Trinity Sunday: Creative Community

Text: Genesis 1:1-2a

Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.”

I have to admit that sometimes the creation story tires me. I’ve heard it so many times that it seems to have lost its luster. I think my problem with it is not the reading itself, it’s how much controversy was created using this text. It’s not just creationists who try to make this a scientific text rather than a work of poetry, it’s this bit about people having dominion over the earth. How much destruction have we caused on this planet because we feel such great ownership over it? Even if we concede that the earth belongs to all living creatures, our actions shape the earth in such a powerful way that we have caused great damage. Some have said that this is fine, we were given the planet to take over and soon Jesus will come again and it will all be no more anyway. This is a temporary dwelling that we can use up and throw out. I believe that we have responsibilities to the planet, that we need to care for it and nurture it as the good gift of God. 

But if we go back to why this story was told and written down, it’s a beautiful text. Scholars think this was originally told during the Babylonian exile. The people of Israel were in a foreign land. They were surrounded by the tales of other people’s gods creating the world in a variety of ways, most of them out of the desire to have subjects that they can have dominion over. The world was about power and control. And the Israelites saw this well. Different groups were constantly taking over, exerting power over them. The idea that might makes right and that the people with the largest army wins ruled the day. The Israelites had none of that. They weren’t even allowed to live in their own land. So who were they? Who was their God? What was the world really about? 

They told a different narrative. God spoke all of the creatures of the world into existence. It was purposeful and orderly. It was done in love. Why? Because God thought it was good to do so. God created everything not to rule over it, but to delight in it. God simply enjoyed each day, each period of time, as it came. God was enticed by the creeping things that creep on the earth and enjoyed making all sorts of birds and fish. Eventually, God wanted something in God’s own image to be on the earth too, so God created people. God then did something remarkable. God gave humanity a different role than other people’s gods. Rather than giving us the role of subject, God gave us the role of partners. We were to help God tend this creation. People were designed to act in a similar way to God. 

It’s curious here that at the beginning God said, “Let us make humankind…” Who was this “us”? There is all sorts of scholarly criticism that can be applied to this text, but if we, as Christians, interpret the text allegorically, using one of the oldest ways Christians have read these scriptures, mapping our Christian narrative onto it, we see the “us” as the Trinity. The three in one, the unity and plurality of God. From the beginning this Trinity desired community on earth. God desired relationship and belonging. 

 Even if you don’t buy that reading, there is a clear indication here that God designed in multiplicity, that humans were meant for community. The story of Adam and Eve that follows makes it more clear. Humans weren’t meant to be solitary. They need other people. We have ample evidence to show that this is true. More and more we are shown the damaging effects of solitary confinement and isolation on people. We simply weren’t meant to be alone. We require community. 

And if we were made in God’s image, that means that God is a community too. There is a plurality that is central to the oneness of God. It’s hard to describe. It’s easier to feel. We can look around at nature and recognize the creator who made the world. We can feel the stirring of our hearts and recognize the Spirit moving in and through us. We can see in Christ the salvation of the world. Three persons in one unity, one unity in three persons, the ultimate community that leads and guides us as we grow in faith. 

As we confront how we are to be in relation to the earth, we have to ask how we are in relation with God. How does the community in the oneness of God relate to our communities and our planet? God’s dominion over us doesn’t look like the dominion we often try to take over each other. 

God leads us in love. There isn’t coercion. There isn’t destruction. God actively seeks to know who we are and what we are about. God’s ultimate act of dominion over us was coming as a human, taking on flesh and blood, seeing the world as we see it. God became like we are to relate to us in new ways. God became human. This is the miracle of God’s dominion and God’s reign in our lives.God understands us because God has been us. 

Now we can’t become animals. We can’t fully know what it is to be a plant or a cat or a falcon. But we can learn more about their needs. We can care and have compassion. We can ask the deep questions of life. We know that life on this planet involves consuming animal and plant life. But what does it mean to help those plants and animals have the best life before they die? What does it mean to care for and protect this planet for all life here? What does it look like to help other humans  have the best lives possible? 

