In the Beginning: Brief Reflections on Creation

Genesis 1:1-19

1 "A mighty wind swept over the waters": the Holy Spirit precedes everything, every movement of creation, every human endeavor. The smallest opening in a hardened heart is enough for him to blast through. God preserve us from having a heart too hard to open to the Spirit!

6 Had a discussion with the kids about how the dome separating the waters is an example of not reading scripture literally. What is the significance of the two waters? The water below the dome is the earthly, physical, literal water, for drinking, for cleansing, for fun. The water above the dome is the spiritual form of water: cleansing in Baptism, flowing from Jesus's side.

11 Why is it that the vegetation is created before the sun and the moon? God creates light on the first day, the sky the second, the seas and dry land the third -- all high level elements of creation -- and then immediately descends to the level of a farmer, sowing the land and raising orchards. Then on the fourth day he's back to the high level again, creating and ordering sun, moon, and stars. This seems to indicate a certain kind of spiritual progress: we take on grand programs, we make big resolutions, we have a big sweeping idea of the spiritual life -- but the practical side of the spiritual life has to be attended to as well. Smaller, practical actions are part of great sublime movements of the soul, and underpin them. And even seemingly small actions bear within themselves the seeds of even smaller, more concretely practical changes: the trees bear their fruits, which bear within themselves the seeds for more trees and more fruit.

16 "And he made the the stars": this suddenly strikes me as the most beautiful line in the Bible.