Genesis 1:1-5

Year B

First Sunday after the Epiphany

January 11, 2015

Cross~Wind

Title: Living Out Loud by Living in the Light or First Words 

Going deeper

Genesis 1:1-5 (NRSV) is the beginning of two accounts of creation that we have in the first two chapters of the Bible. The account begins with a God who creates what is good. It does not present a theory of creation. It presents a creed or belief. It places the story of the Patriarchs within the larger theme of the love and concern of God for humanity. The God who established a covenant with Abraham and Moses is the creator of the world. The opening verses of the Bible arise out of thoughtful reflection on who God is in relationship with the world. Theologically, nothing has its existence in itself or for itself. Rather, their source and their destiny are in God. God is their creator and has a purpose for each part of creation. Creation is the work of the love of God. God has loved creation from eternity. Karl Barth says that one should have the image of the construction of a temple. Creation will not end with the making of man and woman in the image of God. It will end with Sabbath, the rest and satisfaction of God in the work of God. The basis of creation is the power of the Word of God. Creation results from the simple command of God. We find here the unlimited freedom of God to create. We will see an order of creation that is remarkably similar to the order that modern science in the growth and expansion of the universe. This account reflects the constancy of creation, something like what we might think of as the laws of nature.

In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth,[an affirmation of only one creative power, that of God. It describes a cosmos, a divinely ordered world of heaven and earth, a world invisible to humanity, and the world in which humanity will live.] ² the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over [soared over] the face of the waters. [At this point, we can see that element of persuasion is involved in the act of creation. God is patiently sweeping over the face of the water like a mighty wind. In such a notion we find already present the love and kindness of God as well. Using ancient language, we find here the truth that God will gain victory over irrationality and evil. The freedom of God in creation and the love of God in creating are thought we need to hold together.]

[In verses 3-5 we have the first day of creation.] ³ Then God said, [The origin of creation is the divine word. When creation separates from this Word, it does so to its hurt and falls into falsehood and error.] “Let there be light”; and there was light. [The Word creates light. Light depends on God. The works of God take place during the day and in the light. Even light lives by the Word of God.]  ⁴ And God saw that the light was good; [Light has dignity and holiness only as connected with God. God says Yes to what God has made. We find a similar statement throughout Chapter 1, and after the creation of humanity, creation was “very good.” Each act of creation is in accord with the divine purpose and receives divine approval. It was good. The goodness of creation will be in the hands of human beings as to whether they will act in accord with the divine purpose. Of course, we know how that story will end. Evil and suffering will always cast doubt on the goodness of creation.] and God separated the light from the darkness. ⁵ God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day. [God has given creation time alongside God, and therefore preservation alongside and shelter before God.] 

Introduction

We often hear about the last words someone says. During the Civil War, a union general, looking across a field at some confederate snipers, supposed said, “They couldn’t hit an elephant at this distance.”

However, what about famous first words? You know, those words that launched some new venture or discovery. Sure, we remember Neil Armstrong's first words upon stepping on to the moon: "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." And Alexander Graham Bell's first words spoken on the telephone in 1875: "Mr. Watson, come here -- I want to see you." However, many other first words that signaled the beginning of important events or technological advances, while less familiar, were no less revolutionary.

Many of these famous first words, like Bell's call for his assistant, were uttered because of advances in communication itself. Take, for example, the first words ever sent electrically over wires via telegraph. While many others had experimented with the technology before him, Samuel Morse was the first to send a message over a real telegraph line on May 24, 1844. From the old Supreme Court Chamber in the Capitol building in Washington, D.C., Morse sent the first message -- a Bible verse, Numbers 23:23, chosen by Annie Ellsworth, the daughter of a friend -- to his associate, waiting on the other end of the line in Baltimore. The first electronic words were, "What hath God wrought?"

More first words followed as communication technology advanced. The first words spoken over a wireless radio were uttered on December 23, 1900, from a station on Cobb Island in the Potomac River by Reginald Aubrey Fessenden: "One, two, three, four. Is it snowing where you are, Mr. Thiesen?" The first spoken word that ended the era of silent movies in 1927 was Al Jolson's clever line in The Jazz Singer, "Wait a minute, you ain't heard nothin' yet."