The ultimate question is this: How are we to have dominion? Will we have it like the Babylonians, who took other people by force and displaced them from their land? Will we force our ways on others and deny the validity of their cultures? Will we strip our planet and take from it without giving back? 

Or will our dominion look like God’s reign? Will we seek the community that we all need and protect each other’s dignity? Will we care for animal and plant life, seeking the best for them even if we consume them? Will we try to help this place thrive? 

There’s a lot in our culture that makes this hard. We can’t do this individually. We don’t call a lot of the shots in how things are done on a systemic level. Honestly, I don’t know how much of an impact some of my individual actions make. How much of my recycling gets reused? How much impact does me trying to use more reusable rather than single use items make on the planet? I don’t know. But I do some things that keep me going.  We put out a bird feeder and I can watch the cardinals. I tend a plant that is special to me. I cherish my pets. I try to pay attention to what is around me. I work on being a more compassionate human. I try to help my community and recognize my failures. I try to make our piece of the planet just a little better. I do that not just because it’s the right thing to do. It’s something anybody can do no matter their particular faith or lack of faith, but for us as Christians there’s something deeper. 

I do these things because God does that for us. God cares for community. God knows each sparrow and the hairs on each of our heads. God sent Jesus to help lead us into greater kinship with God and each other. God is actively working on building greater relationship because God is not lonely or solitary, God is in relationship. God calls every creature good and God rejoices in them. God has fun with creation. God delights in it all. 

And then, during all the striving towards a good life, a life built by and for community and relationship, God also takes a break. At the end of the creation narrative, after everything is put together, God rests. Perhaps that’s where our version of dominion and God’s version differ so drastically. Because the truth is we don’t like to rest. We don’t like to settle down and release control. But in a world where other gods were pictured as always moving, always exerting power, our God, the God of Israel, stopped, saw everything was good, and took a nap. The true God takes space to release, reflect, and let go. That’s because the striving for more: more power, more authority, more action, more anything is addictive. The thing about striving for more is that it’s never enough. We can feel worse the more we try to do, not better. We need to step back. We need to release. We need to relax. God knows this. God lives this. 

I was at an ordination yesterday. Michael Vollman, who had been a deacon for years, took on the call to be a priest. His preacher was giving advice for him as he moved into this new ministry. It was a lot of things I had heard before: hold onto the scriptures, pray regularly, learn to be humble. Then the preacher said something I hadn’t heard at an ordination: “Learn the art of doing nothing.” After all the other advice, the recognition of great responsibility, he also advised Michael to take silent time, to be still, to let things go and give himself space with God. This is sometimes the hardest thing for us to do. I myself can’t spend too much time in complete silence, but even I can still myself. That space of rest is part of God’s dominion and it’s part of what we are called to do for our world. We are better people if we follow God’s call to pause, to holy stillness, to soft gentle days when we aren’t trying to accomplish tasks. I can picture the Holy Trinity working together to help effect change, to make this world better, and also taking turns doing sabbath. The rest is as important as the work. 

Perhaps the biggest impact of rest is that when we slow down, when we take the time to contemplate, we are better able to reassess what is a want and what is a need. We break out of a culture of mindless consumerism and are better able to consider our actions. We are able to find a sense of enough within ourselves that has little to do with what objects or surroundings we may or may not have. The addiction to more can be broken. One may legitimately not have all of what they need, and yet their lack is not their ultimate definition. They can know that they still are children of a loving, community-oriented, gracious God. 

So let us go forth and share God’s reign with each other and with the planet. May we share dominion not in exerting control but in helping each other and our world thrive. May we also give ourselves the holy space to do nothing, allowing ourselves to release our addictions to more and find within ourselves space to trust that we don’t have to do and be everything. Amen.