the temptation.

 

But did you notice

she calls her maker

not Lord God as before

but now just God –

the separation has started.

 

In next cartoon

we see Eve weighing up

disobedience of God

with the likely gain.

 

So much so

the temptation doesn’t go away

in fact

it strengthens.

 

And so she and Adam

eat and learn about

good and evil.

 

The penultimate slide

shows Adam and Eve

embarrassed by being part

of a wayward creation

hiding from God

from whom they have become

utterly alienated.

 

Then the final scene

is everyone blaming each other

for their own rebellion.

 

Yet despite being able

to reduce this simple tale

to a few pictures,

it has a few universal truths.

 

For it is saying

that all humans

are tempted

by the alluring.

 

And although able

to choose freely,

they give into that temptation.

 

As a result they fall into fault,

failure or wrongdoing.

 

But it is here that

the Adam & Eve story

has as a more subtle point

to make.

 

For, in the forbidden fruit

being from the tree of knowledge,

the bible is pointing out

something crucial.

 

And that is humans

not only know good from evil

they also know

when they were doing

the bad.

 

For surely Eve balanced

her disobedience

against what she thought

she would gain.  

 

So to Adam knew exactly

what he was getting into

when he accepted

the contraband

but chose to say nothing.

 

And as a result

they both picked

to break the desire of God–

or to use an old fashioned word –

they both sinned.  

 

However, such a doctrine

of free will to be wilful

is not very popular

at the moment.

 

Because most of the -ologies

and politicians

are writing excuses

and explanations

and mitigations

as to why we fall

time and time again.

 

In fact, Michael Howard

in a recent interview

said that there was an industry

in explaining crime

rather than fighting it.

 

Nevertheless, we too

should not be complacent.

 

For maybe caught up

in this culture

we constantly excuse ourselves

for our wilfulness.

 

We too easily give ourselves

latitude and excuses.  

 

Nevertheless, no matter how strong

the internal voice argues

in our favour –

we know we are at fault.

 

No wonder St Paul said

to the Roman believers;

 

For I have the desire to do

what is good

but I cannot carry it out –

the evil I do

is not what I want to do –

but I keep on doing it!

 

I used to love the ‘our wullie’ cartoons –

especially those

when he had to make

a moral decision.

 

For on one side of his head

we saw the haloed wullie

who offering right guidance

and called him William to boot.

 

On the other was

a forked, be-horned wullie

urging badness.

 

And at this picture we laughed.  

 

However it is here our bible story

has something more

to tell us.  

 

For in this modern day

we have been taught to laugh

at any fork tailed sources of evil.

 

Nevetheless, I would suggest

that we all in our own minds

need to revisit that derision.  

 

Because in the serpent,

the Adam and Eve story suggests

that whilst sin is whole man-made

evil may not be.

 

And to prove the point

do we not look upon

such places like Zimbabwe

and Auschwitz

and sebronitza

and have a sense

of something worse than sin.

 

Something that cannot

just come from

naughty humanity alone.

 

Something, in fact,

that has a life

and a will of its own.

 

And that is Gucci shod,

Armani wearing,

caret gold evil.  

 

And about evils enticement,

a boy band once sang;

You can tell I’m educated, I studied at the Sorbonne

Doctored in mathematics, I could have been a don

I can program a computer, choose the perfect time

If you've got the inclination, I have got the crime

 

 

Have you looked at

any young children’s books recently?

 

Well if you have

you cannot help noticing

the bright colourful pictures

in them.

 

Pictures too

that often show animals

that talk and act as friends.

 

Of course, we say

that is a childish image

of the world.

 

Yet when pressed

to describe heaven,

I cannot find a better approximation

than our beautiful planet

but without all its flaws

, violence and selfishness.

 

And this is the final lesson

that the Adam and Eve story

teaches us.

 

For it inspires us

with a vision of God,

humanity and creation

in harmony with each other

and friends;

a garden indeed

in which God walks

in the evening cool;

a wonderful place

which surely

we each yearn to get back to.

 

But the problem is

we cannot put an apple back

on the tree

once it’s been plucked.

 

 Therefore, by our own power

we cannot get back

to where we want to be.

 

For that,

we need something special;

in fact,

we need someone

who is unique.

 

Someone who was utterly obedient

to God’s will.

 

Some who could in his sacrificial death

wrap all sin and evil

into himself

and literally take it out.

 

Someone who yearned

not for personal gain

but to offer the route back

to paradise

for all who believed in him.

 

For as Paul also wrote to the Romans;

 

Just as the result of one trespass

was condemnation for all men,

so also the result

of one act of righteousness

was justification

 

that brings life to all men.

And who was that perfect man –

it was none other than Christ Jesus –

the second Adam.

 

As you know

we share the Hebrew scripture

of the Old Testament

with our brothers and sisters

in the Jewish religion.

 

And having much longer

to contemplate God’s revelation

in the Garden of Eden story,

they have great wisdom

to give us.

 

For in the Mishnah,

one of Judaism’s most sacred writings,

they say this of Adam and Eve:

 

After Adam and Eve had been banished

from the Garden of Eden,

God saw that they were penitent

and took their fall

very much to heart.

 

And as He is a Compassionate Father,

He said to them gently:

 

"Unfortunate children!

I have punished you for your sin

and have driven you out

of the Garden of Eden

where you were living without care

and great well-being.

 

Now you are about to enter

into a world of sorrow and trouble,

the like of which

staggers the imagination.

 

However, I want you

to know that My benevolence

and My love for you

will never end.

 

I know that you will meet

with a much tribulation

in the world,

and that it will embitter your lives.

 

For this reason I give you

out of My heavenly treasure

this priceless pearl.

 

Look! It is a tear!

 

And when grief overtakes you

and your heart aches

so that you are not able

to endure it,

and great anguish grips your soul,

then thee will fall from your eyes

this tiny tear.

 

Your burden will grow lighter then."

When Adam and Eve

heard these words sorrow overcame them.

 

Tears welled up in their eyes,

rolled down their cheeks

and fell to earth.

 

And it was these tears of anguish

that first moistened the earth.

 

Adam and Eve left them

as a precious inheritance

to their children.

 

And since then,

whenever a human being

is in great trouble

and his heart aches

and his spirit is oppressed,

the tears begin to flow from his eyes.

 

And lo! the gloom is lifted.

 

As we revisit the story of Eden

in our minds in the week ahead,

let us then

not forget that tear.

 

The tear of knowing

the badness of ourselves and others;

the tear of frustration

that we can do no better on our own;

the tear too of fear

of the source of evil and its works.

 

But then let us not forget

a tear for Christ on the cross.

 

For that is the tear alone

that lifts the gloom,

that brings hope

and that beckons us

into the very garden of paradise

which is now refound.

 

Amen

 

Offering

 

HYMN………………