Where Are You? with Pastor Ryan Braley

This morning we pray.

Bless us, god, may this story come alive to us in ways that it maybe hasn't in the past, and though maybe we've read this story many times before, god, would you help it to be new and fresh for us, and I ask God that by your spirit, you would come and transform us in all the ways that we desperately need it.

And, yeah, god, would you fill us with love this morning for our neighbor, for our enemies, even for ourselves.

God, in a deep and profound way, give us grace this morning, and we ask for you to help us to be awake to your presence this morning, here, in this time, in this place, and we pray these things in your holy and precious name.

Amen, amen.

You can be seated.

Good morning everyone.

My name is Ryan.

I'm the pastor here at Central.

I'm the one with the special pass, so if you ever want to go for a tour, let me know.

I can go anywhere I want to.

I can do whatever I want to as long as Jason's here with me.

But you know, don't worry about that.

It's fine, but you didn't get a pass.

That's all I'm saying.

I got the pass.

We are Jason's great, by the way.

We're in our series called how Did we Get here?

And so you've got some cards on the pews and if you want to invite someone, that's just an easy way to do it, just to kind of give them a card.

But here's why it's important.

I love the book of Genesis, but the second book in the Bible is the book called Exodus.

You can look it up in your Bible.

There's actually you'll need your.

So pull your Bibles out there in front of you or underneath you or somewhere near you.

But Exodus is like the pinnacle story in the Bible.

So for a Jewish person, like that's the story.

It's the story of God's deliverance of the Israelite people out of slavery and so like.

It becomes this theme and this motif repeated throughout all of history, that God is the God who sets people free.

In fact, that story begins by the people of Israel enslaved and they cry out to God.

This also becomes a theme and a motif throughout the whole of the Bible.

It's kind of neat.

The Bible is 66 different books written by many different authors over many, many different years, centuries even, and there's all these common themes or motifs that are like woven through the whole book.

It's incredible, and one of them is, of course, that God is the God who liberates people from slavery, and the other one is that that God hears the cries of his people, because the people in slavery, they cry out to God, and it says that God hears their cries and sends a deliverer.

Of course we know his name is Moses and Jesus, years later, like many years later, is cast as the new Moses, also setting people free from slavery.

It's a different kind of slavery, but anyway.

But so they're enslaved.

So the question arises if you're a Jewish person, like you're, like, this is a great story.

It's like the story that defines my life.

I love it.

But how did we get here?

How did we get into slavery?

And why are we in Egypt?

We're so far away from where we are now.

What were we doing in Egypt?

And who is Israel?

And why are there so many of us?

All these profoundly practical questions.

They're also existential questions.

What is going on here?

And so to understand how we got there, you have to rewind one entire book, to Genesis, which means in the Hebrew.

The word bereshit means beginnings.

So you have to rewind.

Here's how we got here.

But here's why I love the Bible and why I think it's this ancient, weird, bizarre text.

Of course it's antiquated, it seems outdated.

Of course it is, it's thousands of years old.

But why do folks still read it?

Because I think that you and I are asking these very same questions how did we get here?

What am I doing here?

Is this thing headed somewhere?

And, if so, where is it going?

Or is it just you wake up and you're alive and then you die and that's kind of all there is to it?

Well, what's going on here?

So I want to ask these same questions of us, not just of the text, but also of us.

And if you know anyone in your life a neighbor, a friend, a relative who's asking these kinds of questions about life and meaning and depth, and where are we going, then invite them here and come talk about these things.

These are profound questions.

So the title of my sermon today we're on Genesis 2 and 3.

This morning you heard prior read Thanks, buddy.

So last week, if you didn't hear, go back and listen we went through the whole creation narrative Genesis 1, and how God creates space and then fills it.

He creates space and then fills it.

It's a beautiful story about God and the creation and how it goes on from there.

Today is Genesis 2.

So open your Bibles to Genesis 2.

I've got mine up here.

I've got a slightly different version than you do, but it's okay, we'll be fine.

Genesis 2, verse 1.

Genesis 2:1

And the story or the sermon today is called I'm gonna call it.

