I read an article on Yahoo!News a while back that stated that my generation is the worst generation at changing a first impression. Once we have our minds made up about something or someone, we cannot break out of it. That impression is forever locked in our heads. That means that in a world driven by instant gratification and in a world where the average person sees and hears thousands of advertisements a day, we make up our minds of who and what we like and don’t like within a matter of seconds, disregarding everything else.
The first impression is crucial. I read once that almost 80% of first-time church visitors have already made up their minds on whether or not they will come back for a second visit simply by their impression of the outside of the church. Heck, most people won’t even wait to hear me preach before they’ve decided if they like my pastoral style. It will be determined by whether or not I greeted them, how strong my handshake was, and whether or not I said “um” during the greeting and opening prayer. Some people are even worse. They will judge me based on my age or even how I dress.
Think about your first impression of your church. Has it changed at all since you’ve been here? What about your first impression of me? Have I moved out of your initial judgment about who I am and what kind of pastor I’ll be?
In this first chapter of The Story, aptly entitled “Creation: The Beginning of Life as We Know It,” we see our first glimpse of God and are invited to make a first impression of the Almighty.
So what did you think? What was your first impression of God as you read this chapter? Were you left in awe of the depth of God, the One Who, even before there was anything, was present, close, hovering over the depths? Were you impressed by the creativity of a God who created the universe, the heavenly bodies, and the very ground beneath our feet in three days and then populated it with every living thing with just three more? Or maybe you were moved by the personal aspect of a God who created humanity and then cares for their every need. Did you notice the organization of God? What about the kindness, compassion, justice, and love of God as seen in this chapter?
Was that your first impression? Or did you find yourself viewing a God who seemed distant, wrathful, maybe even cruel? If God really loved Adam and Eve, why did God throw them out of the Garden of Eden? Why would God make a serpent that would end up tempting God’s beloved into eating the forbidden fruit? If God really loved humanity, why did God send a flood to destroy all but Noah and his family? Did you find yourself asking these questions as you read?
The creation story especially is a wonderful introduction to the Person of God. In it, we see those glimpses of the divine that we spoke on last week. We see that God was, and is, and is to come. That God is as vast as the universe, but personal enough to walk with us through our lives. We see that God loves creation enough to provide for our every need, but that God also is true to God’s word, is just, and deals justly with humanity. We see so much more, in just this one chapter.
And we are reminded that God is God and we are not, and that means that some of the actions of God are going to be beyond our understanding and comprehension. And, brothers and sisters, that’s perfectly alright.
My mom is a sociologist. She loves to study culture and groupthink, and honestly some of the things she studies are really neat. One of the things she told me once was that it takes an average of twenty meetings to change a first impression. Last week, I asked her about the article I had read on Yahoo! and what her thoughts on it were. She said that the problem with most people in my generation is that they won’t give anything or anyone the chance to change a first impression. They will avoid a second encounter, much less and third, fourth, or twentieth one. Fortunately for us, we have thirty more weeks of The Story; thirty more weeks for God to change our first impression; thirty more weeks to be moved in an amazing way by the Spirit.
So may you be met by the God who in six days created and populated the universe. May you come to know God as the personal, life-giving God of creation. And may you see God anew each day and be reminded again and again of the magnitude of God’s love for you.
Amen.
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