Bringing Forth Beauty

When God began to create the heavens and the earth—the earth was without shape or form, it was dark over the deep sea, and God's wind swept over the waters—God said, "Let there be light." And so light appeared. (Genesis 1:1-3)

The Genesis 1 Creation story states this historical fact: God shaped and formed the world, and brought it into being. But the story is first poetry, declaring universal truths about God's why behind the text. As Robert Frost wrote, "The utmost of ambition is to lodge a few poems where they will be hard to get rid of." In Genesis 1, we have just such a poem.

Verses 1-3, quoted above, tell us that God brought order from chaos. God spoke, and it was so. The word of God is a powerful thing. Just as we anticipate what God brings forth when we read the Genesis 1 narrative, we wait for that moment when the Word speaks to us, and takes the mess and muck of our struggles to bring forth beauty and wholeness and peace.

The power of God's creative word, expressed at the beginning of Genesis and repeated throughout this poetic description of the Creation, inspires awe. Who knew that such a God exists, a God who creatively crafts our world according to divine purposes, loving and caring and expressing concern for all we encounter? The story declares there is a God who has created in order to be in relationship to the world that was shaped and formed from darkness, chaos, and nothingness. With a word, God has brought forth all that is, including you.

Creator God, provide me the grace I need to recognize when you are at work. Take the raw material of my life, send forth your Spirit, and put me together. Help me to look to you as the one who brings order and wholeness, completeness and peace. As you brought forth light with a word, cutting through darkness at the beginning of your creative work, place and call forth your light within me, that I might shine before others, bringing glory to you. Amen.

God Takes Notice

When I look up at your skies, at what your fingers made—the moon and the stars that you set firmly in place—what are human beings that you think about them; what are human beings that you pay attention to them? You've made them only slightly less than divine, crowning them with glory and grandeur. (Psalm 8:3-5)

When I was a boy, my father took me hunting in the hill country of Texas, far from home and the normal rhythms of life. We slept on old bunks in a tin shack with other men from our family. Our meals were prepared on an old gas stove, lanterns and flashlights lit our way at night, wood-burning stoves kept us warm, and the plumbing did not work well, if at all.

Each evening, we stepped outside the shack and used water drawn from a well to brush our teeth, standing beneath the stars. Oh, so many stars! Ten-year-old me felt small. Underneath such an expanse, who am I? And does God take notice of my little life?

The psalmist's words precede my experience by thousands of years, but the concern is the same. As you recall, Genesis 1 describes God's creative action: God spoke, and it was so. Light and darkness, ocean and sky, land and vegetation, heavenly lights, animal life, and finally human beings were brought into being by the power of the divine Word.

The psalmist draws our gaze upward to the vastness of our world, while calling us to glance within, reflecting through comparison on our small magnificence. God created all this! And you and me. Small though we may be, God takes notice and gives us a place of honor in the created order. We are called to know the God who brought us into being and to live responsibly and faithfully as God's creatures.

God of all that is made, I am small in comparison to this great big world. But you know me, you have made me, and you have called me. You have placed your Spirit upon me, by the grace of your Son, Jesus Christ. You have purposed me for great things in your service. You love me. May I be humbled by this reality, and may my love for you grow. Amen.

A Gift and a Responsibility

Then God said, "Let us make humanity in our image to resemble us so that they may take charge of the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the livestock, all the earth, and all the crawling things on earth." God created humanity in God's own image, in the divine image God created them, male and female God created them. (Genesis 1:26-27)

When I was a teenager, a friend and I operated a lawn service. Each summer we worked hard under the hot sun, believing the heat toughened us up for the fall football season.

During that experience, I learned something about the importance of how we represent others, and how our identity extends beyond ourselves. One of our customers, who happened to know my father, was disappointed with the service we provided. Suddenly, it was not only my name that hung in the balance, but my father's as well. He shared with me the importance of the Simpson name, for it represented something not only about me, but about our family as well.

In Genesis 1, God created humanity "in God's own image." Both male and female bear the image of God. In a divine, magnificent way, God has placed a stamp on each of our lives, marking us as distinct from the rest of creation, giving human beings a responsibility to steward and care for all that has been made.

When we live as God intends, we represent something, or someone, beyond ourselves. Living as disciples of Jesus Christ leads us more fully to reflect God's person and reality before other human beings, calling them to realize that they too are known and loved by the God who brought this world into being.

O God, in whose image I am made, may I see that you have placed upon me your mark. I represent not only myself but also you, for in some way my life reflects your...