In the Beginning . . .

"At first there was just ... water!"

It's a fascinating story - perfectly designed for the first week in a new year.  But how can you describe something before it exists? 

The Genesis Creation story uses two words - tohu and bohu - formless and empty, to describe the 'soup of nothingness' out of which the material world emerged.  God's Spirit moved like wind over this deep abyss - which is called 'the waters' - mayim in Hebrew.

This formless expanse of mayim is the womb of the cosmos, and hovering over this unformed sea of possibilities was the Spirit of God, the breeze that flutters, the Dove that broods.

The voice of God rings out through the emptiness.   “Light!” shatters the darkness, radiating glory and energy everywhere.

All stories are edited - and the Bible leaves out a lot of details –
how energy was released in waves or particles to make light and give shape to atoms and galaxies, how the elements formed and blended to create the stuff of the universe. These are some of the hard questions science explores, the complex processes that keep physicists focused, intrigued and formulating.

The Bible affirms that God gives Nature its dynamic capabilities. It is the pulsating power of God that energized creation and brought it to birth. The universe bears the imprint of its creator.

Wonderfully . . ., somewhere in the process, hydrogen and oxygen bonded and formed H2O, an exquisite elixir vital to every form of life on the planet. There is simply no life without water!

The complex properties of water - and every other structure of creation - demonstrate the wisdom and power and purposefulness of God. What was formless and empty is now beautifully formed and full of glory. Hallelujah!

Just as the cosmos was birthed out of the primordeal ‘waters’, so every human being begins their life in the waters of the womb. And like the cosmos, we need the spark of Life, the energizing touch of God - and then untold creative possibilities emerge from that igniting touch in our lives.