The problem with buildings

Genesis 11:1-9

1 Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. 2 And as they migrated from the east, they came upon a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. 3 And they said to one another, "Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly." And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. 4 Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves; otherwise we shall be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth." 5 The Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which mortals had built. 6 And the Lord said, "Look, they are one people, and they have all one language; and this is only the beginning of what they will do; nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. 7 Come, let us go down, and confuse their language there, so that they will not understand one another's speech." 8 So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth and they left off building the city. 9 Therefore it was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.

Introduction

Over most of these last few weeks we have been hearing these central stories in the first 12 chapters of Genesis.

The story of creation. The story of the world created by God from a formless void. And , repeated over and over, God saw that it was good.  

The story of man and woman created in God’s image, with their power to do both wonderful and terrible things. Abilities to think, act, appreciate beauty, be curious, but along with that the misuse of these gifts, the distortion that comes when we act out of fear,  the misuse of power to bring hurt and damage and the consequences of that.

The story of sinking, and Noah and the Ark,  as we come to an understanding of both judgement and blessing. That there is consequence to our actions and also the certainty of God’s covenant and promise.

So behind these ancient stories of faith are statements of identity. This is who we are. This is the nature of the God in whom we trust and believe.

And all these great claims also function to answer questions. Technically they are called aetiological stories. Where have we come from? Why do people created in God’s image do bad things? Is there a consequence to our misuse of freedom and the damage we can do to ourselves, one another, and creation itself?

Today’s story is about two things. Both a statement of  faith and a question.

 Why is there so much diversity in the world. Language, cultures people.

And the second question, and it’s really a question for people of faith, what overcomes division, how do we talk about unity, given the obvious and sometimes troubling diversity we see all about us?

Just as a point in ancient history as well.

That arch, if you can imagine it, which runs through the fertile areas from northern Turkey the top of Iraq and Iran - this area was really the birth place of what we would call western civilisation.

One of the defining architectural constructions from this ancient period when this scripture was written down, from this region was the construction of ziggurats. A bit like the pyramids.

They had a religious significance thought to connect earth with heaven. In those days everyone thought of the universes as two levels. Gods. Earth.   

 One of the largest discoveries was over 90m tall ziggurat from Babylon. That’s almost as high as a 30 story building. These temples. They were made of bricks. And the technology which was just developing was of baking bricks in a kiln and using tar on the outside of them to preserve them. So  in this story today we can get a sense of this emergent technology.

 It’s worth keeping some of this history in mind. The Jews had had their own temple destroyed by the might of the Babylonia’s in 586 BC. Their leaders taken into captivity. They would have seen or been aware of these ziggurats built to the Babylonian Gods. In fact where they went was one of the most famous ziggurats called Etemenanki dedicated to the God Marduk.

 And you can imagine that the temptation to give up their faith and identity and believe in Baal and these other Gods worshiped in these mighty ziggurat structures.  After all, your temple has been destroyed. But instead they preserved their stories of faith. They answered their own question, how do we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land.   Here in Genesis

It seems to me a very contemporary story. We can be overwhelmed by technology and its advances, but what purposes what value is the technology serving and upholding. In fact I was just reading some research last week that with all their benefits smartphones actually can dull our ability to relate to one other, and to interact and appreciate the world that is around us here and now.

So let’s hear the story the Tower of Babel.

May my words…

Let’s start at the beginning of the story

1 Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. 2 And as they migrated from the east, they came upon a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. 3 And they said to one another, "Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly." And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar.

I want to use the next few minutes for asking rather than perhaps answering the questions that fill this story today.

So we start off with a story of the whole earth.  What captures the mood of the whole earth? They announced the week before last that Facebook now has 2 billion active users. There are 3 almost billion smartphone users and 5 billion with mobile phones. We are connected in an extraordinary way. Is this terrifying or wonderful?

We are talking about a group of people who are travelling from somewhere in modern day Iran or Persia to somewhere in Iraq or Babylonia. Or Mesopotamia.

Our Nomadic ancestors, finding a place to settle. Settling on this plain of Shinar in Iraq.

It goes back to these earliest times. A tension between moving and stopping, travelling or settling.  The comfort of home or the road of a pilgrim.

Call from Jesus

Just think of how the issues change when you think of yourself as a stationary person or a person on the move. Possessions, property, boundaries, ownership, security, insurance,  all those fundamental things that shift in our self-understanding as we go from being people of movement to being stationary people.

I remember leaving Dunedin as a student heading towards my first parish and all I owned I could fit in the back of my 67 Volkswagen and had room for a flatmate. And we arrive in Clevedon 30  years later and we needed a truck for all our stuff. Something got broken weeks of argument with the moving company.

Stationary plain dwellers. People moving. What do we lose and what do we gain ?

