Original Sin: Are You Hiding From God?

If you've never seen R. Crumb’s The Book of Genesis Illustrated I urge you to give it a look,
it's amazing.
http://bit.ly/Uj7Wf5

Genesis 3:7-13

Then the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves apron-like girdles. And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and woman hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, Where are you? He said, I heard the sound of You [walking] in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself. And the Lord God said, Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat? And the man said, The woman whom You gave to be with me—she gave me [fruit] from the tree, and I ate. And the Lord God said to the woman, What is this you have done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled (cheated, outwitted, and deceived) me, and I ate.

 So, HEY, everybody ! and Welcome to Lent 2013 ! Sew, even though Ash Wednesday CAN fall as early as February 4, it sure seems like it snuck up on us this year. 

I realised in cobbling this post why my writing always seems so rushed.

"I believe my head is so big  because it's filled with dreams." The Elephant Man

"That's why her hair is so big ... it's full of secrets ..."Mean Girls

There's so much I want to say. There is so much i THINK i know, there is so much i'm SURE i know, there is so much i want to SHARE ! "i'm a givvah, i give." Like in this quote from Genesis:

1. I want to talk about "apron-like girdles";
2. I want to talk about "Lord" "God", their meanings and etymologies, common understandings and uses;
3. How much I GET MY LIFE from the image of the "Lord" "God" walking "in the cool of the day" ... just before sunrise and just before sunset have ALWAYS been my favourite times of day, I think they're absolutely mystical and Jewish scholars tells us, especially on Sabbath,  that, when kindling the Sabbath candles, a woman holds the power of the universe; as a woman kindles candles in her home, candles are kindled in the divine realm, symbolizing the union and harmony between heaven and earth that is achieved on Shabbat.
4. I want to point out, in Genesis THU-REE ! the Original Blame Game, which I think is HILArious: God is all, "Did you do this?" and A-dom is all, "THIS woman YOU gave ME ! !  ..."

But antyway, back to the post:

One of the things I absolutely GET MY LIFE from is better to me than any Ofrah AH! HA! moment ... it's that moment when you're listening to or reading Scripture and someone offers a different slant on a moldy old passage that  you NEVER thought of before, you NEVER HEARD of before ... something that literally shakes your brain and causes you to think in an entirely different direction, waking you to a world filled with new colours and vistas. This happened to me last night at our Ash Wednesday service. I know almost everyone thinks they have the greatest, smartest, bestest Rector on the planet, but I gotta tell ya, we sure do, and between her and our other priests we have some of the FINEST preaching on earth. 

Her sermon isn't up on the website yet, but, in essence, what Mother said was this: Perhaps it was not disobedience which was Original Sin, as obedience is something which must be learned; perhaps Original Sin was HIDING FROM GOD.  I want to point out that I TROOLEY do not believe God is angry at the beginning of this passage at all. I think God is all like, <Where ARE you> ... all gentle like, and then angry at the circumstance ... <What the hell are you doing? Why are you HIDING from ME? WHO TOLD ! you you were naked, you're BEAUTIFUL ! that's why i MADE you this way ! WHO TAUGHT YOU SHAME ?!?!?! i don't WANT you to know shame, I want you to walk in the beauty of my LOVE for you ! !> (auntie dasch translates it all for you tee hee)

Let's face it: <Even the darkness hides nothing from God...for God did knit [us] together in [our] mother’s womb.> Do we think anything we think or do or say is a SURPRISE to God? Do we think God doesn't know what's going on in our spirit? in our heart? in our mind? Let's make a Lenten pact: that we take EVERYthing to God in prayer and lay it at the feet of God.

I'm going through it right now...my mother-in-law is in hospice on her journey from this life to a desired better and heavenly country where she may finally rest after a decade of physical limitations, a long and vibrant career teaching generations  of high school students, and 80 years raising hell and whooping it up feyusly. SURE, I'm praying for the ease of her discomfort, a peace-filled and gentle slide into the light of God's eternal sabbath rest, and strength for the family she will be leaving behind. But I also went through an entire DAY yesterday (Valentine's Day, btw) having a HUGE pity party that EYE'M doing all this stuff and getting no recognition for it, EYE'M going out of MY way to be the perfect husband, the generous provider, the behind-the-scenes genie, and strong enough for everyone else and who is thanking ME, who is being strong for ME. I took it to God and guess what I heard: I'm right here. I am your strength. Am I not enough for you? Turn to me and I will give you rest.

Let's not hide from God. Let's take everything to God, all our weaknesses, all our frustrations, all our anxieties, all our concerns ... and let God make this a peace-filled, refreshing Lent for us all.