What does the Bible say about creation?

Text of the week:  Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. Philippians 4:6

Welcome to our services today and a special welcome to anyone worshipping with us. Today is Sunday Special … with a difference. The children and young people are going to start in their groups – so if there are any children in your family please take them through to join Andrea and the others in the hall. The rest of us will once again be seeking to Grow In Faith Together as we dig more deeply into the Bible and discover how it is very much for us all The Word of Life. We live in the wonderful world of God’s creation: and the Bible has a great deal to tell us about creation. It’s all too easy to confine what the Bible says about creation to the first couple of chapters of Genesis. In truth, the poet-theologians, story-tellers, wisdom writers, prophets, psalmists, evangelists, apostles and visionaries of the Bible celebrate the wonder of God’s creation in all sorts of different ways. They all challenge us to care for God’s world. At the end of our service the children and young people will re-join us as we ask so … what next? One of their leaders, Louise, invites any of us who want to join her next Saturday at a Cheltenham churches’ lobby of our MP, Alex Chalk, in Charlton Kings as we ask him questions about our country’s response to the Paris climate agreement and plans to care for the environment. And if you aren’t going that, why not join us for the first of our GIFT course days at North Nibley?

Welcome and Call to Worship                     [celebrating God’s creation]

283 All things bright and beautiful

Prayer and the Lord’s Prayer

The legacy project is under way. The building works have begun. People are meeting in different rooms. Have you been in room 1 rcently.

I found myself with some of the youngsters in room one the other day. And before long one of them had spotted the display on the wall. Have you seen it.

The seven days of creation.

It prompted all sorts of questions. Where was God before the world was created?  What happened to God after the seven days? Then the observations id didn’t happen that way. Where did the light come from if the sun hadn’t been made yet?

The questions came thick and fast … and it was one of those occasions when my mind went completely blank.  I knew what I wanted to say but I couldn’t think of the right words to say it!

So, I want you to look at the picture. And I want you to think – how would you answer the questions of a child – who has reached the top end of junior school or even the start of secondary school and who probably knows more about dinosaurs and fossils than you do … and who has learned at school lots of things about the big bang and about evolution. And who doesn’t have much time for the idea that God created the whole world as it is in seven days.

How would you begin to respond?

 Share some thoughts.

I had a bit of a sleepless night that night – and around 4 in the morning in my half awake, half asleep state I wrote a letter to my friends who had been asking all the questions. I thought I would not venture to give my answer. But I would seek to give my response.

I have since written the letter.

Here it is.

Dear Friends,

We had a great time the other day. And you came up with some brilliant ideas about the pictures on the wall in the room where we were meeting.

I’ve been thinking about all those questions you both came up with!

Where did God come from in the first place? How can there be light before the sun? Was the world really made in seven days? Didn’t it all really start with a big bang? What happened to God after the first seven days?

Let me tell you what I think.

The pictures on the wall are based on the very first chapter of the Bible. It’s all about God, the world and everything in it.

BUT IT’S NOT SCIENCE.

It wasn’t written by scientists.

The words were recited and then written down by people who lived three and a half thousand years ago. They lived much closer to nature than we do. What they saw in the world made them excited. It filled them with wonder. They saw the sun rise and set. They saw the moon and the stars light up the night sky. They saw fish in the sea, birds in the air, wild animals in the countryside around.

And all they saw made them want to say, “Wow! That’s amazing!”

They felt it was great just to be alive!

They felt it was great just to be!

They knew that in all they could see there was life and there was power.

And they sensed that there was some force, some power, some being in all that they could see that was greater than them and greater than anything they could see. This life-giving power they called God.

They wanted to put all their thoughts together and pass those thoughts on so others could see just how amazing the world of nature was. They wanted everyone to see just how amazing God was.

And so they came up with a Powerful Poem all about the wonder of the world of God’s creation.

You can read that poem for yourself. It begins in Genesis chapter 1 verse 1 and it ends in Genesis chapter 2 verse 4.

That’s what I would love you to remember. This is Poetry not Science.

In this kind of poem poets have a really big idea they believe is true. They then want to find a way of getting across their idea that will catch people’s imagination. They build their whole poem around that idea. They then choose the words they use carefully. They create word pictures. They create patterns in words by repeating them and giving them a rhythm. It’s when you speak the poem out loud that you spot the patterns, the rhythms and the word pictures best.

Sometimes poems are spoken out loud and then written down and then thrown away. And sometimes they are spoken out loud and then written down and people keep them because somehow they say something really important.

This is a poem that people kept and treasured and passed on. They saw the poet’s big idea, and they too came to believe that bid idea was true. And I am one of those people who have come to love this poem. I believe its big idea is true. And I believe it contains lots of truths that are as true now as they were when the poem was first written.

What do you think the poet’s really big idea was?

I think this was the poet’s really big idea: the wonderful world of nature is the wonderful world of God’s creation.

How do you think the poet catches people’s imagination?

I think the poet comes up with something really brilliant and makes the framework for the poem the days of the week.

Can you spot any patterns in the words of the poem?

