From Seeds to Seeing

Genesis is a fancy word for beginning, so it makes sense that we began preschool chapel this year beginning with the Creation story found in the book of Genesis. The kiddos learned about the order that everything was created, according to the ancient tradition written around 3500 years ago. If you read any children’s Bible, you’ll learn that on the third day, God created the plants. Technically speaking, on the third day, God created “zera,” which is the Hebrew word for seed. God didn’t create plants; God created the seeds of plants. This notion becomes convoluted when translated into English.

Why does this matter? Because it implies that what God created was not complete. God did not simply create things, God created things that create things. This is an important distinction! All that is living exists as co-creators with God. This is how we are connected, to trees, to animals, to our fellow humans. When we treat the planet as ours to exploit, we are derailing God’s design. When we commit the genocide of a people, we are no longer co-creating, we are destroying.

What God created was creators. We are called to form something beautiful, grounded in love. The earth is not a dead thing for us to claim, it is living. The earth is creating alongside us. Can we see the beauty around us? Can we see the beauty within our neighbors, the beauty of those who do not look and think like us?

Recently, I attended a prayer vigil surrounded by God’s Creation. It was led by Betty Osceola, a local Native American leader of the Miccosukee tribe. The diversity of people gathered to pray was its beauty. The people were of every race, religion, and age. We prayed not in a building, but among the cypress, mangrove, and willow trees. We are all connected on this sacred ground.

Increasingly, we become too comfortable with our anger. Too often, all we know is doubt and fear. No one desires to live this way, but the only way beyond it is to march through it. See, we are still creators when we are angry, fearful, and cynical. The problem is that what we are creating is not of God. When we appeal to our worst impulses, the seed that God once planted grows into a poisonous ivy that suffocates its surroundings. It may sound simple, but I know that we cannot have a relationship with God if we cannot see God.

God created the seeds. All that God has created is identified as good in our origin story! It is up to us to see the image of God in all that is around us. God lives in you. God lives in me. God lives in the trees. God lives in everything that we see!

With open eyes,

Pastor Lucas

Photo by Maxwell Ridgeway