The bible begins with a longish poem/myth about the primordial event--the beginning of life. It has a sort of repetitive rhythm to it. "God said, 'let there be_____', and there was ____. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and morning, the 1st/2nd/3rd,etc...day. The poem uses the analogy of a week to divide the work of creation. Some people believe the poem is historical, meaning that God created everything in a literal week of time. We might call this a scientific approach to the reading. They suggest that the bible gives evidence for the mechanics of life. It is used to oppose other scientific evidence suggesting that the earth, and life on it, has evolved and changed dramatically over millions of years. Science and biblical faith have not always walked together hand-in-hand. The church has opposed Galileo, Darwin, and other scientists over the centuries. Genesis 1 is not a biology or geology textbook. It is, however, an authoritative word for many religious people about the origins of life on earth. We need not discount this story in light of science; nor ought we to discard science because of biblical faith. But I am not writing here to deal with the debate between science and faith.
I do, however, want to suggest that the first story in the bible tells us a lot about God and what it has meant to believe in this sort of God for 3,000 years.
First, it means that the first tellers of this story included people of different backgrounds from their own in the story. It suggests that humanity has a common ancestry. This sharing of DNA or common ancestry suggests, perhaps, that prejudice against the other is a denial of a common theological founding. This God created men and women in God's image. Somehow humankind in total reflects the nature of God. It suggests that we are more closely related than we realize or think. This may have implications on our behavior toward others. Even our enemies share a common origin, if you will. This familial bond is, perhaps, meant to strengthen natural inclinations to live in harmony and peace with others. Our social bonds are broader than we recognize.
Second, this story does not depend on faith for it to be true. It simply is. This is not a story about faith in God for believers in God. The bible also tells stories about people having faith in God. This story makes no claim for absolute truth. It is not a theory. One does not have to believe in gravity for it to be true. One does not have to believe in God for the story to be true, either. It does not apply as a candidate for truth in competition with other stories about the origins of life. It is not vying to be the best or most logical proposition about the beginning. It tells us what we already know. This world, all of this, is not accidental. It is not something from and for nothing. It is because it has been willed to be.
Third, the creation poem/myth in the first chapter of Genesis tells us that God is creative, imaginative, and participatory. The first word God speaks is "Let there be light" and there was light. God called the light 'day' and the darkness 'night'. The light separated from the darkness. And it was good. Curiously, why does the poem suggest that the sun, moon, and stars appear 3 days after the light appeared? In a world long before artificial lighting, how does one conceive of light without the celestial bodies that emit light? Does the poet suggest that light and "lights" are not the same thing? I think so. The first light may be a force of energy, a burst of power, a nuclear reaction. It may be "the big bang". I think it refers to something else, though. It is the visible presence of God. Before this spoken word, 'let there be light', there was no vision, no seeing, no photographic memory capturing the unfolding of the universe in all its beauty. This photonic event is the point where the imagination of the artist is revealed in the work of art. The painter's imaginative use of light in depicting what he alone sees in the mind's eye. This is the first day. The imaginative powers of God are revealed in the physical formation of the solar system, the earth, and all that emerges upon it.
I said earlier that the poem has a rhythm, a shape. Movement from speech to formation and from darkness to light drives the story forward. First there are the containers for life, the environments of air, water, and earth. Then there is the emergence of life that fills each environment; sky, sea, and land. Finally, the imagination of God develops human kind; made in God's image. This holy rhythm; evening and morning, work and rest, saying and seeing reveals that order emerges out of chaos. Unlike other myths wherein creation is formed out of dynamic struggle and violence between gods, this story is gentle. God speaks and life emerges.
Here are three things we learn from Genesis 1.
1. God's existence is presupposed. God exists. Life emerges from the Word of God. What emerges is good. God's evaluation of the work, including the work of human kind, is positive. God's creation is good. What if we evaluated the earth and its creatures this way?
2. Light precedes lights. The first light of day 1 is not from the sun or the stars. It is another light---the light of clarity. And so begins the discriminating work of God distinguishing darkness from light, evil from goodness, fear and hatred from love and peace.
3. While the earth sleeps, God creates. Creation is unending. God 's work is constant. But life ends. We sleep. We rest. We die. And there was evening and there was morning.
4. Let us make humankind in our image. God is relational, personal, and physical/spiritual. Monotheism is not detached deism. There is dynamic communion between creator and creation. We are part of a divine ecology that puts us in relationship with the earth and all creatures. We are interdependent on every other part of life in order to live. We need water, air, earth, plants, animals, other humans. We do not live without all the parts. The earth is not teeming with resources for 7 bullion humans to extract and consume. It is a complex and beautiful creation to cherish, protect, and enjoy.
5. God rested on the 7th day. All is gift. Even God enjoys the gift of creation. Recreation is essential to life. We must be re-created weekly; recharged, restored, refueled, remade. An a-rhythmic culture driven to daily work is not healthy. Everyone and thing suffers when we are slaves to work.
Created in the image of God, we are invited to share in the rhythm and provision of the creation. God gives time; days, weeks, months, seasons, years; for the cycle of creation to be completed over and over again. We till, we plant, we harvest, we eat, we live, we give birth, we die. We are part of the constantly changing, dynamic emergence of created life.
The story of Genesis 1 tells us: we are not God. We are participants in the ongoing work of creation. We are called to hours and days of work and rest. We are invited to enjoy the gifts of this create world, not to exploit them as resources to consume, but to cherish them as gifts to share.
As Lutheran Christians, we are commended to care for creation. Check out the link: http://www.lutheransrestoringcreation.org/
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