Creation I

"And God saw that it was good..."

Funny how the lectionary works. The very Sunday after I talk about God's creation sequel--Pentecost (see Sunday's sermon 5/11)--the creation story pops up. It's there for the same reason about that I used it as an illustration last week--because it shows the three persons of the Godhead active in creation (including the Spirit "wind of God").

But I don't want to get into the Trinity yet--there's time for that later as we speed towrds Holy Trinity Sunday. What I want to talk about is a fairly provocative idea that surfaced in a lecture I went to while in Gettysburg.

The lecture was on the Old testament law and the Christian, and it covered a lot of ground. One part of it talked about the fall of Adam and Eve and the creation. And what the speaker said that I still recall (and pardon me if it's out of context) was that the scripture says God made the universe and it was good--not perfect.

It makes sense--if the creation was perfect then there'd be no sin and decay and death. Being "good" denotes God's pleasure and satisfaction at what he'd done--but leaves room for what eventually happens. A perfect world needs no God.

This way of looking at things is different from the way I'm used to. To me "good" meant it was not bad--not shoddy worksmanship--worthy of God's love and concern. This rating of good negates the position of those who say this world is evil and to be escaped from--a husk we should shed, including our mortal bodies. The creation is a-okay in God's eyes.

But.. not perfect. Perfection is God's alone. Not to say that, redeemed and reconciled in Christ, we aren't moving in that direction. That's the work of continuing creation through the Holy Spirit. We'll only reach it in the new Jerusalem, however.

Well, I'm not done rolling this one around in my head. I'll have to do some reading and think some more on it. In the meantime, enjoy the creation story this week in church!