Go ahead for me, Peter, thank you.

Where are you?

I love this.

There he is.

There's Peter.

There's Peter.

I found him.

I love this question that God.

So here's what happens.

I'm gonna end.

I'm gonna begin where I end.

But God finds Adam and Eve in hiding and he says to them where are you?

And it's beautiful, because God begins his relationship with fallen humanity by seeking them out, the ones who are hiding, who have shamefully woven together their own clothes with their own hands, and they're hiding because they're afraid of God.

And how does God begin that relationship with fallen humanity?

He goes and finds them, he seeks them out and he asks them where are you?

I love you, I love you.

I love that.

But we'll get there in a minute.

But just before this, in Genesis 2, if you open up the Bible, it says this in the beginning, or Genesis 2 anyway.

It says the heavens and the earth then were completed in all their vast arrays.

We just read that Last week was Genesis 1.

God makes all these things.

And then it says in Genesis 2, the next several verses God makes all these things.

And then it says in Genesis 2, the next several verses on the seventh day, god finishes all he's done, he rests and he blesses this day because it's holy day seven.

So here's the end of the creation narrative.

Then go down to verse four for me, and here's what verse four says.

Now, this is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created.

Wait a minute.

We just read the creation narrative.

What's going now?

Well, if you read on, there's a whole other creation narrative.

Did you know this?

There's two of them.

So all of Genesis 1, day 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7,.

God creates spaces and he fills them.

There's all this thing calls it good, he blesses time, he rests.

Now we're going to have a whole other creation narrative.

Why are we doing it again?

We just read it.

We already got it.

In fact, I can go back and reread Genesis 1, but here we go.

The compiler of Genesis gives us a second creation narrative.

Did you know there's two of them and they're completely different.

It's wild.

Things are out of order in this Genesis 2.

You can read it later.

I don't have time right now, but things are out of order.

Also, it's a whole different feel like, a different vibe to the whole thing.

In fact, here I'll read you one more paragraph and you can see already from the jump.

It's just a different kind of creation narrative.

And here's the question why are there two and why are they different?

So it the question why are there two and why are they different?

So it says no shrub of the field had yet appeared on the earth and no plant of the field had sprung up yet, for the lord god had not sent rain on the earth and there was no man to come and work the ground.

But streams come up from the earth or came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground.

One of the things that's different is that in genesis 1 vegetation, all the things are created first, and then humans are created very last and Adam and Eve are created kind of together.

In Genesis 2, the humans are created first, or at least man is created first, and then the vegetation comes.

It's kind of a bizarre.

Why is it out of order?

But here's the thing too, remember, in Genesis 1, it begins in the beginning God, and the word for God in the Hebrew is Elohim.

I mentioned this last week, and Elohim is not like a specific personal name for God, it's just a generic name.

It could be any God.

In the beginning there's this God, okay, fair enough.

And the question raised is like which God and what's this God like?

What is this God doing?

What's he all about?

So, as you're reading it, what is this god doing?

What's he all about?

And put that up for me again, for me, peter, one more time, that genesis 2.

If you read this, you could answer it this way well, this god is the god who brings water to desert places, this god, when things are barren and desolate and waste, like there's, like this wilderness desert there's this picture in the genesis 2 of this just dry, desolate place and this god is the god who brings life and water, a spring of life, into desert places.

Maybe you're here this morning, you could use a god who brings water to dry places.

That's the kind of god.

Okay, we'll keep going.

So then god takes this dirt, which we read in a minute, and he creates a man.

Here's the verse for I?

Okay, we'll keep going.

So then God takes this dirt, which we'll read in a minute, and he creates a man.

Here's the verse for it.

I think we have a verse.

Then the Lord, god, forms a man, and the word for man, which I'll come back to in just a minute, is the word adam.

He takes a man, he forms him from the dust of the ground.

He breathes into his nostrils it's a weird thing to do Takes this dirt, forms a man and breathes in.

But the word breathe or breath is the same word for spirit, so it's the spirit of God, the breath of God and the wind of God.

These are all the same word.

