SermonStudio

In the beginning, Adam and Eve were living happily ever after. They were the first human family. They were created in the image of God. God's name in those days was Elohim, which means "God." God told them to be fruitful and multiply. The human family was destined to grow and become.

Strange are the ways of Elohim, for Elohim is a God of adventure and imagination and curiosity. He created things not even being sure how they would turn out. They would just become. It was the holy genius of creation. Elohim simply thought and something popped out. It was wonderful! It was awesome! It was divinely unpredictable!

Elohim was so good at this "creating" that he decided to create something that was like him: something that would enjoy curiosity, adventure and spontaneity as much as he did. Well, out popped Adam and Eve, and they became a family.

Adam and Eve delighted in the world God had created. They went around discovering and adventuring. Elohim told them they could become anything they wanted. They could do anything they wanted, because God had placed in them his own imagination, creativity and sense of adventure. "To all of this," Elohim said, "there is just one condition. I am God, and you are not. The only limit you have is that; I am your God. Simple enough? It's not? Well, let me put it another way. You see that tree over there? That is the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. That is your limit. That tree separates me from you. You can eat of any tree you want, except that one. If you eat of that one, you die. Deal? Okay."

To Adam and Eve it all seemed simple enough. And death didn't seem to be real, so why worry about it? Besides, with everything else in the garden, there was no need to bother with that one tree.

Adam and Eve got along splendidly. They enjoyed discovering and adventuring together, and they talked about their adventures with great delight. As they lived together and adventured together, they grew and became. And as they became, they rejoiced in being human, for to be human was never to stay the same. Each day was an adventure in creation. As they interacted with the world around them, the delights of creation amazed and transformed them. Adam and Eve grew up. They were responsible. They responded to the creation around them, and as they responded newness poured out of every corner. It was a delightful time to be a human family.

Then, one day, Elohim ran into Satan.

We don't know where Satan came from. That's the way stories are. They don't always explain, they just describe what is real. Now, Satan was a real devil. His job was to keep things from becoming. Satan believed in limits and keeping things the same. He didn't believe in becoming. Satan was the inventor of boredom.

So, Elohim ran into Satan one day, and Satan said, "Say, Elohim, nice creation you've got here. How do you keep up with it all? Nothing ever seems to be the same, and there's no way to predict what will happen next. Do you ever wonder if this spontaneous adventure thing might go too far? How will you know if your creatures become like you, which means they would have to put up with the likes of me! Take Adam and Eve over there. They are a lot like you. But then, they have limits, don't they? They know they are not God, don't they? I have to hand it to you, Adam and Eve are a real piece of work!

"But, Elohim, what if they did become like you? What would happen to them then?"

That made Elohim think. Putting limits on his creation was against his nature, for he was a God of becoming and possibility. All Elohim really wanted was for his creation to love him. In fact, that was so important to him that it meant he had to allow for the possibility that his human creation would NOT love him.

So, Elohim stated his position clearly to Satan. "I am Elohim, the God of becoming, curiosity, adventure and delight. I cannot compromise that, even if it means losing that which I love." And that was all that Elohim said.

That made Satan think. How can I trick humanity into doing something that is essentially against his or her nature? How can I get them willingly to choose limits: make them choose to be stuck and enable them to see life as boring? Suddenly Satan had a brainstorm.

"I've got it! I will limit them by simply offering them unlimited possibility! I will tempt them across the boundary that separates them from God and I will use the curiosity of the Creator to do it. A devilish plan, if I do say so myself!"

So, Satan waited patiently for the proper moment, until one day it happened. Eve was wandering near the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, oblivious to Satan's presence. Silently he moved close to her and plied her with a question that questioned God himself. "Did God say," he asked, "that you shall not eat from any tree in the garden?" Eve was startled by the question. Maybe God didn't have it right, after all!

So Eve stated that part of God's limitation that she most deeply believed. "We may not eat of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, or we will die."

"You won't die!" Satan said. "You will only have 'unlimited possibility.' "

So, Eve crossed the boundary between good and evil. And Adam as well. At that moment, life began to change. It became scary, because it contained both good and evil. Life became filled with fear, blame, shame and pain. It became an awful choice. One could choose not to risk, and keep things the same, denying what Elohim had created one to be; or one could choose to risk. Risking brought back the thrill of becoming, but because humanity now saw life with eyes that could see both good AND evil, they couldn't be certain how things would turn out. Fear led to limits, and limits led to sameness and boredom. Satan smiled. His plan was complete.

From generation to generation, this fear was passed on. Parents looked at children and, though they were filled with the love of Elohim, the creator God, for their children, they saw the risk involved in their "becoming." And they were afraid. Consequently, children learned to fear, like their parents. Life became filled with rules: tons of rules! Rules were intended to hide the fear. They were a safety net against failure. They also limited curiosity, adventure and becoming.

Rules began to rule on what one could become. So afraid did humans become that they willingly chose boredom and sameness. This boredom caused frustration because to stay the same and be bored was not the nature of humanity. Humans began to fight and blame each other. They couldn't figure out why they were so unhappy.

So humans left their families and started new families. New Adams met new Eves and fell in love. They hoped they could save one another from the boredom of life and the many rules. They simply sought to become.

But after a while they became afraid, because to risk in a world with good and evil in it meant the possibility of failure. And rather than risk, which could mean failure or the possibility of growth, they chose limits, rules and boredom. They began to fight and blame one another for their lack of happiness. They were no longer able to respond in creative and playful ways. They were no longer "response-able" to challenge, risk and newness. Relationships began to die. Families suffered.

Of course, this life was not at all what Elohim intended. Families were places where the spirit of adventure, creativity and curiosity were to be taught and nourished. So, over and over again, Elohim stated his position to his creation:

In my image you are to become. The only limit is that I am God and you are not. It is when you forget this that you end up on the dark side. For you seek from each other that which only I can give. You are not gods.

Do not turn to your husband or wife, child, mother or father, and make them responsible for your happiness. That happiness, joy, curiosity, and sense of adventure which is life itself is my gift to you. Each of you is to use that gift for the benefit of the other, but you are not to seek that gift from one another. That is the limit of living with me, Elohim, the Lord your God.

____________

Author's Note:

Rolf Morck, the author of this story, is pastor of Bethlehem Lutheran Church, near Wausau, Wisconsin.