WISDOM FROM THE HEBREW SCRIPTURES
A Multigenerational Tapestry of Faith Program
WORKSHOP 8: CREATION
BY REV. THOMAS R. SCHADE GAIL FORSYTH-VAIL
© Copyright 2011 Unitarian Universalist Association.
Published to the Web on 9/30/2014 12:31:01 AM PST.
This program and additional resources are available on the UUA.org web site at
www.uua.org/religiouseducation/curricula/tapestryfaith.
WORKSHOP OVERVIEW
INTRODUCTION
We covenant to affirm and promote respect for the interdependent web of existence of which we are a part. — Unitarian Universalist Association Seventh Principle
This final workshop presents the very first story that appears in the Hebrew scriptures: the creation of the world. This passage was one of the later additions to the body of scripture, included after the Jewish people had returned home from their exile in Babylon. In this story, God is no longer the God of a particular people, but is rather the creator of all of the earth and sky, and of humanity itself. It is an extraordinary text in both its theology and poetic beauty. This text tells us that we are indeed kin, one to another and to all of creation.
This text is born of a time when the Jewish people, returned from exile two or three generations after the conquest of Jerusalem, sought guidance in their own history and traditions to reconstitute their society. It was an age when interpreting the text supplanted prophecy as a way to understand how to live in accordance with the Jewish covenant with God, a time in which the interpreters—scribes, priests, and others—turned to the text to find meaning and order for their society. Tasked with creating social order, they brought stories found in the cultural and religious traditions of the region into their own canon, adding stories that chronologically preceded the Abraham sequence. This creation story not only establishes our kinship one with another, it provides the scriptural basis for the central Jewish practice of keeping the Sabbath.
This workshop invites participants to appreciate the power and wisdom of this ancient creation story rather than deconstruct it in the light of scientific understandings of evolution. It asks: Who is the God that appears in this story, and how is God different from the God in other stories we have explored? What does it mean if we are all related? What wisdom is there for Unitarian Universalists in honoring Sabbath?
Before leading this workshop, review the Accessibility Guidelines for Workshop Presenters found in the program Introduction and make any accommodations necessary for your group.
GOALS
This workshop will:
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Participants will:
WORKSHOP-AT-A-GLANCE
Activity | Minutes |
Welcoming and Entering | 0 |
Opening | 5 |
Activity 1: Creation | 15 |
Activity 2: Retelling the Story | 15 |
Activity 3: Sabbath | 10 |
Activity 4: Explaining Small Group Options | 5 |
Activity 5: Discussion — Option 1 | 25 |
Activity 6: Creation Drama — Option 2 | 25 |
Activity 7: Creation Mural — Option 3 | 25 |
Faith in Action: Green Sanctuary | |
Closing | 15 |
Alternate Activity 1: Kinship Litany | 25 |
SPIRITUAL PREPARATION
If you are familiar with the first Creation story passage from Genesis, recall the circumstances under which you heard or read it. What meaning was ascribed to it? How did it make you feel?
Try to set aside the "culture wars" debate over the literal truth of the story as opposed to the scientific understanding of evolution. Find the beauty and poetry in the text, and its vision of human kinship.
Reflect on how you responded (or might have responded) to this passage as an eight-year-old child, a fourteen-year-old youth, or a young adult making your way in the world. Envision the way you will think about this passage when you are an elder, looking back on your life.
Bring each person in your group into your mind and hold them in appreciative thought and/or prayer.
WORKSHOP PLAN
WELCOMING AND ENTERING
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
As people arrive, introduce yourself and invite them to make a name tag and sign in.
OPENING (5 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Bring participants together and welcome them. Invite a volunteer to light the chalice as you share a favorite children's chalice lighting used by your congregation.
ACTIVITY 1: CREATION (15 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Using the information in Leader Resource 1, Creation Background Information, briefly set the stage for the story. Keep the background information brief, and offer copies of Leader Resource 1 to those who wish to take it home. Say, "This is a story about how the world and all its creatures, including people, began."
Read the story aloud.