In the Hebrew the word is ruach, and so God breathes breath or breathes his spirit or breathes wind into this dirt man, and he comes to life and becomes a living being.

What kind of crazy story is this?

Okay, the word man is the word Adam.

Everyone say Adam.

Now, literally, this word means literally humanity, so God creates all of humanity.

It's not a specific name for a specific person.

Now, god names this man, later on names him Adam or Adam.

It's also a play on words.

The word in the Hebrew for dirt or ground is Adama, and so God calls this humanity, all of humanity.

It's as though this is a name not, for it's not the same as like naming your kid Phil or Susie, it's the name for all of humanity.

Like naming your kid Phil or Susie, it's the name for all of humanity.

And so it says oh, this is a story not about one particular man named Adam, but it's a story about all of humanity.

This is a story about Adam, and also his wife, later on, will be named Eve, eve.

They call her Eve because she's the mother of all the living.

So the word Eve means mother of all that is living.

What a bunch of strange names.

Adam means humanity and Eve means the mother of all living.

It's as though these characters are stand-ins for all of us, and this is a story certainly about them, about Adam and Eve, perhaps, but this is also a story about you and I, and all of the world and all of the humanities that are all the entire human race.

It's a story about all of us, each of us.

See, people, especially lately, have spent a lot of ink and blood arguing about whether or not this is a literal story about two literal human beings who lived in a literal place a long time ago.

In fact, they were the first ever human beings.

But can you see already how that's like?

Not a very interesting question Were these literal human beings or not?

No Jewish scholar that I know would ever ask that question, because it doesn't matter.

And so if you're a person who, like, endorses and loves science, don't let go of that.

I believe we can have this relationship between science and theology that, like, inform and impact one another.

I think it's a beautiful way to live life, and so perhaps this was a story about not just a literal first humans that lived in this space over there and you can date back the time in which they lived, but rather it's a story about all of humanity and God's exposure and God's presence in the lives of all of humans, and God breathing life and being a spring in a desert place and these kinds of things.

Can you see how like is it literal?

Did they have belly buttons?

Why do snakes talk?

Those are not interesting questions.

Rather, this is a story about us, and all kinds of other questions do arise, like this one that I think is way more interesting there.

There you have them, this Adam and this Eve, this stand-in for all of humanity.

And they're in this big, beautiful creation, this mysterious, heartbreaking, this energetic, this vibrant place, and it's as though the poet wants to ask them what are they going to do with their lives?

What will they do with this life?

What will they do with this gift that they've been given, with all these creative energies that are sort of flowing all around them?

What will they do now?

What will they make with their days?

What will they create?

What will they build?

And the beauty and the wonder and the power of this poem is that these interesting questions that are raised of them are also asked to each and every one of us.

So the poet's asking, I think, us these same questions what will you do with your life?

What will you do with this beautiful, wonderful gift you've been given?

How will you spend your days and your energies?

What will you do in response to this beautiful, mysterious, heartbreaking, disappointing, but also vibrant, like this gift of life?

What will you do with it?

What will you create?

What will you make?

See, your life is what you create of it.

Your life is what you make it.

Now, I know you're probably thinking some of you may be like no, no, no, ryan, life is a whole bunch of uncontrollable things that happen to me.

I cannot control them, fair enough, but you have to understand.

What I think the poet is saying is like, hey, how you respond even to those things in which you can't control even that is an act of creation.

It's a creative act, how you respond to something as a creative act in of itself.

Like who starts cancer foundations?

Usually it's someone who's been impacted in just this powerful way by cancer and the tragedy and the suffering and pain of cancer.

Who begins, uh?

Who begins, uh, aa meetings here?

Who begins AA meetings?

Well, usually it's a recovering addict or alcoholic.

In fact, yesterday we had a whole group of people.

They're called the Way Out.

They meet here once a week here in our building, and they meet here Thursday nights.

If you need a meeting, if you're an addict or an alcoholic recovering and you want to have a meeting, we've got a couple great ones here.

So let me know I can point you in the right direction.

But this one I came in here because every year they have this big celebration and they always have, like this, brisket.

They've smoked for 16 hours and they know that I love me some smoked brisket.

