Genesis1:1-2:4a
Rev. Dr. Chris Ayers
In A Perfect World
In a perfect world ____________ (ask congregants to fill in the blank).
In a perfect world there would be no sickness.
In a perfect world there would be no war.
In a perfect world everybody would get along.
In a perfect world there would be no hunger.
In a perfect world everyone would have a home.
In a perfect world all the world’s resources would be shared equally and all needs would be met.
In a perfect world people would be treated equally and injustice would not be present.
In a perfect world children would not die.
In a perfect world there would be no natural disasters.
In a perfect world hospitality and sincerity and integrity would be the order of the day.
In a perfect world all food would be healthy.
In a perfect world chocolate would not have calories.
In a perfect world gardens would not have weeds.
In a perfect world everybody would have a job.
In a perfect world parents would have nothing to worry about.
In a perfect world nobody would die, or at least the folk you like wouldn’t die.
In a perfect world clothes would never go out of style, except for 1970’s bellbottoms.
In a perfect world everyone would have found the love of their life.
In a perfect world all popcorn kernels would pop.
In a perfect world no traffic, no accidents, no tickets.
In a perfect world, four day work week and 8 weeks of, as they say overseas, 8 weeks of holiday.
In a perfect world, all watermelons, cantaloupes and honeydews would be ripe, and sweet to the taste.
In a perfect world there is no wait at the department of motor vehicle offices.
In a perfect world there is no wasted time watching bad Chick flick movies.
In a perfect word Sunday worship would always end at 11:59.
In a perfect world there are no starving artists or power outages or fire ants or hair clogging shower drains or people making fun of accents or doctrinal disputes.
In a perfect world ice dispensed from refigerator freezes would go into the glass and not into the floor.
In a perfect world there would be no need for dentists fire and police and military personnel and doctors and therapists and attorneys and preachers.
In a perfect world _______________.
Rabbi Shammai Engelmayer observes that what we have described in Genesis 1 and 2 is a perfect world. Or, as puts it, “In the beginning, God created a completely different world than the one in which we live.”
Actually there was one thing missing in the garden of Eden: Eve, companionship for Adam.
Is there one big thing missing in your life? What would you life look like if this huge hole were filled?
The text informs us Adam was lonely and that it was not good for him to be lonely. Probably not good for him, good for God, or good for the rest of creation.
With the creation of Eve the garden of Eden is perfect.
After eating the apple in the garden, more than the garden being taken away what was taken away was perfection. (Shammai Engelmayer, Joseph S. Ozarowski, and David M. Sofian, Common Ground: The Weekly Torah Portion Through the Eyes of a Conservative, Orthodox, and Reform Rabbi, p. 4)
What is your imperfect world like on a daily basis? How do you manage your life after getting kicked out of the garden of Eden?
(Check out Kate Cambell's song, In A Perfect World.)