I notice a number of patterns:

•           each section begins with the same words: “And God said”.

•           Somewhere in the middle of each section another set of words is used each time: “And it was so”.

•           Most sections then include the words “And God saw that it was good”.

•           Each section finishes with the words: “And there was evening and there was morning the ... day”.

People felt this poem helped them see the wonderful world of nature in a new way. It helped them see the wonderful world of nature as the wonderful world of God’s creation. People felt deep down that this poetry was full of the most wonderful truth of all.

I am one of those people who thinks this is a brilliant poem that really does get across the great big truth that the wonderful world we live in is the world of God’s creation.

And it gets across all sorts of other truths as well. In God’s creation wonderful patterns emerge out of chaos. Every human being has something of God in them. That means we too can be creators. But we must have respect for other people. And we must look after the world of God’s creation.

It may be poetry and not science but the words of this poem are full of truth. And that’s something lots of scientists believe as well. There are three in particular that one day I hope you will come to read.

John Polkinghorne is a Physicist and a Cosmologist who did lots of original thinking as a scientist and was also a Christian – in fact he was a Christian like me. His books are brilliant.

Like you, I love looking for fossils. Simon Conway Morris has been Professor of Evolutionary Palaeobiology at Cambridge University and has some really interesting ideas.

One of the people who first mapped the genes of the human genome was Francis Collins. It’s great listening to him talking about his faith.

There’s a great website that has interviews with all sorts of scientists who like that ancient poet believe the wonderful world of nature is the world of God’s creation. It’s www.testoffaith.com

I loved the questions you were asking that night!

Keep on asking questions!

Every blessing,

Richard

580 From all that dwell below the skies                  [as in CH4 146]

The wonderful poetry of Genesis 1 is followed immediately by the wonderful story-telling of Genesis 2-4b – 3. It’s a larger than life story set at the beginning of time that speaks those eternal truths to every generation

In the story-telling the wonderful world of God’s creation is thought of as a garden. The Man and the Woman are put in the garden with a task to carry out – they are “to till it and keep it”. They are to look after the garden. The tragedy of the story is the tragedy of every generation, not least ours, that men and women, you and I have failed in the task and instead of looking after the wonderful world of God’s creation we have damaged it in our quest to become like gods in our domination of nature.

In the poetry of Genesis 1 is a challenge to be good stewards of the wonderful world of nature and in the story-telling is the challenge to nurture and care for the wonderful world of God’s creation.

That’s something we are specifically challenged to do something about and to pray about this week

This year Christian Aid is joining with The Climate Coalition for the Speak Up week of action across the UK from 8-16 October. Communities across the UK will come together to Speak Up for the love of the people, places and cherished things affected by climate change.

These exciting local events will give you the opportunity to meet other people who are passionate about tackling climate change in your area and to ask your local MP what progress has been made since the Paris climate change summit.

Together, we can reach our vision of 100% clean energy in a generation, so that everyone can live life to the full.

Friends from Cheltenham churches will be meeting Alex Chalk on Saturday at 2-00 at St Mary’s Charlton Kings – Louise Middleton will be going form Highbury. Have a word with her if you would like to join her – and if you have a question regarding climate change to put to our MP then write it here or email Louise your question.

There’s poetry and prayer in the Book of Psalms. That thought of humanity being given responsibility in the wonderful world of God’s creation to care for that world and look after it is in Psalm 8. That’s a Psalm that celebrates the majesty of God and the wonder of creation. It comes to an end marking the awesome responsibility that is placed in our hands – humanity has power over nature such as nothing else in nature has ever achieved. The challenge is for us to exercise that power with responsibility as we look after creation and care for the world.

We are going to move into a time of prayer … we are going to use that Psalm, sharing in a wonderful response. Then after the Psalm we will read together a prayer for this Speak Up week on Climate change. Then a time of silent prayer as we reflect on our responsibility to care for God’s world … and then our prayers of concern as we remember particularly Janet Brown who has been admitted to hospital and David Roberts whose back is not yet improving.  Gwyneth's daughter Helen has asked for prayer for close friends Sarah & Stephen's much longer for baby born prematurely and desperately ill.

Let’s gather our thoughts in prayer ….

O Lord, our Sovereign,
   how majestic is your name in all the earth! 

You have set your glory above the heavens.
   Out of the mouths of babes and infants
you have founded a bulwark because of your foes,
   to silence the enemy and the avenger. 

O Lord, our Sovereign,
   how majestic is your name in all the earth! 

When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
   the moon and the stars that you have established;
what are human beings that you are mindful of them,
   mortals that you care for them? 

O Lord, our Sovereign,
   how majestic is your name in all the earth! 

Yet you have made them a little lower than God,
   and crowned them with glory and honour.
You have given them dominion over the works of your hands;
   you have put all things under their feet,
all sheep and oxen,
   and also the beasts of the field,
the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea,
   whatever passes along the paths of the seas. 

O Lord, our Sovereign,
   how majestic is your name in all the earth!

