It all began with an idea. It all began with a dream. And one of those who had the dream was Lloyd Crawford. He was the Chair of the Memorial Committee, and one day he looked around this Sanctuary and he said, “We’ve got to fix those old stained glass windows.” The windows were installed in 1939; placed in this sacred space in memory of cherished souls whom we’d loved and lost for a while. But over the years the windows had deteriorated. And more families were hoping to place memorial windows in the Sanctuary. The trouble was: where to put them? Someone had the creative idea of placing stained glass on the west wall of the Sanctuary and back-lighting them. Thus was created the Davis and Wanless windows over the Midland Avenue doors. But the older windows still needed to be repaired. Then Liz Lundy and some other folks had an idea: when we fix the 1939 windows, let’s place new windows within them! They figured that, as long as we have to fix the windows anyway, let’s do something creative! Lloyd agreed. And from this idea, from this dream, has come the beautiful windows – the Windows of Faith – which grace this sacred place.
In the beginning was the Idea, and the Idea was with God, and the Idea was God (John 1:1). That’s essentially how John’s Gospel begins. In many English translation it reads, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” But where the English might be rendered “Word” or “Idea,” the original Greek text says, “Logos.” In the beginning was the Logos. And “logos” has to do with the expression of a thought; with embodying a concept or idea. In the beginning God had an idea, God had a vision; in the beginning God had a dream. In God’s dream there was a perfectly ordered universe: from clusters of galaxies to the tiniest sub-atomic particles; from the stars in the heavens to planets teeming with life. In the beginning, God had a dream. And all God had to do was express that dream – all God had to do was translate that dream into words – and it was so. “Let there be light,” God said. And there was light. “Let there be water and dry land,” God said. And the oceans and continents appeared. “Let the earth bring forth vegetation, and living creatures, and human beings,” God said. And it was so. And it was good. By God, it was very good.
Good things begin with ideas. And good ideas become flesh. That’s the message of both Genesis 1 and John 1. We worship a God of ideas. We worship a God of creativity. But since we are made in the image of God, we too are called to be people of ideas and creativity. We too are called to be dreamers like God: daring to dream things that have never been, and then doing the hard work and paying the high price to make them come true.
Lloyd Crawford was a dreamer. Lloyd Crawford was a man of ideas. Along with other folks, these windows of faith were his idea. Refurbishing the organ and purchasing these hymn books were dreams that were dear to his heart. Building a cottage was an idea which he brought to fruition. It was part of his dream of creating a place where his family could enjoy the beauty of God’s Creation. Lloyd Crawford was a dreamer. But he was also a doer. He knew how to envision projects, but he also knew how to create and complete them.
And he didn’t do it alone. I’m sure, Beryl, that you were a big part of the process. The onset of recession and the return of activist government have brought the name Franklin Delano Roosevelt back into the news. President Roosevelt is credited with the creativity which lifted the United States out of the Great Depression. But a lot of that creativity came from his wife, Eleanor. They were a team. Just like Beryl and Lloyd were a team. They dreamed together and worked together and transformed vision into reality together. And I want to thank you, Beryl, for your permission to reflect on the Crawford window this morning.
I think it was probably through nature, and the out-of-doors, that Lloyd was most deeply touched by the presence of God. That’s the case for many of us. Psalm 19 says, “The heavens are telling the glory of God” (Psalm 19:1), and who among us hasn’t been awe-struck by the sight of a star-filled sky on a summer’s night? That, my friends, is the handiwork of the Creator. Psalm 145 says, “Let every creature bless your holy name forever” (Psalm 145:21), and indeed every creature does bless God simply by showing forth their beauty. One night I was driving up to where Cora was serving a church in Grey County, and a young stag stepped out on the road. He had a small but already impressive rack of antlers, and he stepped across Highway 10 just as slow and as proud as could be. It was as if he was saying, “Who says the lion is the king of beasts?” It was magnificent. I might’ve enjoyed the scene even more if I hadn’t been standing on the brake pedal.
Such beauty comes only from God. Such a beautiful creature proclaims the handiwork of God and thus blesses God. You see, it was God who brought forth living creatures from the earth. And God said that it was good (Genesis 1:24-25).
There is so much about this window that brings to mind God’s presence in nature: The stars and the moon and the heavens proclaiming God’s glory. The deer, blessing God through its beauty. The meadow and the mountains, and immediately I’m transported to the White Mountains of New Hampshire or the Cascades of Washington. For eons the mountains have brought forth awe and praise and worship from the depths of the human spirit. It’s no wonder that the First Nations of the Prairies made pilgrimages to the Rocky Mountains. They viewed those wondrous peaks as a sacred place. It’s no wonder that the Ten Commandments are understood to have been given by God to Moses on Mt. Sinai, and that the Holy City – Jerusalem – is built high atop Mt. Zion.
