Sermon on Genesis 1-2:3

Pastor Jennifer Garcia

As we begin our yearlong theme of Sabbath for 2024, I wanted to start with a sermon series on what the Bible says about Sabbath. From now until Lent, we’ll be exploring some parts of the Bible that we don’t always spend a lot of time on—passages about Sabbath, Jubilee, and rest.

And where better to start than The Beginning?

This is one of the better-known passages we’ll be looking at. But we often look at it for what it says about what God created and our place in the world and our relationship with creation. We gravitate toward the beautiful imagery of God calling things into existence and the drama of “Let there be light!” We read with delight about God creating humanity in God’s image. But we rarely focus on God resting and what that means for our practice of Sabbath.

But the conclusion of the creation story is when God rested and enjoyed what God had made.

This is an amazing story. When we look at creation stories from other cultures in that area at that time, we see gods creating the world and humanity by accident or for the purpose of having servants. In Genesis, we see God calling forth heavenly bodies and arranging the sea and the sky—intentionally, with purpose and beauty.

And God calls all of it good.

And then, God creates humanity in God’s own image and entrusts these human creations with the care and keeping of the good world God had made. And God saw that it was very good.

And certainly the creation of humanity seems to be the climax of the story—the completion of creation at which time God called it “very good.”

But that’s not where our story ends. It doesn’t end with the sixth day and the completion of what God created. The story doesn’t end until God rests. And God doesn’t just collapse on the sofa and hide from the world, exhausted. God rests intentionally, setting aside that time for rest and enjoyment. God blesses and hallows the seventh day because God rested on that day. The day of rest has God’s special blessing on it.

There’s an organization called The Bible Project, and they release educational videos about the Bible. They have a really great one on Sabbath that I’m hoping to show you soon. In it, they observe that on each of the first six days of creation, it reads, “and there was evening and there was morning, the [first, second, or whatever] day.”

But that doesn’t happen on the seventh day. It’s like the seventh day never ends. The Bible Project folks argue that it’s because that state of rest and enjoyment is how creation is supposed to be always. The initial work of creation was complete, and the world was ready to enjoy for the rest of time.

And we don’t earn that. Humanity had barely existed before God called all creation to rest and commune with God.

Similarly, Jesus had just come on the scene in our reading from the Gospel of Mark today. He hadn’t risen from the dead, healed anyone, cast out any demons, collected any followers, or even taught anyone anything. And yet, when he came up out of the water after being baptized, the voice of God came from the torn-apart heavens and said, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

God was “well-pleased” with Jesus? He hadn’t done anything yet!

If that sounds a little cold, like Jesus’ existence wasn’t enough and he had to prove his worth, remember that next time your inner critic starts whispering that you’re not good enough or that you have to prove yourself to the world.

It’s only after Jesus is fortified by his identity affirmed in baptism that he goes out into the wilderness and withstands all kinds of temptations.

Jesus didn’t please God because of what he did or how much he sacrificed. Jesus pleased God because of his very identity as a beloved child of God.

This is why we’re beginning our Sabbath journey here: beginning at The Beginning.

Sabbath can easily become an obligation, another “to-do” on our list, or another reason to feel guilty when we don’t follow it like we want.

But that’s not what Sabbath is about. We don’t have to earn rest, just as we don’t have to (and indeed, can’t) earn God’s love.

Yes, Sabbath is a practice, but it’s a practice rooted in our identity as children of God who live secure in God’s love and enjoyment of us and the world we live in.

We practice it, because we so easily forget who we are and whose we are. I’ve heard of yoga and meditation teachers who remind their students that it’s called a yoga practice or a meditation practice, not a “yoga perfect” or a “meditation perfect.”

Let’s cultivate our Sabbath practice this year, not to make us more perfect people or to please God more or to check off another item on our spiritual to-do list. Let’s practiceSabbath: let’s experiment with different ways to rest, let’s play more, laugh more, breathe more, nap more, feel the sun on our faces more and the grass under our feet more. Not out of obligation or even because it’s good for us (though it is), but because we are God’s, and this is God’s creation—made to delight in.

I invite you,if it’s comfortable to do so, to plant your feet on the floor. Imagine the ground under your feet supporting you, grounding you. Now, I invite you to take your finger and draw the sign of the cross on your forehead. Now repeat after me:

“I am God’s beloved child.

God is well-pleased with me.”

Beloved children of God, God had you in mind even at the creation of the world. It is not possible for God to love you any more than God already does. Nothing you have ever done or ever will do can change that.

God delights in you and in creation and invites you to do the same. Our Sabbath practice is grounded in our identity as children of God.

Rest well, beloved.