Lessons in Community: The Creation Story

This is the first in what I plan to be a series of brief summaries of the thoughts I have and the things God teaches me about his ideas for sustainable communities as I read his word (yes, a thoroughly modern project!).

I've started in Genesis, since that is where God started and here is the first instalment presented just as ideas for discussion:

1. History matters
2. Man's authority is limited from the start
3. Geography matters

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1. History matters:
Lets consider that the old testament was God's message to his people Israel. I think it's significant that he starts, not by laying down the law, but by retelling them their history in the context of His interaction with the world and specifically with their ancestors. This to me says "a community's history is important." What an affirmation of the importance to God of history and historians!
Not only that, but it says to me, those who work in community need to also recognise that God was there first and to seek his revelation as to how he has been interacting with that community throughout it's history.

2. Man's authority is limited from the start:
When God tells man to rule the earth, this isnt in fact the first time that he delegates authority. He has already given authority to the sun to govern the day and the moon and stars to govern the night. This is presumably a different kind of authority, passive rather than active, but it shows that our authority is limited from the outset since we only rule under the governance, or we could say within the parameters of the days, months and seasons.

3. Geography matters:
We may not know the exact whereabouts of the Garden as described in the text, but God is pretty detailed about it's geography; naming four rivers that flowed from it and where they went and the nature of the lands they flow through.
I guess that regardless of whether we interpret the creation as literal or metaphorical, there is some significance to this detail about the rivers. At the very least, to my mind it affirms the importance of geography!

I'll throw out some more thoughts on this shortly. But in the mean time I'd love to hear any thoughts or comments anyone else has.

Stephen