Words Create Worlds
Genesis 1:1-5
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
2 The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
3 Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.
4 And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness.
5 God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day.
Last week we talked about Words being important and I preached from the Gospel of John chapter 1, in the beginning, was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. Last week was the Epiphany Sunday and the new year so I chose the lectionary passage that dealt with Christ at the beginning. I still want to focus on words, and I still want to talk about beginnings but this time from Genesis. The book gives us the beginning of humanity and the beginning of a particular group of people, sometimes they were called the Israelites, the Hebrews, or the People of God. The words in the Book of Genesis are the start of their world. Words have power, words can unite, words can also divide. How we communicate with one another or miscommunicate can determine a great deal in our lives. I feel that this passage highlights the potential for some of those miscommunications.
The creation story is a hotly debated issue it is sadly a reason that many begin to leave our faith and a reason that many will not join our faith. The Book of Genesis is authoritative, Genesis does not set the stage as prologue like the Gospel of John did, Genesis does not prepare for the story Genesis IS the story. The most important parts are in the first few words, in the beginning, God. Did you know that this passage is not the only creation story? There are two creation stories in Genesis alone. People may look at other religion’s creation stories and claim that the Bible copied them, however when I research them, I find a major difference in many of those stories, the difference is the words “in the beginning, God.” Other stories have gods, and wars, and bartering to create the world, but in the Bible, God speaks, and the world is formed. Words create worlds. Words can unite or divide others, words like creationism vs. evolution, faith vs science. People use their words to indicate that if you believe in one, you cannot possibly believe in the other. I stopped by to tell you today that is not true. Firstly, the creation story is about the character and nature of God, not a science book when verse one reads "In the beginning" the Hebrew translation lets us know that the word used is not a date and time but rather first in order. So, I don't hold hard and fast to seven consecutive, twenty-four-hour periods to create the world, but guess what, neither does the Bible. I say all the time that many issues are not either-or but both-and, this creation story is one of them.
2nd Peter 3:8
8 But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day.
These kinds of divisions hurt both the faith community and the scientific community, it could prevent those with a scientific acumen from being involved in the church and those who give way for mystery from practicing in science.
God's time is not our time, but people have sometimes used their words to create a world God didn't intend. Faith vs. Science is one of those divisions I think of. How do these divisions happen? These divisions happen in our worlds because of the darkness and the voids. Some people have something missing in their lives, a void, darkness, and they fill it with the wrong language or the lack thereof.
It is filled with the silence of so-called evangelical Christians, that claim to be for God and country but when people storm the capital because their candidate lost the election, they are not called rioters or terrorists. The rioters get the gate opened for them, they get help up and down the stairs, and they take selfies with the Capitol Police. Take pictures in the office of the speaker of the house with your feet up and get to walk out of the capital with no harm done to you.
False worlds have been created around words like
Protest
Riots
Patriots
Tolerance
Truth
Facts
Law and Order
Pro-life
Socialism
Black Lives Matter
Respect
Kaepernick was disrespectful to the country and armed forces but somehow storming the caption too and taking pictures in Nancy Pelosi’s office is not? Not to mention that explosive devices were found at the DNC and RNC offices.
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/abc-news-exclusive-photo-suspected-explosive-device-found/story?id=75105481
During the Civil War the closest the confederate army got to the Capitol was Fort Sumter, but today somebody can walk a Confederate flag into the Capitol, and these are the patriots. What kind of world have we created with our words? People have voids in their lives, and they are filling them with ideologies, politicians, material gain, power, any and everything but God.
Even if there is a darkness and a void, we have to know that God can create something out of that void, and we can form our worlds as well. Genesis 1:26 God said let us make man in our image. We are made in the image of God and while God speaks and worlds are formed, we can also speak to form our world. Speak truth to power, create some light in our darkness. Know that we are not alone and be active in our deliverance.
In the novel City of Peace, a Methodist pastor named Harley Camden speaks about the power of words. “I’m convinced that words create reality,” Harley explains. “It’s a very biblical idea. Think of God creating the world in Genesis, saying ‘Let there be light,’ and there is light. Jesus is described in the New Testament as ‘the Word.’ When Martin Luther King Jr., said, ‘I have a dream,’ people began to see a vision of a new world of equality. Words create reality. Whether we say, ‘I love you’ or ‘I hate you’ makes a huge difference.”
There was a study done by Stanford researchers on police bodycam footage. In this study of police body-camera footage, Stanford researchers found that police officers speak less respectfully to black citizens than to white citizens. White residents were more likely than black residents to hear a police officer say “thank you” or to offer an apology. Black citizens were more likely than white residents to be called “bro” or “dude,” and to have the officer issue commands like “hands on the wheel.” “To be clear: There was no swearing,” said one of the researchers. “These were well-behaved officers. But the many small differences in how they spoke with community members added up to pervasive racial disparities.” This research suggests that subtle differences in language may be eroding relationships between the police and the communities they serve.
Our words should reflect God’s love for all. God created us all in his image. Every human being is created in the image and likeness of God — whether black, white, brown, or any other color. Until we treat everyone as an equally valuable creation of God, at police traffic stops and other human encounters, we are not being faithful to the word of God.
In the beginning, God is the most important part of the passage because all we have, all of creation, all of it depends on God. The unmoved mover, the alpha and the omega the beginning and the end.
God moved over some water while Jesus was being baptized and he spoke.
Matthew 3:17
17 And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
Because of those words, we can create worlds with other words
Sacrifice
Salvation
Grace
Since words create worlds, we need to be using language that communicates the equality of the human beings created by God, as well as words that express the truth, love, and mercy of Jesus.
On the first day, God brought order out of chaos and light out of the darkness. We can do the same, with the words we speak today.
