Unification Sermons and Talks |
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by Reverend Joy Pople |
How The World Began
Genesis 1:1 - 2:3
Long, long ago, before there was an earth, before the sun, moon and stars could be seen, before there were any plants, animals or people, there was God. Before there was time, there was God. He has always been the same unchanging God.
God is energy. His energy fills all things. God is love. There is meaning and value in the world because God made it with love. Gods love was so great that He dreamed of having a son and daughter whom He could love and who would love Him in return.
When parents are expecting a child they make everything ready for the babys coming. God made this world to be His childrens home. God had a plan, and he carried it out step by step.
In the darkness and emptiness, Gods spirit began to move and work. God planned to make a bright and wonderful world, so He said, "Let there be light." And there was light. When God saw the light He said it was good. He called the light day and the darkness night. Night follows day, and day follows night. In both, we remember God. We mark time by these changes. That was the first day.
God separated the upper and lower waters, making the beautiful blue sky and putting clouds in it. Like the light, God said it was good. Living things need light, air and water. That was the second day.
God separated the seas from the dry land. Volcanoes burst through the ground, and mountains stretched up towards the sky. On the land trees and all kinds of plants began to grow. Buds opened up into flowers, the flowers bloomed and faded, and fruits grew where the flowers had been. In time, the fruits fell to the ground, the seeds inside them sprouted, and more plants appeared. Plants give us food and decorate our world. Flowers make the world a fragrant and colorful place. God called all these things good. That was the third day.
God had more in mind for His childrens home. He made the sun, the moon and the stars. The sun rules during the day and the moon during night. God called them good. These heavenly bodies are the signs for the seasons and the years. That was the fourth day.
God made the fish swimming in the seas and the birds flying in the sky. To see them, we look deep into the water and high into the skies. The fish and the birds make the world a better place. One bird heard another bird singing its song. They met, built a nest together, laid eggs, and sat on them. In time new birds pecked holes in the shells, wiggled out, and stretched their wings in the fresh, clear air. With the coming of the birds, there was music on the earth. That was the fifth day.
Still something was missing. God said, "Let the earth bring forth living things," and all kinds of animals and creeping things began to appear on the land. Gods children would have many kinds of helpers and playmates, and they would learn much from the animals. Again, God said that it was good.
The earth was like a museum with no visitors, a playground without children, a palace that had never been lived in. It was a long time in the making, and at last a home was ready for Gods children.
God made His son and daughter in His image. When God looked at them, it was like looking at Himself in a mirror. They could share Gods thoughts, Gods hopes, Gods dreams, and most of all, Gods heart. God blessed them and told them to be fruitful, multiply and have dominion over the earth. Their first blessing was to grow up, in body and in spirit, with God at the center of all their thoughts and actions. Their second blessing was to love each other as true husband and wife and then become true parents, giving true love to their children and raising godly children. Their third blessing was to love all things and take care of them, making this a good and beautiful world. When people follow this way of true love, they are feel happy and fulfilled, and God is happy.
God saw everything that He had made, and He said that it was very good. That was the sixth day. On the seventh day, when He had finished the work of creation, God rested.
The First Home
Genesis 2:4 - 25
We cannot see God with our eyes, but He is real. Think about the wind. We cannot see it, but we can feel it and watch what it does. The creation shows us what God has done. Deep in our hearts we can feel God. When our mind is still, we can hear His voice.
God made His son from the things of the earth and breathed into him the breath of life. We may look something like animals. Like the animals, we have instincts that help us survive. But we have something that no animal has, because God breathed His spirit into us. This connects us with God. Just as we can see, hear, smell, taste and touch the physical world around us, God wanted us to see, hear, smell, taste and touch the beauty of our eternal home, the spiritual world.
From the physical world we find food for our bodies. God's word and God's love feeds our spirits. Our bodies will die but our spirits will live on. In each of us is a bit of heaven and a bit of earth. God is not far off in the sky, but as close to us as our breath.
God made the world in pairs: light and darkness, water above us and water below us, dry land and seas, light for the day and light for the night, fish and birds, land animals and creeping things. He designed flowers with stamens and pistils. He made male and female animals. God blessed the plants and animals with the power to grow, multiply and fill the earth.
God made a Garden home for His children, and in the middle of it He placed a pair of trees, the tree of life and tree of the knowledge of good and evil. A river watered the Garden, and precious stones sparkled in the sunlight.
God told His children to work in the Garden and take care of everything in it. In the Garden Gods children were free to explore and learn all kinds of things. To protect them while they were growing in love, God warned His children not to eat the fruit of tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
In his work of creation, God gave names to the day and night, the heaven and the earth, and the seas. God named His son Adam. God wanted His children to learn to know the animals and take care of them, so He let Adam name the animals.
Everything that could be seen had a companion but Adam. Gods work of creation would not be finished until He had both a son and a daughter. God made His daughter, Eve, from the same flesh and bone as Adam. These first two children would grow up, and from them would come all the rest of Gods children.
The way of true love means learning four realms of heart. Each realm grows out of the one before it. The first realm of heart is childrens love. When we receive love and guidance from our parents, we can become good people.
The second realm of heart is the love between brothers and sisters. Brothers and sisters who have the same parents have many things in common. Parental love helps the children to get along with each other. When we recognize that we all are children of the same heavenly Parent, we can live and work together in harmony.
The third realm of heart is the love between husband and wife. A young man should grow up to be like our Heavenly Father, and a young woman should grow up to be like our Heavenly Mother. When they get married and learn to love each other, they become one, completing the circle of Gods love.
The fourth realm of heart is the love of parents. Loving parents protect their children and give them food, clothing and a home. Parents comfort their children when they are hurt and correct them when they do something wrong. Parents push their children to become the best they can be. The love of parents connects the children to Gods love and is the heartbeat of the home.
Just as God is our invisible, heavenly Parent, Adam and Eve were supposed to grow through the four realms of heart and become the visible, true parents to their children. From that first family, the circles of love would keep growing, like the rippling waves that spread out from a pebble tossed into a pool of water. Their grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and all future people living on this earth would honor Adam and Eve as the highest examples of true love and the true parents of all human beings. These circles of human and divine love were supposed to expand to touch all of creation and make the Garden home into the Kingdom of Heaven.
God and all the angels watched in fascination as Adam and Eve grew. Every day, they discovered new things. God was so close to them that they walked and talked together every day. They didnt wear any clothes. They had nothing to hide from each other or from God.
Joy Pople (pople@servtech.com) wrote this Bible story from the standpoint of the Divine Principle.
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