September 11, 2005

The Gospel of the Rings                                                                            Genesis 1:26-31

THE SYMPHONY OF CREATION

Today I want to talk to you about what the Bible says about creation, and help us to develop a theology of creation.  We’re going to be using the LOTR, particularly the Two Towers today, to illustrate these themes.  Tolkien’s (pronounced Toll – keen) world was deeply based on an understanding of God as creator, and he spells out some of the implications of this.  The first 17 pages of The Silmarillion contain his compelling account of Ilúvatar’s (the name for God in Middle Earth) creation and sustenance of the universe.  Not only is this beautiful writing, its parallels to the book of Genesis cannot be missed.

Tolkien’s universe is not the static, cyclical universe of paganism.  One of the central characteristics of pagan thought is the idea that all things are internally bound up together; continuity.  I am the wind, the wind is me, the wind is god, all is one.  Tolkien’s world was created by Ilúvatar much as God created the world; with real distinctions.  No, we are not God, but we reflect God’s glory, and are guided by divine providence often in ways we do not understand.  Bilbo did not find the ring, but the ring, by divine providence, found him.  Gandalf explains that, in a strange way, this ring that is the greatest force for evil ever created, was made for him, but not by its maker Sauron, but by a force greater even than Sauron.

 But I’m going to focus on three elements related to our thinking about creation; under the title The Symphony of Creation.  First, we’re simply going to think about what Genesis and Tolkien say about the simple goodness of created life, and the appropriateness of our enjoyment of the created world and all its pleasures.  Second, we’re going to consider the theme of being created in the image of God, with the importance of free will as reflecting that Glory.  Finally, I’m going to talk about the theme of life as a quest; God’s deep purpose of life for each of us.

The Goodness of Created Life

And the Lord God saw all that He had made, and it was very good.  Genesis 1:31

God declares this created life very good (tov meod in Hebrew).  Now, we know that great evil is yet on the horizon, but the world and Middle Earth, was meant to, and still has the potential of being, tremendously valuable.  All things that proceed from Ilúvatar are good, since God has created an essential goodness right into the wharp and woof of things.  The world was meant to teem with living things, as it is described in Genesis, but only the forces of evil can destroy this.  Evil always seeks to destroy the essential goodness of God’s created world.  Perhaps the Ents, the living trees say this best, as he describes the change in Sauron to Merry and Pippen.  We are not Gnostics who believe the body is evil and only the spirit is good.  We believe in the goodness of it all!

[minute 137 in Two Towers: The Ent says, “Sauroman used to walk in my woods, but he now has a mind of metal and wheels.  He no longer cares for growing things.”]  Evil is having a mind of metal and wheels.  Mordor, the land of Sauron, is a place where all green things have been destroyed by fire.  Tolkien actually hated automobiles and trains, and believe people were best when the remained close to the land.  He was very concerned about deforestation in England, and the way that our modern technological lives separates us from the soil.  Genesis 1:28 says, “God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it.  Rule (radah) over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”  The Hebrew word radah does not mean to rule so much as to care for and tend like someone who has responsibility for something.  It implies the responsibility for loving care and concern.  This was very important to Tolkien, and it should be more important to us.  We should be concerned for the environment as Christians, and not leave that only for the fringe religious groups.  And we should take care to remain close to the land; take time to enjoy the Daniel Boone National Forrest.

There’s a sub-theme here but an important idea for Tolkien.  God created us to enjoy certain bodily comforts; to enjoy the goodnesses of this created life (within certain limits) to the fullest.  Hobbits were not prudes; but enjoyed a certain healthy joie de vivre that many of us Protestants feel a little uncomfortable with.  Tolkien created the world of the Hobbits, in part, to witness to the goodness of simple ordinary pleasures.  There is a scene in The Hobbit from the Prancing Pony in Bree in which the Hobbits sing a song for the pleasure of taking a bath.  “Sing hey!  For the bath at the close of the day that washes the weary mud away!”  Tolkien was a defender of God’s good pleasures, and fiercely resented it when prudish Protestants looked down their noses at him.  The scene of Bilbo’s Birthday party is one of the absolutely magical moments in the whole movie series.

Do you realize that God wants you to fully enjoy your life?  If God didn’t want the Jews to have parties, he wouldn’t have commanded them to keep going up to Jerusalem, three times a year, for a national party!  What do you think a festival is?  The book of Deuteronomy commands the use of the tithe, saving 1/10^th of their income, to pay for a national festival!  If God didn’t want us to party, he wouldn’t have kept commanding us to do it!  We’re uncomfortable with parties because we fear what they could lead to.  But imagine what a life we would lead if we outlawed everything that could lead to something bad.  We would be miserable. 

