Thoughts for the Day

In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. Then God said, 'Let there be light'; and there was light. And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning the first day.

(Church in Wales Lectionary, New Revised Standard Version)

Thoughts

The word 'Genesis' means 'Beginning' in Greek, and as we know gives us the story of the creation of the world, not as a factual account, but as a story that tries to give meaning and offers a choice. John Hargreaves in a study guide produced for students and teachers in Africa 50 years ago, gives an example of this:

'It is morning and two women are washing clothes, and putting them out to dry in the sun. Soon part of the sky gets dark, and the elder of the two women says, "Look at that sky. We shall have rain in ten minutes. I'm going to take my clothes into the house. What are you going to do?" The younger woman looks at the sky and makes up her own mind. She may decide to take her clothes in also. Or she may decide to leave them outside, hoping that it will not rain after all.'

The story, is the women putting out washing; the meaning, is that the clouds might indicate rain; the choice, is shall they take the washing in or not? It's the same with the book of Genesis: 1) We look at the world around us. 2) We interpret what we see and decide if it's accident or God-inspired. 3) We decide to live God's way, or not.

What's your decision?

Lord God,
You enable us to learn about our world,
through the work of physicists, biologists,
chemists and historians,
but You also help us to see the meaning
behind Your work,
and to see Your hand at work
in our world.
Amen.