ACTIVITY 2: RETELLING THE STORY (15 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Say, "In this story, many of the important elements are not people. We are all going to play all the parts. Shake out your arms and legs and head and neck and all the parts of you. You are going to need all of your imagination and all of your body to help tell the story. For each day of creation, you will act out being that which is created—the sun, the stars, the animals, the plants, and so on. We will use the center of our circle as the stage.
Reread the story, pausing after each day for participants to act it out. After the re-telling, invite participants to offer comments, observations, and insights about the passage.
ACTIVITY 3: SABBATH (10 MINUTES)
Description of Activity
Say, "At the time this story was told and written down, one of the most important elements was the idea that after six days of creating things, God rested. Jewish people still honor a tradition of keeping a Sabbath, or day of rest, every week. For Jews, that day is Saturday (from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday), and they observe that day by gathering with family or in the Temple and paying attention to important things such as being a good person, being thankful, and remembering that they are a people of God. Unitarian Universalists often observe Sunday as a special day." Guide a conversation with these questions:
ACTIVITY 4: EXPLAINING SMALL GROUP OPTIONS (5 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Explain options for small processing groups and point out breakout spaces. Explain that participants may choose any of the options that appeal to them. There is not one group for children, another for youth, and another for adults. All groups can have a mix of ages. Invite at least one adult or youth participant to take part in each breakout group, and ask those volunteers to set a tone that welcomes multigenerational participation.
ACTIVITY 5: DISCUSSION — OPTION 1 (25 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Invite participants to discuss the questions posted on newsprint. Use some of these questions to provoke, guide or further the discussion, as needed:
ACTIVITY 6: CREATION DRAMA — OPTION 2 (25 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Description of Activity
Invite the group to pretend that they are among the Jewish people newly returned from exile in Babylon. The scribes and priests have invited them to help tell the creation story by acting it out. Invite them to prepare a drama of creation to be offered at the closing worship, using lots of body movement and brightly colored fabrics to add interest to their production.
ACTIVITY 7: CREATION MURAL — OPTION 3 (25 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Invite participants to paint a creation mural. Ask participants to choose a section of the mural to paint, and ask the group to cover all seven sections. You might ask those who are older to move to the side of the table which requires them to paint upside down, while allowing younger ones to work right side up.
CLOSING (15 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Create a worship service, weaving together contributions from all of the breakout groups. Do not over-script the worship service, but rather create a worshipful "container" to hold all of the insights, thoughts, feelings, creations, and contributions of participants. At the end of the worship, thank all participants for being part of this series of workshops. Extinguish the chalice and read the words of Elizabeth Selle Jones, Reading 456 in the hymnbook, or choose a benediction or closing words familiar to participants. Distribute Taking It Home.
FAITH IN ACTION: GREEN SANCTUARY
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
If your congregation is a part of the Green Sanctuary program or is otherwise involved in earth stewardship projects, find out how you can participate. If your congregation is not involved in earth stewardship efforts, organize a project that will engage people of all ages in caring for the earth (e.g. a recycling project, a litter clean-up project, signs to remind people to turn off unused lights, and so on). Bring Green Sanctuary information to the attention of your congregation's leadership if they are not aware of such resources.
LEADER REFLECTION AND PLANNING
Take a few minutes to talk with your co-facilitator about how the workshop went, using these questions as a guide:
TAKING IT HOME
We covenant to affirm and promote respect for the interdependent web of existence of which we are a part. — Unitarian Universalist Association Seventh Principle
Watch the three-part Nova television series (at www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/evolution/whos-who-human-evolution.html) on human evolution and explore the website for updated information. Both the Hebrew scriptures and scientific discovery lead us to the understanding that all humans are kin. With your family or trusted friends, consider the ways in which you might honor that kinship in your daily life. What practices or habits of mind result from embracing this wisdom?
