Sermon: "Rhythm: A Pattern for Our Life", Genesis 1:1-2:3 (September 13, 2015)

(9/13/2015; read in conjunction with responsive scripture below)
(Part two of a three part sermon series about music in the church)
(Video of this sermon, including the responsive reading)

It’s funny, isn’t it, how much rhythms permeate the very substance of our lives? From the sound of that first heartbeat in the womb to the repeated contractions that bring each of us into the world. From the pattern of wobbly first steps to the rhythmic pounding of feet on a marathon run. From the slowed breathing of a child drifting off to sleep to the slowed breathing of the dying drifting into God’s arms, human life is made up of rhythms.

The ancient writers of scripture seemed to recognize the importance of life’s rhythms, too. Whether you read it as a literal history or as a metaphorical account of God’s creation, there’s no denying the beauty and balance in the flow of Genesis’ first creation story: God desires something. God declares it into existence. God recognizes the creation as good. God names it. And this divinely instituted pattern becomes what is one of our most basic human rhythms: a day.

Responsive Reading of Genesis 1:1-2:3

(As read before sermon on September 13, 2015)

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.