Genesis 1:1-2

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the Spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters" (Genesis 1:1-2 RSV).

Comment:

There are two versions of creation in the early chapters of the Book of Genesis. The first (Genesis 1:1-2:3) describes the seven days of creation, with humankind created on the sixth. The second version (Genesis 2:4-3:24) is the folksier story of Adam and Eve, the Lord and the serpent, with humankind created on the first day. Metaphysically, the 'first creation' describes creation in the realm of ideas. The 'second creation' describes the process by which ideas become manifest. In these first two verses, the Allness of God becomes a movement—out of infinite stillness a creative Spirit begins to move, and everything flows from that motion.

Metaphysically, the seven days of creation described in Genesis 1 correspond to the seven stages in the creative process—the way in which we ourselves continue the process by bringing divine ideas into tangible expression in this mortal experience. And the message of the very first verses, I think, is that creation always begins in stillness. Things are formless, void, and dark. We may not even know clearly what it is we're called to create. But there is a divine discontent at work—"a wind from God" moving restlessly over the waters. It's like that for us too. Creation begins with a vague restlessness, a dissatisfaction with what is, a sense that something more is seeking to be birthed through us. We surrender to the process with the simple affirmation "Let there be Light." And a kind of clarity begins to take shape out of the formless deeps.

Blessings!

Rev. Ed