Illustration by John Kahionhes Fadden (Mohawk)
Karen Hollis | September 17, 2023
Creation 3
Genesis 1, selections: And God said, ‘Let the waters under the sky be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.’ And it was so. Then God said, ‘Let the earth put forth vegetation: plants yielding seed, and fruit trees of every kind on earth that bear fruit with the seed in it.’ And it was so. And God said, ‘Let the waters bring forth swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the dome of the sky.’ God blessed them, saying, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.’ And God said, ‘Let the earth bring forth living creatures of every kind: cattle and creeping things and wild animals of the earth of every kind.’ And it was so. Then God said, ‘Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.’ God said, ‘See, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.’ And it was so. God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
And Skywoman Falling from Braiding Sweetgrass
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be reflections of your word to us today, in Christ’s name we pray. Amen
As humans, we are tied to story. Knowing our story is a basic human need. We have a need to know the story of our lives, our ancestors, our culture. We have a need to know the story of Earth, our home, and how this world came to be. When a piece of these stories are missing, there is a hole in us where the story should be. So, we tell and retell stories. Remember for a moment some of the stories told and re-told in your family. Perhaps they are told around the dinner table, as a ritual of hello or goodbye, told at church, around campfires, with children in our laps. The stories tell us who we are and how we came to be.
We’re in a little bit of a unique position here on Turtle Island, because the stories that are indigenous to this land are not our stories. And the stories told by our faith tradition come from the ancient cultures of a distant land. The story from Genesis 1 utilizes creation stories and cosmologies of Egypt and Mesopotamia . . . it seems the ancient stories were adapted to Israelite theology and included in the larger creation narratives.1 They belong to that place,2 today’s Israel/Palestine . . . and yet have circled the world and offered their wisdom to peoples on every continent. They were translated and introduced to the ancestors of many of us in Europe and Great Britain . . . and traveled with immigrants to North America.
In the oral tradition, stories are more flexible to evolve over time as the conditions of life change, people change, surroundings change, or as people migrate. Genesis 1 was written down a long time ago when Judaism was going through one of its formative stages. It comes from the Priestly source, which is one of the dozen or so sources that were used to create The Torah (which is the 5 books of Moses: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy). The Priestly source was a text formed for liturgical use in an exiled community during the Babylonian exile of the 6th Century BCE. This was a community of exiled refugees, who found themselves in the same place. Even under these circumstances, they were determined to retain their Jewish identity. Theologian Walter Brugemman writes: Genesis 1 is “addressed to exiles. It served as a refutation of Babylonian theological claims. The Babylonian gods seemed to [be in] control [of] the future. They had, it appeared, defeated the dreams of the God of Israel [by conquering Israel]. Against such claims, [Genesis 1] [asserts] that Yahweh is still God, one who watches over [their] creation and will bring it to well-being.”3
We have always been taught that Genesis 1 is our origin story . . . Brueggemann suggests that it isn’t really. Honestly, I didn’t know that when I started writing this reflection. Instead, it’s a proclamation of who God is. Not only that, it’s a piece of liturgy for exiled Israelites, gathered in worship, to proclaim with united voices that this is our God: the God of Israel, who is in relationship with us and all of creation, we know this . . . and proclaim this regardless of our circumstances.
So this text is written through that lens. We sometimes want the text to be a teaching about our relationship with creation and how to be in a good relationship with the rest of creation, but this is not the lens through which the authors are writing. They’re not looking through a lens of union with creation, they’re looking through a lens of Jewish identity and survival. Through that lens, they see that humans have a particular role in creation . . . humans are different from plants and animals, and as such have a role and immense responsibility to help creation become what God intended.4 The authors use a word that is often translated dominion to describe this role. It’s a tough word to translate, because the corresponding words in English imply something that the Hebrew doesn’t intend. It’s not intended to give permission for abuse or exploitation.5 These exiled authors see humans as stewards of creation . . . like a shepherd tending sheep.
It also reminds me of the work of naturalist Tom Brown Jr., who learned from an Apache man how to live in harmony with the rest of creation. One can learn in Brown’s school how to tend to a forest . . . to help it flourish and thrive in ways the forest can’t on its own. This is stewardship. This is a relationship between human and forest for the benefit of all.
The word dominion was poorly translated, and the story given to us out of context. Our ancestors were handed a book and told it was the truth. If they wanted to remain in God’s favour they should live by it. While I’m not trying to blame anyone, I feel sad and frustrated sometimes at the ways scripture has been misunderstood and misused. (everyone breathe) Still, these are our stories and as we continue to learn about them, we can wrestle with them, understand them in new ways, and reclaim them. We can give thanks for what they are and acknowledge what they are not. Genesis 1 is not a story about how the world was created with guidance about our relationship with creation. It is a resource for worshipping communities to proclaim God’s relationship with creation, particularly humans. It reminds us that God is the ground of our being, steadfast and faithful always, regardless of our circumstances. This is crucial for us to remember, especially during these painful and uncertain times. Like our ancestors before us, we need this proclamation as part of our faith practice. And . . . this isn’t the only resource we need.
We also need stories that teach us about our place and relationship within creation. Our stories teach us the importance of this relationship, but they don’t teach us how to do that. Where are the available creation stories that teach about good relationship with the rest of creation?
Robin Wall Kimmerer offers to the world one such story: of Skywoman Falling. It’s an ancient story of the First Peoples of the Great Lakes. According to Kimmerer, it’s included in a collection of stories they call the Original Instructions. “These are not ‘instructions’ like commandments,” she writes, “rather, they are like a compass: they provide an orientation but not a map. The work of living is creating that map for yourself. How to follow the Original Instructions will be different for each of us and different for every era.”6 The stories give people the freedom to live into the teachings in their own way.
I love this story and I’m grateful to Kimmerer for sharing it for a couple of reasons.
First, I’m struck by the story itself: the eagerness and commitment of all the animals to help Skywoman and the dance of gratitude she offers in return. Without their help she certainly would have plunged into the sea . . . but because of their collective gifts, they created together a world of abundance. The story affirms that no individual creature has a greater importance than the others, rather it is their mindset that all are responsible to one another that grows the land all of us now call home.
Secondly, as immigrants and descendants of immigrants and colonizers, this story can help us become more naturalized to this land. Kimmerer explains that “being naturalized to place means to live as if this is the land that feeds you, as if these are the streams from which you drink, that build your body and fill your spirit . . . here you will give your gifts and meet your responsibilities . . . take care of the land as if our lives and the lives of all our relatives depend on it. Because they do.”7
As non-indigenous folk, we are called to become naturalized . . . to learn, to be in relationship, and to care for the land. So let us ask our God, who is with us and for us through all the stuff of life to help us find the stories and learn the teachings that will help us along the path of living well in this place. Thanks be to God.
1 The Jewish Study Bible, Jewish Publication Society, p. 10.; Brueggemann, Interpretation: Genesis, p. 24.
2 Learning to Die p. 11
3 Brueggemann, Interpretation: Genesis. p. 24-25.
4 Brueggemann, p. 32.
5 Brueggemann, 32.
6 Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass, p. 7
7 Braiding Sweetgrass p. 214-15.