Community Church Sermons

 

February 10, 2008

The First Sunday in Lent

“Eden’s Dark Secret”

 

Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7

 

Rev. Rhonda A. Blevins

 

 

 

 

Listen to this Sermon!

 

I was 30 years old when I bought my first house. It was a wonderful little house tucked away in a beautiful wooded neighborhood. It had cathedral ceilings and an open floor plan and a cute little screened-in-porch, but the best part was that it was brand new—never-been-lived-in. I bought that house because it was so new and clean, and I thought of it as a blank canvas, ready for me to put my imagination to work throughout the rooms and yard. I lived in that little house for five years, but it came time for me to move to another state so I had to sell it. In the process of selling, I discovered that my house had been keeping a dark secret.  Everything about the house seemed so perfect with all the new appliances and fixtures, but underneath the house, in the damp, dark places I never saw, termites were beginning to set up camp, eating away at the very foundation of my wonderful little house.

 

The next house I bought was in the city.  It was a cute little cottage in a neighborhood where the mailman actually walked his route.  Unlike my first house, this house was about 50-years-old, but it had been well loved and cared for.  This house wasn’t quite the blank canvas of my previous house, but this house had character.  A magnificent oak tree stood in the front yard.  The eat-in kitchen had a built-in booth.  It had a sun room that I filled with plants that thrived, overlooking a fenced-in back yard where our dog would run and play.  The perfect little bungalow. . .or so we thought. Like my first house, this perfect little cottage was also keeping a dark secret.  When we had to sell the house to move here, we discovered that all throughout the house, invisible to the human eye, a terribly harmful substance called radon lurked.  Radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer in the U.S., and my growing family was breathing the stuff every day.

 

Then at the ripe old age of 37 it was time to move to a retirement community. . .Tellico Village.  Dave Brown, our realtor, took us around to look at all of the houses in our price range (which took about ten minutes), and we fell in love with one in Chota Hills.  We were thrilled that it had a view of the lake at sat at the end of a cul-de-sac.  The house has big windows and a large deck and beautiful hardwood flooring.  It was about 20-year-old, but had been given some well chosen cosmetic updates.  With this house, we felt like we had arrived!  But this house in prestigious Tellico Village, just like the others, was keeping a dark secret.  We’ve been in the house four months now, and we’ve already had to replace the dishwasher and repair a toilet.  Then a couple of weeks ago our heat went out.  The cosmetic updates distracted us from caring about the aging appliances and plumbing and HVAC systems. But who cares about that stuff if you can see the lake, right?  Every home has secrets, even in Tellico Village.

 

Our scripture lesson on this first Sunday in Lent takes us back to the Garden of Eden, humanity’s first home.  It is no surprise to me, now a seasoned home-owner, that humanity’s first home was hiding something.   Eden had a dark secret.  It doesn’t jump out at you from the pages of the Old Testament.  It’s not in the black and white.  Like termites, it hides in the dark or perhaps like radon, Eden’s Dark Secret is all around us, yet invisible to our human eyes.

 

We think of Eden as Utopia, but Utopia, by definition, is impractical or even imaginary.  God had given Adam and Eve freedom to enjoy the garden, yet the freedom had limits.  “You can eat the fruit of any tree, except one.  The tree in the center of the garden, you must not touch.”

 

It’s an odd story, isn’t it?  Imagine a parent talking to a two-year-old saying, “Now, you can play with any toy in your room.  But I’m going to place this toy here in the center of your room, and though you can play with any other toy, you must not play with this toy.”  When the parent leaves the room, Eden’s Dark Secret pays that two-year-old a visit.  I’m not talking about temptation; that’s too easy.  I’m talking about the pre-condition for temptation. 

