Origin Story #7 of 21:

So God created humankind in his image,

in the image of God he created them;

male and female he created them. (Gn 1:27)

Since the first sentence of our origin story, “created”, that big word for God’s unique doing has been lying low. Instead, we get a rather human word: “made” as in “God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night” (vs 16). This making has the sense of God working with the dark, chaotic watery brew to make something out of it—to bring it into an order that is fitting for the wonders of living creatures. It’s the work of his Word. His speaking forth has a way of bending the chaotic void into his will and purposes. It’s the work of putting into place a world that is fit for abundant life. When life comes forth, our big God word “created” comes back into play. When humankind makes its appearance God’s big word is repeated three times in rapid succession:

            God created humankind in his image,

            In the image of God he created them;

            Male and female he created them. (vs 27)

The Creator creates a creature that bears his image. The sudden barrage of these “created” words gives us a sense that something extraordinary is taking place. A unique creature that bears the Image of God.

There’s much to surprise us here. Let’s start with “image”: “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image,” is the first commandment. And yet, God creates an image of himself. As if God knows we need some image—some hint of who he is and what he is like. It’s not the real thing, but a clue to the Eternal. This is God’s idea of how he is to be imaged. This is that singular part of creation which best discloses something of the Creator. Any graven, fixed image of this Creator is a fraud. God is not imaged in anything fixed. The Creator’s image is best seen in the voice and freedom of the human person. Eventually, further along in our Gospel Story, we come to Christmas morning, when we celebrate the One who is “The Image of the invisible God”.

Origin Story #6 of 21:

Let us make man in our image. (Gn 1:26)

Why the difference? We share the sixth day with all other earthlings. But when it’s our turn, there is a pause in the Godhead itself. We sense something unique and risky. The “Us” of the Godhead decides to create a “them”. “Male and female he created them. And God blessed them, and God said to them…” (vss 27&28). From this side of Calvary, you can’t help but see the mystery of Father, Son and Holy Spirit in the “Us” of God. There’s the Father Almighty who creates all things, and God the Son who redeems all things, and the Holy Spirit who hovers over all things. It seems they huddle for the big decision. The decision to create a creature that bears the “image of God”. That’s the difference.

For the first time, God speaks directly to his creature: “Behold, I have given you…” (vs 29). This creature hears and, as we shall see, speaks. God’s speech has called the world into being; now, he creates another who can speak—a creature who has a voice of his own. In this speech, God gives the human creature a vocation. God informs the human species of its responsibilities. We are aware of things that need to be done. The “Image of God”… for starters, the Image has to do with our speech/language/communication. Here, once again, our two stories get along. The “modern science origin story” tells of the inexplicable wonder of human speech: “How and why our species acquired this linguistic power... remains unclear” (p. 173).

With speech comes responsibility. Out of our freedom, we choose to be obedient to our creator. The human creature lives, not simply out of instinct, but out of freedom. Will the human creature be faithful to his vocation to care for God’s creation?

Origin Story #5 of 21:

And God said, “Let the waters bring forth swarms of living creatures,

And let birds fly across the sky (Gn 1:20)

And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures… (Gn 1:24)

By the fifth day, the Word of God has brought the dark, chaotic and formless world into a form that is just right for “swarms of living creatures.” The sky and sea God formed on the second day provides space for all sorts of living creatures.  God declares “every living creature” of sky and sea “good”. Even “the great sea monsters” receives God’s blessing.

Sky and see have now been populated with swarms of creatures. Now God turns his attention to the earth between. The properly watered earth with its lush vegetation that God formed on the third day, is now ready to be filled “with all kinds of living creatures.” This will take a sixth day. It’s a big day. Some might say it’s a big risky day:

And God said, "Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds: cattle and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds."

And it was so. God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the cattle according to their kinds, and everything that creeps upon the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth."

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them.

And God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth." And God said, "Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food."

And it was so. God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, a sixth day. (Gn 1:24-31)

What a day. This is fun. Look what “the earth brings forth”! We could linger here forever. The earth is filled with God’s manifold creatures of which we are one. You would think we would get a special day. But no, we share the sixth day with all living creatures, even “creeping things.” We are sixth day creatures. We eat, excrete and procreate pretty much like all other animals. Yet we do it different from all other animals. And when we fail to live different, we become inhuman.

What is this difference? Here our two origin stories converge. Both acknowledge the uniqueness of the human species. But, they will differ on the “Why”. Why this difference?

Origin Story #4 of 21:

The earth was without form and void,

and darkness was upon the face of the deep;

and the Spirit of God hovered over the face of the waters.