They do.

They text like Ryan, tomorrow's the day you coming, I will be there.

So I got a double portion.

Anyway, my point is all these men and women when they were here, who's in there?

But a bunch of recovering alcoholics and addicts.

You see, life is about being dealt.

Many, yes, of course, but embedded in the stories is a beautiful question like what will you do now in response to this hand you've been given?

How you respond is also a creative act.

It's your life, it's yours to create.

Make of it what you will Remember.

Last week we talked about how, on day one, two, three, four, five and six, they all end in the same way it was evening and it was morning.

The first day it was evening and then morning.

The second day, evening and morning.

The third day, you get the idea.

And then on the seventh day, it doesn't end that way.

There's no evening and morning.

There's no end of the seventh day in the text and the poem day in the text in the poem.

What does that mean?

It's as though the seventh day just keeps on going, like the creation is never really finished, like that the creation is still going and being created and formed and molded and made, and somewhere in between us, you and I and these people who are all around us we're all kind of helping contribute or not to the creation, the ongoing creation of the world, and it's as though God is saying hey look, I need creators, I need collaborators.

God has always been looking for partners to help him co-create and to be a part of this ongoing creation of the entire universe.

So, as we're creating our lives together, what do you want to create?

What are we going to do with our lives?

How will we spend our days in this beautiful, mysterious, sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes confusing world that we call home?

What will you make?

So God takes this dirt and he breathes into it.

This breath, this spirit, this wind of God goes into this dirt and it becomes alive.

Well, if this is a story about all of humanity, then that's us.

God bless you.

God bless you.

Which raises the question as well, like what are human beings?

What are we?

Are we divinely created beings or are we just piles of dirt?

Don't point fingers, okay.

Are we these beings that can create poetry that will make people cry and we can reproduce and have babies that are just so weird and cute that they make us laugh and smile and also weep, and, and we can fly to the moon and we can make beautiful structures that leave people in awe and we can paint masterpieces and films that just draw you in.

And and we're these divinely created beings?

Or or are we just vapor, here one minute and gone the next, and we're like characters on a stage that just come and go, and we're fragile and we go to the bathroom Even number two, right and we're just gone, and we're here one day and gone the next.

Are we this or are we this?

The answer is yes.

Yes, some days you need to hear hey, man, I know you think you're a big deal, but you're just dust and to dust you will return.

Other days you might need to hear listen to me, look at me in the eyeballs.

I know you don't feel like it, but you are the divinely I mean, you are the divinely created being and you reflect somehow I don't know, but this divine image of God and you have the power and capacity to change the world.

And capacity to change the world, yes, for both of these things.

So God takes this dirt and he breathes into it and creates a human.

Then God tells these humans I think I have a.

Oh no, I think I've got this first right, peter.

Yeah, okay.

So then he takes God, takes the man and puts him into this garden and he says, hey, you're gonna work it and take care of this whole thing.

And he says, hey, you're going to work it and take care of this whole thing.

And Adam's feeling a bit of pressure in this moment.

It's like I've got to take care of this whole thing.

So God gives him a pep talk Like dude, don't sweat it, you're fine, you're the man.

You're the man, don't worry about it, you're the man.

And Adam's like you're the man, you're the only man that's there, so just don't screw it up.

Adam.

Adam's like oh, got it.

So then God says, hey, you can do anything you want, you can eat from any of the tree that you want.

There are all these good trees.

You can eat from any of them you want, but don't eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for if you eat of it, you'll surely die.

By the way, quick aside, I'm going to give you a spoiler alert they do eat of it, but do they die?

Weird, isn't it?

In fact, the text tells us, at least in the story.

Adam lives to be 930 years old.

It's a long time.

If you ask me, why doesn't he die?

Was God lying?

Or perhaps there are multiple ways to be alive and to be dead?

Maybe there was a death that is experienced.

They of course leave the garden, they leave the tree of life, they can only eat from this tree and they do eventually die.

But also, maybe they suffer and experience deaths all along the way from here until then.

See, there are many ways to be alive.