 

It was everywhere Adam and Eve went within the garden; it set the stage for their great temptation.  It is with each of us and has been since birth.  I see it in my octogenarian grandmother and I see it in my infant son.  Even in the hospital immediately after his birth I saw babies recently separated from their mothers, crying because Eden’s Dark Secret was ever present.  Nurses offered pacifiers to the little ones, trying to calm their spirits.  We adults have our own “pacifiers” we use to combat Eden’s Dark Secret.  Jesus wasn’t immune to it.  I imagine that when he retreated to the wilderness for his forty days of fasting, Eden’s Dark Secret was with him, setting the stage for the three temptations he faced there.

So what is it?  What is Eden’s Dark Secret?  A-N-X-I-E-T-Y.[1]

 

Any English teacher will tell you that every good story has conflict.  Conflict, tension, or anxiety as I’m calling it is a key element of plot.  I like to think of every human life as a magnificent story.  I have my story; you have your own, unique story.  I don’t really own much in this world, and even the things I do own can’t go with me to eternity.  But my story is one thing, maybe the only thing, which is truly mine.   My story will remain long after this body no longer contains me.  The problem with my story and your story and every story is that every good story has conflict; every good story has anxiety. Eden was no Utopia, because inherent in the human condition is Eden’s Dark Secret: anxiety.

 

Eden was a place of freedom within limits. Reinhold Niebuhr suggests that living in that kind of paradox makes humans anxious.  He says that “being both free and bound, both limited and limitless, is anxious.”[2]  Anxiety in and of itself is not wrong; it can be directed toward creative endeavors or destructive ones.  In the Garden of Eden and in the garden of our lives, anxiety is simply the pre-condition for temptation, for wanting to test our limits and imagine that we are in control.[3]

 

When anxiety gets out of control, it can be crippling; psychologists have identified a myriad of anxiety disorders and, thankfully, there are effective treatments available.  Good Christian folk should feel no shame in getting treatment for these and other psychological and emotional disorders.  For most folks, the anxiety inherent in our human condition can be managed; it can even be helpful. Let me explain. A little bit of anxiety can motivate you to pay your bills every month.  A little bit of anxiety might move you to save for retirement.  A little bit of anxious restlessness intrinsic in the retirement years might prompt you to get out and volunteer in the hospitals or with a non-profit or perhaps within the church.  Anxiety might provoke you to write a letter to an elected official or to take a casserole to a friend home from the hospital.  Anxiety might even inspire you to write a poem or paint a picture.

 

What will you do with Eden’s Dark Secret within you?  You can choose; every single moment you can choose.  Will your anxiety be the source of destructive or creative pursuits?

 

Augustine knew Eden’s Dark Secret, and it prompted him to create a prayer that Christians have uttered through the centuries, “Our hearts are restless until they find their rest in Thee.”[4]

 

Thanks be to God that rest can be found!  The scriptures are chock full of God’s promises of freedom from anxiety:

• From the Old Testament: “He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul.” (Psalm 23:2b-3a)
• From the New Testament: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28)

 

In fact, one of the most oft-repeated directives in the Bible, particularly in the Gospels, is three simple words: “Do not fear.”

 

• When the Angel Gabriel told Mary that she was going to have a son, what did he say?  DO NOT FEAR! (Luke 1:30)
• When the angel appeared to Joseph in a dream, what did he say? DO NOT FEAR! (Matthew 1:20)
• When the angel appeared to shepherds watching over their flocks by night, what did he say?  DO NOT FEAR! (Luke 2:10)
• When Jesus walked on the water toward a group of terrified disciples, what did he say?  DO NOT FEAR! (Matthew 14:27; Mark 6:50; John 6:20)
• When the angel saw the women standing at an empty tomb, what did he say?  DO NOT FEAR! (Matthew 28:5)
• When the Risen Lord met those same women on the road, what did he say?  DO NOT FEAR! (Matthew 28:10)

 

Eden has a secret, but it just doesn’t matter.  The perfect love of God casts out all fear!  No matter what fears or anxieties we carry, we can place them in the arms of God and there find rest.  Control is an illusion; God’s love is real.  Be still and know. Amen.