"Created for Community" (sermon)

Two Rivers Pastoral Charge

July 7, 2019

Scripture:  Genesis 2:4b-25

“It is not good that the human should be alone.”

In the story that we read this morning about the time when God created the earth and the heavens, the first human was moulded out of the dust of the ground, and brought to life by the breath or Spirit of God.  God, like an artist, creates a human form out of dirt and breathes in to it the breath of life.

God placed this earthling into a garden.  God, like a gardener, fills the garden with good things for the earthling to eat, and God gave this first human a job to do – to till the ground and take care of the garden.

But then God observes,

“It is not good that the human should be alone.”

Right from the very beginning of time, humans were not created to be solitary – we were created to be in community.

And so God’s artistry skills come in to play again, and God creates all of the different animals and birds that are found in the world, and the human gives names to them.  I wonder how much laughter was shared between God and the earthling as the different animals were created and named.  There is a popular internet meme that speculates on this, coming up with things like:

[God creating kittens]

God:  make them really fluffy and adorable like little furry hugs.

Adam:  That’s so sweet.

God:  And put razor blades on their feet

or,

[God creating octopuses]

God:  Give it 8 super-strong arms and hands

Adam:  Um, we’re out of bones.

God:  OK.  8 weird floppy arms with suction cups.

And then think of the fun that the earthling must have had naming them all!  In English alone, we have glorious names for our animals like hippopotamus, rhinoceros, platypus.  I shall name you elephant.  And I shall name you chimpanzee.

I wonder how much fun God and the earthling had when all of the animals were created.

But still God says,

“It is not good that the human should be alone.”

I disagree with God a little bit here – as someone with cats, they are company, and when I go home each day, I know that I’m not going home to an empty house because they will be there to greet me and demand their supper.

But the point is, we are created for community.  The times I’ve been stuck at home for several days in a row – either because of a snow storm or because I’m sick – after a couple of days I’m going stir crazy being alone, despite the cats being there with me.  We are created for community.

So God takes the earthling and divides them in two.  Two humans where there was only one.  The beginning of a community.  The earthling is no longer alone.

This passage is often read at weddings, referring to two people coming together to form a new family; but I think that it has a broader interpretation than that.  We have so many different understandings of family and of community in our world.  Community can be found in romantic relationships and in family, yes, but community can also be found in other places:  in community groups, in volunteer organizations, and yes, in churches.

When I think of the times in my life when I’ve gone on wild and crazy adventures, the thing that has had the most impact on me has been the communities that I have encountered and been a part of along the way.  Five years ago this summer, I was living in Thunder Bay but packing up my house and wrapping up my work there, getting ready to move half-way across the country to Halifax to begin my Master of Divinity at the Atlantic School of Theology.  Of the five schools that I could have attended, this is the one that I wanted to attend, because it is an intentionally ecumenical school.  I was prepared to be challenged, I was prepared to learn and grow, I was prepared to work my behind off.  What I wasn’t prepared for was the community that I ended up encountering there.  A community that supports one other, a community that celebrates together, a community that worships together, a community that has fun together.  There in a city and a province where I didn’t know anyone, I was not alone.

(One of my favourite pictures from the Atlantic School of Theology community)

Our New Creed in the United Church begins and ends with the words, “We are not alone.”  Not only is God present with us, by the Holy Spirit, in every moment of every day; but we are traveling this road of faith surrounded by the church.  We are never alone.

And I think that this is one gift that the church can offer to the world in a time when there almost seems to be an epidemic of loneliness in our country.  Despite social media that seems to connect us more easily than before, more and more people report being lonely and cut off from others.  We could probably spend all day debating the causes of this – whether it be people working at home or children moving away for work or the ease of connecting with others without actually meeting them.

In this world, the church offers a community that does meet face-to-face.  The church offers a community where we can exchange handshakes and hugs on a regular basis.  The church offers a place where we can challenge one another, where we can support one another, where we can mourn together, where we can laugh together, where we can grow together.  The church offers us a place where we can be authentically human, where we can be vulnerable together before God as we try to figure out who we are and what we are doing here.

This morning, we baptized Colton into Christ’s universal church.  Colton is now part of a network of people that stretches through time and space, all committed to loving one another and loving God.  Colton has been welcomed into the family!  He will never be alone, but will be surrounded by the support and prayers of this community and the church around the world.

God looked at the first earthling and said,

“It is not good that the human should be alone.”

And we are never alone.

God is with us.

The church is with us.

We are not alone.

Thanks be to God!