ALTERNATE ACTIVITY 1: KINSHIP LITANY (25 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Invite participants to create a litany for the closing worship that honors the fact that we are related to all that lives on our planet and to the earth and the universe itself. Explain that in this litany, each group will make lists of all the ways they are connected to all the parts of creation and after each list, the whole group will respond by saying together, "All these are connected to me." Work through an example with them, saying, "On the first day of creation, the story says that God created light and darkness, morning and evening. What are all the 'light' things you can name? And all the 'dark' things? Our scribe will write them down as you say them."
After all the thoughts have been recorded, explain that in the closing worship, one of the groups will read the list aloud, and then the whole group will say together, "All these are connected to me." Continue with each of the six days, asking the scribe to use a separate sheet for each day. If there are too many ideas or responses for some days (such as the days with plants or animals), suggest that each person only name their two favorites for the list. If you have time after creating the list, practice leading the litany. Invite those who are comfortable reading aloud to read one or more list, and those who cannot read or are uncomfortable reading, to join in the response after each list.
WISDOM FROM THE HEBREW SCRIPTURES: WORKSHOP 8:
STORY: CREATION
Genesis 1: 1-31; 2:1-4 (New Revised Standard Version)
In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. Then God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.
And God said, "Let there be a dome in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters form the waters." So God made the dome and separated the waters that were under the dome from the waters that were above the dome. And it was so. God called the dome Sky. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.
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. God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good. 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. The earth brought forth vegetation: plants yielding seed of every kind, and trees of every kind bearing fruit with the seed in it. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.
And God said, "Let there be lights in the dome of the sky to separate the day from the night; and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years, and let them be lights in the dome of the sky to give light upon the earth." And it was so. God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars. God set them in the dome of the sky to give light upon the earth, to rule over the day and over the night, to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.
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." So God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, of every kind, with which the waters swarm, and every winged bird of every kind. And God saw that it was good. God blessed them, saying, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let the birds multiply on the earth." And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.
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. God made the wild animals of the earth of every kind, and the cattle of every kind, and everything that creeps upon the ground of every kind. And God saw that it was good.
Then God said, "Let us make humankind in our own 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 every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth."
So God created humankind in his image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.
God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves 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.
---
Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all their multitude. And on the seventh day God finished the work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all the work that he had done in creation.
WISDOM FROM THE HEBREW SCRIPTURES: WORKSHOP 8:
LEADER RESOURCE 1: CREATION BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Although the story of the creation of the world is the first story that appears in the Torah, it was one of the later additions to the body of scripture, added after the Jewish people had returned home from their exile in Babylon. After nearly 50 years, the Babylonian kingdom had fallen to Cyrus of Persia, who reversed the Babylonian practice of keeping occupied nations under control by disrupting societies and exiling their leaders. Cyrus allowed local people to govern their own societies and engage in their own religious practices. He not only permitted the Jews to return to their homeland in 538 BCE, he assisted them with the rebuilding of the Temple.
Two or three generations had come and gone since the religious and civic leaders of the Jewish people had been exiled and their way of life and religious practices disrupted. Those who returned to their ancient homeland (not all did), faced the challenge of articulating what it meant to be Jewish and establishing laws and observances which would bring order to their society. For this, they turned to their own ancient texts, traditions, and stories, as well as to religious stories that they had encountered and added to their own during the time of the exile in Babylon.
In this post-exile time, interpreting the text supplanted prophecy as a way to understand how to live in accordance with the Jewish covenant with God. A revision of the Hebrew scriptures was undertaken: some stories were added and some stories were augmented with additional material. The Priestly Revision of the Bible was intended to make the Israelite religion more religious and less political. After all, the theory that Yahweh guaranteed the political fortunes of Israel and Judah had been disproven by events. The revisions tended to focus attention on the priesthood, rather than the Kings or the prophets. Religious practices were brought to the foreground. For example, it is thought that the simple story of manna from heaven was revised to make sure it did not show the Hebrews collecting bread on the Sabbath. Genealogies, dates, and inventories were added to the biblical stories. Careful descriptions of the first Temple's furnishings were added.
In the Creation story told in this workshop, one of two distinct accounts of creation found in the book of Genesis, God is no longer the particular God of a particular people, but is rather the creator of all of the earth and sky, and of humanity itself. It is an extraordinary text in both its poetic beauty and its theology. This text tells us that we are indeed kin, one to another and to all of creation. It also provides the scriptural basis for the central Jewish practice of keeping the Sabbath.