They are not unimportant.  Because there are so many words Jesus speaks to us that are about moving. Sell what you have.  Following me. Take up your cross. The road to Emmaus. The very concept of mission is about being sent. He sent them out. Not stay but  go and make disciples. Jesus doing the scattering. 

I was talking to Mark about his reflections on his recent pilgrimage and he was saying that perhaps first of all churches need to be places on the road to heal and care for pilgrims rather than them being seen as destinations in themselves. Pause here for a while, be nurtured ministered to – but don’t stop, keep moving. Is that a threat to us or a relief?

They settle on this plateau

And they said to one another, "Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly." And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. 4 Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves; otherwise we shall be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.

There is a tension here.  They have mastered the new technology. They are baking the bricks. Much stronger than the ones left just in the sun to dry. They have bitumen. From tar pits they want to build. We want to build something.  Building seems to address a deep yearning.  Otherwise we will be scatterd abroad.  Read the text carefully. They are already involved in this tension. Settling scattering.

I think we have to dig quite deep to reflect what it is that drives our passion to build. Is it about permanence,  identity,  success? If I were to trace my regular movements through my house I would spend almost all my time in one of these places. And yet the data tells us families are smaller and houses we build are larger than they have ever been.

I’ve just checked in the mid 1960’s the average house built was 128 square metres. In the 2000’s that figure has jumped by more than 50% to over 205 square metres.. The Herald goes on and on about the cost of building  but might there be some deeper issues that we haven’t addressed?  Might we not be a whole better off having smaller houses and larger community spaces where we eat and drink and dance and listen to music and grow things?  

There is a danger that we treat these ancient stories as kind of mythical fairy tales when in fact  they are much more important than that. They are uncomfortable because they draw us into wrestling with these deep questions.

Remember back to Eve. She was created in God’s image. She appreciated the beauty of the garden. She was curious. She wanted to investigate options with the snake. Nothing bad until those gifts and freedoms, those blessing were misused.

Building technology, the desire for stability. The importance of Good communities. And the phrase here  ‘ let us make a name for ourselves’  It’s not necessarily a statement of arrogance at all.  It can be much more positive. Do you want to have a good reputation. The Auckland council tells us that Auckland has been identified as one of the most liveable cities in the world.  There is nothing wrong with wanting to be a great city, or have a good business or be a person of good name and reputation. It’s just that they can’t be misuse for hiding the reality of the homeless we see living rough in lower queen street or those families paying 400 a week to live in a double garage on Settlement Road.

5 The Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which mortals had built. 6 And the Lord said, "Look, they are one people, and they have all one language; and this is only the beginning of what they will do; nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them

 Again, we can view these words as the words of an angry wrathful God. But let’s pause for a moment. Could it be the opposite.  God is being very upbeat. Remember, these are still the men and women God created, crowned with glory and honour. Let’s not tell people how bad they are but how well they have done. They are united. They are speaking to each other. And this is only the beginning of what they will do; 

How amazing;.  I get a little feed on  my computer each day . The wonderful things, inventions, ideas people are coming up with, every day.  Nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. How did we beat Oracle in winning the Americas cup. The little nation here. We give thanks to God for the wonderful creative people. 

Didn’t Jesus keep talking about the possibilities of faith transforming our world. Remember what Jesus said: Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you."

Come, let us go down, and confuse their language there, so that they will not understand one another's speech." 8 So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city.

The same word here for confuse their language can also mean mix their language.

I know this suggestion will seem counter to how the story of Babel first sounds, but there is good reason to say that this scattering of the people this diversity of language was never intended to be seen as some sort of punishment but a great affirmation of how we are meant to be as God’s people. Just because Babylon has its tower and flash buildings don’t think you have arrived. You smart and clever people you can do some much more.  Remember those images Jesus talked about salt, yeast, seeds. Scattering seeds.  Sent out.

So another precious gift of this story is the implication that God uses humanity's city and tower building as the occasion to fashion a diverse humanity, flung like a divine sower's seed all over the planet. Maybe God is uninterested in a people united for the purpose of assuring their own fame and safety. Rather, could it be that God relishes having a world full of faithful people of different colours, sizes, shapes, ideas, and languages? As writer and theologian Annie Dillard puts it, "God the creator loves pizzazz."

That great story we have in Acts of the Spirit moving and these people from all over the known world been drawn  together in their different languages to praise and Glorify God. A testimony to the richness and unity of coming together from such diversity. We are all one in Christ Jesus.

Is the need to move on a threat? The call to mission that Jesus lays on each of our hearts – is that too much. Does the diversity we encounter every day, seem  upsetting  is racism an expression of our fear?  The way we want to use our money to build things. The dangers and possibilities of technology.

These ancient stories are all about how we see the world. First God created and saw that it was good. God has made eternal promises to us of blessing and life and not of curse and death.

We have been given the power and freedom to make wonderful choices and decisions that glorify God and bring hope and blessing and peace to ourselves our families and to the world God so loves.

AMEN