2nd Sunday before Lent St. Paul’s Athens. Genesis 2, 4-9, 15-25; Rev 4; Luke 8, 22-25.

Revd. Canon L W Doolan 

 

We are reminded in the first reading of how women came into being!

Genesis Chapter 2 is a salutary reminder that there is more than one Genesis narrative in scripture, and that there are dangers in taking only one narrative and being literalist about it.

I would like to focus on one aspect of this genesis narrative. It is the relationship between man and work. By this, of course, I mean men and women and work.

Passing over rather quickly the story about the woman being from the rib of the man, the writer quickly focusses on the land and its husbandry. It appears from the earliest of our beginnings that man is intended to work – whether we like it or not, work has to be done, otherwise what would things be like? What would your homes be like if the ironing didn’t get done, or the dishes were left unwashed, or the dust builds up into layers visible to the naked eye. Forgive me if I am describing how things look in your own home, but just imagine if all these tasks of domestic work did not get done by house proud men!

Expand this into the realities of life – forget the idea of your husband in an apron polishing the front step. Imagine what society would be like if work didn’t get done, if no one made anything, if there was no barista to make your espresso diplo. Think what the land would be like if it were left just to look after itself, if there were no human husbandry, how could the fruits of the field yield such wonderful rich harvests to feed us. We only need to look around the streets to see what life is like for those who have no work to do. Work clearly brings dignity to men and women, and when unemployment takes hold, we see what life looks like for those who have lost the independence and motivation and purpose that work brings to us.

Work and humanity go together, and it is a comfortable fit. Indeed Genesis 2 makes it clear that in creation itself mankind and work is a natural partnership. It is surely for this natural connection that the seventh day is of such a value in the divine synthesis of man and work. From our work we need a day to rest – a day to set aside for our worship of the Creator. The first story of Creation in Genesis 1 informs us of this. One day in the week is to be offered to God. This is a deeply ingrained tradition that was applied to Judaism, and has ‘morphed’ into Christianity.

It is good to set aside one day from the normal chores of our labours, so that we can offer worship to the God and Father who created us, man and woman alike

Yet, this inherited idea, is too narrow and misses the point. We are indeed created, it would seem, to toil and to spin, to work the land, to do whatever our jobs are, if we are blessed enough to have jobs, but when Jesus speaks of the birds of the air, or the lilies of the field enduring no toil, we must ask if this is really what life is all about?

In honouring our divine partnership of humanity and work, are we really worshipping an idol? Do we turn work into a false God? Do we bow down and worship work and the principle of work? The driving forces of economic models push us in that direction.

Let’s breathe some oxygen of the divine into this partnership. The Creation narratives, whether the first or the second of these narratives, make it clear that creation itself has a single purpose. That purpose is to praise the Creator. Sun and moon, stars and night, sea and land, seed time and harvest, all of this has a single purpose – to glorify God; to praise the Creator.

Man’s work creation is primarily to voice that praise as we have a unique place in God’s economy – a vocation to give expression of worship on behalf of all that beauty, all that wonder, all that energy which is creation itself.

To do this we take a sign and a symbol to represent all of creation and of all human toil, the totality of human enterprise, and we offer it to God in praise and thanksgiving. ‘Blessed are you, Lord God of all creation! Through your goodness we have this bread to offer. Fruit of the field and work of human hands, it will become for us the bread of life.’ And again, ‘Blessed are you Lord God of all creation! Through your goodness we have this wine to offer, fruit of the field and work of human hands, it will become for us the cup of salvation.’ For bread and wine, think all my toil, all my effort, everything I am and do, my life’s work.

It is in our eucharist, our Liturgy, that mankind offers the praise to God that is indeed meet and right – and it is our duty and our joy to offer it.

The reading from Revelation seems to hit the mark, and directs us to our real purpose, and to express what the ultimate human ambition (after all this word in Greek is φιλοδοξΐα)  truly is. On his island of Patmos, St. John the Theologian has a vision that we would call mystical – yet in this mystic revelation we are given a glimpse of many realities. In his vision the four living creatures sing unceasingly, ‘Holy, holy, holy, the Lord God the Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come.’ (Rev 4, 8)

It is into this chorus of divine praise that we too join – and in joining the divine praise we lift our hearts and minds – our humanity – to the very heart of God. All creation is offered back in praise by us, for we alone have the calling and the capacity to articulate the words of praise. What a divine calling is this that God has entrusted to us? ‘You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honour and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.’ (Rev 4, 11).

Liturgy, leitourgeia, the work of praise, the toil of worship, is at the very heart of human identity and transformation. For most people the experience of the eucharist is weekly, offered on the Lord’s Day, but this must be the daily offering of every component of our lives, of our work, ‘all things come from you and of your own do we give you.’

Lent will soon be with us. To help us all to understand better the liturgical shape of Lent, Holy Week and Easter, I have provided you with a Short Guide to this holy season. Our offering of worship is very distinct in this season, and follows ancient Christian practice. Also this Lent I will preach each Sunday on the Liturgy, our Eucharist, to explain a little of how it has developed and been formed.

We started out with a rib – and via the human enterprise of worship, we have arrived at the transformation of humanity and all creation, as we join with angels and archangels and all the heavenly host, praising God and singing, ‘Holy, holy, holy Lord God of hosts. Heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest.’