There is a great tension between the creation side of our thought and the redemption side.  We Protestants typically jump over creation and go immediately to the “You are a sinner and you need to accept God’s forgiveness in Christ!”  But there is important theology that we need to develop before this, and which helps to balance it out- a theology of creation and the goodness of created life.  Creation theology without redemption devolves into worship of the environment and complete pursuit of carnal pleasure.  Redemption theology without creation lacks joy and pleasure, and has no concern for the environment.  God wants you to enjoy the goodness of your human life!  To think otherwise is to reject divine pleasures.  The hobbits have much to teach us here.

The Freedom of the Will

And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will die.  Gen. 2: 16-17

Our human lives, created in the image of God, center on issues of morality.  Who you are, your personal character, your psyche, your attitudes and desires, are deeply influenced by moral decisions you make.  What kind of person do you choose to be?  God has created us, as described here in Genesis, with certain moral choices, and with the freedom to make those choices.  The nature of the future depends upon which choices you make.  It’s not the big choices that interest me, but the thousands of little ones we make daily, which shape our character in such a way, that when the big choices present themselves, you have a spiritual trajectory that guides you.

Pagan literature, written when Genesis was written, was very very different.  Your live is controlled by fate, cycles of forces, the whims of the gods.  Only the kings were created in the image of God.  In Genesis, we all are created in God’s image, and we all have free will, and our free will counts for how the history of our lives moves forward.  Middle Earth is similarly historical and moral.  There is one scene in particular that is striking; the scene in which Gollum or Smegal struggles internally, mightily, over whether he will kill Frodo and Sam and take the ring, or help them destroy the ring.

[110 – What to do with Gollum?  Sam wants to get rid of him, but Frodo holds out hope.  The themes here are redemption and hope.  112 – Smegal’s powerful struggle with evil desire and with personal demons.  “Go away and never come back!”]

What are your personal demons?  The future of your life depends on critical decisions you are presently making.  Gollum’s horrid condition illustrates the result of years of evil intensions taking their toll.  As a hobbit, Smegal killed his friend Degal to get the ring, and has spent his whole life seeking his precious.  That is what sin does to any one of us spiritually.  But Christ’s blood cleanses us from all sin. And Jude commands us to “Build yourselves up in your most holy faith, and pray in the Holy Spirit.”  So what is your personal demon?  Is there something in your life of which you must say, “Go away and never come back!”

Life as Quest

God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it.  Genesis 1:28

Genesis makes clear that from the start, God has a plan and purpose for us human beings.  God wanted us, as bearers of His image, to spread God’s own rule and blessing throughout the world.  God could have created lots of green grass and bunny rabbits.  God could have created a world in which all the important work was done.  But God chose not to do that.  God chose to create so that those who were created were created with an important task to do, an important mission to fulfill. 

The hero of the LOTR really isn’t Frodo but Sam Gamgee.  These two simple little hobbits, like children in our eyes, had a task that carried incredible importance, huge risks, the fate of millions.  Sam talks about this toward the end of Two Towers, in what is truly one of the most touching scenes in the whole movie.  Sam has just saved Frodo’s life.  Frodo spaced out and nearly handed the ring over to the enemy, but Sam tackled him just before the handoff, and Frodo pulled his sword on Sam and nearly killed him.  They are at a very low point, and Sam says these words.

[244  Sam talks about the great stories told about great deeds that really mean something, about things that really matter.  “This darkness must pass and the sun will shine through again and when it does it will shine the clearer.  Cut after “There is a good worth fighting for.” Two Towers]

God has a plan for your life.  Ephesians 2:10 says, “For we are God’s workmanship, Created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”  God has some good work prepared in advance for you to do.  If you, in some genuine sense, are not giving your life away to a cause greater than yourself, if you do not have a sense of divine mission and calling on your life, you have some serious spiritual growing to do.  Just like Sam and Frodo, you have a mission that might not save the whole human race, but it might save someone’s world.

I’m going to give you some homework.  This is a challenge.  I’ll do it myself, and I’ve done it before.  I want you to take the sheet provided, and sometime this week, answer these questions.  What are my top ten values?  What is my life mission?  What steps must I take to life into that mission to which God is calling me?

Let’s pray together.