The Way Things Are Supposed to Be
January 8, 2012

Genesis 1:1 - 2:4

In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters.

Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.
And God said, “Let there be a dome in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” So God made the dome and separated the waters that were under the dome from the waters that were above the dome. And it was so. God called the dome Sky. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.

And God said, “Let the waters under the sky be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so. God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good. Then God said, “Let the earth put forth vegetation: plants yielding seed, and fruit trees of every kind on earth that bear fruit with the seed in it.” And it was so. The earth brought forth vegetation: plants yielding seed of every kind, and trees of every kind bearing fruit with the seed in it. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.

And God said, “Let there be lights in the dome of the sky to separate the day from the night; and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years, and let them be lights in the dome of the sky to give light upon the earth.” And it was so. God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars. God set them in the dome of the sky to give light upon the earth, to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.

And God said, “Let the waters bring forth swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the dome of the sky.” So God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, of every kind, with which the waters swarm, and every winged bird of every kind. And God saw that it was good. God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.

And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures of every kind: cattle and creeping things and wild animals of the earth of every kind.” And it was so. God made the wild animals of the earth of every kind, and the cattle of every kind, and everything that creeps upon the ground of every kind. And God saw that it was good.

Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.” So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.”

God said, “See, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so.

God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all their multitude. And on the seventh day God finished the work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all the work that he had done in creation.

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Mark 1:4-11

John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. He proclaimed, “The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

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In the early 1990’s a film came out called Grand Canyon. In one scene in that movie Kevin Kline, who plays a hotshot attorney, is trying to work his way around a traffic jam by taking a side street, but as he’s trying to get back on course, he ends up getting into worse and worse parts of the city until he’s driving alone, at night, through the ghetto, and of course, it’s just at this point that his Lexus breaks down and he’s stuck. He calls AAA on his cell phone and sits there nervously waiting for the tow truck to get there, but before it does, he’s seen by a group of thugs who surround him, harass him, and make him get out of the car. Things look really bad for Kevin Kline, but just then, the tow truck arrives, and out pops Danny Glover, complete with a tire iron, and the thugs bag off – but only for a minute. They quickly regroup, and they start to give Glover a rough time, too, telling him that he’s being too noisy, and he should show them more respect, and they start to interfere with him hooking up the car. It’s at this point when Danny Glover starts to talk to the leader of the gang. He says, “Man, the world ain’t supposed to work like this. Maybe you don’t know that, but this ain’t the way it’s supposed to be. I’m supposed to be able to do my job without askin’ you if I can. And that dude is supposed to be able to wait with his car without you rippin’ him off. Everything’s supposed to be different than what it is here.”

Everything’s supposed to be different. There’s supposed to be some natural order to things. People are supposed to get along with each other; we’re supposed to care for each other and be respectful of each other. The world’s supposed to operate in some orderly, just, peaceful way. We might not even be able to put our finger on exactly what things are supposed to be like, but we know that this isn’t it. We don’t have a sensible order to things. Up is down, and down is up. Everything’s a mess. Instead of some peaceful kind of order, the world’s actually full of chaos.

It was chaos in the beginning of it all, too. We were reminded today that in the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth, everything was chaos. And God created light, and day and night, and the stars and the planets, and the seas and the land and the plants and the animals and us – And God looked on this making of order, making sense of things, and ordaining all of creation, and said “This is good - this is the way it’s supposed to be.”

Later, after the world has been broken and is muddling along, and things are the way they’re supposed to be, Jesus enters the world to reveal to us, in his very nature, the nature of God, and to restore the relationship between us. And at the very beginning of his earthly ministry, when he is baptized, God looks on this making of order, making sense of things, and ordaining Jesus for his special mission of restoring God’s intentions, and said “This is good – this is the way it’s supposed to be.”

On this particular Sunday, we remember Jesus’ baptism. But that day, and its goodness, is only a distant point in history for us, a time past. Our reality is Danny Glover’s reality. Things aren’t the way they’re supposed to be. It ain’t supposed to be this way. We can look at the world, with our wars and drought, and nuclear proliferation and radical terrorism and the international slave trade. We can look at our country, with our childish political squabbles, and poverty, and prejudice, and greed. We can look at the Church, with our pettiness and hypocrisy and daily failure to live up to the mission that God has created us for. We can look at our own communities. We can look at our own personal relationships, and our families. We can look inside our own hearts. And at every step, we can find problems, and we know – God has something better in mind for us, and in store for us, than this. It ain’t supposed to be this way.

And God agrees with us. That’s why God didn’t stop decreeing things as “good,” or ordaining things and people to a certain way or purpose, after the creation of the world, or after Jesus was baptized, or even after the last word of the New Testament was put down on papyrus. God continues to work out that ultimate plan for goodness and order in creation, and now, God calls us to be part of that work, too. Today, we are ordaining and installing Deacons and Elders to serve in ordained ministry within our congregation, and the Church at large. We didn’t just elect new members to a board of directors or a benevolence committee. We aren’t just conducting business. Today, we call people whom we believe God has gifted with very particular gifts, for very particular forms of ministry, and whether they’ve been ordained previously and are just being re-installed to service today, or whether they are being newly ordained today, it’s a very special thing they’re about to embark on. It’s a very sobering thought to sit quietly, with just yourself and with God, and think about what it means to have been called out – not just by our congregation, but by God – for a particular form of ministry. Not a form that makes a person more important than others, or that gives a person a higher position or more status, but just the opposite: to be called to a vital, but particularly humble form of ministry, to be a servant to all the congregation, and to the community at large. Today, God looks at those being ordained and installed into these ministries of loving service, to help make order out of chaos, and sees a continuation of God’s own loving intentions for the world. God lays hands on each of these people and says “This is good – now get on with your ministries - to this congregation, to this community, to the world - to help make things the way they’re supposed to be.”

Thanks be to God.