First Reading:  Genesis 1:1-2:2

The Creation

Unlike our modern view of creation through modern technology like space based telescopes, ancient people saw God’s work as poor laborers: farmers, herdsmen, sailors, traders, etc. When they considered the activities of God, they looked from the outer edges (the horizon) to his work in their midst.

What did the cosmos look like to these people? The sky provided the farthest view. Ancient people believed that, like a blue-hued bowl, the sky protected the earth from excessive rain. And it provided a canvas to hang the stars at night. And, at some unknown point, the sky and earth met. They held the clouds were really doors that allowed the water through the solid sky dome to reach the earth below. Rivers, lakes, and seas caught and held the waters on the earth. Essentially, these peoples saw the universe as a water environment, interrupted by a “bubble” formed by the sky (and upside down bowl) sitting on earth (a plate that supported the sky “bowl”). Both the sky and earth were solid walls that, if broken, would flood the world into watery death.

In the creation of the cosmos, the writer described two primary events: the breathe of the Spirit across the waters and the creation of light and darkness.

Through the Spirit, God intervened in the watery chaos, asserted control, and created order. On the surface, this view might differ from the orthodox belief that God created the universe “ex nihilo” (out of nothing). But the ancient people of the land and sea were not philosopher/theologians. Their concern was the primacy of God, which the creation story asserted. God was in charge. The notion of creation out of nothing was a development of that world view.

After God took control, he created time. The writer of the story saw this symbolically as the creation of light and dark. Notice day and night on the first day came before the creation of the sun and the moon (creation on the fourth day). Indeed, God had to create time in order to create the moral universe, the opportunity for free choice. Thus, he created time before he could call that time (i.e., “the first day”) “good.”

In the following five days, God created the physical universe within the confines of the moral universe. Time was a “space” for the Creator’s free choice. And each movement of creation (each day) was capped by the pronouncement of God: “It is good.” God’s eternal Word said creation was moral.

Creation progressed upward, as it built inward. The heavens and earth, lights in the sky, plants and animals, wild and domestic animals. Finally, on the sixth day, after God called his creation “good,” he made humanity in his image and likeness. Then he blessed them with the mission of dominance over creation. With God’s image and his mission, humanity was to share in divine power. Like God, they were to exercise their choices in a moral universe. And declared humanity “very good.” This creation that shared in the ability to choose good was the height of goodness.

Then God rested.

God gave us his Spirit, even at the point of our creation. He gave us the gift of time and the power of choice, along with physical existence. He still calls us to choose the good. And to rest in him.

Reflect on the awesome gift of creation and the awesome power moral choice gives you. How have you used them to praise God? How have you used them to rest in God?