Sermons
September 7, 2025 (Proper 18)
Time to put your feet up.
Genesis 1:1—2:3
In the beginning, when God created the world, things were chaotic. There was only wind,[1] and water, and darkness. There was nothing that had any form, nothing you could identify as a place or a thing, or a person. Things were without any sense, or rhythm.
Then God said, “Come to order.” And there was a difference between light and darkness. Sometimes it was light, and other times it was dark. The light had a name, and the darkness had a name.
Then, through the next days—because now that there was a time of light and a time of darkness there was a way to tell how much time had gone by—God kept bringing things to order. There was sky, and sea, and dry land, and animals and plants, and people. There was an order to the way the creatures related to one another: the animals and people ate the plants, and the people had dominion over the animals.[2]
On the seventh day, after everything was created, God rested, and that finished the work of creation.
God rested? Why would God rest? Does God really need rest?
Can we trust a God who takes a day off.
The psychological approach known as Family Systems Theory isn’t entirely germane to the story in Genesis 1, except for one basic principle. A lot of times when there’s trouble in a family, or a church, or any other kind of human grouping, things will happen that are not what they seem.
Let’s say, for instance, a parent is dealing with a toxic work environment. Perhaps that parent is given a position of authority but is constantly being second-guessed by the person who was promoted out of that position but can’t quite manage to let it go.[3] Or perhaps there is harassment, criticism, maybe even office gossip that is creating a hostile environment. That stress and toxicity inevitably comes home, and it affects everybody in the family.
Then, say, one of the kids develops an emotional problem that requires counseling. If the counselor pays attention only to the kid’s emotional problem, she may well not be able to solve it, because the child’s problem is a symptom of a bigger issue, which is how the parent’s stress at work is affecting the whole family. Deal with the parent’s stress, and oftentimes the child’s trouble will be eased. You can almost set your clock by it.
So that’s one of the principles of Family Systems Theory: Things are not always what they seem.
Now, like I said, we’re talking about God resting, not about family systems. But I think we can still assume that as we look at the seventh day of creation in today’s reading, “things are not what they seem.” In other words, it could be that God’s resting on the seventh day isn’t about God needing to rest.
Most Old Testament scholars believe this creation story was put together the way it was by a priest or group of priests living during the Babylonian Exile. It was a time when there was a lot of chaos and uncertainty in the lives of God’s people. They were uprooted from their own land, brought forcibly to live in a foreign country. This foreign country—Babylon—had its own gods, its own culture, its own way of living.
The Jewish people[4] had two choices during the exile. They could go along to get along, abandon their own culture, their own religion, their own way of life. Or they could resist being swallowed up by holding on all the more tightly to their culture, religion, values, way of life.
It was out of this resistance that the Hebrew Bible—the Old Testament—as we have it today began to take its final shape.
So this priest in exile, one who had decided not to let Babylon win, wrote down a story that probably had at least some roots in the oral tradition of Israel—in stories they’d told and handed down knee-to-knee for many years before the exile. But he wrote it in a particular way.
Did you hear how rhythmic and repetitive the story is? God said…it was so…God saw that it was good…God said…it was so…and so forth.
Life in exile is life in chaos. Everything that had been settled, certain, nailed down, is uprooted, unsettled, uncertain. By writing a rhythmic, orderly account of creation, this priest was making a statement: God is in charge, and God specializes in order amid chaos. Therefore, if we trust in God, he will bring order into this chaotic time of our lives.
He might also be just a little bit rebellious and defiant: In the beginning, Babylonians, MY God created the heavens and the earth—your gods didn’t do it, so no, I don’t believe I’ll abandon my God in favor of yours.
Like most oppressed people, this priest knew he couldn’t say that directly to the Babylonians. But just by saying it within his community, he gave all of his fellow Jews a reason to stand up a little straighter, gave them a little strength to motivate them not to give in to the Babylonian culture.
Talking about God resting, too, is a rather defiant theological statement. Our God can rest because he made this world right the first time. There’s no need for constant vigilance and worry: creation is good, it’s sufficient. Chaos will not win out over God’s creation.
Oh, and you know what, Babylonians? Our God is in charge, and even though you have brought chaos into our lives, we trust that God is still in charge and creation is still in order. Our ancient stories tell us that God made sure we had enough to eat and drink in the wilderness, and that God was there in person to lead us from slavery to promise. And we trust that God is here in person to guide us through this time of exile. We trust that today’s needs will be met just as our ancestors’ needs were met. That means we don’t need to be constantly vigilant, constantly worrying, constantly tinkering, accumulating, pinching, being productive.
Maybe your god isn’t powerful enough; maybe that’s why you work every day and never take a day off. But our God is taking care of us, and we can demonstrate our trust by doing exactly what our God did to finish creation: We will take a day off. We will observe the Sabbath. We will accept God’s gracious gift of a day—a whole day—devoted to rest. We will finish what we’re doing at the end of the week, and we will set all of our work and our worry aside for a whole day. And during that day we’ll gather together to worship our God, our God of order, of rhythm, of day and night and weeks and Sabbath and rest.
If there is anything that chaotic times teach those who stay faithful to God, it’s trust. We can’t bring order to chaos. But God has done it before, and we know he can do it now.
Interestingly, it is the people today who live in the most chaotic, the most troubled, the most frightening, the most difficult times—oppressed people, poor people—who are the most observant of Sabbath. And some have said it was weekly Sabbath observance that has saved, strengthened, and preserved the Jewish people through all the troubles they have faced over the millennia. That observance includes worship, studying the Scriptures, family dinners, rest, and enjoyment.[5]
Sabbath is a gift from a loving God. Sabbath is a statement of defiance to an anxious world: My existence doesn’t depend on my being anxious, worrying, working, being available 24/7. My existence depends on a God who rests, and because of that I know I can rest, too—I can leave things in God’s hands for 24 hours and trust that nothing will fall apart.
In the beginning, God rested. God established, by example, a healthy rhythm of life. God created. God saw that it was good—God stopped to enjoy what he’d made. And then God rested.
For the exiles, living the rhythm of life God established was a way to set themselves apart, to demonstrate their trust in a God who is in charge of everything. In a 24/7 culture like ours, perhaps it could be the same for us.
[1] The Hebrew word translated in the NRSV as “wind” can also be translated “spirit” or “breath,” so older versions are not incorrect to render the phrase as “the Spirit of God” rather than “a wind from God.” As always, translation requires interpretation.
[2] It’s important to draw a distinction between “dominion” and “domination.” God puts humans in charge of creation, but that doesn’t give them authority to destroy it.
[3] This was a situation Mike dealt with years ago, and yes, the stress that he brought home from work every night affected our home life pretty dramatically.
[4] The Israelites, many have said, became Jews in the exile, as their identity was no longer exclusively tied to a place but to their relationship with God.
[5] Did you know that the Crock-Pot was invented to make the job of Jewish households preparing food for the Sabbath, when cooking wasn’t allowed, easier? Jill Hecker tells the story on her YesterKitchen channel on YouTube—while making a dessert in her slow cooker. See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dCNRJkbqCU.