For the next two weeks our first reading will be taken from Genesis (Chapters 1-11), the first book of our Bible. The first book of the Bible begins, appropriately enough, with the “beginnings:”
“In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless wasteland, and darkness covered the abyss…” (Genesis 1:1-1).
While this is the beginning of the world and the cosmos it is not the real “beginning” as the Gospel of John reminds us:
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be. What came to be through him was life, and this life was the light of the human race; the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” (John 1:1-5).
It all begins and ends with God. The creation story of Genesis describes God as the divine craftsman or artist. As he creates the light, the heavens, the earth, animals and human beings he steps backs and admires his work and declares it good, very good. This is the theological truth of this creation story. It is not teaching us science or history. Oftentimes fundamentalist Christian preachers and teachers want to interpret Genesis in a way that was not intended by the human or divine author. There should be no conflict between the creation story and scientific discoveries. Genesis is not teaching that the world was actually created in 7 days, but that God creates and sustains all of creation.
The key theme or message of Genesis 1 is that the world is good, creation is good, and human beings are created in God’s image and likeness. This theme is so important that it is repeated 7 times (Genesis 1:4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25, 31): “God looked at everything he had made, and found it very good” (1:31). While the book of Genesis will also tell the story of evil and sin in the world the foundational truth is the goodness of the world and of human beings. Today we give praise to our creator for “Brother Sun and Sister Moon” and all the wonders of creation.
Image: “Earth and Triton to scale.” by Bluedharma is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0.