Lafayette Ave. Presbyterian Church

Genesis 1 is the best picture of Shalom in the Bible (Lisa Sharon Harper is saying this, although I would agree that it is in the top 3).

But even in that text, we see sea monsters.  Israelites feared sea monsters, but Genesis affirms that God made them.

Why is the tree there?  In the midst of perfect relationships, why did God put the Tree of knowledge of good and evil in there?  Was God a sadist?

But the Garden was Lush–fountains flowed OUT of it (as opposed to through) and it was big.

Her lightbulb moment:  God is all about relationships.

Before creation, God was in community.

And God included creation in community.

And, Lisa asks:  What is necessary in a love relationship?

(We answer)

Love.  Trust.  Choice.

Lisa believes God put the tree in the middle of the garden so that it would be a reminder of the fact that they had to choose and trust God in order to have relationship.

In the middle of paradise, they were not complete without choice, or trust.

The tree is the equivalent of the “God shaped hole” that Pascal talked about.

Watch out!  Temptation is the counter-offer to God’s first offer of love.

Lisa’s temptation is often in the form of road rage, you have to be here to get the story.  I can only type so fast.  But choosing Shalom made all the difference.

Temptation is an indicator, a reminder, to come back to the love relationship that God established with us.  What if we saw it that way?

We would flee it and run towards a love of God.

In the garden, they have all they need.

Here, the tragedy of the fall is demonstrated in a play.  No way  to do it justice.  Sorry.  Best lines:  Man and woman, newly created, see each other and exclaim: “I love your hair.”

The point: the fall broke every relationship.

The rest of the Bible is God putting together the shalom that we broke.

Jesus was a shalom maker.  Jesus proclaimed it right away in Luke 4.  He spoke peace to systems, to the sea and the wind, to the woman at the well, demoniacs, zaccheaus–and then he beat death.

If Jesus can beat death, he can beat racism, inhumanity, slavery, torture–all the stuff that we say “Oh, pipedream!”  That’s what God intended.

And in Rev 22, there will just be ONE tree, and it will be in a city (not a garden) and the leaves of the tree will be for the healing of the nations.

The question isn’t whether God will bring shalom–he will, the question is whether we will be a part of it.

Responses from the panel will be in the next post.

My response?  Right on, absolutely true, and inspiring.  Not necessarily new, but this is an old story worth retelling, again and again.