A prayer for the Speak Up week of action

Father,
Thank you for creating a beautiful earth full of life.
Thank you for creating us in your image,
and placing a calling on our lives to keep and till your earth.

Forgive us when we lose sight of that mandate,
when our greed causes us to exploit the earth,
threatening the livelihoods of people around the world.

As we gather together in our communities this week,
help us to return to your call, to love and care for the earth.

Give us prophetic imagination for how we can follow your mandate where we live.
Give us courage to speak to those in power to take action to protect the earth.
Give us boldness to Speak Up for those affected by climate change around the world.
Amen.

A time of quiet prayer and reflection

Prayers of Concern

Hymn Touch the earth lightly                                  CH4 243

One of the key things in reading the Bible is to recognize what type of writing a particular passage is. The wonderful thing about the Bible is that it’s full of a rich variety of different styles of writing, different types of writing.

Think of creation and we instantly think of Genesi. That’s a great pity. Because creation figures large in all sorts of other places in the Bible as well. The Psalms celebrate the wonder of God’s creation and the call to care for the world of God’s creation. Psalm 8 we have already shared. Psalm 104 is one of my favourites.

O Lord, how manifold are your works!
   In wisdom you have made them all;
   the earth is full of your creatures.  Psalm 104:24

The books either side of the book of Psalms are wisdom literature. It has been said that the wisdom books of the Bible are all about having ‘the ability to cope’.

When everything goes wrong and Job’s world falls apart he finds it very hard, if not imposible to cope … until first the enigmatic Elihu and then the majestic voice of God confront him with the wonder of the world of nature and remind him that it is the world of God’s creation.

It’s as if in your mind’s eye you go to your favourite place in the wilds of nature and in your minid’s ear you hear the voice of God

 ‘Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
   Tell me, if you have understanding.
⁵ Who determined its measurements—surely you know!
   Or who stretched the line upon it?
⁶ On what were its bases sunk,
   or who laid its cornerstone
⁷ when the morning stars sang together
   and all the heavenly beings shouted for joy? 

What a wonderful image of creation – as God the builder.

⁸ ‘Or who shut in the sea with doors
   when it burst out from the womb?—
⁹ when I made the clouds its garment,
   and thick darkness its swaddling band,

Another wonderful image of creation given birth as the waters break from the womb of mother God.

Beyond the Psalms come the prophets who speak into terrible times words of tremendous hope – a creation restored

 ²⁸ Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
   the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
   his understanding is unsearchable.
²⁹ He gives power to the faint,
   and strengthens the powerless.
³⁰ Even youths will faint and be weary,
   and the young will fall exhausted;
³¹ but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength,
   they shall mount up with wings like eagles,
they shall run and not be weary,
   they shall walk and not faint.

Something wonderful happens when you think about nature. There’s another type of writing in the New Testament – it’s gospel. Good News! Good news in a world of darkness and despair. Jesus knew that – there’s poetry in the wisdom that he shares in the Sermon on the Mount.

Look at the beauty of the birds of the air, the flowers of the field … the flowers at the front of the church.

25 ‘Therefore I tell you,

do not worry about your life,

what you will eat or what you will drink, 

or about your body, what you will wear.

Is not life more than food,

and the body more than clothing?

 ²⁶Look at the birds of the air;

they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns,

and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.

Are you not of more value than they?

 ²⁷And can any of you by worrying

add a single hour to your span of life?

 ²⁸And why do you worry about clothing?

Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow;

they neither toil nor spin,

 ²⁹yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory

was not clothed like one of these.

 ³⁰But if God so clothes the grass of the field,

which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven,

will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?

34 ‘So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.

There’s wisdom in the words of Jesus just as in the OT there is wisdom in the words of God.

The book of Proverbs chapter 8 speaks of creation as the work of the wisdom of God.

Wisdom speaks in Proverbs 8

²² The Lord created me at the beginning of his work,
   the first of his acts of long ago.
²³ Ages ago I was set up,
   at the first, before the beginning of the earth.

If it’s God’s wisdom that’s there in creation itself from the beginning then it is the wisdom of God that needs to shape the way we live our lives in the world of God’s creation.

The voice of wisdom goes on …

³² ‘And now, my children, listen to me:
   happy are those who keep my ways.
³³ Hear instruction and be wise,
   and do not neglect it.
³⁴ Happy is the one who listens to me,

Wisdom is expressed in the word.

That’s the wonderful insight of the Gospel of John –

Alison is going to read John 1:1-5

Reading: John 1:1-5

This really is good news – the darkness cannot put out the light of life. Wonderful good news.

There’s more than that in Jesus there is a new creation – and a new way for us to follow.

Paul is full of new creation language – the book of Revelation looks to a new heaven and anew earth where mourning and crying will be no more.

It’s in 2 Corinthians 5:17-21 that the challenge comes to us again …

So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us;

What a wonderful challenge.

Hymn: I have a dream                                              CH4 710

Reporting back from and for children and young people

So much to give thanks to God for, so much for us to do in looking after God’s world –

Prayer for climate change

Hymn Think of a world                                            CH4 155

Words of Blessing