You can be alive just have your heart pumping and breath in your lungs and your blood going and not really be alive.

You hear me.

And you can be dying in all kinds of other ways.

And God tells him don't eat of this tree or you'll die.

Then God sees that it's not good for Adam to be alone.

So this is what he says.

He says, hey, isn't it good for you to be alone?

I'll make a helper suitable for you.

By the way, the word helper there is like a collaborator.

It isn't like Adam rules over the subordinate woman.

Rather, the word helper is in the Hebrew.

It's sort of the same word God uses for humanity.

For humanity it's like we're sort of the helping, collaborating, co-creating kind of a partnership.

And so God causes the man to fall into a deep sleep and while he's asleep sneaky this is a sneaky move he takes the rib out, closes the place with the flesh and then God makes a woman from the rib and then brings her to the man.

By the way, in the ancient world there's no other ancient source that talks about the creation of woman.

So sometimes folks are like, oh, the bible is so antiquated, it subordinates women and all the yeah, and of course some of that is for sure.

But also the bible in its day was very progressive in the sense that I mean like it was like way ahead of its time, like this is an ancient text, an ancient story, like talking of actually giving six verses to the creation of woman.

Adam gets one verse.

So know your role, adam.

A little bit of girl power here.

But no other text does this.

The bible was radically ahead of its time.

And then god places them in the middle of this garden and says hey, don't eat of this tree.

Why, why would he say that?

Like right from the jump.

It's almost like god is saying hey, in this world, this beautiful, mysterious, like vibrant, this thing is alive, all around you and things are making more of themselves.

And there's this mysterious thing and you're going to co-create with me there.

Even within this there are.

Things are just off off, off, off limits for you.

There is an out of bounds to this whole thing and I need you to hear me and know that.

Maybe you don't know why always, but just you need to stay out of that area Because if you go in there it might lead to death and I'm going to protect you from this thing and there are consequences if you breach this wall.

Don't do it, so don't eat of this tree, otherwise you might die.

But it raises a deeper question, like why that tree.

Isn't the knowledge of good and evil a good thing?

Shouldn't we all aspire to have this knowledge and wisdom of good and evil and what's good and what's not good, so we can know what things to avoid and what things to kind of give our lives to?

And shouldn't we have this knowledge and this wisdom of good and evil?

Why is that bad?

And why would eating from that tree and knowing the difference between good and evil, why would that bring us death?

Of course it's because God just said don't do it.

So fair enough.

But what else is going on there?

Well, there's all kinds of scholarship and commentators who go crazy about this text and like what is it that God is actually telling them or saying to them?

But one of them, I think, is I love this.

It's as though God is saying hey, listen, I need you to learn to hear my voice and just obey my voice and like little children, like I can't really explain why, but just I don't touch that hot stove and it's just, oh, god's like, hey, I need you to listen because by listening to me and obeying my commands, living in my ways, you'll gain wisdom eventually.

But for right now, I have to have you do it my way.

So Proverbs, the author of Proverbs, writes I love this.

It says the fear of the Lord.

By the way, the fear of the Lord, it means like a reverence or like just obedience to God, not like you're afraid of God, but like just sort of like oh man, I know that God is God.

I am not God, I just want to obey him and like, live in his ways and this kind of thing, that way of living, is the beginning of knowledge.

But fools despise wisdom, wisdom and instruction.

Know any fools in your life, don't point fingers.

It's as though God's like hey, listen, follow my teaching and my way, I'm gonna.

I'm gonna lead you to freedom.

I'm the God who liberates people, who brings water to desert places.

Trust me, live in my ways.

I'll be God.

You be just kids, it's fine, and I'll lead you to maturity.

If you step outside of that, there could be problems.

I'm just telling you.

When I was in high school, I reached an age where I realized my mom was a single mother and did the best she could raising us.

But I realized at one point in my life and my young manhood I'm like if I were to just walk out of here and do my own thing, she couldn't stop me.

You know what I mean.

Like, when you're a kid, moms can still wrestle you to the ground, probably, and my mom would.

So there comes a point like, oh, you know what?

She can no longer wrestle me to the ground.

