Genesis 3

Family,
It is a sad day for us. I write this today, with a heavy, sad, deeply troubled heart. In seminary that try to prepare you for what the ministry might involve, but they can never prepare you for what is reality. As a minister, if you do your job right, i feel, you will get close to people, and unfortunately, at times you have to say goodbye. This morning, we all had to say goodbye to someone much too young and too vibrant. And yet, somehow we must go on, Suzanne would want nothing less.

But how? How do we come into the church, knowing that our family is missing? How do we gather around the table, knowing that we wont be seeing that beautiful face sitting across from us? And how do we work on vision and mission, when one of our most vibrant souls for mission wont be able to offer her input? How? I dont know a single answer exists to that question, but i do sense some possible answers.

One we must work together, unite, now more than ever, under the love of Christ. Suzanne wanted, more than anything, a united church. She wanted us to put our differences aside and join together to help people, serve people, and minister to people, knowing that God is in that process. And she did everything she could to guide us in that journey. She wanted one voice, working for God, knowing that then and only then would God be glorified. And she was/is right. I will carry that with me for the rest of my days.

SO. We go on, carrying Suzanne's memory and legacy with us, honoring it with each passing day. This is our challenge. This is our call.

But more than unifying, we have to find a way to ground our faith in God, completely. You see, sisters and brothers, i sense that is what Genesis 3, at its most base meaning, is really about. Faith. Faith that God will do all He promised to do. When Adam and Eve ate of the tree, whether it is literal or a metaphor, they really said that they dont trust God. They really said that they would do better by knowing more and trying to go their own way. How did that work out for them? How does it work out for us?

What happens when we try to take the place of God? Do we have amazing success? Or do we fall, like Adam and Eve, into our own mistakes and poor choices? When we take the place of God, which is what they did when they ate of the tree, we really say we don't need God. We are equal to God. And then God, as is often the case, gets pushed to the margins, replaced by lust, materialism, power, greed, ego, pride, etc.

And when we replace God, as i sense most western churches have, it becomes easier to dwell on the minor things, the petty differences, instead of doing the really hard work of trusting that God is good and will meet our every need. We often get trapped into the "what can we and cant we accomplish," instead of asking the most important questions, What does God call us to do? Where is God calling us to go? Where is God in this? And how will we glorify God through this?

One focuses on our own limited understanding/wisdom, which is nothing compared to the omnipotent/omniscient Creator, we call Father. The other, putting God first, allows us to listen to God, for God, and have faith that God will, just as He promised in the garden, before the fall, meet our every need. This faith, the faith that trusts God with everything, is the faith that Suzanne held onto, and it is the faith that will rescue us, today, in this hour of great need.

But we must be weary of eating of the false fruit of ego and self-preservation. The serpent may not be the crafty little beast that crawls the floor; the serpent might be anything and everything that invites us to take our eyes off of God and onto some passing apple that holds no real promise. It looks good, and may even taste good, but the repercussions of this "apple" are as deadly as the one Adam and Eve ate. We must keep our focus on God. Keep our eyes, ears, and heart open to what He calls us to do, and we must learn to trust in Him, solely. When we do, we will find ourselves deeply rooted in our own Garden of Eden, with fruit that not only tastes good, it is good, very good.

Amen.