The Watery Chaos of Creation

Genesis 1New International Version (NIV)

The Beginning

1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty,darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.4 God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.

Since we have gotten back from our trip to Louisiana, Cora and Guthrie have been playing a game called “Vacation.”  They each get their backpacks, which we took on the trip, and a suitcase, each filled with their favorite toys and they go on vacation.  They sit on a storage container with their suitcases and backpacks in the ‘back of the van’ and go on their trip.  They tote around their belongings and simulate going on a trip.  And just like the real trip we took, their attention span doesn’t last long and they must keep adding things to their game.  The sitting on the storage container only lasts about as long as the actual time they spent between asking “Are we there yet?” in the real trip.  They develop roles and characters.  Adding stops and situations as the game progresses.  They even stop at a hotel to go swimming where Cora will persistently ask to go put on her swimsuit.  Guthrie goes to throwing practice, like his brother does in real life and Cora will switch from her swimsuit to her dance leotard so she can pretend to go to dance.  Yesterday, they even got dressed in their cowboy/cowgirl outfits clear to their boots so they could go to a rodeo.  Over time, the game gets progressively more realistic and specific as their attire must match whatever it is they are doing in that moment.  It is really interesting to see their young minds at work.  Of course, the game doesn’t last much longer than a half hour or so each time they play.  Nonetheless, it is incredible to watch their characters and game develop as they go along.  It is amazing to see the imagination of a three and four year old play out.  It’s like watching an ad libbed play put on right before your eyes.  They understand the difference between playing and reality because their older brother sometimes tries to rain on their parade, but undaunted, those moments are met with an emphatic, “We are just pretending!”

Their story is a combination of things that happened in reality and use of their God-given imagination.  There are moments where those two worlds collide and the truth is somewhere in the middle.  This is where I find myself as I read through Genesis.  Some will dismiss Genesis as only a story while others deem it strictly fact.  Perhaps the truth is somewhere in the middle.  I do believe that God created the earth but I cannot prove it.  And just maybe, those who started the oral tradition of Genesis were in the same boat.  They undoubtedly knew that God created the earth but struggled with how to put it into words.  Our understanding of how the earth and space works is vastly different than it was 10,000 years ago and the best we can do to this day is theorize.  Some will say there are undeniable facts in this direction or that but theories are the best we have even today.  Theories themselves are a combination of some facts and some God-given imagination.  My own theory is that God created what we call space but I don’t know that it went down exactly as Genesis describes.  Perhaps it did.  Perhaps it didn’t.  However, my faith isn’t shaken either way.  

Today marks the day in the lectionary deemed “The baptism of the Lord.”  At first, I struggled with how this scripture from Genesis fit that criteria.  (And that is why I read things written by people who are smarter than me.)  I read a commentary by Valerie Bridgeman where she said, “It reminds us that creation began in the watery chaos, and so does our journey in our faith.  We are baptized into chaos that God orders our lives with the dance of the Spirit.  Sometimes that ordering happens in darkness, but God smiles and darkness rolls aside.”  When we look at the story of Genesis as a guide of our faith journeys, it definitely offers us a new perspective.  As we emerge from the watery chaos of our own baptisms, there may be a small moment of clarity but the realization that there is a lot of work still to do, both internally and externally, is prevalent.  Imagine for a moment, the watery chaos from which Jesus emerged as described in Mark, “And just as Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him.  And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.’”  Each day presents its own challenge of emerging from the watery chaos of light and dark.  Each day is a new creation which means that each day is an opportunity formed out of the formless and we are called to help separate the light from the dark.  As we start off a new year, may we not only be aware of those opportunities but seize them!   

This time, as I re-read our scripture for this morning, keep Valerie’s words in mind and I am going to change some of the words to emulate the scripture as our creation, “In the beginning God created us.  Now we were formless and empty, we were covered in depths of darkness, and the Spirit of God was hovering over us.  And God said, ‘I will be their light,’ and there was light.  God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from darkness.  God called the light ‘my son’ and the darkness he called ‘suffering.’  And there was evening, and there was morning - the first day.”  I struggled with what to call the darkness for this reason: if God created all things... He then had to create the darkness as well.  This means that God created things like strife, suffering, injustice, prejudice, sin, etc.  That’s tough.  How do you explain those things if I preach that God truly loves us?  At first, I wanted to say that these things are present only when God is absent but God is always present so to say that God is absent in those moments where the things I just mentioned exist cannot be possible.  I then came to this conclusion: We are still in the watery chaos of our creation.  Where God is always present and He is constantly separating the light from the dark.  Here we are, trying to make sense of it all somewhere between our perceived reality and the mystery of God.  Clinging to the light and sometimes falling into the depths of the darkness.  That’s why it is imperative to view each day as a new day in creation.  We must make the effort, every day, to be God’s hands and feet, His earthly body and mind, to aid in this constant separation of all things good vs. all things evil.  I know it’s difficult to look at the world and see the all the pain and suffering and to think we have such a big  job to do.... But we do and you are equipped to do it.  Remember, even in the darkness, the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.      Amen.