I'm bigger than her and that isn't always a good thing.

So one night I was grounded and I was going out with some buddies and I'm like I'm leaving, and she was like no, you're not.

I was like yes, yes, I am.

And she was like no, you're not.

I was like, yes, yes, I am.

She says no, you're not.

And then I said just try and stop me.

And I grabbed the card keys and was walking out the door Like what is she going to do?

Wrestle me to the ground?

She couldn't, but she had a secret weapon.

She goes fine, go if you want to, but if you leave me, and when you leave now, you're going to leave my protective covering and the protection that God has given you over me and through me.

So go ahead and leave, but you're leaving that protective covering that God has established in our lives.

Have a fun night.

And I was like oh, and as much of a knucklehead as I was, I had this fear of God like buried deep down and I was like, oh no, I'm in trouble, but I'm like I'm leaving anyway, I don't care about that protective covering.

And I walked out.

But I had a miserable night, the entire night, and I drove around my buddy and I was like I was like seriously afraid to do anything.

I'm like man, god's going to get me because I'm out of the protective covering and this whatever.

And I didn't know if it was really a real thing or not.

I had no idea and to this day I don't know, but I was afraid that I had left the protective covering.

So I'm driving around with my buddy, we go to this McDonald's because we were rebels, you know, we were pulling a McDonald's and we're getting out of the car to go in and also I'm like I'm on a hill, I'm out of the protective protective covering.

What if the car just rolls and backs?

You know, it's like I turned it back on, I backed out and I parked on a level plant.

You know, level uh parking spot.

I was so afraid that something would happen because I had left the protective covering.

And after dinner we went home and I just asked for forgiveness and made up.

But here's the.

The idea.

Like God is like, hey, listen, live in my ways and you'll find wisdom and knowledge, but not yet.

And if you go outside and try to shortcut it, it won't go well for you.

So what's happening in this story?

Well, one commentator, by the way the servant.

I love this.

This is crazy.

The servant comes along, who's more crafty than any of the other wild animals that the Lord God had made.

By the way, this is an indicator that God also made the serpent.

So there's another boggle the mind question for you.

And he says to the woman hey, did God really say?

And sometimes I find myself, hopefully not so much these days, but in trouble, and the reason I got there was because way back here I heard this voice.

Did God really say that?

Oh, okay, and they're like, well, how did I get here?

Did God really say so?

There's all this commentary about what was really happening, and one, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Eastern Christians, they look at this story not so much as a fall from grace but rather a failure of Adam and Eve to mature and to grow up in the way they were supposed to grow up and mature.

See, perhaps God had always wanted them to have this wisdom, this knowledge of good and evil, but just not yet.

Because the knowledge of good and evil is a heavy burden and some kids just can't carry it, some adults can't carry it.

It's a heavy burden and some kids just can't carry it.

Some adults can't carry it.

It's a heavy burden to have this moral awakening, this consciousness.

That's brand new and you can see everything in color for the first time.

And perhaps they just weren't ready to have it yet.

See, the true knowledge of good and evil and just true wisdom comes from obedience to God, and they sort of circumvent God and go around him and it doesn't go well for them.

So maybe they were supposed to have this all the time, but they just go about it the wrong way.

Because this knowledge of good and evil is this heavy burden and the consequences are fascinating.

Because the text says now they're naked and they know it, their eyes are open and they're aware of their own nakedness and they're ashamed.

What a weird consequence.

Why doesn't fire just burn them up?

Why doesn't lightning strike them dead?

The earth doesn't open up and swallow them whole?

No, rather the consequences they're naked and now they know it.

What?

But you ever been around little kids who were like little kids and they run around the house naked?

They just they don't care, right?

You ever seen an adult doing that Besides yourself?

Maybe?

I don't know about you.

In fact, if you had a little kid running around the house naked and you were to snap your fingers and make them 30 years old in that moment, their first reaction would probably they might sew together some fig leaves and cover themselves up.

You know what I'm saying?

Because kids are naked and they're unaware of it and when you grow up, there's this awakening, this leaving the garden, this leaving, leaving paradise experience this morally conscious, more conscious awareness of morality, and things are different now, all of a sudden.

