A Sermon – Rev. Whitney Bruno – Aug. 15, 2021 – Pride Sunday for LCUCPC – Gen.1:1-5,26-28,31; Ps 139:1-18
Not Adam and Steve – God the Non-Binary
Watch or listen to this service here.
In the beginning, when God was creating the heavens and the earth – as in all that is above, and all that is below. All things. The Spirit of God, the wind of God, danced over the waters and God spoke – sang – created with a word – word and deed being one – and there was light.
God judged this new creation.
God declared it good. Not perfect. Not unchangeable. Not immutable. Good.
And God created more. Now from light and darkness. Now naming these things. Now time itself.
You know this beautiful, wonderful, story. You know how plants and animals, waters and mountains, birds and fish are called into being by God. But when did God make dawn and dusk?
Its not specifically named. We assume dawn and dusk are there, on that first day of creation, since light and dark, day and night, are made. By naming opposites, a story teller can say they include everything. So… I know when Amazon offers everything A to Z, it means they also offer items beginning with BCD and WXY and all other items that begin with other letters. When God declares “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End” I know that means God is also in the in-between times. The now times.
When scripture says God made day and night, I know that means God also made the hours between day and night.
Do you see where I am going with this?
When God made humans male and female… doesn’t that mean God also made all humans who are the shades between male and female? It does to me.
Opposites are named to affirm God includes, makes, all.
And to human creatures is gifted the image of God. The form of God. What is this form? Creativity. Taking part in creating the wealth of plants and animals and life. Gardening. Eden and all the earth. Stewardship. Being wise, just, gentle, and faithful stewards of the many lives we are entrusted by God. What is the image of God? Power… shared. Creativity to make good and very good things. Relationships. Love.
When God sees all of this… the opposites and all the in-between, the diversity on land, in the air, and in the ocean, and in the ground, and even in space… God declares it VERY good.
In Genesis, I hear of God who won’t settle for 2. Won’t settle for binaries. I hear of a God who wants every hue of color between dark and light; every creature between germ and killer whale; every human diversity between and including male and female.
But what, Rev. Whitney, of Adam and Eve? That’s Genesis chapter 2, and a great point. The story is told over again, and this time, God makes “adamah” – the Jewish word for dust, soil, dirt. This living dirt is lonely, and needs a co-worker. Much like God wanted a co-creator. But the living dirt turns down every other living thing God makes and brings before it. Finally, God separates the living dirt into two living dirts – and now, with something in its own image, the living dirt is happy. Hawwa in Hebrew, Eve in English, breath and Adam, dirt, combined to make life. It is a way of explaining how we live. We are dirt and breath combined. Holy spirit and the dust of the cosmos. Who are Adam and Eve? What must be combined to make new life.
No where in this is a story saying who can, or cannot, get married. No where is a ranking of love from pure to impure. No where is a statement that *only* men who romantically love women, and women who romantically love men are correct.
This is a story about where we come from – God. Who we look like — all of us — God. This is a story that we are made with intrinsic value. We matter. We are worth love. Worth a good life. Worth belonging to community. Worth loving relationships. Worth shelter, food, water, health care, education, and security. We are worthy of being part of this very good creation.
This is a story about the common lot of being human. The common thread, common condition, of finding ourselves in the surprising state of being alive as us. As humans. Why are we here? What are we supposed to do? To create. To live together. To be good stewards. To make community.
This is a story about how we are made… which the Psalmist sums up even better…. fearfully and wonderfully made. Knitted in our mother’s wombs, woven out of that living dirt from the depths of the earth — those same molecules and atoms and star dust God has been breathing life into for trillions of years — and seen by God before even fully formed. We are made with God hemming us in – being around us on all sides. Above and below. Behind and before. And all those other areas between the opposites. Genesis is a story of how our God, who transcends gender and sexuality and IS all genders and sexualities, makes us just who we are.
Straight.
Bisexual.
Homosexual.
Asexual.
And more.
Intersexed.
Female.
Male.
And more.
Gay.
Lesbian.
Feminine.
Masculine.
And more.
Hemmed around on all sides, we are surrounded by our holy Parent who calls us, as we are wonderfully made, part of this very good earth.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. My mind cannot fathom the depths of all the colors of the rainbow; nor the breadth of all the life forms on earth; nor the depth of the stars and distant galaxies. I simply can say… how wonderful.
How wonderful.
How fabulously wonderful.
Amen!
Pastor Whitney Bruno Sermons 