Sermon by Herman Kauffman
Blue River Church of the Brethren
February 10, 2002

In the Beginning

Genesis 1:1-5, 31; 2:1-3

John 1:1-8

In the beginning ... and make no mistake about it, this is a day of new beginnings.

Today marks a new beginning for Larry and Barbra and their family. They have moved into a new home in a new community. They now begin the process of finding a new doctor and dentist, a new grocery store and shopping opportunities. They have new neighbors and will begin to make new friends. Today Larry and Barbra have become members of a new church family and Larry will be installed as the youth pastor of a new congregation.

And yes, I mean to say a new congregation because today also marks a new beginning for the Blue River Church of the Brethren. You are not the same congregation that you were last week. Today you have received new members and today you install a new youth pastor. Today you are a new congregation - one that has never existed before with this same combination of people. Does that mean that whatever problems you had a month ago or a week ago will disappear? Of course not. But if we are serious about making this a new beginning, why not new beginnings at problem-solving as well and why not begin some new, creative ministries together?

In the beginning ... note how both Genesis, the first book of the Bible, and The Gospel of John open with these same three words, "In the beginning...." They seem to me a fitting sermon theme for Installation Sunday. I invite you this morning to reflect with me on some installation lessons they may provide for us on this special Sunday of new beginnings.

Reading again from Genesis 1:1: "In the beginning God..."

Lesson 1 In the beginning when there was nothing else, there was what? God. God was in the beginning. As we continue to read through the Creation Story of Genesis 1, we find that God is central to all of creation. As we read the opening lines of John's Gospel with its reference to Jesus as the Word, we discover the affirmation that God was in the beginning and "the Word was with God, and the Word was God." And note next the affirmation of the early church reflected through John's writing, "All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being." In the beginning God.... God is central to all of creation.

Secondly, God is central to all of Life. If you will continue reading through Genesis ... through the story of the first sin where the relationship between God and humans is broken by human selfishness and desire for power ... through the story of the Great Flood and the scattering of the nations ... through God's call to Abraham ... through God's covenant with a chosen people ... you will see that God is central to all of Life. John echoes that affirmation as he writes, "What has come into being in him was life...." In the beginning God .... God is central to all of creation and God is central to all of Life.

Thirdly, God is central to new beginnings. You cannot read the story of the Great Flood without understanding that God was offering humanity a new beginning. Read the story of Jacob, how he tricked his brother Esau and father Isaac and ran away from home. And then many years later we read how God led Jacob back toward home and brother Esau and Jacob's famous all-night wrestling match ... where God gives Jacob not only a new name, Israel (for you have struggled with God and with humans and have prevailed) but a new beginning. The Bible is filled with stories of new beginnings. John's Gospel is an account of Jesus and the new beginning he offers to each one of us. In the beginning God .... God is central to all of creation, God is central to all of Life, God is central to our new beginnings.

Today, I want to remind us that God is central to the ministry we do together.

The ministry of a congregation and its pastors needs God at the center of all we do. The purpose of this ministry is to bear witness to God and not to ourselves. As Christopher Sauer reminded the early Brethren nearly 300 years ago, this ministry is "For the Glory of God and our neighbor's good."

In the Gospel reading we are told that "there was a man sent from God, whose name was John". Today, this congregation welcomes a man sent from God named Larry. Like John many years ago, Larry himself is not the light nor the savior, but comes to bear witness to the light, to Jesus the Christ. The ministry we are about together is not our ministry. We seek to continue the work of Jesus. We must keep God central in this ministry we work at together, even as God is central to all of creation, all of Life and to all new beginnings.

The first Lesson is: In the beginning God ....

Lesson 2 "In the beginning God created...." God's creativity is the central theme in the Genesis creation stories. It was God's creativity that brought into being something out of nothing. It was God's creativity that brought order out of chaos and light out of darkness. It was God's creativity that brought the world as we know it into being with the sun, moon, and stars, with birds and fish, with plants and animals ... and with human kind created in the very image of God.

