Retelling Genesis 2

 

Picture God taking the dust and breathing life into the human… It wasn’t just stuff God created… it was emotion too… response, relationships… Creation is much more than making things but it is also the emotional response those things create... that connects us… gives us reason…

So as I re-read this story… take a pipe-cleaner… We aren’t able to give the breath of life to thinks but we can recreate… so taking a pipe cleaner… listen to the words, and reshape it in response to what is said… perhaps create something mentioned… or an emotion that goes alongside the object… make a shape or just a squiggle that expresses an emotion… Have some fun… No one is going to judge what you created…


So God was busy creating… It’s what God does… creates… and when God was busy creating the heavens… that is all the stars and planets and galaxies… and especially earth apparently… there was nothing yet growing…

In fact, up to that stage, God hadn’t sent any rain… ever… because God hadn’t yet created Scotland…

But even more than that… God hadn’t created anyone to look after… or even at… what had been created…

So God decided… “I’ll make me a human”… So God looked around to see what make the human out of… but there was nothing yet… only star dust… moon dust… and dust of the earth…

So God shrugged the divine shoulders… took a handful of dust and breathed…

O boy…

It was fabulous… Even God didn’t realise just how fabulous until it happened… The divine breath you see was full of intent and hope… and compassion and imagination and love… and began to form what God most needed… a companion… a human… who was filled with all these things… and found it was alive…

And God saw the human and God was really pleased… chuffed in fact… as the original Hebrew puts it…

This got God going… and one idea led to another… and heaven’s imagination went into overload… and out came flowers  but they automatically came along with the creation of beauty…

Then there were all sorts fo trees… that brought with them the creation of emotions like appreciation and awe…

There were poppies and cornflower that in turn brought to life joy, amusement and remembrance…

There were mountains… that came with grandeur and adventure…

Rivers and streams and waterfalls… that invented fear and exhilaration…

Then there were rainbows… that brought with them joy and acceptance and inclusion…

Mixed with that… deserts and cacti… that brought alienation and daring…

Then there were dogs and cats… O boy the friendship that was invented and the love and the companionship…

It was a fabulous day

There was the honey bee… and the invention of wonder and surprise and the smell of sweet… that invited smiles and happiness…

and then spiders… and a whole new set of emotions were invented… bitterness… resentment… the need to run away…

God was getting tired… which itself brought the discovering on new emotions like grouchiness… and agitation…

because nothing was making its mark on the humanoid… Nothing seemed to pleased this creature… and God was beginning to run out of ideas… which was a strange experience in itself when you first feel it… as God was finding…

So it was then… God’s imagination sparked… and blew over the humanoid… who was suddenly sent fast asleep…

And from the humanoid… God took a side… The old translation suggests it was a rib… but really it was a side… a side of your personality… You know people say their feminine side is being brought out?… well that kind of ‘side’…

And so God took a side of the human… and created another human… and both were different sides of each other… two individuals that complimented each other… and so it has been from that day… two people finding completeness in the other…

And in doing so… God invented not just humans… but love… attraction… delight… compassion…