Trinity Sunday
Like many economically challenged folks in the South, after World War II, my parents wanted to escape working on farms and they were part of a great migration to upper midwestern states like Michigan and Indiana to find high paying jobs in factories. A few years after I was born, they got homesick and returned to Arkansas. Then, when I got older I’d ask about my state of origin; Indiana. I loved hearing my mom talk about this exotic land where I was born because...well, Indiana, it’s such a glamorous, sophisticated place compared to Arkansas, and Momma said that it snowed from November to May. Each time mom told the story of Indiana, it was a little different, leaving out particular details with one telling, adding details I’d not heard before with another. We all want to know about where we came from and how we came to be. Stories of origin are just a part of being human.
Today’s lesson from Hebrew scripture is the greatest origin story of all, the story of how all humanity and the earth we inhabit came to be. It is told from the perspective of the Jewish people who at the time the story was recorded were in bondage, enslaved by the Babylonians. The Babylonian stories of origin involved violent, hateful gods. In contrast, the children of Israel told a different story of a gentle creator God who delighted in each day, with each aspect of the creation process.
Now, the Genesis creation story isn’t science or history; you can’t begin to fathom the awesome mysteries of the universe with just science or historical reporting. Debie Thomas explains, “To call the creation story true is not to quibble with science; it is to probe deeper than any scientific endeavor can take us. It is to acknowledge who we truly are and where we really come from. It is to affirm, by faith, the reality of a good God, a good world, and a
beloved humanity.” 1And when Thomas probes deeper into this creation story, the first thing she discovers is that she comes from a God who sees. Each day God would create and each day God would then step back and admire what was created, God would reflect and delight and proclaim that the earth is good, that the light is good, that every living creature is good. That God takes time to see and reflect, to delight in God’s own creation is an
important, critical part of the creation story.
A while back, I ran across an astounding short documentary film called “The Overview Effect.” The film interviews five astronauts about their respective experiences of seeing the earth from outer space. Each one of the astronauts describes the profound experience of seeing the earth in a way they’d never seen or even imagined it before. They all consistently felt a surprising, almost overwhelming sense of awe, and also the incredible interconnectedness of everything on the planet became apparent, and there was a sense of responsibility for taking care of the environment. One of them said, “There was a startling recognition that the nature of the universe was not as I had been taught... I not only saw the connectedness, I felt it.... I was overwhelmed with the sensation of physically and mentally extending out into the cosmos. I realized that this was a biological response of my brain attempting to reorganize and give meaning to information about the wonderful and awesome processes that I was privileged to view."
It was like with that one view at that moment looking through the window of the spacecraft at the big picture of earth, they finally got it. Another one said “The actual experience exceeds all expectations and is something that's hard to put into words... It sort of reduces things to a size that you think everything is manageable.... All these things that may seem big and impossible ... We can do this. Peace on Earth – No problem. It gives people that type of energy ... that type of power, and I have experienced that." 3Wow, what a testimony!
Now these folks responding to this experience aren’t poets or philosophers, or theologians, they’re engineers and scientists, and yet the actual sight of this planet earth from that unique perspective changed their lives and outlook. It makes me wonder if somehow what actually happens is they are connecting into some collective consciousness, the creative imagination of God as God looks on what is created and it is God’s sense of delight that surges through their being and souls.
I can’t help but feel, believe that their experience and how it changes them is evidence that God’s creative power is not something that just happened way back at some time thousands of years ago, but rather it is active and present in this very moment, IF we can somehow get beyond the veil that blinds us, so that we can see and experience that creative power, IF we will take the time to see and to delight in the goodness that is actually here, to know and accept that everything that we see and touch, everything that we are is connected and lies within the loving heart of this creator God. AMEN.
The Rev. Dr. Dennis Campbell
