This is a heavily edited New Years Day message that I delivered at Darlington Congregational Church in Pawtucket Rhode Island a few years ago. Being heavily edited, it is not only short, but also gets to the point without a lot of hoopla.
I consider the importance that New Years Day had in the entire ancient world as a day of New Creation. I ask, “What makes a creation story a creation story?” If one thinks that a creation story is a story where everything that exists comes into being… he’d be wrong.
We, in this modern age of science, are fixated on questions about the origins of stuff. When was the world made? How was the world made? We are what is called, material ontologists… i.e. Where’d all the stuff come from?
The ancients, however, were functional ontologists. They wanted to know, “Who made the world? What did he make the world to be? How did he make the world to function?” and most importantly, “How can I function best within it?” Creation stories were wisdom literature; they set the foundation for understanding how to live well in the world that IS in light of the foundational concepts of order that uphold it.
Hope you enjoy the discussion.