It's this heavy burden to carry and so, because they now know they're naked, they hide.

My favorite part of the story God comes to them.

What kind of God is this?

This Elohim?

It's the God who comes to people when they're hiding.

So if you're hiding, that's good news, maybe for you to hear.

So God comes to them and says hey, where are you?

Like God didn't know where they were.

Was he unaware?

Did he not see them?

Like, if God is everywhere, how could he, how do you hide from God?

Are they like master hide and seekers?

What's going on here?

In fact, the great Philo writes this about this story.

It's a, it's a mind-boggling question.

He says why does he, who knows all things, ask Adam, where are you?

Why would he ask that?

God knows all things?

Apparently, the words appear to not be a question, but maybe a kind of a threat or reproach.

I don't love the word threat, but you get the idea.

It's like it's something different.

He's asking them where are you now and from what good have you removed yourself?

Oh man, see, where are you.

God is asking adam where have you gone?

What'd you do?

What's happened?

These are deeply existential questions on a deep level where are you?

And also like, how will you handle this new state of reality?

What?

What are you going to do now?

Man and woman, adam and Eve, the mother of all life, what will you do now, now that you're awake in this, how will you carry this burden?

Where have you gone?

What now?

What are we going to do with this thing, this mess?

And if the poet is asking this of Adam and Eve, the poet is also asking that of us.

So, where are you?

Where are you?

Where have you gone?

Why are you hiding?

What are you hiding?

What are you hiding from the cure?

By the way, this is one great psychologist who says the cure for being awake, the antidote for being awake, is not to go back to sleep, it's to keep going to become even more awake.

I know this is a heavy burden to carry this moral conscious, this being self-conscious, being naked.

And now you're exposed, knowing your own vulnerabilities, your own shortcomings, your own wayward ways and being aware of all.

I know it's a heavy burden, but don't go back to sleep.

What's next?

What will we do now?

And I find it interesting that the one person who can help them is God, and the animals can't help.

Adam and Eve.

The trees can't really help them, only God can, and yet when he they hear him coming, they hide why you got.

Was God mean to them earlier?

I'll close with this story.

My daughter, addison.

When she was about four or five, I had gotten this like little toy out of a uh uh quarter, like a gumball machine, and uh, it was like 25 cents, meaningless, worthless piece of junk, you know.

But I kind of liked it, it was whatever.

Well, she was playing.

She had to play with it too.

And one day I came home from work and katie was like hey, addison, uh is the bedroom and she's really afraid you're gonna be mad at her.

I go why would I be mad?

I just got home from work.

She goes well, when you were at work she was playing with your toy, that 25 cent thing out of the gumball machine, and she broke it and she feels terrible about it.

I'm like why?

Who cares?

It's a stupid gumbo.

She's like I don't know.

I'll go talk to her.

So we walk back into her room and I open her door and on her bed is this blanket of hers.

It's in the very same shape and size as my daughter, addison, and I just thought to myself oh my gosh, how long has she been under there?

Does she have like a snorkel or something?

How can she breathe?

It's so hot, I'm sure.

And why is she hiding from me, like, where did you go?

Where are you?

Also, I can still see you.

So I pulled the blanket off of her and she's just sweating and crying and I hit her face, like humans are often prone to do, and I just wrap my arms around her and I say, addison, it's going to be okay, it'll be fine.

See, this is the God who begins a relationship with fallen humanity, not by being more angry at them or wagging his finger in their faces.

There are consequences, of course, of course, but he seeks them out.

Where did you go?

What are you doing?

What are we going to do now, these ones who have hidden from God and sewn together fig leaves to hide their nakedness?

God goes and finds them.

The Apostle Paul writes many years later, while we were yet sinners and maybe hiding, having sewn together fig leaves to cover our nakedness.

While we were there, christ died for us.

Central, may you hear the call of God this morning, even in your nakedness and your shame and your guilt and your hiding, and you hear God whisper to you.

Where are you?

And you hear the call to come home because, while you were yet a sinner, Christ died for you.

Amen.