And God said, “Let there be light. (Gn 1:2-3)

When God the Spirit stirred the chaotic waters of darkness, God the Father Almighty speaks into the darkness: “Let there be light, and there was light.” The formless universe begins to take shape. Four days of God’s attentive work forms a world fit for abundant life.

The first three days clear some space for life to flourish. Light is separated from darkness and given a name: “God called the light Day, and darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.” Next, God “separated the waters from the waters… the waters above God called Heaven.” Then God clears some space within the waters below:

And God said, "Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear."

And it was so. God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good.

And God said, "Let the earth bring forth vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, upon the earth."

And it was so. The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, a third day. (Gn 1:9-13)

With water ordered to its proper place, the earth is now empowered to “bring forth” all sorts of lush vegetation. The dark watery chaotic formlessness, over which the Spirit broods, is yielding to God’s speech. It’s being formed into a world that nourishes and sustains life.

The stage is set for abundant life. Or, almost set. God decides to populate the realms of day and night, that were created on the first day, with a sun to populate the day; and, a moon to populate the night. That’s one of our story’s odd things that I said we would owe up to. We were moving along nicely until this. Some say Christ himself was “the light of the world” before the fourth day. Or maybe, as some scholars suggest, it’s a way of demythologizing the Sun gods and goddesses (like the Egyptian Ra) and Moon gods and goddesses (like the Greek goddess Salena). As enchanting as these heavenly spheres are, they aren’t really gods, they are God’s handiwork—God’s gift.

For now, let’s just stick with our origin story as we have it and see how it goes. According to our story, God places these spheres in the sky “for signs and for seasons and for days and for years.” These heavenly spheres set in order our yearly rhythms of days and seasons: winter and summer, seedtime and harvest. They set in order as well our scared days and seasons to celebrate our Creator like Advent, Christmas and Easter. There’s still plenty of room for enchantment—in sunrises and sunsets, in moon lit nights. It’s the stuff of poetry and song.

So now, after that fourth day, everything is set for abundant life. That’s how our origin story goes. It’s not so different from David C’s “modern science origin story”. In his story, the one without a Creator, the Big Bang eventually forms into stars and galaxies that light up the dark void. It’s full of interesting scientific observations like the idea of “structured flows of energy” that causes me to think of our story. Here’s another example:

The spooky thing about life is that, though the inside of each cell looks like pandemonium—a sort of mud-wrestling contest involving a million molecules—whole cells give the impression of acting with purpose. Something inside each cell seems to drive it… (p. 76)

You can’t blame folks like me, who love the bible’s origin story, for seeing something of our story in David C’s Origin Story; can you?

Our Origin Story #3 of 21:

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. (Genesis 1:1)

That’s how our origin story begins: “In the beginning God created…”.  Our origin story is about God and about how God, out of his absolute freedom, decided to create something. Our Creator creates creation. It’s God’s idea. It’s God’s doing. Soon, our creation story will tell how God is pleased with it all. The Creator delights in his creation. It’s good. It’s very good.

However, it will take some ongoing work to bring his creation to a place of goodness and beauty: “In the beginning …the earth was formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep,” It will take some doing to make this chaos into something beautiful—a paradise fit for humans. For six days, God works to bring chaos into order, goodness and beauty. It’s creative work. Even God “rested on the seventh day from all the work he had done” (Gn 2:2). Each week we relive our creation story by working for six days and resting on the seventh. It’s a godly thing to do. Creation gives us our week. It parleys into our work week task of turning chaos into something orderly, good and beautiful.

The other origin story, the new one told by David C in his recent book Origin Story, begins with a Big Bang. That’s when some hot dense something smaller than an atom exploded spewing out all the matter that makes up our universe. This Explosion, that took place some thirteen billion years ago, continues its outward expansion to this day until it burns out into a cold, dark and lonely nothingness, 

The Big Bang reads like God speaking into the void and something exploding into being. What is more interesting, is how this chaotic Explosion took on order and structure—something fit for humans like us. David C. speaks of the odds with a parable:

If you throw a bomb into a construction site full of bricks, mortar, wires, and paint, what are the odds that when the dust clears, you’ll find an apartment building all wired up, decorated, and ready for buyers?

Even David C. seems tempted to bring in a creator god:

If our story had a creator god, explaining structure would be easy. We could just assume that God preferred structure to chaos. But most versions of the modern origin story no longer accept the idea of a creator god because modern science can find no direct evidence for a god. (p. 25)

We need not be gleeful here—as if science has found a slot for God. It’s to David Cs credit, that he acknowledges these gaps in the “modern science origin story”.  I’ll try to be as honest about problems in our own story—like the sun and moon showing up on the fourth day, for example.