But there’s something you need to know about those beautiful mountains which inspire us to praise God: they’re volcanoes. Certainly the Cascades are. Mt. Sinai might be. Don’t know about Mt. Zion, but the White Mountains as well were built-up partly through volcanic activity. None of that beauty would’ve been possible without violent eruptions. Creativity can be a messy process.
Which brings us to the apple. It’s down there at the bottom of the window, yielding its seed upon the earth in accordance with God’s vision. The fruit of God offering its seed so that the earth might continue to bear fruit, as described in Genesis 1:11-12. But if the apple brings to mind these verses from Genesis 1, it also brings to mind the second story of Creation, which is found in Genesis 2 and 3.
Did you know that there are two stories of Creation? In the first one, God creates the heavens and the earth in 6 days and then takes a break. In that story, humanity is created last. In the second story, God is maybe into multi-tasking because God seems to do it in just one day. “In the day when the Lord God made the earth and the heavens…” it says in Genesis 2:4. In the second story of Creation God does it all in one day, and humanity is created first. As Jayne said in the introduction to the Old Testament lesson, what we have here is story and poetry, not science. We have two stories which contradict each other in terms of the how of Creation, but that’s okay because the key point of these stories isn’t to tell us about the how of Creation; that’s what science does. Rather, these stories give us two different perspectives on why and Who of Creation; on the meaning and the purpose of Creation. And the apple tells us not only that the earth and all that inhabit the earth are called to bear fruit (that’s one of the lessons of Genesis 1), but also that sometimes you have to break a few rules and make up your own in the midst of that messy creative process; that’s one of the lessons of Genesis 2 and 3. This second story of Creation depicts a rigid and controlling and domineering God who seems to think that he should call all the shots and that humanity must rigidly obey him in lock step obedience to his strict rules. There’s nothing terribly creative about that. That casts men and women in the role of marionettes who simply respond to the God who pulls the strings and tells them what to do. But Genesis 1 depicts men and women who are created in the image of God, who are to be creative as God is creative, who are perhaps even to be co-creators with God. One way to understand Genesis 2 and 3 is that Eve has gotten a whiff of this more creative way of being a creature of God – this more interesting way of being a child of God – so she takes matters into her own hands. The old, rigid, domineering God has said that you mustn’t eat that yummy fruit on the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. But Eve seems to say, “God, how can you expect us to be creative, moral agents who reflect your image unless we have some of that knowledge?” So Eve gets a new idea. Eve makes up her own rules. Eve thinks outside the box and pushes the outside of that envelope. She takes a bite of that apple. And maybe the point of the story is that if you’re going to fulfill God’s vision, then sometimes you have to ignore the old rules and venture into new territory. If you’re going to be creative and fruitful then you have to trust your gut and strike out on your own. If you’re going to not only envision great projects but also bring them to completion, you have to gather around you some co-conspirators (that is to say, you have to gather a community of faith), like Eve recruited Adam, and then you just have to do it.
Whatever the second and older story of Creation might have meant when originally crafted more than 3,000 years ago, it has perhaps taken on a very different meaning when set just after the newer, first story, of Creation; placed their by creative editors maybe 1,000 years later. The older concept of God, which said that God sets the rules and if you just obey him, then everything will be okay; that older concept of God had proven to be inadequate and untrue. The destruction of Jerusalem in 587 BC said to some folks that you can be faithful and obey all the rules and still your life can fall apart. So they began to see that God isn’t so much a domineering rule maker as God is a creative, loving Spirit who moves in the midst of sometimes incredibly messy situations and dares us to cause a little chaos on the way to creating new and faithful relationships, and a new and faithful church, and a new and faithful social order.
In the beginning was the Idea, in the beginning was the Dream, in the beginning was the Vision, and the Vision was with God, and the Vision was God. And the Vision became flesh; not only in Jesus Christ, but visions become flesh in creative and hard working people like Lloyd and Beryl Crawford. Someone once said, “Happy are those who dream dreams, and are willing to pay the price to make them come true.” Happy and blessed are such folks, and they bless God through their creativity and their handiwork because as they transform those dreams into reality they are living out their calling as co-creators with God; as those who are made in the image of God.
It all began with an Idea. Amen.
Reflections on The Creation
Honouring the Memory of Lloyd Crawford
Text: Genesis 1:1-2
Preached by Bruce D. Ervin
26 July 2009
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