Note: Text interpretation was in at its height during the period between the third century BCE and the first century CE. Jesus of Nazareth, who lived during the first century CE, alluded frequently to Jewish scriptures and was a participant in the rich interpretive tradition of the time.
WISDOM FROM THE HEBREW SCRIPTURES: WORKSHOP 8:
LEADER RESOURCE 2: CREATING THE CLOSING WORSHIP
In this program, the closing worship circle offers a time for the group to come back together to enrich each other's understanding of the story and of their own life experience. This is not a show-and-tell experience, but rather a participatory, co-created worship experience. You will need to do just enough planning to provide a container for participants to share with one another and grow in spirit. You cannot script a co-created worship service, but you can guide it so that all participants feel heard and valued, and all hear and value the voices and experiences of others, regardless of age or life stage. With practice, you and the participants will become adept at co-creating worship to end each workshop.
Here are suggested elements for the closing worship for Workshop 8, Creation. Add, subtract, and adapt to fit your situation:
Opening words
Share Beauty is before me, Reading 682 from Singing the Living Tradition.
Chalice lighting
Use chalice lighting words familiar to your congregation or use Reading 452 from Singing the Living Tradition.
Hymn
Hymn 21, "For the Beauty of the Earth"
Creation Drama
Invite the drama group (Activity 6) to offer a dramatic retelling of the creation story.
Mural
Call attention to the mural and its painters (Activity 7).
Kinship Litany
Invite the composers of the kinship litany to lead it, inviting all to respond in unison to each day's list with, "All these are connected to me."
Sabbath
Invite the discussion group to share some of their comments and insights about what the practice of Sabbath means to them personally and to Unitarian Universalists.
Meditation/prayer
As a meditation/prayer, offer these words, written by the Reverend Kathy A. Huff:
Praise the sun, the moon, the stars,
Praise the ant, the tree, the shining leaf.
Praise every child large and small,
Praise the one within us all.
Praise the swimmers, crawlers, and creepers.
Praise the flower and the winding weed,
Praise each blade of grass and every dewdrop.
Praise dark moist earth.
Praise rock, sand, and shoal.
Praise wind -- nature's breath.
Praise those with fin, fur, and finger,
Praise the winged ones, the tiny ones,
and all the ones that live unseen.
Praise brightest morning and darkest night.
Praise the prickly and the unpopular.
Praise the crow's cry and the beggar's sigh.
Praise the dancers, the doers and the dreamers.
Praise those that give, those who love, and those who heal.
Praise to wanderers, weavers and seekers.
Praise sounds of thunder, crashing waves,
and shouts for justice.
Praise silence.
Praise spirit.
Praise all colors.
Praise all acts of compassion.
Praise all. Praise all. Praise all.
End the meditation or prayer as you normally would in your congregation.
Hymn
Choose an appropriate hymn. Possibilities include Hymn 25, "God of the Earth, the Sky, the Sea," Hymn 26, "Holy, Holy, Holy," Hymn 123, "Spirit of Life," Hymn 395, "Sing and Rejoice," and Doxology, Hymn 379.
Closing words
Use words familiar to your congregation, or Reading 456 in Singing the Living Tradition.
FIND OUT MORE
To explore more about how the Hebrew scriptures came to be written, organized, and interpreted, read the work of biblical Scholar James L. Kugel. You can read about Kugel and his work in "Final Architect (at members.ngfp.org/Courses/Kugel/finalarchitect.pdf)," by Janet Tassel, on the website of the Nahum Goldman Fellowship Program. Kugel's book is called The Bible As It Was (Boston: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1997).
For an overview of the Hebrew and Christian scriptures and their meaning for religious liberals, read Understanding the Bible: an Introduction for Skeptics, Seekers, and Religious Liberals (at www.uuabookstore.org/productdetails.cfm?PC=232), by John Buehrens (Boston, Beacon Press, 2004).