tSoGS - Genesis 1:1-25 Reflection

Today is the first of our reflections on our new series, The Story of God's Story - a fifteen week whirlwind tour of the Bible. If you missed Sunday, here's a link to week one's guide which has a five day reading plan. Why five days? If you are faithful, you can use the weekend to explore other readings or if you slip behind, you can use the weekend to catch up. Our readings are truly just skimming the surface of God's Story.

O Lord, may my soul rise up to meet you as the day rises to meet the sun.

Genesis 1:1-25

I could spend days unpacking this one little patch of Scripture. It is the cause of great debate in our country - evolution v intelligent design v creation science. I DO NOT want to unpack that debate here and get bogged down in trying to reconcile or defend any position.

If we hold close to the Confession of Faith (in the guide), there are more important issues to address than whether God created in six literal days (by definition God is big enough to do this) or took a slow approach as endorsed by the science record. So please, no debates here. It's not why I write and beyond the scope of this blog. The Bible is the story of God's story and our connection to God's story and thus the story of connection and reconciliation.

What Genesis 1 -3 does establish is a world view that when introduced (revealed) was radically different than any surrounding culture and even today shared only by Muslims, Jews, and Christians (and a few other sects).

Let me highlight a few.

1. God is personal. God speaks. God is not just a force.

2. Creation was intentional and not random. Christians believe God created the universe with a plan which ultimately gives human beings meaning and purpose.

3. Creatio ex nihilo (creation out of nothing). When God said, "Let there be" and there was, we acknowledge that everything material was created by God from nothing. The implications of this are profound. First it makes a clear distinction between God and everything He created. The stuff around us is NOT DIVINE. Many creation epics have the universe created out of a god's blood or given birth to - which makes the universe part of the divine (which is why folk could carve up idols and worship the material - because "divine stuff" was in the metal or wood). Okay deep breath - long sentence. In essence, Christians believe God is not in trees, rocks, mountains, rivers, the sun, the moon or the stars . . . (or even in people in the sense that we are divine). [side note - could we have much of modern science if humans continued to believe the divine was in all this stuff? - this is worth reflecting on]. A world view of creatio ex nihilo is critical to our understanding of our world and the story of God's story. Go impress your friends with your Latin.

4. The subtle little phrase "And God saw that it was good." also speaks to the nature of the universe. In the midst of tsunamis, earthquakes and other natural disasters (that people want to attribute to God), the biblical text makes clear that, originally, creation was not filled with this pain and suffering. Creation was good and not evil. Which begs the question, "what happened?" which is a later reflection.

So is your head swimming? The verses you read are a beautiful poetic text and I have mixed emotions about turning this into a theological exercise. So to ease my conscience, why don't you go back and read and reflect and marvel at what God can do simply by speaking. And here's a video if you are a visual type like me. (and I have NO IDEA why the video maker added a satyr to the images! - (one of these things is not like the others . . .) and barbed wire, couldn't find a bird perched on a branch? . . .)