Of course, important first words are not confined to the advent of communication devices. The first words a child speaks, for example, are anticipated for months by parents who cannot wait to hear what junior actually wants. The nine most common first words for babies are dada, daddy, mama, dad, mommy, mom, cat, no and dog.

"Let there be light"

First words announce that something new has begun, no matter how mundane those words may seem. Moreover, no first words, indeed no communication at all, would have been possible without the first words ever spoken: "Let there be light" (Genesis 1:3). The first words in the history of the universe were spoken not by humans, but by God, who utters those words at the beginning of a brand new project called creation. God's words signify a major shift from the existing formless chaos on the earth, represented by the "deep," toward order, separation, and goodness represented by God's illuminating presence.

Application

Having just come through Advent and Christmas, we can easily make the connection to the fact that the light that God has spoken into the creation project reveals God's own self and character to us. "God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all" (I John 1:5). The glory and truth of God, revealed in God's own light and presence, exposes those who would continue to live in the secrecy and darkness of chaos and sin.

Indeed, the gospel of John takes this understanding a lot further by connecting the Incarnation of God in Jesus to both God's Word and to God's presence as revealed in light. Like Genesis, the book of John begins "In the beginning," and says that Jesus was God's ultimate "Word" spoken to the creation, a light created to pierce the darkness of sin and death that can never "overcome" it (John 1:5). Jesus' life -- God's very life -- was "the light of all people" (John 1:4). Read Genesis 1:1-5 and John 1:1-5 next to each other and it is easy to see how the themes run together. God speaks, and the darkness and chaos of the earth are put in their places.

John was not the only one to pick up this theme that echoes all the way back to God's first words. Paul would remind the Thessalonians that they were to be "children of light and children of the day, not of the night or darkness" (1 Thessalonians 5:5). Paul reminds them that another day is coming, the beginning of the new creation, when the darkness will no longer be present. He urges them -- and us -- to step into the light and live in it, so that we might move out of the chaos of sin and into God's ordered way of life for us and the whole creation. 

First, we need to ask this question: where is the light?

These famous first words of God proclaimed at the very beginning of creation are great first words for us, too, as we begin the journey of a new year. As people created in God's image, we are called to recognize the separation of light and darkness in our own lives. We live in darkness, for example, when we continue to engage in habitual sins, when we take advantage of the people around us, when we are bound by anger or burdened with the regrets and hurts of the past. If we are finding our lives out of control, we can be sure that the swirling chaos of the darkness is holding us back from living lives that have meaning and purpose.  

Second, let us consider walking in the light.

We can choose, however, to listen to God's constant message to his creation: "Let there be light!"

"If we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin," (1 John 1:7). The Word that became flesh brought the light of God into the world in person, and calls us to live in the reality that no matter where we have been hiding in the darkness, God is inviting us into the light. The darkness of sin that has continued to grip much of creation can be broken simply by confessing our own brokenness. Confessing our sins (1 John 1:9), obeying the Creator's commandments (1 John 2:3) and being light-giving people in our relationships with others (1 John 2:9) are a few of the habits and practices that indicate to others and to God that we are seeking to be people who walk in the light of God's creative mercy, power and grace.

God's famous first words, after all, will also be some of his last words at the end of the old creation and the start of the new. In the new creation, God says, God's people will experience the light all the time because "there will be no more night" and God's people will "need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever" (Revelation 22:5) -- just as God said from the beginning.

Third, we need to consider a simple truth: Be the light

The message the dark and chaotic world needs to hear is the one with which God started the whole project. What are some ways our church can offer these first words to people who may be hearing them for the first time? What kinds of communication strategies and technologies can we use to bring people from darkness into light? This is a great opportunity at the beginning of the year for us to invite our congregations into a focus on the new creation and their part in it.

What will be our congregation's first words for this new year? What do we hear God saying to us on the threshold of a new year?

It would be hard to do better than "Let there be light!"