As we continue to experience the Word of the Lord together, Let us Pray. Keeper of our hearts, you turn chaos into created order. Still us now, so that we might hear your voice, feel your presence, know your abundance. Speak Lord, your servants are listening. If these words are not Your Word, may they be forgotten and come to naught. But if they be Thy Word, may they adhere to our hearts, forever transforming us from glory into glory, into the creatures you would have us be, Thou who art our Rock and Redeemer, Amen.

Hear now The Word of the Lord as it comes to us in Psalm 46. Listen. Psalm 46.8-11. The Grass withers, the Flower falls, but the Word of the Lord endures forever…Thanks be to God.

And hear now The Word of the Lord as it comes to us in Genesis. Listen for God’s Word for you today. Genesis 2.1-3. The Word of the Lord…Thanks be to God.

Sabbath. Rest. It’s almost to the point where rest is a four letter word these days. At the least, it is not a familiar concept in churches, ours is no exception. We’ve got wonderful programs, and they all require a lot of work and preparation. But I don’t need to tell you that. You all, like me, still have the fresh smell of pumpkins on your hands. You all, like me, have fresh Bar-B-Que stains on your shirts. Within the last week about 20 of you drove to North Carolina and back to participate in the life of our church. You have been to choir practice, cooked or cleaned Wednesday night supper, taught Sunday School, led Bible Study, participated in committee meetings, laid pinestraw, pulled weeds, and countless other tasks to make sure the church continues. And none of that includes all of the things you have to do at the office. And then when you actually get home, and you aren’t participating in, or helping facilitate, something over here, then you have all sorts of chores there too. You’ve got to pull your own weeds, mow your lawn, clean your house, make dinner, do homework, or help with homework. It’s one thing after another wherever you turn. It’s a go, go, go culture, and a go, go, go lifestyle that is required to live it. How on earth are we supposed to read Psalm 46 without the quiet wink and subtle laugh? Yeah right, be still. Good luck with that request God. What’s it been, 2000 years since you’ve been here? Do you know today’s world God?

Why doesn’t the Psalmist just write, “Know that I am God.” Can’t we do that in the midst of busyness? Can’t we know God in the hustle and bustle? Why this be still business?

We are creatures who do things, who make things happen. If we don’t do it, who will? And we keep our worlds together by our actions, by our deeds. We trick ourselves into thinking that it is by our motions that the world stays together. It is through us, and us alone, that the business continues, that the family has food, that our friends manage to get through their lives, that the church stays the course. It is too easy to think that we are God. It’s so natural for us that we don’t even know we are doing it, much less think about it. And all we need to do is think that we are responsible just one time, and we are playing God. We co-opt the creative nature of God in our mind, and subconsciously, we are acting the part of God. And the quite sick thing is that we find comfort in that. If we are in control, or if we give ourselves the illusion that we are in control, then we think that we can stop bad things from happening to us and our loved ones. But, in reality, what we are doing is breaking the very first commandment. We are putting other God’s in front of the true God. And to made matters worse, we are making ourselves God.

“Be still, and know that I am God.”

In the movie, Dead Poet’s Society, during one of the cave meetings, Charley, later to give himself the nickname Nuwanda, gives an original poem while playing the saxophone. It goes like this. “Laughing, crying, tumbling, mumbling, gotta do more, gotta be more. Chaos screaming, chaos dreaming, gotta do more, gotta be more!”

Ours is not only a do more, culture, it is a be more culture. And to be more, you’ve got to own more. For our economy to work, we’ve all got to be good little consumers. It’s your duty to purchase stuff, loads of it. But I’m sure you will be well enough aware of that in the month and a half to come. The culture screams out for you to buy more. And to do that, you’ve got to be not still. You’ve got to work to earn the money to obtain stuff. You have to shop for the stuff. You have to learn how to use the stuff that you have obtained. Then you’ve got to buy accessories for the stuff you just bought. And you’ve got to get warranties. More to do. Every time you turn around, the rat race consumer culture calls you to do more in order to be more. And God says, Be still.

