As we enter the month of September, we return again to the Season of Creation. Throughout the year, our readings routinely remind us of God’s providence, of all that God has done for us, of all that God has given us. But we don’t always dig into the details, and we rarely focus exclusively on God’s creation.
However, if we stop and think about it for a moment, the very act of creation is the beginning of God’s relationship with the world and ultimately with us. The Hebrew Scriptures, commonly called the Old Testament in the Christian Bible, begin with God forming creation into a pleasing design. God is pleased with the results as the Earth takes shape.
We start today at the very beginning, a very good place to start (Genesis 1:1-25). Our Bibles open in the book of Genesis with a reminder that God has formed and shaped all of creation -- the Earth on which we live, everything we see and touch and feel around us, both this planet and out into the cosmos. God’s fingerprints are all over the world around us. This first entry in our Bibles takes the form of a poem or possibly even a song of praise that would have been sung to celebrate God’s work in the world.
Because of this, it is not meant as a scientific explanation detailing how all of this came to be and the myriad processes that would have been involved. Instead, it is a story of faith, a celebration of God’s goodness and the goodness of all that God has created. It is a story that tells us that the Earth as we know it was created by God’s design. God’s word being spoken into the world gave it shape, gave us night and day, the sun, moon, and stars. God’s word encouraged (and still encourages today) the growth of all living things. And God’s creation is inherently good.
“the earth was without shape or form…” (Genesis 1:2, CEB).
It is interesting to note here almost at the start of our reading that when God begins the act of creating and forming the earth, the earth already exists, at least in some fashion. We might think of the earth as an inert lump of clay in the darkness, something with potential that has no power to fulfill any design on its own. Or perhaps we might think of the cosmos as we read about in science texts, a formless void filled with matter that is eventually shaped into something else, coalescing into the familiar stars and planets that we know from looking up at the night sky.
Either way of thinking of this is an act of creation. Either way of considering the creation of the world follows a similar pattern. God starts with this formless shape and makes it into something -- a world, a universe, capable of growing, supporting, and sustaining life. It is God’s wind -- a word in Hebrew that could also mean God’s breath or God’s spirit -- that blows across the deep, bringing shape to that which had been without shape. We might also interpret this as God’s word being spoken into the void, speaking creation into being.
God breathes breath into creation just as God would later give breath to the first human. And into this creation, this formless and shapeless darkness full of potential, God brings forth light. God saw that the light was good. Even so, God did not banish the darkness. God set into motion the pattern that we know still today, a cycle of light and dark, day and night, that shapes our lives and the lives of all living things on our planet.
We all live in the balance between the light and dark. All living things, all of creation, need a time of activity and a time of rest. Most plants use the light of the sun to create energy and nourishment, resting in times of darkness. Many animals use the light of the sun for warmth and for finding food, resting in times of darkness. Other animals flip this pattern, hunting at night and resting by day. Either way, the pattern continues, with all that exists following similar patterns of activity and rest, often defined by periods of light and darkness, night and day.
After creating light and separating the light from the dark, God separates the heavens from the waters below. Then continuing with creation, God pushes back the waters of the earth so that dry land can come forth. With the dry land in place, God brings forth life. First of course were the plants. There were grains and other seed-bearing plants. There were all sorts of fruit trees. The Earth did as God asked, bringing these things into being, working with God’s word to make all things just right.
And again, we may be reminded of the science textbooks we may have read over the years. We know that scientists believe that the sun and the planets formed from the matter of the cosmos coming together and forming into spinning masses of energy that are eventually separated from each other. On our own planet, the waters and the land became separated from one another. The first life was some form of primitive plant, eventually leading to all the forms of vegetation that we know today, seed-bearing plants and grains and fruit-bearing trees.
After adding the sun and the moon and the stars to the heavens, God’s attention turns back to the Earth. God tells the Earth next to bring forth first creatures in the sea and then birds in the air. The seas are filled with all manner of creatures and the skies are filled with birds. And seeing how good this is, God tells them to be fruitful and multiply.
As our reading today draws to a close, God tells the earth to produce the living creatures that live on land -- the cattle, the creeping things, and wild animals of every kind. Again, God sees how good and pleasing this is.
Thinking again of the ways in which scientists believe life came about on the Earth, we see our reading following a similar pattern, with animal life beginning first in the seas before moving to the land. Simple life forms developed first, eventually becoming more complex. And all of these animals and creatures have developed in their own niche in creation, filling it with God’s goodness.
In some ways, we can read this part of Genesis as a poetic telling of what science suggests is the reality underlying all of creation. This song follows almost exactly the same patterns and processes, showing us how God is behind it all, guiding the process, speaking the world as we know it into being. Considering how well it follows the pattern that many modern scientists think happened, it is amazing to consider that this poem was written over two thousand years ago.
As I was reading through this text and thinking of the ways it describes our reality so poetically, I was reminded of the old Disney film, Fantasia. Perhaps you have seen this film with many classical works of music given animation inspired by what the music calls to mind. One segment uses composer Igor Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring” to call to mind the arc of creation. From a formless void of darkness, light eventually appears, swirling into existence. We are carried into that light, which we discover is the swirl of a galaxy. Deeper into it we go until we are brought to a primitive planet. This planet is still taking shape, being formed into the world that we know. There is light and chaos that is eventually resolved into a world of water and land. Eventually, life forms and grows, filling the seas and the land and the air with plants and animals. It is a beautiful piece, another poetic telling of creation that fits both the outline we find in our science texts as well as the outline of creation we find in Genesis.
This is important for us to consider for a few reasons. The first is simply to affirm that there does not have to be a disconnect between our faith in God and our study of science. We can believe that God created the heavens and the earth and shaped all that exists and still want to study the exact processes that God used to bring the Earth and all that is in it into being. The two things are not mutually exclusive.
The second important thing for us to understand here is that God has shaped and formed our world into something good and pleasing. In the earliest days of creation, when God created light, God saw that it was good. When God called forth the dry land from the waters, God saw that it was good. When God created the sun and the moon and the stars, God saw how good it was. When God created life, the plants and the creatures of the sea and the air and the land, God saw that it was good.
Given that God’s creation is inherently good, how can we help but care about this world that surrounds us. We who have also been created as a part of this world, surely we should care as much for God’s creation as God does. Surely we should care for the beauty and goodness that surrounds us simply because God created it and saw that it was good.
When we look around our planet today, where do we see signs of destruction that we might help repair?
Where do we see signs that things have shifted or been changed for the worse that we might work to make better?
How can we fail to care that the goodness that God has created is being harmed?
If we truly affirm that God has created this world and everything in it, what does that mean for us and our place in this creation?
Our sacred texts, our Bible, affirms that God has created this world and shaped it into something that is good and pleasing. However we think that creation took place, we know that God’s hand was a part of it. God laid out the design and called forth all things. As a part of that good and pleasing creation, we receive our sustenance from the bounty of the land and the seas. We are able to observe and enjoy the beauty of this Earth.
God’s creation is good. Let us join together with all of creation to praise the Creator for all that we have.