And what does it mean for you and I to be created in the very image of God? We could list a number of attributes, I suppose, but among them should be the recognition that you and I are to reflect the creativity of God.

This new beginning we are about today cries out for our best creativity. It is easy for both pastors and congregations and yes, even youth groups, to get stuck in ruts ... and when we do it is much easier to remain stuck than to find creative solutions to our problems. But new beginnings call for our best creative thinking so that we may yet become all that God has created us to be.

May God bless your new beginning together this day with the gift of creativity. As in the beginning God created, so may you in this beginning seek to reflect the creativity of God in all you do.

Our second lesson for today is creativity. "In the beginning God created...."

Lesson 3 "In the beginning God created ... and it was good." We are quick to note that what God created was affirmed as being good. Not only is that the affirmation passed down from generation to generation, but the affirmation is that God named it as good.

New beginnings call for positive affirmation. When your new new youth pastor does something well - whether it be in a bible study, a work project, a visit with youth and parents, or a creative, new idea - send him a note of appreciation, give him a phone call, or just tell him that it was good.

And Larry, don't forget to show your appreciation for a kind word, a helpful deed, or for the creativity shown by members of this congregation for the good of the youth and the church. When members have done good work, don't forget to affirm their efforts.

A new beginning is a bit like buying a new car - no one wants to cause the first scratch or dent in the new car - and no one wants to make the first mistake that threatens a new relationship. But I will tell you now, mistakes will happen.

Sooner or later, Larry will do or say something that offends someone. And sooner or later, one of you will say something you wish you could take back because it comes out all wrong. And that's ok, mistakes will happen. This new relationship will experience its share of scratches and dents, but remember that good, creative results often arise out of our mistakes.

I have heard it said that behind Thomas Edison's workshop was a pile of rubble - the mistakes and failures he made on the way to a new and good creation. So it is with the church, if we were are going to be creative and on the cutting edge of ministry we need to give ourselves permission to make some mistakes. Otherwise, we will sit back and do nothing - always living in fear of making a mistake and being criticized for that mistake. Let the church remember that we are not a perfect people but a forgiven people.

Lesson number three, today, is to give yourselves permission to make a mistake and remember to give affirmation when the end results are good. "In the beginning God created ... and it was good."

Lesson 4 Genesis 2:3 brings our final lesson from the text for this day: "God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all the work that he had done in creation." Our final lesson is about rest. For six days God labored over his creation ... but on the seventh day God rested.

Listen carefully, Church! Work hard and creatively, with God at the center of all you do, and do ministry that can be affirmed as good ... but don't forget to rest. In times of new beginnings, it is tempting to push ourselves too hard. You have been waiting a while now for a new youth pastor to arrive and may well be ready to move ahead with full steam. Likewise it is tempting for a new pastor to come into a congregation and work hard ... they want to make a good first impression. And perhaps I should add that the "burnout rate" for youth pastors is especially high. Listen, Church, don't over do it! Take a lesson from God who knew the necessity of rest.

Not only did God rest on the seventh day, we are told that God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it.... That means God made it a special day.

Our final lesson for today is to be reminded that on the seventh day God rested. To this day, we who reflect the very image of God are given permission to rest and ...

On our day of rest, our beginning day of the week, we gather together to tell the stories of the One who was in the beginning, who was central to all of Creation, who is central to all of Life, who is with us in all our new beginnings, and who is central to our ministry together.

On our day of rest, our beginning day of the week, we gather together to worship a creative God, One who made us in the very image of God, and called us to be creative in our ministry together.

On our day of rest, our beginning day of the week, we gather together to celebrate the goodness of God, and to affirm that being together as the People of God is indeed very good.

In the beginning God created ...

and it was good.

Today, in this new beginning,

may God be central in the ministry we do together

as we seek to reflect God's creativity,

so that together we may say with God,

"It is good. It is very good."

Amen.