Maybe we can find some answers in the creation story as found in the first few verses of Genesis 2. You know where we are in this story. We’ve been through the first day, second day, third day, fourth day, fifth day, and sixth day when we come along. Each day, the creation business gets a little more intricate, a little more involved. Each day is filled with creation that is on a higher order than the day before. Actually, a little background would help. The Hebrew phrasing used in the first verse, and then re-used throughout, means less that God created out of nothing. The original Hebrew would have us not believe that there was nothing around, and then God began to create stuff out of nothing. Instead, it more means that there was this watery business, and then God ordered it. There was this watery chaos, and the business of creation was taking this disorder, this chaos, and forming it and shaping it so that it works, so that it makes sense. When creation doesn’t make sense, life is difficult at best. Our oldest had to go potty about a month ago, on the way home from Wednesday night dinner. If things don’t make sense, even the simplest things become impossible, and tears and sadness follow.

Water always represents chaos in the Old Testament. Noah builds an ark, to get through the chaos of 40 days and nights of rain. Moses was laid into a basket in the water, because of the chaos of Pharaoh trying to kill all baby boys of Hebrew descent. Moses leads the people to the brink of freedom, and there comes Pharaoh again, backing them up to the water. Jacob wrestles the angel of God, right next to the river. Every time there is water, there is chaos. Just ask any mother. Contractions for Melissa both times were quite tolerable, until the water breaks. Then it gets serious, and chaotic. So, in Genesis, you have this chaos, and God who creates order out of it, somehow managing the chaos. And then you get to the ultimate day, the seventh day of creation. And what does God do? God rests. Why do you think God did that? Was God worn out? Was it that God couldn’t go anymore? Is God only good for 6 days of work, and then God needs some personal time? The reason God rested, and did so on the seventh and ultimate day of creation is simple. Rest is the point of creation. Rest is the goal of creation. When someone dies, reaches the end of this life and passes on to the next realm, what do we say? We say that they have entered eternal rest. And we find comfort in that statement, in that reality. If rest weren’t the goal of creation, if God just needed rest to keep going, then it would have been day 3 or 4, in the middle of the week, and God would have returned to the work renewed. If God needed rest because of overtiredness, then what message would that send to the world who needs an active God to get through? Rest wasn’t something that happened because God was worn out, or because God was finished, but something to show that resting is the goal of creation.

We are so sure that we can create order in our lives. We can make our lives right, creating order from the chaos that is thrown our way every day. The first is an easy commandment to break without even knowing it.

I have a theory. Hopefully it will tie these together. This is the reason that rest is the goal of creation, and that God calls us to be still in order to know that God reigns. If you find, or lets be honest, create space to rest, you will find time to reflect on all of God’s goodness. If you reflect on all of God’s goodness to you, on all of God’s graciousness, it will not be long until you realize how much you do have, how much God has given to you. Instead of being a part of the production consumption rat race without even being aware of it, you may be overwhelmed by the generosity of God’s gifts.

The Jordan River feeds two separate bodies of water. The first is the Sea of Galilee. It is one of the most beautiful, bountiful bodies of water you could ever hope to see. The other is the Dead Sea. Nothing lives in the Dead Sea, hence the name. No fishing is ever done there. If it is an aesthetically attractive body of water, it is only so because it looks in a way eerie. It is so in part because there is no life there. Do you know the difference between the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea, both fed by the Jordan River? The Sea of Galilee lets water out. It takes in water from the Jordan, and has an outlet, a vast outlet, so that water goes through it. The Dead Sea does not let water out. Every drop that comes in stays in, there is no outlet, no giving from the Dead Sea.

There are two possible reactions to being overwhelmed by God’s gifts. You can try to hoard them. You can play the Dead Sea. Or, you can choose like the Sea of Galilee to let the blessings of Jordan run through you, and be a lively body.

God gives so graciously to you. And your natural reaction to that very well could be a sense of being overwhelmed by a movement toward generosity. Life is a gift not earned, not achieved. It is an abundance not accumulated, not defended. When we see life as a gift, it lets us know we don’t need more. Rest breaks the vicious cycle of resentment, the vicious cycle of having to get more. Generosity is the great alternative to acquisitiveness. So I challenge you to find a way, find some time, and be still. Know. The Bestow will surely follow. Amen.