For now, I delight in both stories. They have a way of playing off one another. Both tell the story of this movement from chaos to order. I might object to David C. thinking it easy for a god to turn chaos into order. Our creation story tells us it wasn’t easy. It took work. Our story doesn’t end with the universe drifting off into cold dark nothingness. In our story, the Creator sticks with his creation redeeming it and renewing it.  This story of creation’s redemption won’t be easy either. It has to do with Calvary.  

Our Origin Story #2 of 21:

All things have been created through Christ and for Christ…

And in Christ all things hold together. (Col 1:16-17)

When we read our creation story we can’t help but see it through the eyes of Christmas (God entering into his creation), Good Friday (God suffering for his creation), and Easter morning (God resurrecting his creation). As the hymn goes:

This is my Father’s world …let the earth be glad.

For dear to God is the earth Christ trod.

No place but is holy ground.

We did not form our origin story from scientific investigation. We come to it “by faith”. How it is that we have found ourselves in Christ is something of a mystery. Each one of us has our own story. Somehow, “God’s Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God” (Ro 8:16). Christmas, Good Friday and Easter Morning have a way of reminding us of the wonder of our faith.

We come to our creation story from a different place than Christian (the author of Origin Story, let’s call him David C. from now on). For David C., there is no room for such faith. His creation story will not allow for a “creator god”. His is an origin story formed by “modern science” alone. No other voice is allowed.

Seems to me, our creation story allows for greater tolerance. Our faith does not restrict us. It frees us. There is ample room in our creation story for all sorts of science. Notice how King Solomon goes about his scientific work:

He spoke of trees, from the cedar that is in Lebanon

to the hyssop that grows out of the wall;

he spoke also of beasts, and of birds,

and of reptiles, and of fish. (1K 4:33)

Solomon supports the arts as well:

He also uttered three thousand proverbs;

and his songs were a thousand and five.

One of his lengthier proverbs speaks, in an artful way, of the value of scientific investigation (Pr 6):

            Go to the ant, consider her ways, and become wise!

            Without having a boss, or anyone telling her what to do;

            The ant gathers her food in summer,

            And stores it up during harvest time.

And songs… the Bible chose to include the best of the thousand and five (SofS 1:2):

O that you would kiss me

with the kisses of your mouth!

For your love is better than wine,

Science and Art… that’s part of the bible story too. There is something real and wonderful about creation that is worthy of our investigation (science) and wonderment (art). There is, at least to my lights, good science in David C’s origin story; but, it lacks art. Maybe art is a threat to a “modern science origin story”. Art would risk opening the door to something transcendent—something bigger than the material world. So the “modern science origin story” keeps things bound to scientific inquiry alone. It’s intolerant of other possibilities. It lacks poetry and song.

Our Origin Story #1 of 21:

By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God. (Hb 11:3)

Jimmy Cowart graced us with a visit yesterday morning. Something about his sabbatical year brought him to the West coast and to our home. We sat out on the patio for a few hours. He wanted to talk science and faith. So we did. It’s something he intends to give attention to during his sabbatical.

Jimmy’s interest in science and faith didn’t come from any spiritual struggle. As if he felt his faith in Christ to be threatened by science. Jim is secure in his faith. But out of his faith, he wonders if we can’t get these two worlds of faith and science to get along—to talk to each other and respect each other. How could that happen? Where would we begin? I think it has something to do with both science and religion being faithful to their own stories. We wouldn’t want science to pretend that it is religious; nor, would we want religion to pretend like it is science. By faith we believe in our Creator. “Creator”, “creation” and “creature” are religious terms. They are words of faith, hope and love. Science doesn’t use words like “creation”.

In conversation with David Christian’s recent book Origin Story (2018), I would like to work on our Christian origin story as revealed to us in the Bible. David Christian, his name not his faith, believes a) we need an origin story, b) the biblical story is no longer believable; and thus, c) we need a new origin story generated not by religion, but by scientific inquiry. Such scientific inquiry cannot speak of a Creator “because,” as Christian insist, “modern science can find no direct evidence for god” (p. 25). Maybe “direct evidence” is hard to come by. There’s something elusive about God. Yet, the universe certainly gives us clues that there just might be an Almighty God who created the heavens and the earth. Is it fair for science to rule out such possibilities?

So, bit by bit, morning by morning, I would like to give renewed attention of our story of creation as revealed to us in Holy Scripture. It’s our faith seeking understanding. A good place to start. As Christian points out, our origin story has a way of forming who we are and how we understand our place in the universe. Our Genesis story is really good at that.