It’s Not Good to Be Alone - A Sermon for Pentecost 19B (Genesis 2)
 |
| Adam and Eve in the Garden - Creation - Songea Cathedral, Tanzania |
The film, Cast Away, is a modern-day retelling of Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe. In the film, a FedEx plane goes down over the South Pacific and Chuck Noland, who is a FedEx executive played by Tom Hanks, is the only survivor. After he survives the crash, Noland is determined to live long enough to get rescued. He survives his ordeal in part because he develops a friendship with a volleyball with a face he drew with his own blood. Since the ball was produced by the Wilson sporting goods company, he named the ball Wilson. This ball becomes Noland’s conversation partner and companion.
The film came out in 2000 so I don’t think I need to worry about spoilers. You’ll be glad to know that the film ends on a happy note. Noland tried for months to get the attention of passing ships and planes, but no one came to rescue him. So Chuck built a raft, loaded all the packages he had saved from the wreckage of the plane, and headed out to sea hoping that if he could reach the shipping lanes a passing ship would spot him. Almost everything goes as planned because he does get rescued. Unfortunately, Noland’s beloved companion, the volleyball he named Wilson was lost at sea when a storm came up and Wilson was swept overboard. This loss devastated him because Wilson might be a volleyball, but he had become a partner in his journey to safety. This relationship, although it was imaginary, gave him hope and comfort because without Wilson he would have been alone, and according to Genesis, that is not a good place to be.
The second creation story begins when God created the first human from the dust of the earth and placed him in the Garden. And everything was good, except that God discovered that was something was missing. While the human might have a relationship with the Creator, God realized that the Human was lonely. Now God had declared at every previous point in the creative process that things were good, but this time God said: “It’s not good that the human is alone.” And so God said: “I will make him a helper as his partner.”
I’m not an engineer, but I assume that it’s one thing to recognize a problem and another thing to figure out a solution. What God discovered is that whether we are introverts or extroverts, ultimately we need companions who are like us. So, while our relationship with God is essential to our well-being that relationship by itself cannot sustain us. Although God quickly recognized the problem it took a while before God found a solution to the problem. So, God did a bit of experimenting.
God first formed a series of animals from the ground and birds from the sky. God brought each of them to the Human to see if any of these creations would do the trick. Unfortunately, none of them fit the bill. Now, I realize that dogs and cats and even birds can be wonderful companions, but they don’t take the place of human companionship. So, each time God presented an animal or bird to the Human, the Human gave them names. When God finished this work of creation, God realized that the Human still lacked a partner or companion who was like him.
God had populated the earth with all kinds of birds and animals, but the Human was still alone. This wasn’t good. So, God decided to try something radical. While God created the first Human from the ground, just like the animals, this time God took material directly from the Human. God first put the Human to sleep and then took a rib and fashioned it into the woman. When God finished fashioning the woman from the rib, God presented her to the man. And the man instantly knew that God got it right this time. Here was the perfect companion. Here was the helper who would be his life partner.
The man was overjoyed when he saw the woman, who would not only be his companion but also was his equal. Here was a person like him with whom he could fully share his life. He responded by shouting with joy and gratitude: "This one finally is bone from my bones and flesh from my flesh. She will be called woman because from a man she was taken." (Gen. 2:23 CEB). Finally, God could say “It is Good.”
In making this declaration, the man recognized that the woman shared his identity as a human being. He understood that they belonged together. Chapter two of Genesis closes with familiar words that are often spoken at weddings: “Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh” (Gen. 2:28 NRSV).
Although I often refer to this passage in weddings, this morning I’d like for us to see in this word a message that goes beyond marriage. Even if the word about becoming one flesh has sexual connotations, I also think it speaks to the sense of incompleteness that happens if we cut ourselves off from relationships with other humans.
So, instead of preaching a sermon about marriage, I want to focus on our inherent human need for community. We need to have companions and partners in life who are like us; who share our humanity; who are our equals. This is true even if we are by nature introverts. So, while I enjoy spending time alone, but there comes a point when I need to be with other people.
I think we have learned how true this is during COVID. We may have found ways of connecting through Zoom or phone calls, but I think we all came to miss being together with others. During the early days of the pandemic, I had my family at home to talk with as well as the staff at the church. But not everyone was as fortunate as I was to have true human contact. So, maybe we’ve discovered anew what God discovered: “It is not good that the man should be alone.”
As I reflected on this passage, one particular memory came to mind. During the summer after I finished college I was hired to pull brush on a piece of property up in the mountains of eastern Oregon. So for the next month, I spent Monday through Friday tucked away high up in the mountains, miles from the closest human being. While I wasn’t quite as desperate for companionship as Chuck Nolan, I found great joy in returning to civilization and human companionship each weekend! While it was beautiful up there in the mountains, I discovered the truth of Genesis 2. It’s not good for humans to be alone!
Although this is World Communion Sunday and we’re delaying communion until next Sunday because Pastor Dan is absent, this passage speaks to the message of World Communion Sunday. So, even though we will until next Sunday to share the elements of communion, we can reflect on the connection between the message of Genesis 2 and the meaning of this sacrament of remembrance.
The Lord’s Supper is a sacrament of community. When we share this meal, we remember how Jesus gathered his disciples to share a meal before he went to the cross. Now, that was a full meal and not just a piece of bread and a cup of juice. According to the Synoptic Gospels, this was a Passover meal. While this is true, the Gospels are full of stories about Jesus’ sharing meals with his disciples and many others. We also read this in the Book of Acts about the believers in Jerusalem “46 Every day, they met together in the temple and ate in their homes. They shared food with gladness and simplicity. 47 They praised God and demonstrated God’s goodness to everyone. The Lord added daily to the community those who were being saved.” (Acts 2:46-47 CEB). There is also the promise in the Lord’s Supper that points us forward to the great wedding banquet described in the Book of Revelation (Rev. 19:6-10). Each of these stories reminds us that to be in Christ is to be in community.
As you look around today, ask yourself—is it good for humans to be alone? Or do we need to be in a relationship with others? How might the meal we share here in the sanctuary connect us to other meals we share with family and friends, co-workers, and strangers? Even though we have to wait a week to share the elements of Holy Communion, we can still share in fellowship with one another and affirm God’s declaration that “it’s not good for the Human to be alone.”
Preached by:
.
Dr. Robert D. Cornwall
Supply Preacher
First Presbyterian Church
Troy, Michigan
October 3, 2021
Pentecoste 19B
Image attribution: Adam and Eve in the Garden - Creation, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=57387 [retrieved October 2, 2021]. Original source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/dominikkustra/4013203751.
Comments