Word

A sermon on Genesis 1-2
Preached Sunday, July 20, 2025 at Ballston Spa UMC

Our scripture reading this morning is a retelling of the creation stories found in Genesis 1 and 2. I’ll be reading “The Creation” from God’s Trombones by James Weldon Johnson.

This is the word of God for us, the people of God.
Thanks be to God.

Amen.

Would you pray with me?

God, with your words, you called all things into being. You have given your word that you would be with us, even unto the end of this age. By your Word, make your Spirit known here among us today. And may the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable to you, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.

I love the Bible.

Typically, I would have a great big pulpit Bible up here to point at, to talk about how word is present in worship, how it’s often weighty, and hefty, and hidden away from folks, inaccessible. But there’s not a pulpit bible up here. Sue actually prints up the scripture each week for folks to read, and you have your own versions of the bible there in the pews or on your phones, so the word here is pretty dispersed. We each get to own it, have it be a part of our lives, have it come and go with us or have it waiting patiently here for us.

We actually do have a pulpit bible here at Ballston Spa. It’s back in our history display and I invite you all to check it out after the service. It is hefty, and locked away, but it’s heavy with the weight of our history. I think it’s important that we care for these objects of our faith.  

And usually, in lieu of a pulpit bible, I bring in my bible. It’s my NRSV Oxford Annotated bible, the one that got me through college, my early career working in planetariums, and through two masters degrees and beyond. I’ll have to show it to you sometime. It is well-worn and well-loved, because I truly do love the Bible.

You’d think that I wouldn’t, given my background. You’d think that someone with a long, complicated relationship with the church would shy away from scripture, especially since scripture has been used so often to condemn folks like me. No one uses they/them in English translations of the Bible. Nonbinary or genderqueer aren’t concepts for the biblical writers. The spectrum of human sexuality isn’t as defined as it is today; if the biblical authors had to guess at what “bisexual” means, their guess probably wouldn’t match my understanding. It’s easy to think that I don’t fit in the Bible, that Bible-based Christianity wouldn’t include me, that my inclusion would be a stumbling block to Bible-believing Christians.

And if that’s you today, I get it. If you aren’t excited that your preacher just came out as queer in front of God and everyone, I understand. You are entitled to your thoughts, reactions, and feelings, and this is a tough subject, especially because it touches on what you believe about the Bible. But I’m going to ask you if you can find the generosity in your heart today to do two things: hear me out for as long as you can, and if you want to, come find me and we’ll find a time to talk. I want us to understand each other, as best as we can.

That is, at the end of the day, what our symbol for this morning is about? Word, the words we use in worship, they’re all about understanding everything better. The Bible is long story of humanity striving to understand God, the story of God helping us to understand God better. I really do think that’s true. From Genesis to Revelation, from the Creation to the Flood to Egypt to the Promised Land, from Exile to the Return, from Jesus’ birth, baptism, teachings, life, death, and resurrection to the early church and all its hopes, dreams, and struggles, all of it is us trying to understand God, and God helping us to understand God better.

And I love that.

The Bible is a beautiful book. It is full of complex stories with morals and cautionary tales, with courageous battles and profound moments of peace. The heroes of the Bible come from all walks of life with all kinds of experiences and believe it or not, they face the same kinds of challenges that we do: what should I do with my money? How do I take care of my family, the people around me? How am I going to survive all this turmoil in the world? How far can I go without getting in trouble? What does being faithful look like in this moment?

The Bible gives us some incredible examples to follow when it comes to questions like these. (It also gives some that I don’t recommend following… looking at you, Elisha, sending bears after kids who made fun of your bald spot.)  

And the Bible is so rich. The images, the stories are so powerful that we tell them time and time again, that they inspire retellings and interpretations, like the ones we heard during our scripture reading this morning. I love how James Weldon Johnson retells the story of creation. It’s so visceral. God picks up light and hurls it into the sky to make the Sun. Where his feet land, valleys and mountains are made. He kneels down in the dirt to make a man. Do I agree with the theological assertion that God was lonely? No. I’ve done a lot of reading and thinking and God’s aseity, God’s ability to be completely good and self-sufficient all by God’s self, is important to me. But I love how we hear it in this story. I want to know what made James Weldon Johnson describe God that way. I want to talk it out. I want to know how he understands this story.

Because I don’t think the Bible should be put up on a platform, hidden away from us, inaccessible. I’m in line with the Reformers who translated the Bible out of Latin and into the everyday languages people spoke. If the Bible is the story of us trying to understand God and God trying to help us understand God, why wouldn’t I want everyone to have access to that?  

But not everyone shares that understanding. In some traditions, it’s the deacon who reads scripture each week, and they carry it out into the congregation for folks to hear it. In some traditions, only clergy can read scripture, and only from the lectern or pulpit. In some traditions, everyone reads along in their personal bible as someone reads it from the pulpit. In some traditions, we stand for the gospel reading, but sit for the rest. In others, scripture is short, with only a verse or two to center the preacher’s reflection. Some make a scripture passage into a bible study, right there in worship.

How we handle the word in worship reflects what we think about the word. Sometimes, it shapes how we think about the word.

Stand for the gospel? Okay, well, clearly, the gospel is the most important part of the bible.

Dig into scripture during the service? That tells us how important study of the bible is—it’s literally worship.

Leave the bible up in the pulpit? Maybe scripture’s just for the learned folks, or the brave, dumb ones.

Bring your own bible to church? That means the Bible’s for everyone and the preacher better know that.  

I think the Bible’s for everyone. And I love the Bible. And I want you to love it too. When I preach, I hope that I bring new understanding to biblical stories, help you see something old in a new light, or talk about a part of the Bible that you haven’t encountered yet. But more than that, I want us to talk about the Bible, together. I want us to discuss how what we read in the bible is confirming and challenging and growing our understanding of God.

And this means that we have to trust one another.

And trust is hard. Especially if you’ve been hurt by how someone used the bible in the past, or how someone ignored the bible in the past.

My friends, I have a proposition for you. Let’s trust one another.

We started out this series on the symbols we use in worship by sharing the bread and the cup. Then, we talked about light and the presence of God in our spaces. Next week, we’ll talk about water and baptism, a sacrament that unites us as followers of Christ. I’m going to borrow a bit from next week and ask you to extend me some trust, as a fellow Christian. I will listen to your understanding of the word and you’ll listen to mine. I’ll tell you about Joseph and his fabulous coat, as he steps outside the expected norms of his day or maybe I’ll tell you about the a’dam and how God’s first human was neither man nor woman, like me. I will share the new joys I find in reading scripture and I’ll carefully hold the ones you want to share with me.

Because I love the Bible. And the Bible belongs to all of us.

Let’s trust each other with it.

Let’s be worthy of that trust.

Amen.